How do you communicate with the grown-ups of your students? Since technology is here to stay and so many of the grown-ups prefer email, text, or IM, you will need to decide how to send reminders and information to them using technology. Technology to communicate can be confusing but it doesn’t have to be!
Using technology to interact with the students grown-ups, staff, and teachers is a convenient and efficient way to inform of upcoming events, needs of the students, days off, etc. as well as solve problems and issues that may arise. Your school may already have a system in place but here are some I have used.
There are 3 main ones that I have used in my classroom. Remind, Class DoJo, and Bloomz.
Class DoJo
Class DoJo is a program our entire school participated in. This allowed everyone to see what was going on with each child. This system is used to send communication, photos, and documentation safely. We could send messages to the grown-ups as well as staff regarding a particular child. The grown-ups were able to send and receive communication with any staff member. This was our schools preferred method of correspondence. Find out what your school prefers before picking of your own.
Remind
I have used Remind in my classroom and this was my go-to when wanting to quickly and effectively get information to my families. Basically, Remind is a text messaging service that allows the ‘teacher’ to send messages to the grown-ups.
Bloomz
Bloomz is similar to DoJo in the fact that it is a whole school communication program. See if your school subscribes to this program.
All of the school wide communication programs are basically the same. Allowing everyone involved in the students academic world to participate and communicate with one another.
Whichever program you choose to use, remember accurate, timely and consistent communication between grown-ups and teachers is imperative for your students.
Don’t forget about all of the paperwork your grown-ups need to read, fill out, and sign for both your classroom and school. Here is a printable kit for your classroom paperwork needs.
