#BetterTogether: High and Low Tech Ways to Stay Connected With Students, Families

March 18, 2020 by Heather McGowan Leave a Comment

Fellow educators—well, we’ve certainly had a fun couple of weeks, right? It’s an understatement to say that the coronavirus (COVD19) has rocked our worlds.

While you’re still in the midst of determining how your schools can continue to deliver education to your students, staying tuned for more emerging details (including how long your schools will need to remain closed, whether standardized testing will proceed, etc.), and feeding your most needy students, there is something that will remain constant: your relationships with your students.

First, while parents are in the process of learning how to home school their children, as educators, you are likely grappling with a number of emotions, and the first is probably missing your students. While scheduled school breaks offer a needed reprieve from work duties, and leave you feeling energized when you return to the classroom, this unexpected (and undetermined) break has likely filled you with some anxiety, possibly some depression, mourning, and has also taken away a huge part of your daily purpose. All of these feelings can sap creativity and drive, and my hope is that the ideas I’m offering in this post will help inspire you and bring a little spring back in your step. Whether you’re a school principal or a teacher, your relationships with your students is what is at the core of why they succeed, why they want to be lifelong learners, and why you’re an amazing educator.

How do you keep relationships with students going when schools are closed?

I’m going to spend the next few weeks curating some of the best ideas that will likely emerge across the nation, but I wanted to share some ideas with you now, in case it may help with your current efforts. And, because your parents and students have varying access to the internet and computers, I’m offering both high and low tech approaches.

Something to note: A lot of parents have smart phones…they may not have computers or wifi, but in a survey that I did of a high poverty district in California, 95% of the parents had smart phones. Based on comparing notes with other school communication colleagues, this number is consistent across the state. So, at the very least, most parents have some kind of access to online technology, but it’s also important to keep in mind the other 5% who do not.

Keep following this page for updates, and check in on my social media pages for more ideas.

Low-tech ways to stay connected with your students

Call them! A personal telephone call is a great way for your students to get a personal touch from you, and for them to hear your voice. It’s also a great way to check in with parents to find out if they have access to computers and wifi to determine ongoing tech needs. If you’re comfortable, ask your students to give you a call, if they need to talk. You may have some students who are in home or life situations who found school to be a necessary escape, and may need to have that check-in with you. Also use this as an opportunity to remind students and parents about community and district services that are available to provide food, health and other services.
Write them a letter: As long as mail delivery continues, writing your students a letter will be a wonderful, unexpected surprise in their mail box. Check in with your school site or district regarding mailing the letters or getting reimbursed for your personal costs.
Email: A weekly/biweekly email to your students and their parents is a great way to stay connected. Provide them ideas for continued learning and share some fun things you’ve been doing at home.

Hi-tech ways to stay connected with your students

Videos: Consider using video to do the things with students that involve you at the front of the classroom—for TK and kindergarteners, this could be your welcome time (weather, counting, letter of the day, etc.) and reading a story, for lower grades, this could be providing directions on art work/a project, reading a story, explaining math concepts, etc. For middle and high school teachers, this could be some of your facilitated learning approaches and explanation of concepts. PE teachers, this is where you’ll rock: do a virtual dance party, show students how you’re staying active while school is closed, demonstrate the proper way to lift weights…the list goes on.
Video chat: For group video conferencing, Skype, Hangouts, Hangouts Meets and Zoom are good free options. Consider scheduling smaller group chats to keep the chat environment manageable. Ask your students to send you pictures, videos so that you can share them out with each group. Here is a list of a number of tech tools that will help with presentations, collaborations and chats: https://techagainstcoronavirus.com/

Community-building

Keep traditions going: Spirit weeks can go home with fun approaches that also engage social media—check out this example from Empire Oaks Elementary School’s PTA:

