How to adequately communicate with families in each of the learning environments
In-person
Brief connections during drop-off and pick-up times to familiarize parents with teachers, vice versa.
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Parent-teacher conferences to are opportunities communicate the child’s strengths and needs
Survey
Give parents a simple survey to complete and ask them key questions about their perceptions of their child’s educational services.
Invite parents into the classroom to participate in activities, such as open house,
Home visits
Hybrid
Communicate through letters/emails about the activities/readings that are meant to be completed at home, and what will be done in class
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System-wide family-school communication/assignment notebooks
Notebooks that go back and forth between home and school are a popular home-school communication option. They’re a simple, reliable way to keep parents informed about what’s going on at school and provide educators with the invaluable parent perspective.
Fully online: Communications should be directed towards both fathers and mothers, even if, in general, the school communicates with only one of the parents.
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Periodic zoom, Skype meetings to communicate:
the strengths of online learning for the child
Where the child needs extra support
How the child is coping socially and emotionally
PowerPoint can be an effective tool to present material in the classroom and encourage student learning. A effective PPT that students can follow and use at home is a great supportive tool that students can use to review with parents at home. PPT should have great visuals to look at and easy vocabulary to practice a home. Special needs students can be supported with great visuals and extra material from the teacher. Sharing PPT's builds great relationships with parents, parents always appreciate extra material to review at home.
Weekly emails with educational content and advice for the week
Links and resources to support parents
Overview of the weeks schedule
Phone Call steps:
Introduce yourself
Tell the parents what their child is studying
Invite the parents to an open house and/or other school functions
Comment on their child's progress
Inform them of their child's achievements (e.g., "Student of the Week")
Inform them of their child's strengths or share an anecdote
ClassDojo allows teachers to award points to students for participating, helping others, exercising creativity, showing great insight, working hard, and making a good presentation. Behavior management software can help teachers manage their classrooms online..Parents and student can access it at home and check their child's progress in all areas.
Messaging groups (Wechat)
Start by taking a deep, cleansing breath and reminding yourself to leave behind whatever stresses or frustrations you had before the visit.
Acknowledge each member of the family. As you enter the home environment, make sure you greet each person you see.
Before you greet a family, take a moment to set your intention.
Check in about the family’s life. Take a few moments to ask about how the caregiver and family are.
Being in China wechat is the quickest to reach parents. Parents check wechat groups every hour and respond immediately if anything is urgent
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Google Voice
Google Voice, attached to your personal mobile number, allows you to create an alternate phone number you might share with parents (to avoid using your personal cell phone number).
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Parents can join video calls or watch recorded videos to see show-and-tells
Parents can record themselves talking about their jobs to help students engage in career exploration via screencasting
Assist their students with video assignments and other digital lessons
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Google Classroom
Google calls its Classroom platform a “blended learning platform,” a place primarily designed for sharing and grading assignments. It’s not quite a full learning management system, though it includes some similar functions.
Google Classroom allows educators to send out updates about student work to parents, but it’s not as robust as other tools like Remind or Seesaw since it doesn’t include two-way messaging capabilities. However, individual parents and guardians can opt in and get email summaries.
HYBRID
ONLINE
IN PERSON
Workshop for parents
Homework planner
The homework planner is an organizational tool for students and also allows for communication between school and home.
A homework planner is a graphic organizer and scheduler with blank spaces for students to write down homework assignments. It also can be a useful reference for effective study habits and information on school, fun and historical facts and events.