Leadership magazine May/June 2015 V 44 No 5 | Page 29

awesome has made our school culture even
stronger. Daily sharing helps our parents
know how to better support their children
with Common Core math, which looks a lot
different from when they were in school.
Think about this: the New York Times
doesn’t publish just once a month, once
a week, or even just once a day; it has continuous updates throughout the day. Schools
need the same. Businesses, news stations and
even friends are constantly sharing during
the day. Why should schools be any different?
When thinking about Remind and Twitter picture a Venn diagram. The apps have
similarities for usage, yet are unique on their
own. Only parents who subscribe to your
Remind account will receive messages. This
allows them to be instantly and constantly
connected to their principal.
School leaders now can send their entire
communities text messages about whatever
they want, and they should. Communication is key to student success. Information is
key to parent understanding of all the profound change we have in education.

• Teachers take photos of anchor charts in
math so parents can ask their children, “Tell
me five ways to put together these numbers.”

Any time, any place
The amazing value of the Remind app really hit me two years ago, after I’d been piloting it with my PTA executive board for a
few weeks. I’m known to ride the tricycles in

this writing, our @jseroadrunners feed is
just shy of 9,000 Tweets. We want parents
to know what’s happening in classrooms
with Common Core. The more they know,
the better they can support their child.
We have 26 teachers and 520 students,
and being visible in every class every day
is my main priority. You can’t know where
you need to go if you don’t know where you

What we share
Here’s a sample of some of the tips for parents we share daily via Remind:
• As your child reads with you, think out
loud with them, saying things like “I wonder…” “This makes me think about…”
“The funny thing is…”
• Everything can turn into a story – waking up, going for a walk, being stuck in a long
line. Have your child tell you a story, with
details.
• Ask your child about the current book
they’re reading. Has something surprised
them? Has something confused them? Any
other fun details?
• What is your child reading this week?
What made her choose that book? Why does
she think she’ll enjoy it? Have your children
tell you more.
• Taking turns reading with your child is
fun. For example, “You read a page, I read a
page.” Always ask questions for deeper conversation.
• From one of our teachers: “Sneak preview of this week’s learning goals presented
today during our morning meeting.”

“We feel it’s important to tell our story at school. Information is key to parent
understanding of all the profound change we have in education. Sharing the
daily nuggets of #eduawesome has made our school culture even stronger.”
our kindergarten playground, and during
one ride I remembered there was a message
to send out. I simply pulled over on the tricycle (during kindergarten recess), pulled out
my iPhone, sent the message to my group,
and went back to riding. At that moment I
realized how simple and effective this tool
was. I had to use Remind with our entire
community.
Twitter works differently than Remind
and is our daily sneak peek into classroom life at John Swett Elementary. Twitter is our yearbook; it connects our parent community, it connects our teachers
throughout the day in a way that wasn’t
previously possible; it connects all the
schools in our district; it connects our district office personnel into daily life. As of

are. Organized workflow is the key to success. Principals often believe they don’t have
the time to visit classrooms every day. The
thing is, once you use these tools, you will
have more time. Being a mobile principal
and connecting with kids in the classroom
builds stronger relationships for everyone.

What our school community says
Our survey results show our community
loves our Twitter feed and Remind messages.
Here’s some of what they have to say:
• “It’s amazing getting a glimpse into what
my kids are learning in school.”
• “Love being able to see what’s going on
daily at school.”
• “We don’t follow on Twitter, but love that
they’re all embedded on the school website.”

May/June 2015

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