WASHINGTON (Map, News) - As a parent, chances are you know quite a bit about your children's schools and have heard about the classroom teachers whose voices they hear all day long. But are those classrooms still two dimensional in your mind?

I am not saying that teachers don't contact parents when a child's performance is worrisome or return calls and emails when parents have an inquiry. We do; that's part of our job. Although some teachers reach out in multi-dimensional ways, we need more teacher voices that add a heartbeat to the classroom and bring it to life.

Those voices would go beyond the “what's happening?” in the classroom to explore the “why?” and “what for?” They would give parents a greater idea of the world their child occupies from dawn to mid-afternoon, 184 days of the year.

How could teachers make their classrooms three-dimensional? They could write columns and letters to the editor for their local newspapers and their school's PTA newsletter. The main sources of school information for most parents are administrators and reporters who do a good job getting out facts and figures, but who usually don't explore the nuances of individual classrooms.

Many teachers have a sense that they “can't write” or “have nothing to say.” The Jerry Seinfeld Show proved that having “nothing” to say is a big draw. And parents wouldn't look for ground-breaking lesson plans or words of wisdom, but rather a slice of the life of their child. No matter how mundane, what our children do is fascinating.

Teachers could also invite parents once or twice a year to participate in a typical class. I have done this for the past ten years, and the rewards have far outweighed the hours I spend that one evening.

Or teachers could create a website with a virtual lesson for parents, including a video or series of still shots of a student's typical day. It would be a site parents would visit again and again and could be created when the teacher has the time.

What holds teachers back? Sheer exhaustion, for one. If you've ever volunteered to help out in a classroom, you know that children absorb energy from interaction with their teachers, while we are sapped of all strength by that same energy. Most teachers are pretty comatose by day's end.

Teachers are also generally underpaid given the critical nature of their work and the hours they work both with children and at home. Some feel anything not in their contract is too much to ask.

But the rewards of sharing that extra dimension with those who care about your classroom as much as you do, far outweigh the time and energy needed to invite parents for an evening or create a website or write a column.

Parents want to feel part of their child's world, and teachers could provide an avenue right to the heart of that world. We might not earn the big bucks, but the benefit of knowing scores of people who understand and appreciate all we do is the brass ring all teachers reach for; it's there if we reach out and grab it.

Erica Jacobs teaches at Oakton High School and George Mason University. E-mail her at ejacob1@gmu.edu.