Celebrations: Do you celebrate your students at school? Don’t stop celebrating them because they aren’t there. Here are some ideas:
- Provide parents some ideas of what they can do to celebrate their children-as-students at home. Citizenship, helping others, and other character traits should continue to be celebrated, and in the trenches of these transitions, parents may need a helpful reminder that their children love being recognized for what they’re doing well.
- Ask parents to tell you if their child is excelling at something so that you can verbally recognize them when you send a video or do a group chat. For older students, ask them what they’ve been doing well so they can celebrate together.
- Taking a page from the summer reading programs, have your students/parents submit a reading log and recognize students who have read for the most number of minutes. If you have permission to post this online, put together a social media post recognizing your top readers (Canva is an excellent, easy to use, and free program for this). You could do the same with math and other subjects.
Class Stuffed Animal (good for TK, kinder and lower grades): Well, since the class stuffed animal isn’t going home, he or she is probably feeling a little lonely! Ask your students (with mom and dad’s help) to send pictures and videos of themselves with their stuffed animals, or schedule a stuffed animal video chat with a fun story.
A note about high school traditions: I’m not ignoring them, as there are so many incredible high school traditions focused on togetherness—proms, grad walks, senior breakfasts—and your students, especially seniors, are likely feeling deep disappointment about the possibility (or reality) that those events will be rescheduled or even cancelled. If you’re already cooking up ideas on how your school will be approaching this, please provide those ideas in the comment box, and I’ll also add those ideas to this post.

Note to School Districts: Don’t stop celebrating your schools and staff because of school closures. Ask teachers, staff to send you pictures, videos of what they’re doing and curate those examples into stories about how your district is continuing to educate and keep your school communities connected.

These are just a few ideas, and I’ll continue to collect more.

Please leave some of your favorite ideas in the comment box or on my social media, and I’ll add them to this post!

Essential Content That Every Teacher Should Have on Their Website

July 24, 2019 by Heather McGowan Leave a Comment

We are in the communication age—as such, most people will first seek to find information online.

Websites are an excellent way to provide information to parents in a 24-7 format, which saves you time in the long run.

Websites can be a natural extension of your classroom where worksheets can be downloaded, homework information can be posted, reminders and important dates are available, and more.

Tips for Success

Keep your content updated—this will encourage parents to visit more frequently.
Use images and photos to bring life to your website.
Let your personality shine through on your website, but balance this with professionalism.
Clearly communicate information in a succinct and easy-to-find format

Teacher Website Content Checklist

Welcome message (on home page)
Classroom Wish List
Student Supply List
Back to School Night Presentation (saved as a pdf so it can be downloaded)
Parent Teacher Conference Information
Daily Schedule
Classroom Policies and Expectations
Teacher Newsletters: Your website is a great place to keep an archive of these for the year so parents can easily re-locate the information
Grade and Homework Policies
Clearly labeled assignments (and downloadable assignments, where possible). Note to secondary teachers: organize this by periods/courses
Important Dates/Events
Link to School Calendar
Resources (based on the subjects you teach)
Helpful Websites

Demystifying the kindergarten experience: Yes, it’s still fun!

January 29, 2019 by Heather McGowan 1 Comment

kindergarten students

Kindergarten…it’s a time filled with memories of the smells of paste (who wasn’t tempted to eat it at one point in time), imaginary play (house, anyone?), learning how to sit still (I still remember my yarn place on the floor), and listening to stories. I remember learning how to use scissors, writing letters, and even learning how to read.

Over the past couple of years, a number of stories about kindergarten have made their way around social media—many with a negative slant about the state of kindergarten in our nation, calling it “too academic” and with calls for more “play based learning”. I’m not arguing that play-based learning isn’t important, but such stories bring up images of five and six year old children sitting in straight-backed chairs, repeating times tables and engaging in rote memorization activities.

As a mother of three children ages 13, 11 and five, I have struggled with these stories, particularly as I interact with younger mothers who have not had experience with the school system yet, and are afraid that kindergarten will suck the joy of learning out of their children. These stories don’t align with my children’s kindergarten experiences from 8 and 6 years ago (my youngest starts kindergarten next year).

