Most tools give you the ability to send a message to an individual parent or student, or a group of parents or students. Resist the temptation to turn parent urgency into your own urgency. I have four young children, my oldest is in first grade. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. ), Click Here for Example of Winter Olympics Blog. Here are some best practices for school-to-parent texting: Consider and abide by legal limitations like the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). is central to the success of your students and your effectiveness as a teacher. Different apps and platforms make it easy to communicate with parents via text. Develop, share, and enforce an email policy. Think: The dad who emails you a bulleted list detailing why his daughter should receive a 90 percent rather than an 87 percent. There are many ways in which a teacher can use technology to improve the interaction, starting from scheduling to dissemination of student grade information, thus establishing avenues for parents to have a more … Then during a parent conference you have easy access to show parents the student portfolio or classroom project examples. ( Log Out /  SMS messaging for example, can be two-way, but as a lot of services use randomly generated numbers each time you broadcast a message, you or the parent are unable to see a message chain. One of the ways that parents attempt to achieve this equilibrium is the usage of technology in their day-to-day affairs. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Effective parental communication and engagement nowadays isn’t just about launching a new website, working up some pretty email templates or deploying a shiny new app. Young Voter's Guide to Social Media and the News, But effective communication remains the goal in every case, Protecting Student Privacy on Social Media. In March, Otus launched a free 10 week... As a teacher, you know this better than anyone: You don’t always have time to call a parent or meet in person. With the inroads of technology into education, it is but logical that educators use technology to encourage meaningful parent participation and improve the experience for all concerned. Don’t forget – it’s all about backing up the capabilities of this technology with the right strategy. Check out WordPress. To kick off a constructive dialogue, consider how you'll contextualize students' progress in related messages to parents. What are the types of technology that both teachers and parents have access to? Never post anything to a public forum that contains anyone's personally identifiable information, and be cognizant of what "private" really means on various social platforms. to effectively maximize parent trust and minimize parent entitlement, all while reinforcing student accountability. If you’d like more advice on parental engagement strategy and how Weduc can help you deliver it. For example, if you speak a different language from a family, you might need to use non-verbal signals more. And how can you leverage the capabilities of the technology to improve this communication?
Create links to videos that will enhance the current topic you are teaching. It must however be remembered by all parties concerned that the line between "awareness" and "obsession" is blurry and both parent and teacher must take care not to overstep limits beyond which the freedom and privacy of the child is invaded. Technology can enhance home-school communication in ways that alleviate communication challenges and barriers of time and distance that teachers and parents often face. Try LearnBoost. The use of email communication between the teacher and parent can help ease the strain during parent teacher meets because any issue, problem or announcement can be communicated at the required time without waiting for a later scheduled meeting so that the issue can be addressed immediately. Parents learned to use a variety of tech tools, including tablets provided by the program and smartphones they owned, to support their young children's early learning and strengthen home-school relationships. 3 Ways to Improve Parent-Teacher Communication with Technology. For this, in recent years some teachers have turned to using a closed Facebook group for their class. Need a standards-based grading solution? Of course, there are occasions when teachers and parents must engage in a face-to face dialogue and online chat may not offer that level of "personal" touch and motivational spontaneity of a real-life interaction. Create a project or a portfolio assignment for students to complete. There are many ways to communicate without technology, mail by bird, face to face, sign language, morse code, smoke signal, body language and telepathy. Here’s to more effective and efficient parent-teacher communication. Emails have replaced all conventional modes of communication in tech-savvy countries and are already used, especially in primary school, as a mode of communication between the teacher and students - announcements of assignments, submission of homework etc. It’d be great if it was, wouldn’t it?

We made it easy for you to exercise your right to vote! ( Log Out /  But there are ways to curb time spent communicating. ( Log Out /  And because young children can, at times, be unreliable narrators, it is best not to use them as translators when trying to communicate with their parents. Change ). As we approach the fall, that need continues to grow. Mobile apps such as Remind (formerly Remind101) and ClassDojo are being used by millions of teachers, parents and students, without doubt a staggering rate of adoption for apps that were launched but a couple of years ago. Here are three unique advantages of classroom management software: Parents can view grades and student portfolios on one platform (e.g. Using technology to power your parental communication is a step towards better engagement, visibility and less administration.
This can be very handy when it comes to things like permission slips, event invitations, and inviting feedback on school activities and policies. Then during a parent conference you have easy access to show parents the student portfolio or classroom project examples. Technology can also minimize student ownership—with students shifting their responsibilities to their parents. Increased transparency and access can make parents feel more entitled to know everything about your classroom. Classroom management software (like Otus) is a more comprehensive approach to parent-teacher-student communication. Teachers can send messages and updates to an entire class (or a group of classes), and the app offers more opportunities for students, parents, and teachers to interact, whether in groups or privately. Do have email replace the “human” connection of phone calls.

Need a more fully featured blogging option? communication. E-Reader Apps and Devices Are Having a Moment, but Which Ones Protect Your Privacy? Establish a clear line of communication, maximize parent trust, minimize parent entitlement, and reinforce student accountability. By continuing on this site and accepting our cookies you agree to the collection of information But effective communication remains the goal in every case. It means that messages don’t get missed, and communication is generally more engaging and responsive. As a means for disseminating information and exhibiting and sharing the skills and talents of the students (through weblogs, for example), social networking can undoubtedly support the teacher-parent-student partnership. But a blog allows for anyone to be able to post comments. It combines email and text, along with digital resources, student blogs, a gradebook, and recognitions. Make adaptations for major areas of concern. How will your school be communicating with families in 2020? Keep all email comments objective and brief. Good news. Apart from periodic email updates, weekly or fortnightly class newsletters could be created as a joint effort, to include examples of student work, and upcoming assignments. But once again you can use Wiki just like a website. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. All rights reserved. Despite the known benefits of increasing parent participation in schooling, parent-teacher conferences can be stressful for teachers, especially in a competitive society that often breeds helicopter parenting and tiger parents. And create a plan for managing email: decide how much time (and what period of time) you will devote to email. In the spring of 2020, the need for supplemental eLearning materials became front and center as K-12 schools were forced to pivot from traditional classroom instruction. Create a blog about a particular unit in class with student’s work so parents can just access the URL. Download our handy guide to parent communication.