Teacher + Parent = Success (Classroom Management in the Digital Age)
Throughout my time in this course, I have been exposed to so many different types of ways to use digital media, such as Creative Commons, Wakelet, Blogger, and even learning how to embed a video within the blog post. This entire book has introduced me to some helpful tips and tricks and effective strategies I could use in my classroom from day to day. From classroom procedures to how to communicate with parents about technology used in the classroom as a teaching tool, this book has it all! Below, you will find a video that explains the benefits of using technology in the classroom. Go check it out and tell me what you think!
While looking over my Wakelet, I focused more on teachers building a relationship with parents and making them a part of the team, rather than an enemy. Parents need to know we are on the same team and both want the same thing for their child- to become successful. It is highly important to help parents understand the benefits technology has on their child's education. I know that older parents do not understand all this technology and probably think of it more as a hassle than anything. It is okay to think that way because they did not have the opportunity when they went to school like the students do to this day. So explaining to parents how using a laptop or computer is just an additional resource that will help them retain whatever skill they are learning that week, will hopefully helps parents see the benefits and how technology will become a digital tool to use to better enhance their learning.
If you are using technology as a resource in your classroom all year long, it is important to communicate with your students about the expectations and rules of the classroom at the beginning of the year. Yes! That also includes technology. Not only do you want to share rules and expectations with students, share them with the parents as well so it will create a consistency with the students at school and at home regardless of the different environments. According to Dowd and Green (2016), if you do share your rules and expectations with your parents, " it also empowers parents to reinforce and set similar expectations at home" (p. 65).
As a teacher, I have used many ways to communicate with my parents throughout the school year. Some ways would be emailing, phone calls, Remind App, take home folders, and monthly newsletters. Some parents appreciate this, while some parents do not even look at the tons of papers that was sent home in their Wednesday folders. That is why parent and teacher communication is important.You want to build a teacher and student relationship, but making sure the teacher and parent relationship is strong will benefit the child in the long run.According to Dowd and Green (2016), they stated that "good communication can give parents a glimpse into the value of using digital devices in the classroom" (p. 63).
As for me, I do feel that I am a great communicator and I have built great relationships with both parents and students that will last a lifetime! If any of my parents have difficulty with anything technology related we will work together as a team to figure it out, or I will find out the answer to their question using another resource.
I have asked many teachers what is the key for success in the teaching field, and almost all of them say communication. Communicating with students and parents about the use of technology and how you will use technology to enhance their education will open up many doors for success.
References:
Dowd, H., & Green, P. (2016). CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE: Effectivepractices for technology-rich learning spaces. S.l.: GYPSY HEART PRESS.
The Importance of Technology in Classrooms. (n.d.) Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCi8rRfIw-8
I have also had parents complain about the use of technology in my class. It's funny because after Covid-19 the same parent used the remind app for everything and even commented how great the app works. Dowd and Green ( 2016) point out that parents may have a few misconceptions of how long their student is on the digital device, the device is a babysitter and no real instruction is taking place in the classroom. These misconceptions can be cleared up by a quick conversation or a visit to the school.
ReplyDeleteSchaffhauser (2019) describes how to help parents learn about tech as well. Every month this 1-to-1 district in Texas host a " technology academy" that helps parents understand some of the tech tools that are being used in the classrooms. I think this is a great way to clear up some of the misconceptions and a clever way to increase parent involvement for your school.
References
Dowd, H., & Green, P. (2016). Classroom management in the digital age: Effective practices for technology-rich learning spaces. S.l.: GYPSY HEART PRESS.
SCHAFFHAUSER, D. (2019). Helping Parents learn tech too. T H E Journal, 46(2), 26.
I agree with what you said about parent and teachers working together fosters success. It truly does. My first year teaching I tried to have that and it was pretty successful, however, it was frowned upon by my principal so for the next 2 years I pulled back from that. I regret that to this day. Those years were the worst years I have had in my teaching career. I agree with what your book eludes to and what the book I read explains about parent - teacher relationships. In the book, The Interactive Class, J. Merrill & K. Merrill (2020) say, "Most parents feel out of place and uncomfortable at school and around the classroom," (p.56). This is another point I agree with when it comes to using technology in the classroom to close the gaps between what parents think about the classroom to what they know about the classroom. The window to the classroom needs to be opened. As long as we have nothing to hide, we should be able to do that and whereby keeping the parents engaged in their child's education.
ReplyDeleteReference
Merrill, J., & Merrill, K. (2020). The Interactive Class. EleviateBooksEdu.
Bethany I agree with you on the importance of communication with parents, especially after teaching from home the last part of the school year. My school made us communicate with our parents twice a week, but this was so much easier when I used my communication app. Through the app I was able to tell the parents what the students were going to be doing each week, and then I would let the parents know when their child had finished their work. Most of them checked the app, so I only had to make a few phone calls a week.
