USING TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE PARENTAL COMMUNICATION Julie Aaron & Cindy Robertson

Strategies Communicating With Parents in Pictures A New Approach to Newsletters Two columns with the following sections: Headings for class and date. List of upcoming dates with events. Short blurbs on the different curriculum areas and reminders about school rules or special projects. Classroom needs Include lots of photos Reuse photos at Parent Conferences

Year-Long Plan for Maintaining Good Parent-Teacher Communication Meet the Teacher Snacks Sign-in sheets on each table with a cup of pens Photo albums with pictures from the previous school year. Brain-teasing puzzle on the table. Power-point presentation to introduce our program and myself. background information program design pictures of the students from the previous year. Ask parents to volunteer – teach a short lesson in area of expertise Always keep in contact with parents. If there is a difficult situation, listen to them first and try to diffuse the problem. I try to be compassionate but not defensive. If all else fails, reach out to the administration for help.

9 Techniques for Building Solid Parent-Teacher Relationships Use Registration Time to Build a Foundation Create Detailed Student Information Sheets Send Out Parent Surveys What was your child like as a baby? What are your child’s strengths and weaknesses? What does your child do in his spare time? Make Open House a Special Event Contact Them With Good News Regularly Plan a Writing Night (interactive activity for parents & students) Utilize Technology Whenever Possible Establish an Open Door Policy Intervene Via Parent Conferences

Keeping High School Parents Involved & Informed Starting Off Right Modeling the Classroom Experience Giving an Overview of Your Curriculum Year-Long Parent Communication Tools Online Grading Systems – e-School HAC Send home student data Behavior logs

Involving Students in Parent-Teacher Conferences Students Take the Lead 10 minute introduction of scores by student 20 minutes of discussion between parent/student Parents as Partners Establish goals and give to parents to reference all year Take Aways Send documentation home with parents Guide to interpreting test scores A sheet of resources that includes a list of Web links for all subjects No Excuses Student/Parent Goals sheet A "receipt" of their commitment as a volunteer for field trips

Cell Phone/ Remind All phone numbers are kept private Schedule texts to be sent at a later date Messages are one-way, so students & parents cannot reply

Websites/Social Media School Web Page Facebook - Edmodo - Appsbar - Twitter - LinkedIn - Updates/RSS Feeds

Discipline ClassDojo -

Questions? Julie Aaron - Cindy Robertson - Using Technology to Enhance Parental Communication Session ID: