Examples of on-going communication throughout the school year
Lesson 1: What to include in early communication with families
Objective: Students will learn how to establish an early connection with families through communication.
Overview: After establishing a resource in technology to use for on-going communication with families, it is time to establish that connection! In this lesson, you will watch a video that includes tips for communicating with families. You will then put these tips to the test, and create a welcome message for your families!
Watch: Communication with families
Key Takeaways:
This video included many tips for success by way of "deposits" into an emotional piggy bank. Here are some of those key takeaways, and how they can contribute to successful on-going communication with your families:
- Early Communication
- By establishing an early connection with families, teachers can begin to build trust from the start of the school year. This allows families to get more comfortable communicating with teachers throughout the school year, leading to more open communication
- Positive Communication
- Many families want to hear and be involved with as much of their student's learning as possible, as they should! Sometimes, communication to families can be a celebration of learning, not just the necessary information! By keeping positive, on-going communication that sheds light on positive student learning and interactions, families will feel comfortable and safe, as well as involved. With media permission, photos are a great way to promote this!
- Clear Expectations
- These are necessary for avoiding any miscommunication between school and home. Establishing clear expectations comes in two forms: with families and within the classroom. Expectations with families may include but are not limited to: which method to contact the teacher, what hours/days to contact, homework expectations. Expectations in the classroom that may also be shared through communication include: classroom rules, materials to have, seating arrangements, technology usage.
- Listen/Build Trust
- It is important not to take every question or comment from families personally, as they come often with open communication. As I mentioned earlier, many families want to stay involved with their child's learning, and are oftentimes looking to enhance it as much as possible. By listening and validating a family's concerns, they know they can trust you to help them. Not every ask is possible to make happen, but listening, understanding, and having empathy in these situations is vital to positive relationship building.
Exit Ticket: Choose one of the key takeaways from the YouTube video. Then, create a short example of a note, post, or piece of information that highlights the use of that key takeaway. Then, explain why this key takeaway is important to involve when communicating with families.
Lesson 2: Creating a Welcome Email
Objective: Design and edit a welcome email to families that example some of the "deposits" shown in the previous video.
Information: Something that can be very helpful in this process would be to a create a contact list of all families emails that have been collected before the school year. This way, no families will be accidentally excluded from the email list. This can be done through Google Contacts, or simply a document of some sort with a list of all family emails. *Note: be sure to check for certain factors such as marital statuses/custody, immigration status/languages used, etc. These factors may affect the way you establish your initial email, and who exactly you send the emails to. Your school should have a list of each student that includes this information.
Activity: Begin conducting your email on a blank Google Document before placing it in an actual email. This way, any edits can be made without accidentally sending the message early.
Example: Welcome Email to Families
Email To Families- Blank Google Document
Exit Ticket: When you have completed your email, include any necessary edits and changes, please copy and paste it into an actual message, with me as the recipient.
Reflection: After this unit, we have gotten the opportunity to put what we learned to the test by creating a welcome email to families to begin the school year. Hopefully, this will create a welcoming and comfortable environment that will allow families to openly engage in communication with you when necessary. As it is difficult to predict the future of what your families can do, it is mainly important to keep those key takeaways from the videos in mind when getting the opportunity to communicate with families. In the next unit, we will use technology to communicate with families in a different way and in a different place. We will take a look at how to organize student work with technology to efficiently showcase it to families during parent-teacher conferences.
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