ReplyDeleteMy PLC book, "The Interactive Class" talked about communicating with parents. Merrill and Merrill (2019) said, "[parents] want to help their children, but they don't know how and often just try to stay out of the way. As a result, they have limited knowledge of what you are teaching and how their children are learning" (p. 56). It is important for us to try our best to keep in contact with our parents on what their students are learning and how they are learning it. If we do a project using Flipgrid, then we need to let our parents know so that they can stay informed and try to understand what their students are learning. We want our parents to know so that they can also feel involved in their student's education.
References:
Merrill, J., & Merrill, K. (2019). The interactive class. ElevateBooksEdu
I agree, the first place I taught allowed me to stay in contact with parents, it helped. I do not have that luxury anymore. I hope my school will change the parent contact policy, but only time will tell. Mendelova et al. (2019) discussed their research stating, “The school-family relation is currently a topic of interest among parents, teachers, policymakers and all those involved in childhood education” (p.205). This is a growing concern for many teachers and it is best to do what your administration tells you. If you are allowed to have contact with your student’s parents, I can tell you it worked very well for me. Students that sometimes forget project deadlines could use a friendly call to the parents to stay on track.
ReplyDeleteI used the same application as Bethany J. Petty. Petty (2018) states, “Remind offers teachers, coaches, and administrators, etc. the ability to send and receive direct messages from their students” (p. 95). I also added parents or guardians to Google Classroom accounts of students when possible. If you ever have a parent-teacher conference, it removes the ability of the parent to say they didn’t know there was any homework for their student. Regardless, I hope you get to be in contact with your student’s parents.
References
Mendelova, E., Zelena, H., & Tirpakova, A. (2019). Self-Efficacy of Students – Future Teachers in the Cooperation with Students` Parents. Ad Alta: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 9(2), 205
Petty, B. (2018). Illuminate: Technology Enhanced Learning. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Incorporated.
I also think that communicating parents is key. We are with their child majority of the day and they spend a lot of time with us at school. That is why on meet the teacher night it is very important to me that I get parents to sign up for all the different types of communication that I use (SeeSaw, email, texting, phone). I want to be able to contact a parent any many possibly ways. Dowd and Green (2016) mentioned, "Establishing frequent communication with your parents help build a partnership based on common goal of student success" (p.63). My communication with my parents grew even stronger during e-learning because most of my parents and I wanted their child to be successful no matter the circumstances.
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Dowd, H., & Green, P. (2016). CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE: Effective practices for technology-rich learning spaces. Columbia, SC: Dowd Green EDU.
You know, I think facilitating a positive relationship with parents can at times be the more difficult part of being a classroom educators. I have found that if I am willing to offer them as much information upfront as possible, the better the first few weeks seem to go.I wonder if a back to school infographic would help with the upcoming fall semester. Infographics can be a “powerful medium for making arguments” and communicating data (Turner and Hick, 2017, p.61). I also offered my parents an opportunity to tell me anything they felt I needed to know about their child using a Google Form. I always enjoyed the Remind app, but my favorite for classroom use was Class Dojo. I love the class stories section because to the students it felt like social media. The behavior management feature allowed me the opportunity to print reports. I could also download any conversations between parents and myself using the app. It was a quick way to communicate effectively.
ReplyDeleteAs for the technology I used in my classroom, I was always jumping in head first with students. I tried to prepare parents that things may look different than in previous year. I believe in leveraging technology to prepare innovators and creators for the road ahead. “Today’s students will need to be prepared for work with international peers to address society’s most pressing challenges on a global scale, which involves understanding diverse cultures, histories, and perspectives” (Oliver, 2018, p. 66). We have a bit of work ahead of us.
References:
Oliver, K. M. (2018, November 30). Teachers' first experiences with global projects: Emerging
collaboration and cultural awareness. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?
q=global+collaboration+&pr=on&ft=on&id=EJ1208814
Turner, Kristen Hawley, and Troy Hicks (2017). Argument in the real world: Teaching
adolescents to read and write digital texts. Heinemann.
Bethany,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I too use many different types of technology in my classroom and you are right, parental contact and relationships are very important. I may not be able to communicate with someone through email or an online format but can get them on the phone and other times it is flipped. My district is very rural and very low income so we still have a vast majority of students that do not have their own devices or access to internet so I think it is extremely important to get to know your students and become familiar with the avenues of contact. Dowd and Green (2016) lists may different forms of contact and one specific one that I think would work well for the lower grade levels is the newsletter. This can be printed and sent digitally and would work for all parent preferences (p. 64). According to Friedman (2019), schools in low income areas utilize technology in less productive ways and I think this is definitely an area to look at in future discussions of technology tools for education.
Dowd, H., & Green, P. (2016). CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT IN THE DIGITAL AGE: Effective practices for technology-rich learning spaces. Columbia, SC: Dowd Green EDU.
Friedman, S., (2019). How teachers use technology in the classroom. The Journal. https://thejournal.com/articles/2019/04/15/how-teachers-use-technology-in-the-classroom.aspx