The trouble with parents is...
...they never turn up!
How many of us find it hard to get parents to attend learning events at school (beyond the sports events)?
There can be for a number of legitimate reasons they don't/wont/can't attend (time, comfort, relevance), so to address this, there a growing number of school leaders and teachers taking the next step to contact parents/whānau and care-givers personally. They're using cellphones, Facebook and messaging services to keep parents up-to-date and informed about their child's learning - including the good bits!
Building Relationships Through the Use of Technology is a great blog post illustrating "how technology can enhance, amplify, and accelerate leadership" where one school leader highlights the power of connecting with students by personally responding to their blogs online.
How have you (teachers/leaders) used technology to engage with students and parents - to increase their confidence, attendance, interaction and participation with school? We'd love to hear more. 
Replies
- Allanah King (View all users posts) 19 Aug 2015 11:06am ()
I was thrilled yesterday to get a comment on the class blog in regards some published student stories in Storybird
http://moturoa.blogspot.co.nz/2015/08/storybird-competition.html
To get there I had sent an actual piece of paper home with the kids inviting the parents to comment on and vote on their favourite piece of writing.
http://moturoa.blogspot.co.nz/2015/08/blog-post.html
http://moturoa.blogspot.co.nz/2015/08/the-after-play-writers-workshop.html
It is great also that one parent decided to give it a go as well and wrote their own book at home with the child and invited me to collaborate on it as well.
#alwayslearning
- Tessa Gray (View all users posts) 27 Aug 2015 11:29am ()
Nice one Allanah, the stories are so visually appealing and it's amazing to think that this inspired some further learning at home. Yayyy
Having a short voting polls is also a good way to encourage interaction from parents/whānau too.
- Clive Francis (View all users posts) 19 Aug 2015 10:22am ()
It would indeed be good to hear of some practical things schools are doing.
This collection of infographics about parent engagement may be of interest - http://engagingparentsinschool.edublogs.org/2013/08/20/the-best-infographics-about-parent-involvement/
According to a talk by Abdul Chohan from UK's ESSA Academy, providing really good food and plenty of opportunity for guided conversation and discussion is a good way to get parents turning up and engaged!
As a parent, I'm really happy when my child's teacher emails me - just a quick touch point gives me a sense that we are working together to help my child on an individual, personal level.
- Tessa Gray (View all users posts) 27 Aug 2015 11:26am ()
Thanks for this link and personal view as a parent Clive. Great infographic too. Te Toi Tupu is about to release a good-news story where one secondary principal made contact with every family/whānau in his school by personally phoning each and every one of them. Their attendance for reporting sessions went from 16% to a whopping 86%. I'll post this in here once the story goes live.
Food and care for the kids too, is often a good way to encourage parents in for meetings. Like you Clive, I also love getting the emails from my son's teachers - whether it's a whole class email or personal contact, it's always a timely way to connect.
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