Communicating with Your Students
Our role as teachers relies heavily upon communicating with our students. This involves communicating information through speaking and writing, as well as using our body to demonstrate and model various thoughts and ideas. Educators need to know the most effective way to communicate so that we can inspire, engage, and reach as many of our students as possible at any given moment. In addition to our own communication with our students we need to be able to foster and develop the communication skills between the students in our classrooms. Taking advantage of the different modes of communication allows for us to cast a wide net to grab the attention of as many as we can.
Badges
This is not an exhaustive list of tools that you can use to build communication skills with your students. The list below is there to help get you started or further your growth with this instructional practice. If you have a tool that you would like us to consider adding, please click on this Suggest a Badge Form.
Kaizena
Kaizena allows students and teachers to communicate via voice comments on Google Docs. Providing evidence of your use of this tool with one or more students will reward you with the Kaizena badge.
Gmail
Gmail can be used to interact with students and tends to be the most basic form of communication we can participate in outside of a traditional face to face conversation. The benefits of an email conversation include having a written record of that interaction as well as the ability for all participants to take the time that they need to process and reflect upon the content.
Classroom
Google Classroom is the one stop shop for creating and managing online classes, distributing assignments, communicating with your students, and keeping everything organized.
Google Groups
Google Groups can be used as a space for you and your students to collaborate and have discussions online regarding any particular topic in the form of different threads. The settings for creating these discussion groups vary widely and you can take advantage of what will work for you and your classroom.
Comments
Providing direct feedback to students from within a document can be no easier than using comments. Comments in a Google Doc, Sheet, Slide, or Drawing allow for users to attach suggestions directly to specific text in a document.
Hangouts
Google Hangouts is a conferencing/communication tool that will allow you to connect with many people at once while using text, voice, or video chat. Any combination of those options can be used at any given time by any user. The ability for participants to share their screen and for the organizer to save the online sessions are also possible.
Vocaroo
Vocaroo is a quick and easy way to share and download voice messages.
EdPuzzle
EDpuzzle lets users create their own video in a safe environment and is ideal for project based learning (PBL) as well as flipping a classroom. Also, it allows educators to create videos for guided learning and allows them to assess students by adding questions. Finally, it can be used by any educator to integrate into any curriculum or subject.
Piktochart
Communication is about knowing the right way to present an idea. In today's world of Big Data, often the best way to communicate information is through infographics. It's easy to create beautiful data visualizations with Piktocharts drag-and-drop infographic builder. (web-based & iPad app)
Screencastify
Screencastify is a free Chrome extension that allows students to create simple screencasts. It's integrated with Google Drive, so whatever students create online can be recorded, explained, stored in their Drive, and submitted with a link. (web-based)
Chatterkids
Simply take any photo, draw a line to make a mouth, and record your voice. Then share your students' Pix with friends and family as silly greetings, playful messages, creative cards, or even fancy book reports. (iPad app only)
Book Creator App
Book Creator is the simple way to make your own beautiful ebooks, right on your iPad. These books could include picture books, comic books, photo books, journals, and more. This open-ended, universal tool allows teachers to cross content areas seamlessly. This tool allows narration, images and video and exports nicely to Google
Magnetic ABC
It's the iPad edition of the old fashioned magnetic board suitable for kids of all ages! It comes with a rich set of colored pieces that can be placed freely on the board: letters, numbers, symbols, funny figures and themed sets. It aids in teaching students their alphabets/numbers, a learning tool in teaching one how to spell or represent numbers!
Seesaw
Seesaw is a student-driven digital portfolio that empowers students to independently document what they are learning at school. FEATURES: Easily Capture Student Learning in Any Form ∙ Students can use photos, videos, drawings, text notes, links to show what they know.
Google Sites
Google Sites is a website development tool that teachers can use for the purpose of communicating with both parents and students. Sites can also be used as a space to prepare and deliver the content used in classrooms.
Google Forms
Google Forms can help you plan events, make a survey or poll, give students a quiz, or collect other information in an easy, streamlined way.
Google Forms takes the responses and places the results in a spreadsheet form.
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read short 140 character messages. This can be a wonderful, concise way to capture what is going on in your classroom. Teachers can now use social media to connect their students to real-world problems. An equally powerful component is when students connect globally to current events.
Class Dojo
ClassDojo is a communication app for the classroom. It connects teachers, parents, and students who use it to share photos, videos, and messages through the school day. This is also a great communication tool for how students are behaving in class or if they have turned in their homework.