As a marketing and PR consultant for school districts, I also felt like these stories were off base—I have walked through a number of kindergarten classrooms throughout the state of California over the past few years and have found children engaging in art, some academics (for the record, children actually do enjoy learning things like math, science and letters…and savvy and creative kindergarten teachers make this learning fun and engaging), with a balance of play time and lots of social emotional learning time where students discover different ways to manage conflict, make respectful and responsible choices, and learn how to be independent and interdependent in different ways. This hardly sounds like the stuff that would break children’s sweet spirits or ruin their love for lifetime learning.

Yes, kindergarten has changed over the years, and no, I’m not blind to the fact that every child’s and parent’s story will be different–there will be some who have incredibly positive experiences, and others who have negative experiences…and then there are all the stories in between.

Yet, the PR and marketing consultant side of me desired to highlight positive kindergarten stories from colleagues in districts throughout the state of California. And guess what? Kindergarteners still get to have fun, move around, be creative…and they even get more hands-on learning experiences than we did in school!

Before I provide some great examples of kindergarten classes from around the state of California, here are some tips on how to turn around negative or false perceptions of the kindergarten experience:

Create videos of your kindergarteners in action: Video is the best way to showcase the experience of busy and active students
Hold a kindergarten parent information night: Rocklin Unified held an excellent info fair for TK and kindergarten parents, and included booths from the school’s library and other services. See the video here.
Provide kindergarten parents an opportunity to tour kindergarten classrooms: Parents want to see a kindergarten class in action so they can visualize their child in the classroom. This can remove the mystery of “what will my child be doing all day?” from their mindset about kindergarten.
Appoint a school ambassador to answer incoming kindergarten parents’ questions: Find a current kindergarten parent (or two) and a kindergarten teacher who would be willing to be the point of contact for incoming kindergarten parents. Although your office staff can answer questions, they don’t always have the comforting voice of someone with recent experience in that classroom. Also make sure that these people are scanning local social media groups for questions from parents and providing accurate answers.
Develop a kindergarten welcome kit: In addition to registration information, include a “What to expect in kindergarten” and FAQ page, along with contact information in case parents have additional questions. Take a poll of current kindergarten families and ask for some shareable quotes to find out what they wished they could have known about kindergarten, and make sure you include those answers in your welcome kit, as well as some great testimonial quotes.
Consider adding a “New Kindergarten Parent” tab on your schools’, district’s websites: Make sure parents feel welcome and can find information easily on your websites–include the info that you would include in the welcome kit, a video, tour opportunities, and contact information. Include an inquiry form that parents can complete if they want more information or if would like to request a tour.

Note: Ensure that these resources and opportunities are available to parents a couple of months before kindergarten registration.

Here are some great examples kindergarten classrooms across the state! Many thanks to Harry Katcher of Poway Unified School District, Jason Scholl (formerly of Los Altos School District), and Diana Capra of Rocklin Unified School District for sharing these examples from their districts.

Hour of Code-Poway Unified School District, Chaparral Elementary

Who knew kindergarteners could learn to code? Well, when your teacher helps you learn how to use a BeeBot to move to pictures and letters, you get to have a 21^st Century hands-on learning experience!

Picture used with permission from the Poway Unified School District.

Los Altos School District: Offering an active and engaging kindergarten experience

Check out this video to see how kindergarten students move, create, experience outdoor gardening, lead, and thrive in a nurturing kindergarten environment.

Rocklin Unified School District: Singing Kindergarten Teacher at Breen Elementary

Winter Hungerford, a Rocklin Kindergarten teacher, engages her students with music. Winter believes strongly in using music to engage all students in learning. She also believes music is linked to improved cognitive function, increased language development from an early age, and positive social interaction. Click on the picture below to view the video.

Rocklin Unified School District: Valley View STEM Lab for Kindergarteners

Instead of doing self-made science experiments by eating paste, these kindergarten students get to learn about science in their own science lab. Click on the picture below to view the video.

If you have some examples of how your district makes kindergarten fun, nurturing, engaging and an overall positive learning experience for your youngest students, please send me an email!