This is more of a question than a blog post.
I would like to hear from teachers and parents alike. Is technology helping parents and teachers communicate?
I know where I teach there is an online program that we put grades into. Teachers and parents can access this at anytime. Teachers can update grades and leave comments. Parents can look at their child’s grades with a click of the mouse.
Parents and teachers can email daily or hourly if needed. I know I keep in contact with many parents via email.
A classmate of mine in my masters program stated that she does not have as many parents come to conferences because parents can now check grades online. So is there less communication with technology?
So, has technology helped parents and teachers communicate? Please feel free to explain why or why not.
I am a parent and technology has helped me keep track of my kids' grades but I do not think technology has helped me communicate with teachers. I agree with your classmate that if anything, I might tend to see less of the teachers since the grades are online.
ReplyDeleteDLH-
DeleteThank you for your comment. Do you feel that teachers rely on technology and therefore, communicate with you less?
I do think teachers rely on technology more frequently now with the online grade posting and the email. That face to face contact is precious and I think very beneficial. I also think there must be quite a few families that don't have email in our community, and these might be the families that need to be touched base with more frequently.
DeleteDLH-
DeleteI also agree that teachers rely on technology more. I know I do. I love being able to email, call, or text a parent. It is convenient and a response is usually quick.
As a parent, I like being able to check my kids grades whenever I want to, but some teachers do not enter them very often, which is very frustrating. For things like this to work, grades need to be posted at least weekly. I also enjoy being able to email the teachers if I have a question or concern. Sometimes it is easier to email becuase that can be done at anytime of day, not during their prep. BUT, I still like to meet with the teachers face-to-face at conferences. You can't see what your children are doing over the computer. I think that the parents that are going to go to conferences will still go, even with technology. Parents that go to conferences are the parents that are involved in their kids school, and they will go no matter what.
ReplyDeleteM. Taylor,
DeleteWhat would make teacher enter grades weekly? I know personally, at the elementary level we are not required to enter grades weekly. At the middle school and high school level the teachers are supposed to enter grades daily/weekly.
I tend to agree with you, the parents that will go to conferences will still go.
I do like the convience of an email to update a parent. I also am more than willing to meet with parents when needed.
When I was a classroom teacher, I faithfully entered grades on a weekly basis. The school did not require the teachers to do this. I did it for two reasons: it made my job easier when report cards were due and I knew my more conscientious parents checked their child's progress on a weekly basis. In many ways, updating grades this way opened up communication between myself and the parents of most of my students. I knew some teachers who did not post any updates until the week report cards were due and parents were often left feeling blindsided when they received their child's report cards.
DeleteJ. Jacobsen-
DeleteI have to admit, I do not update my grades daily/weekly. A few reasons: My students are on a different grading scale that follows IEPs (Making progress, Needs Improvment, or Good), another reason is we are not required at the elementary level, and the last reason is that I have 28 students on my IEP caseload. I understand 28 is not many when talkin Gen. Ed. when talking SpEd, it is a large class. I have lots of paperwork that goes with each student. I could be making excuses, but those are the reasons that I do not put grades in weekly or daily.
I am a teacher and I love the fact parents can monitor their child's grades and assignments online. I feel it makes students more accountable as far as their school work goes. As for using technology to better communicate with parents, I have found it to be both a curse and a blessing. I can provide a parent updates on their child's academic progress and behavior through e-mail, but it is not the same as meeting the parents face to face to talk about their child's learning. On the other hand, communicating with parents using various forms of technology may be the only contact I have with the parents who do not come to parent-teacher conferences or other school functions during the year. I do agree that the involved parents will utilize both technology and the personal meetings with the teacher in order to stay abreast of their child's education.
ReplyDeleteJ. Jacobsen-
DeleteI have not thought about students being more accountable because parents can check grades. You make a good point. If parents can check grades they are up todate on what grade their student has. There are no surprises come mid-term or quarter.
I do like email, I am a able to contact parents whenever I have a moment and parents in turn are able to contact me if they need.
Do you see less attendence of PTC because of technology?
In my experience, I did have a couple of parents who did not attend conferences because we e-mailed each other on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. In fact, I never did meet these parents face-to-face at all that year. Our communication was strictly through e-mail and phone calls. Oddly enough, these were the parents I wished I was able to meet face-to-face because their students struggled both academically and behaviorally.
DeleteJ. Jacobsen-
DeleteThank you for sharing.
In my experience I have found that parents that want to visit with me both email and come to PTC. I do have some parents who would rather meet with "the real teacher" as it was put to me. I understand that I am a specialist, however I do see the students more than many general ed. teachers. I do have some amazing parents of students who support school and Special Olympimcs, these are the parents who come to PTC and email.
I have not had parents who only email who do not come to PTC. They do both. I have parents who come to PTC, who do not email.
I beleive everything works successfully in moderation. I have done intervention now work as a long term substitute and have been in various situations where there are times when its complete technology and no face to face and others where it is just face to face. Having a balance is necessary for you to not be overwhelmed by a parent everyday when you have over 20 other kids to split your time between, or just completely done with technology and no face to face time.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at it, businesses use skype and other ways to communicate with seeing other peoples faces, therefore why should it be different in school where we are preparing kids by example for thier future.
Everything in moderation makes it work the best I beleive and we shouldn't put all of our eggs into one basket!
Traci-
ReplyDeleteThank you for your share!
I like how you brought about the importance of moderation and balance.
Do you feel that you found this in your jobs?