Communication is an effective and important way of connecting people. As a teacher, communication is vital. Without communication between the teacher and the students as well as the parents, things will easily disintegrate and lead to confusion. As a teacher, you want to leave that line of communication open. There are a couple of different types of communication; interpersonal, written and oral are a few examples. When communicating with parents I want to give them as much information about how their child is doing and how they can help them succeed. I would also like feedback from the students and parents to ensure I am doing what I need to be doing to the best of my ability. This is significant during the first couple of years as a teacher since I will still be learning how to be in a classroom.

Recently, Virginia Beach Public Schools have switched from Edmodo to Google Classrooms. This is great, except I don’t know how parents can see progress and grades via Google Classrooms. ClassDojo allows teachers to communicate and share classroom updates, moments and announcements with parents. There is an option where the teacher can snap a photo and post it to share it with parents, kind of like Instagram but for educators. It is a one-way sharing app, which makes it easier to keep things organized. Students can create portfolios to share their work which is great because the students can have their own small space to showcase their work. I will use this app to keep parents as up to date as I can with their children’s work and behavior in a log that is private only to the parents and their child.

Communication with parents is imperative, but at the high school level, I feel that parents aren’t as involved as they probably should be. It may be trickier to get parents input and involvement considering their kids are in high school and can work independently. I like ClassDojo, it looks easy to navigate and it has great features. I think it is great that it has all the resources you may need as an educator. Personally, I would rather have one way of communicating with parents than multiple ways. It will make things less confusing for both myself and the parents. I will evaluate this way of communicating with parents by sending out a survey at the end of the semester to get their opinions on the communication. I will also ask for any feedback, questions or concerns they may have. It would be hard to consistently send feedback to parents via email especially when having so many students. Yes, emails leave a paper trail, but it is hard to look back through it whereas a log is more effective, in my opinion. But I do think some proof of communication needs to be saved somewhere.

Google Classrooms seems like a great tool for teachers. It is currently being used in VBCPS, and many professors use it at ODU. Google Classrooms is a great way to communicate with your students and it allows students to have all their work in one place. In conjunction with Class Dojo, students and parents will be able to see their progress via this app. While I will have my own system of keeping grades together, this is a way both the parent and student can see what they are working on in the classroom. Google classroom allows for students to keep their work in a place where it should never get lost. It allows for the teacher to give them feedback on the work itself (for example essays). It also prevents students from losing their work since everything is always auto-saved and it is accessible from any computer.

Google Classrooms was a hard transition for me because I was accustomed to only using Blackboard. Even now, whenever I have to type an essay I type it up on a Word document then transfer it over. I do like the idea that google classroom will store all your work until you get rid of the account. Unfortunately, if this is the system that VBCPS is using students can give feedback on how it is working for them but that doesn’t mean I can automatically change it. I am not sure there is a grading book on Google Classrooms, so I would still have to have my own system of logging grade. I will also have to have my own system for behaviors that is private and can only be shared with parents. Lastly, I like that Google Classroom allows teachers to streamline assignments making communication productive and meaningful. It also allows for effective feedback.

To keep with just two apps, Class Dojo for parents and Google Classroom for the students, Remind will be a great addition to this combination. Utilizing Remind in combination with both Classroom Dojo and Google Classrooms will be more effective because Remind allows educators to send a message directly to the parent or students phones. This app is just meant for reminders, so educators can send a message out to parents informing them to check grade books, or to students that an assignment is due. Parents and students do not have to download this app, only the person sending out the messages. Parents and student are not able to reply to these messages, so it is a one-sided message.

I think Remind is a great app all around. Currently, my sorority uses it and it has been a great tool to remind the chapter of meetings, when money is due and other important things. It is also great because parents don’t have to worry about downloading yet another app. It also comes in as an email and text message so parents (and students) are sure to come across it. I wish we had this app when I was in high school, or that professors at ODU utilize this app. I feel that students in this instant shouldn’t miss an assignment and if they do it was completely their fault because they got reminders to complete it. I would miss fewer assignments if professors decided to start using this app, especially considering I don’t check my email as often as I should (but I always see my texts).

In high school, is it effective to communicate with parents? Yes, they should know what they should be doing it and should be doing it, but they are teenagers after all. Parents should hopefully still be keeping up with their grades. I don’t think I should constantly be sending parents updates (unless the parent requests). I think an email or Remind a week giving them an update is enough. When it is something important or something is due then another Remind or two is okay, as long as the parents do not care. But I don’t want to bombard parents with too much feedback or information. Personally, right now I get tons of emails and many other alerts on my phone. I repetitively miss emails and text messages because I get so many and honestly it is a lot. With parents, I hope to keep it consistent but not overdo it.

To conclude, communicating effectively with parents and students is essential. Teachers should always keep logs of behaviors and classroom work because, in the long run, it benefits them. Keeping logs is also a defense mechanism. If a parent becomes upset because their child is failing a class, a teacher has the proof and backup with all the logs. They can also effectively inform the parent of Classroom Dojo where they can keep up with their child’s work. It is not for certain what will and will not work, but I plan on giving these a shot and seeing how it goes and adjust as needed. As a teacher, you must never stick to one plan, you should be flexible and open to new ideas and plans.

Works Cited

Instagram (2010, October 6). Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/

Edmodo (2008, September 1). Retrieved from https://www.edmodo.com/