Parent Communication/Assessment

Parent communication is something that happens daily, if not multiple times a day in my classroom. Usually we use email and/or phone calls to communicate with parents. However, sometimes is it hard to get to the computer to write back or answer the phone during the day; a lot of teachers at my school started using the Remind App this year. I decided to give it a try myself. What I liked about this app was that you could set everyone up in the class but message individual parents or the whole group depending on the message/need. Parents are also able to send messages back or start a new conversation with me on the app. I mainly started using it to send home our daily communication logs. A few of my students go home with charts each day showing their behavior and how they were during each block of the day. I could instantly send them to parents on the app without the fear that a student might be upset by what they see or not even show it to their parents . This way if they have any questions they can reply right back to me on the app and we can address it right there. I found it was a faster way to get the information to them and respond. 

Another aspect of this app I played around with is that you can also add your students and message them on the app too. I think this will be most useful when it comes time for tests. I will be able to send the student a reminder about the test and even attach some helpful studying hints! I could also use this to share student work with parents as well especially work I know they would love to see but I need to keep for data purposes. 

I found this app had many different ways in which you could use it and communicate with parents and students. I really liked how I could use it to help share information as well as communicate with parents. It also keeps your sent messages which I also liked. It makes it easier to go back and refer to anything already sent if I need to. Another positive was that it also has an app version for your phone.  I know some of my families don't have internet access but do have a phone, this way no matter what we can be in contact. You can add your phone number, email or both to your profile to receive messages on. On my end, I didn't see any negatives. However, I did have a student say now that you send reminders I can't pretend to forget about a test or assignment! haha