Sharing Good Practice
6 Easy Ways To Communicate
Students’ Progress To Parents
By Alona Ballard
a group can be created one time and
messages can be sent to dozens at the
same time. However, the drawback
of this message is, unless you have
been provided with a phone from your
employer, the cost of text messaging
teacher will have to be absorbed by
the teacher.
Classroom Website: Some teachers
have created a classroom website
that offers a two-way street for
communication about the class. The
website can tell what objectives are
being discussed and how parents
can extend the lessons at home.
Also, websites can be designed to
let parents access information for
their child only with passwords. One
drawback is that the parent would have
to bookmark the site and regularly
check it and many schools do not have
a dedicated IT professional on staff
who can troubleshoot issues that arise
when updating the site.
K
eeping parents informed about
their child’s progress in the
class is of utmost importance.
No teacher wants the awkward
moment of giving a student a poor
report card only to have a parent say
he/she had no idea that the child was
behind, poorly behaved or not turning
in homework.
Of course, there are also many cases
of good news that you need to get
out - ‘your child helped others today’,
‘picture day is coming’ or ‘bring money
for the field trip!’
Luckily for teachers and parents alike,
there are several ways to get messages
like these across in an effective way.
Communication Binder: Many teachers
like to send home a notebook or folder
that will often include the agenda for
the week, a calendar and space for
written notes. However, this message
might not be 100 per cent effective,
as some parents may not check the
student’s bag. The good news is, this
method can be made highly personal
as the teacher writes messages
dedicated to a particular parent.
Email: When parents drop their
children off on day one of the New
Year, some teachers will gather
phone numbers, email addresses
and other important information from
the parents. The benefit of emailing
parents is that you can create an
email group and send a message to
many with just one click. However,
not everyone is adept at checking
their emails regularly and inboxes left
unattended can get quite full.
Text/WhatsApp: One of the simplest
and quickest ways to get a message
to all parents is to send a text or
WhatsApp message. As with email,
YouTube: YouTube can be an effective
communication tool if the teacher
or school creates their own channel.
Shooting a brief video with homework
help, school rules or other enrichment
will earn you bonus points for being
tech savvy.
However, the drawback is that the
parent must log on regularly to get the
benefit and also the teacher or school
must create video content and upload
it, which for some can be a more
difficult task than typing a message.
Instagram: Creating a school or
classroom
dedicated
Instagram
account can be very popular he re
in the UAE, as this country is very
active on social media. According to
GlobalMediaInsight.com, the UAE’s
9.58 million people have more than 5.4
million social media accounts - making
us more active on social media than
Canada, Germany and South Korea.
If the school or classroom’s Instagram
account is adhering to school rules
and not showing student faces without
permission, this tool can also be very
effective.
Class Time
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Nov - Dec 2015
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