Improving Parent Communication with Technology

Summer 2006 Workshop

Course Introduction

• Instructor• Participants• Registration for Credit

• Jenny will discuss issues in obtaining credit• Sign-in Sheets Provided Daily• Assignments Collected Daily &/or on Friday• Parent Communication Tools

• Teacher Websites• Class Newsletters• PowerPoint Presentation for Special Occasions• Parent Letters and Surveys• Phone Logs• Online Resources for supporting student learning

• Overview/Introduction• Course Requirements

•Daily Journal•Attendance•Presentations and Products from Activities

• Best Practices in Parent Communication/Involvement

•Brainstorm Communication using Inspiration in groups

• Focus on Web-based Parent Communication Tools• Explore Teacher Created Websites

•Group exploration and creation activities• Develop a Personal Plan for Improved

Communication• EZ Website Introduction and Website Creation• Daily reflection/journal assignment

Agenda – Day 1

Best Practices in Parent Communication/Involvement

Guiding Question: What are examples of Best Practices in Parent Communication? What technology could you use to create, encourage, and/or support each practice?

Divide into small groups of 4-5Brainstorm a list of Parent Communication Practices

• Use Inspiration to create a web of practices• Add second level symbols &/or Notes describing Technology

use

Prepare to present your findings• Save your presentation to the shared folder for this course• Use Inspiration webs to share

Activity 1 –Parent Communication and Support with Teacher Websites

Guiding Question: What role can the web play in school-home communication?

Divide into small groupsExamine list of web sites

• Parent-Focused Examples• Instructional Extensions• General Content

Prepare presentation of findings• Use PowerPoint or Internet Browser

Teacher-Created Web Content

15%

13%

10%

10%9%

9%

8%

6%

4%

4%

4%4%

4%

E-mail link to teacher

Links (teacher/student/parent)

Classroom projects/activities

Curriculum info

Class photos

Calendar/events

Teacher bio

Newsletter/announcements

Supply List

Field trip photos/info/slips

Spelling lists/word lists/phonics

Classroom policies/expectations

Daily/weekly Schedule

Elementary

Teacher-Created Web Content

Secondary

12%

11%

8%

7%

6%6%5%

5%

5%

5%

5%

5%

4%

4%

4%4% 3%

Links (teacher/student/other)

Course listings/curriculum/syllabus

Teacher bio/information

E-mail link to teacher

Classroom policies/rules

Teacher photos

Grading scale

Teacher quotes/philosophy

Class activities/calendar

Class goals/objectives

Student work/projects/awards/portfolios

Homework/assignments

Class/project/student photos

Webquests/hunts/projects

Supply lists/materials/notebook

Student Club information

Study guides/worksheets

Outstanding Teacher SitesWelcome To Mrs. Schwuchow's ClassNorth Harrison High School Visual Arts DepartmentMr. Allen's MathematicsJourneys to Antarctica & BeyondMr. Smith’s High School World History and Geography

Web Pages Support Learning

Inviting & MeaningfulProvide RelevanceInspire CreativityInform ParentsStrengthen school-home communicationReflect classroom & community

School Web PagesInformation about school & communitySchool calendarSchool rules/student handbookAnnouncementsFaculty & staff Link to district siteLinks to class pagesProjectsWeb sites for parents & studentsSchool achievements & awards

http://www.marshall-es.marshall.k12.tn.us/

http://www.usn.org/

Classroom Web Pages

Class routines, special eventsPhilosophy of learning & teachingHow teacher organizes & implements instructionLinks to school & district

Units taughtOpportunities to publish student writingOpportunities to collaborateSpecial projectsLinks to web sitesClass projects

http://www.jsd.k12.ak.us/hbv/classrooms/Fontanella/fontanejhbvHome.html

http://www.kent.wednet.edu/staff/hbuchwal/index.html

What Do Parents Want?

Whole-Group BrainstormingWhat do parents want to know?What resources, information, pages should we provide?How can teacher websites impact parent communication/involvement?

Activity 2 –Planning Your Website

Guiding Question: What would you like to include in

your website that you feel would improve parent communication and support learning?

Divide into small groups (3 to 4)Review Teacher WebsitesBrainstorm list in MS Word using Numbering or Outlining format of pages/content you will includeShare ideas with class

• Prepare an Inspiration web for participants of ideas

• Print, copy and hand out resultsCircle or Highlight Ideas you would like to pursue on your site

“In the long run, men hit only what they aim at.” -Henry David Thoreau

Annoying Web Site Traits

Whole Group BrainstormingWhat drives you nuts when looking at websites?What drives you nuts when navigating a website?What would keep you from returning to a website?What other traits annoy website visitors?

What does your district say about…

Student photosStudent workCommon contentReviews/authority to publishPublishing processTimelinessFile size limits

Others?

Introduction to EZ Website

Create accountsReview page typesExamine adding special content

PhotosDocumentsCalendar

Work Time

Daily Reflection/Journal

Keep a daily recordClass notesReflectionsWebsites & other resourcesOther information

How do you think a classroom web page can help you improve your personal communication with parents?

National PTA/PTO

National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement ProgramsGuidelines for schools

When parents receive frequent and effective communication from the school or program, their involvement increases, their overall evaluation of educators improves, and their attitudes toward the program are more positive. http://www.pta.org/parentinvolvement/standards/index.asp

Introduction to HTML

HyperText Markup LanguagePlain-text editorWYSIWYG editors

HTML Tags

Use < and > to mark elementsOne-sided

<b>

Two-sided<font size=2>This is arial</font>

AttributesParagraphFontBackground

Markup TagsLinking TagsRequired elements

Basic HTML Document<html> <head> <TITLE>A Simple HTML Example</TITLE> </head> <body> <H1>HTML is Easy To Learn</H1> <P>Welcome to the world of HTML. This is the first paragraph. While short it is still a paragraph!</P> <P>And this is the second paragraph.</P> </body> </html>

Now, let’s try to create our own HTML document!