Dynamic Communication
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Coaching learners to initiate communication with all stakeholders as they advocate for themselves and others
All students take advisement, which is a daily 20-minute class. In advisement, there are "lesson days" every Wednesday. There are lessons that every grade gets, and other lessons that are tailored to specific grade levels.
One of the first lessons every year for 9th-grade advisement classes, such as mine, is a lesson on writing an email to teachers - or a professional email in general. "Just like any other skill, learning to send a meaningful, accurate, and polite email must be taught" (Gracey 2020). Students are shown ineffective examples of emails and are asked to identify what is wrong with them.
This interactive lesson is delivered via Nearpod. Our school advisement leadership team created the lesson, but each teacher is able to alter it as needed for their class. In the video above, I talk through a preview of the Nearpod.
Much time is spent studying and describing relationships in education. Largely, this is centered on student-to-teacher relationships and teacher-to-parent relationships. As students grow older, I feel that it is very important to make sure a third relationship, student-to-parent, becomes stronger.
In order to facilitate student-to-parent communication, I created progress update worksheets. Students fill these out at the end of every unit. I keep them, but I send home a copy via mail and/or email. Though this is not as in-depth as student-led conferencing, it opens up the opportunity for more communication.
In an Edutopia article by Ashley Cronin, she states that student-led conferencing can "[e]ngage families in richer, more transparent conversations about student progress," and I believe these progress updates are the first step in that direction. These prompts have helped me when placing phone calls, emailing, or sending a message - serving as a conversation starter. Usually, the conversation starts something like this:
"Hello [parent/guardian name], I hope you have had time to review [students name] recent progress update. He/she/they indicated that you and I can help him/her/them by [information from student response]. Today I wanted to speak with you about how we can support [student name] and how we can work together as a student, teacher, and parent team to help him/her/them to improve."
As I continue using this prompt, I will begin moving closer toward student-led conferencing, especially with ELL students since I cannot verbally communicate with many of their parents myself.
In the past, specifically during virtual learning when GCPS was asynchronous, I used youcanbookme.com so students could book a time to Zoom with me for help. This school year, I began using a Google Form for students to request extra help. Students might be needing to make up a test or a lab activity, or they may prefer tutoring with me over other teachers and are unable to attend at my designated weekly tutoring session.
The Google Form requires students to describe why they need additional help, and I ask them to check any times that they can receive that help. The Google Form emails me any time that a response is submitted. This Form is linked to a QR code on a bulletin board in my classroom, embedded in a widget on my eClass page and is also on my Google Classroom page in a course resources folder, so students can easily access it when they are in need.
Communicating curricula to ensure resources are leveraged for best outcomes
The first way to communicate curricula with students and parents each school year is the syllabus. The syllabus is provided on paper at our schedule pick up day in July, on the first day of school, and at the curriculum night in September. A digital copy is available on Google Classroom and is updated as needed. Notifications regarding updates to the syllabus are communicated via e-mail, progress reports, and Remind messaging.
The syllabus informs stakeholders of the content to be learned, includes a link to the course AKS (curricula), details the grading for the course, and lists additional resources including department tutoring times.
Weekly schedules are posted on the Gwinnett LMS (eClass) as well as the Google Classroom page. Students, parents, and case managers are able to check this schedule to see what the specific learning activities will be. This allows absent students to know what they've missed, and complete the assignment digitally if available.
Upcoming dates are included on weekly schedule announcements when relevant, and are also communicated to all stakeholders via e-mail, progress reports, and Remind messaging. Students are notified through the LMS if a weekly schedule announcement has been updated. Weekly schedules are consistently posted on Friday evenings for the following week.
Failure letters are sent home at the 6-week, 9-week, 12-week, and 15-week points each semester in addition to the progress reports that are sent home every week for each course, and the mastery-focused student progress updates I send at the end of every unit. These failure letters are sent home via mail and email. Rather than simply informing the parent that their student is failing, the letter also indicates contributing reasons for the student's score. On the 6-week, 9-week, and 12-week versions, a tutoring schedule is included as is a list of tasks for promotion of student success. On the 15-week version, information about alternative credit for the course is provided.
Modeling and nurturing effective communication strategies to build relationships with all stakeholders
A major timesaver for teachers, Talking Points is a communication system that translates messages into many different languages and can be used on a phone or a computer. This is ideal for teachers who work with English Language Learners.
"Talking Points can help give individual teachers more options in reaching out to families directly rather than relying on an intermediary" (Breiseth 2021). Talking Points breaks down the language barrier and allows quicker contact between stakeholders, which is especially valuable when communicating matters such as due dates, student progress and behavior, and other reminders that do not warrant a planned meeting with an interpreter present.
Talking Points has allowed me to communicate with parents and students in thirteen different languages easily and in a timely manner.
Routine parent emails are an integral part of nurturing effective communication in my classroom. I begin the year with a simple welcome letter including pictures and a few details about myself, so students and parents can learn some about me.
When I send home emails, I tend to get responses from parents, even if it is just thanking me for the update. As I have talked to other teachers, it seems that those who do not regularly send updates (aside from progress reports) do not receive as much contact from parents.
Terri Eichholz states that teachers should "[m]ake it a point to communicate frequently and positively so that you have already developed a relationship before you hit bumps in the road." Even if the frequent contact is as simple as shown here, I believe it makes parents feel that the teacher is more accessible and they are then more likely to be responsive when/if a problem does arise.
Because not all parents routinely check email, I also send shorter, more personalized updates via Remind, Talking Points, or a phone call.
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