Utilizing "compliment slips" or "letters" home is a terrific way to asynchronously communicate with families in a high-impact, low context manner. By sending home letters to students or small compliments on behavior, performance in class, or other reasons, you give families a reason to celebrate their students, build a positive rapport & relationship, and combat the negativity bias that exists in the brain.

Seesaw is a terrific way to easily share feedback on a student's work with both students, and adults. In in-person modes of communication, Seesaw specifically proves itself as a centralized platform to showcase student work & feedback. This is particularly helpful in a setting such as teacher/parent/guardian conference, in which the teacher may want a neat & organized way to showcase the work that the student has been completing. By having a singular device to share work with adults/parents, sharing work becomes very simple and highly effective.

In a hybrid setting, Seesaw shows itself as a useful tool when transitioning between online/in-person environments, and as a central communication platform for both students and their adults. By allowing students to log into Seesaw on any device with wifi, Seesaw offers itself as a tool to deliver equal feedback when students are in various different/changing learning environments. Parents have the ability to easily check in on their student's learning if it is on Seesaw, and can receive direct messages from teachers on the platform.

In online modes of communication, Seesaw/ClassDojo proves itself once again as an invaluable tool for parent communication. Feedback on work can be delivered in writing, but Seesaw shows itself as an invaluable tool for an ECE setting with the voice record feedback tool for students. Through utilizing voice recorded feedback; students and parents can hear intonation, expression, and feeling in the voice of their teacher, making the feedback all the more valuable and more likely to be applied.

In situations where in-person meetups are limited or nonexistent, video communication tools such as Zoom offer the next best thing when it comes to communicating with parents about their student. Zoom allows teachers & adults/parents to meet with ease in situations where meeting would simply not be an option. Additionally, Zoom offers recording options if "all-class" meetings are held and a parent cannot make the meeting. This creates the most equitable experience for all parents.

Google Classroom is a fantastic way for teachers to utilize communication between students and parents. Teachers can announce homework and test on the platform, and the parents can receive information from their teachers regarding their children's future tests and daily homework. When multiple teachers are giving assignments, The Google classroom can sort the assignments' due dates into charts, making everyone's life easy. So the parents and the teachers can both see what's coming up next.

In a hybrid setting, Google Meet is another wonderful tool to keep the communication going for teachers and parents. It can be conveyed by either smartphone, tablets, or computers. Therefore, having a face-to-face conversation is no longer restricted

During Online modes of teaching, keeping the communication going for school, teachers, and parents is crucial. Therefore, having Google Meet is another great way to have parents becoming part of the loop. Since it does not require any phone number, and as long as the parents have gotten a Gmail account, they can access the meet. This really is important for follow-income families to stay connected to the school and teachers, even if they do not have a phone. They can still use the public library for internet and computer resources.

Parents Conference is useful to identify, address or announce key topics that are related to the school, students, and parents. Not only it is a great way for the school to give out information. But also for the stakeholders to receive immediate feedback during or after the conference.

A caveat or condition is that in China, Zoom requires a VPN. Schools, teachers and parents need to ensure there is equal access for all stakeholders.

this can be used to give information on past, current and coming events, it can serve as a source of motivation for the students.

Google Voice is a free and beneficial resource for virtual teachers to utilize when trying to get in touch with their students' parents. There are a variety of different features within Google Voice that make it an ideal form of communication! The only requirement to have a Google Voice account is that you have a Gmail account. Many teachers feel uncomfortable giving out their personal phone number to parents and Google Voice solves this problem. You have the ability to select a completely new phone number that is only associated with your specific Google Voice account, and your personal phone will still have the capability of answering these calls/texts. You also have the option of controlling when or when not the Google Voice phone number is active. This gives teachers a chance to solidify their "Parent Text/Call Hours" to a very specific window. Google Voice is a convenient and simplified communication option for both parents and teachers.

Many teachers and parents utilize email as their primary form of communication - this is particularly true since the start of the pandemic. Email is considered to be a "tried and true" method for parent and teacher communication. Email is also considered to be generally more accessible for parents as a whole. It does not matter what email provider the teacher or parent has - communication will always be successful from one email provider to another. Many other communication-based apps require a smart phone or a more advanced form of technology. Email serves as a very basic, but effective tool to send a variety of messages that can include weekly class newsletters, personal parent communication, school reminders, pictures, etc...

Flipgrid is a website that allows teachers to lead discussions based off of video submissions. This can be a fresh and fun way to maintain a solid form of communication with parents. The teacher can include a variety of topics and prompts that parents have the ability to respond to via video. Flipgrid also gives its users a chance to be creative with video editing options like emojis, filters, and borders!

Schoology is a wonderful resource that promotes a strong sense of communication between teachers and parents. Parents have access to both their personal Schoology account and can also look at their child's account from a student perspective. Schoology allows teachers to post any online classroom materials, assign and receive homework, host any discussion forums, and chat with parents. Parents can use Schoology to stay informed about information regarding their child's different classes, upcoming assignments, general school announcements, or to talk with the teacher. Parents also have the option to sign up for a daily or weekly "Parent Email Digest" - this email keeps the parents up-to-date on grades, activities, behavior, and announcements.

Notices to be used to communicate important information on coming up events. old fashioned method and easy to do.

to share student work with parents and communicate with your students outside the traditional classroom.

Can be used to create class groups for collaboration, post announcements, send and discuss assignments and to create assignments (e.g

Parents are able to see the school and their children's classroom again, or even see their children in action when during open house. Which will allow the parents to understand what their children are like in class.

A simple phone call is an efficient way to start the communication going with the parents. Especially when something serious needs to be address right way.

Text messages are important to include in the daily conversation. Especially when parents are not able to reach, and we have something really important to address.

Some parents want a physical copy of teacher's comments. Especially from different cultural backgrounds. This seems to be the case for young learners entering childcare for the first time. Their parents want to know finer details such as bowel movements, eating habits, etc.

Some parents prefer phone calls as they are busy with work. Tailoring the school's outreach to parents will aid in ensuring all needs are met.