Building relationships with families is hard work. Especially with today’s busy parents. If you’re lucky, you’ll see your student’s parents on one or two parent-teacher conferences or events each year. That hardly makes for relationship building.
Parents want to be involved and teachers want to involve them, but many parents are not afforded the luxury of free time that makes this possible. Teachers want to involve parents, but they often don’t have time to put together quality websites or newsletters.
Fortunately, various social media tools have come along to help strengthen the home-school connection. For example some teachers use Twitter to give parents a window into a school or class. Other teachers use Facebook to keep parents connected. And, others are using texting services like Cel.ly.
Now, there is a tool designed specifically for teachers and the families of students.
It is called Class Story and comes to teachers as an addition to ClassDojo, a free online resource that helps teachers encourage students through positive behavior management. Class Story lets teachers safely and instantly share important updates, amazing moments, and announcements to all parents. Parents can show their appreciation with hearts. Teachers can instantly see which parents have viewed the update.
Using an Instagram-like format, Class Story provides a beautiful feed that has a familiar look and feel to keep parents in touch by telling them the story of their child’s class. Teachers can share moments instantly - whether they are photos or just quick notes - and only parents can see these posts. This makes it easier for teachers to share. No need to get notes and reminders printed and backpacked home. It also makes it easier for parents to stay engaged and get to know their kid’s teachers much better. It also shifts the conversation with their children from the often unproductive, “What did you do in school today?” to the more productive, “I saw you did {____} today. Tell me more about that!”
So what do you think? Is this something you might use with the student’s and parents at your school?
Lisa Nielsen writes for and speaks to audiences across the globe about learning innovatively and is frequently covered by local and national media for her views on “Passion (not data) Driven Learning,” "Thinking Outside the Ban" to harness the power of technology for learning, and using the power of social media to provide a voice to educators and students. Ms. Nielsen has worked for more than a decade in various capacities to support learning in real and innovative ways that will prepare students for success. In addition to her award-winning blog, The Innovative Educator, Ms. Nielsen’s writing is featured in places such as Huffington Post, Tech & Learning, ISTE Connects, ASCD Wholechild, MindShift, Leading & Learning, The Unplugged Mom, and is the author the book Teaching Generation Text.
Disclaimer: The information shared here is strictly that of the author and does not reflect the opinions or endorsement of her employer.
