Monday, September 29, 2008

Parent Collaboration - Reflection # 5

Collaborating with parents is so important. I often wonder how can we do a better job. I first came upon Parents as Partners website that covers the topic from head to toe. In addition to the website, they have a regular webcast with Ed Tech Talk. It broadcasts on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month and shares best practices in engaging parents and teachers in conversations about families and schools. Check in Monday 9:00 pm EST. The hosts for the show are Lorna Costantini, Matt Montagne and Rhoda Cipparone.

Then I read Jeff Utecht's blog post on Parent Conmmunication: From Print to Digital. As teachers move from paper newsletters to online communication, he offers 5 great suggestions on how to communicate in a digital format.

One of our principal's goal this year is to reduce the amount of copies made in the school. I think this is a great first step!

photo citation: .p a n e.

7 comments:

Karen Janowski said...

Beth,
So great to see you blogging again. You bring a perspective that is not often heard in the blogosphere.

Looking forward to more of your posts!

Beth Lloyd said...

Thanks, Karen. I transition from summer to September slowly! I am back on track now.

Jeff, thank you for your follow up comment. Unfortunately, I pushed the reject button instead of "accept" when I was moderating the comments (way too early in the morning.) It wasn't "mistake tolerant", so I lost it. I copied and pasted it for my next post to talk about stat counters...

School System Occupational Therapist in Virginia said...

Will be interested in reading about digital communication with parents since our county just instituted Edline for parents to monitor progress. However, I do not like working with the computer instead of working with students and digital communication necessitates this. Maybe we can all get those treadmill workstations like the Mayo Clinic...

Karen
www.OTinPublicSchools.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Beth,
I enjoyed your reflections and the photos along with them! Your ideas are leading me to some of my own with adult learners.
Joannie

Beth Lloyd said...

Karen, I hope you glanced at Jeff Utecht's post. His first suggestion in digital communication with parents is "shorter is better". You might not even have time to hop on that treadmill workstation!

Joan, so glad you can apply the information to your adult learners!

Anonymous said...

I live in Salt Lake City, Utah -- I love your BLOG -- I have been reading it for about 6 months. I am an administrator for school counseling and so much of what you write applies to my education world.
Judy Petersen

Beth Lloyd said...

Judy,

Thanks so much for you comment...it's always nice to know someone is reading!