Yesterday, we had one of those “set it straight” meetings with one of my children’s teachers. It’s not that something wrong was happening, but that we needed to better understand where each of us was coming from, how that affected teaching and learning in class for our child, and make sure we understood each other.
As educators, we can do so much to help parents and community understand what is happening…if we’re willing to communicate more. One way to accomplish that is to take advantage of social media tools. Wouldn’t it be tough to read a critique like this one….
That principal runs their twitter like they run their school. you listen to them but they don’t listen back.
Source: Online tweet, anonymized to protect the sender and receivers
Thanks to Amber Teamann (8amber8 on Twitter) for sharing this positive story about how blogs can facilitate parent-teacher communications:
When Sophie came home on the first day talking about the new kids she had met, we were able to check the blog to put faces to all of the new names thanks to first day pictures posted on the blog. Last week Sophie came home super excited about the “Insect Song” they sang in class.That night, we listened to the kids singing it from the front row. We have always appreciated the insight into our kids’ days that we get from weekly or monthly parent letters, but the immediacy and multi-media goodness of Mrs. Morrison’s regularly updated blog makes us feel like we are there for some of it. What more can a parent ask for?
How are you–as teacher, leader–using blogs to make learning more transparent in their classrooms so that parents can better understand what happens to their child?
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We attempt to add new content to our class blog on a daily basis and would love to get that sort of feedback. Our class blogPeople seem to be watching/lurking but it is really hard to get parents to stop lurking and to contribute. Usually the kids have to coerce them to join in.Allanah K
We attempt to add new content to our class blog on a daily basis and would love to get that sort of feedback. Our class blogPeople seem to be watching/lurking but it is really hard to get parents to stop lurking and to contribute. Usually the kids have to coerce them to join in.Allanah K
Yea for the greatness of Twitter! :)I am really trying to use my blog to reach the "masses" that I can't possibly email, see, visit, touch base with…there's too much to share, too many short and sweet tidbits…by blogging I can throw out there what I find, when I find it.I think teachers have the ability to invites parents into their classrooms, in a way they've never been able to before. They spend more hours in the course of the day with our kiddos than the parents do. What parent wouldn't want a glimpse into that long day? I know as a mom it's very difficult to draw out of my second grader what they actually did in school each day, but when i look at their blog, I know exactly what to ask and how to support her as she learns. It can be frustrating to only have lurkers, but I am always surprised how many people comment about things they've seen on my blog. They're out there..reading..and taking away little gems of goodness…that should be enough of me!
Yea for the greatness of Twitter! :)I am really trying to use my blog to reach the “masses” that I can't possibly email, see, visit, touch base with…there's too much to share, too many short and sweet tidbits…by blogging I can throw out there what I find, when I find it.I think teachers have the ability to invites parents into their classrooms, in a way they've never been able to before. They spend more hours in the course of the day with our kiddos than the parents do. What parent wouldn't want a glimpse into that long day? I know as a mom it's very difficult to draw out of my second grader what they actually did in school each day, but when i look at their blog, I know exactly what to ask and how to support her as she learns. It can be frustrating to only have lurkers, but I am always surprised how many people comment about things they've seen on my blog. They're out there..reading..and taking away little gems of goodness…that should be enough of me!