Saturday, September 13, 2014

Eyes in My Classroom

My classroom door is always open and I welcome everybody who comes in to see all the learning that is occurring inside. I have nothing to hide. I work hard. My students work hard. We love to share the fruits of our labor!

I also feel that the more transparent I am, the more trusting my families are with their most prized possession...their child! 

At the beginning of the year, I send home a parent survey to see which communication methods will reach the majority. I then try to use a variety of communication tools in my room.

My favorite way of communicating is with my classroom facebook page. Last year was the first year I was able to use the page and I received so much positive feedback from my families. I use it to share tidbits of our learning, pictures, news, ways families can be involved at home, and anything that will connect home and school. This seems to be the best tool to allow parents to "see" into our classroom as 21 out of 24 of my parents are on Facebook. I like that Facebook also allows the two way communication as parents can comment and ask questions.

I use Twitter for both myself and my class. After surveying my class last year I found only two of my 22 parents were on Twitter. I decided not to use it as a communication tool, but the exciting part was after our class began using Twitter then a few parents began using it to follow us. This year 5 out of my 24 parents are on Twitter so I still don't think I will use it to disseminate information to parents, but more for my own learning. I do connect our class Twitter to our class facebook page so parents can choose to follow us on Twitter or check out what their child is saying on Facebook.

Each week, I also send home the Tuttle Times with a celebration section, calendar of events, a note from me, and then information about what was taught during the week and where our learning would be going the following week. By sending home this paper, I know that EVERY parent will receive classroom information. While it is only a one way communication tool, it at least provides connection between home and school.

Of course email and phone calls are utilized too!

What is your favorite form of parent communication?
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