TL;DR: Your community is on social media now more than ever. If you’re not utilizing social media to communicate with students, stakeholders, and staff, you’re not using a potentially valuable tool. In the “new world” of COVID-19, people are turning to social media even more. You should be there. There is so much value in simply listening to your community. … Read More
Best Practices for Communicating with Families
TL;DR: Strategies for best communication practices, including being proactive, making time for what’s important, keeping it simple, and being consistent. Using ClassDojo, ClassTag, SeeSaw, Remind, emails, phone calls, notes, postcards, and social media as tools to communicate and stay connected with families. Now more than ever, parents and teachers need to work as a team for the benefit of our … Read More
Using Videos To Communicate with Stakeholders
TL;DR: Using videos to communicate with stakeholders is an underused tool that provides many benefits! You can record and edit videos easily on your smartphone, and share with stakeholders by posting on your LMS, social media, or even sending a letter with a QR code link to the file. Don’t spend too much time making your videos perfect; just be … Read More
Tools for Digital Communication with Students and Families
TL;DR: Communicating with students and their families is necessary to fully support students. Tools for digital communication include Remind, Google Classroom, emails, Seesaw, Flipgrid, Google Meet, ClassDojo, ClassTag, and more! When we think about a normal school day, we as teachers spend hours each day with our students. Then our students go home and spend hours with their families. This … Read More
SEL in the New Normal
TL;DR: Planning for social emotional learning in the new normal. Strategies to prioritize SEL and the whole child, including being flexible, focusing on social issues and changes, checking in with others and meeting them with empathy, and ensuring that we are taking time to understand where students are at in their learning. “New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings” … Read More