As an educator, an active line of communication with parents is vital to the success of students. However, parents don't always exactly have an abundance of extra time on their hands. Between personal and professional obligations, it can be challenging to accommodate their time needs while also keeping them in the loop with important information. If you're not relying on technology, you're missing out.
Internet Grade Books
When it comes to keeping parents informed about their child's progress, you don't want to wait until the last minute to highlight a problem. With an internet based grade book, you give the power to the parent. With this system, you simply input grade information and the parent can access the site at any time to stay abreast of their child's progress. This immediate access gives them the opportunity to contact you faster if they have a concern.
Online Conference Scheduling
During parent teacher conference time, a constant struggle is ensuring every parent has their fair share of time. However, when you allow parents to send in their conference request, it's easy for parents to choose the same time or pick time slots that are too close to others. An online scheduling system helps you avoid this because it gives parents a full display of availability, allowing them to pick the best time based on your preferred schedule.
Schoolwork Shared Drives
In addition to actual grades, many parents want to see a glimpse of some of the actual work their child has completed. A shared schoolwork drive offers this access. Instead of bombarding parents with large stacks of papers, you can hand select some of their assignments, upload them to a shared driver for each student and allow the parent to review their work at their own leisure.
Behavior Monitoring Apps
As an educator, you don't want the only time you reach out to a parent to be to tell them something bad about your child. Behavior monitoring apps can afford you this ability. This apps allow you to make small notes or give points to the child throughout the day for their behavior. At the end of the day, the parent can then access the app to see how their child behaved throughout the day.
Make sure you are using technology to stay engaged with your parents and make communicating with them easier. Fortunately, there are a number of programs that can assist you with this goal.
Share8 March 2017
When it comes to my own career, I have always loved getting out in front of people and doing what I can to lead. Unfortunately, I realized fairly early on in my career that I was going to need additional education in order to make that happen. I started focusing carefully on what to do to learn everything that I could and before I knew it, I was able to really solidify my education. I went back to school, took some business classes, and started working with instructors to further my career. This blog is all about improving your own education.