Increased parental engagement will help your one-to-one program succeed

Communicating with parents can lead to better relationships between parents and the school, and it can also decrease negative behaviors in students.  Better communication can also lead to academic gains for the students.  If your school is building a one-to-one program, one often-neglected aspect is the focus on improving your communication with parents.

The research on school-parent communication can be grouped into five different categories:

1. Communication flows from the teacher to the parents in an effort to keep the parents informed of school and classroom activities.
2. Communication flows from parents to the teacher to educate the teacher as to how to best reach their children.
3. Communication helps to build strong relationships between the parents and the school.
4. Using one communication method is not effective, especially when using technology.
5. Students have fewer instances of negative behaviors when their parents are involved in their schoolwork.

The most common form of parent-teacher communication is when information is sent to parents by the teacher, usually in the form of a newsletter or an email.  This type of information is important to parents because they want to stay connected.  Nora Carr wrote, “they [parents] greatly appreciate frequent updates about their children’s progress—as well as online access to homework assignments, grades, attendance, discipline reports, teacher notes, and student portfolios.”

One aspect of communication that is often ignored by teachers is the information that can be gained from listening to a parent.  Teachers are often seen as the expert who knows what is best for the child, and they offer advice to the parent on how to best help their child learn.  A great deal can be learned from the parent if the teacher only knew to ask.  Parents will become truly engaged in their child’s learning if they are treated like a partner in their education.  Kevin Mixon wrote, “when working on National Board certification ... two-way communication is an area of weakness for most teachers.”  Larry Ferlazzo wrote this:

“In involvement, the teacher might be akin to a social worker, doing things for parents or tending to tell them what they should be doing with their children. In engagement, the teacher is more of an organizer who helps parents do things for themselves. He or she would elicit ideas from parents about what everyone (parents and school staff) could do differently to support students and their community.”

Building strong relationships helps build trust and helps facilitate meaningful conversations between parents and teachers.  This can be done by having conversations unrelated to specific children and instead everyone can discuss education and/ or parenting as a whole.  David Ruenzel wrote that his school holds potluck dinners where parents and teachers can just sit and talk in a less formal setting, and while misunderstanding still occur it happens less frequently.

Different technology should be used in different situations and to reach different audiences.  Due to a wide variety of conditions that affect families - socioeconomic status, technology skill level, personal preference related to communication - there is a need to utilize technology that can be accessed through multiple means to meet everyone’s needs.  Schoology offers teachers the ability to connect via email, a website, or through an app that is accessible on Android and iOS phones and tablets.  The increase in smartphone adoption has greatly assisted in reaching parents of all types.  Nora Carr wrote, “America’s smartphone obsession cuts across gender lines as well as racial and ethnic groups. Women are about as likely as men to own smart phones (45 percent versus 46 percent, respectively), while smartphone ownership rates among blacks (47 percent) and Hispanics (49 percent) surpasses those of whites (42 percent).”  Teachers also need to be trained on how to best utilize technology to communicate, and school policies often have to change to match the changes in technology.  The state of Illinois' rule requiring one instance of making contact with a parent per year is outdated, especially in this era of hyper-communication.

Increased participation by a parent in their children’s lives has been shown to have a positive effect on the child’s behavior.  It can help reduce the number of Fs students receive and the number of discipline problems that are documented by the school administration.  One related study by Michelle Molnar reported, “Higher parental involvement in schools may reduce rebellious behavior because parents have more time or are more committed to being involved in their kids' lives. It may also be that schools where most of the parents are involved increase parental network ties, which helps them keep better track of their adolescents.”

Your one-to-one program will focus on changing the way teachers teach and students learn. Increased student engagement will probably be one of your measurements of success. Increased parent engagement is also important, measurable, and attainable. One of the goals for you one-to-one program should include parent engagement, if for the sole reason that increased parent interaction will help you reach your other goals.

Resources

Carr, Nora. "Smart Phones Require Smart Communication Strategies." Smart Phones Require Smart Communication Strategies. ESchoolNews, 10 Oct. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/10/10/smart-phones-require-smart-communication-strategies/>.

Cavanagh, Sean. "Parental Engagement Proves No Easy Goal." Education Week. Education Week, 28 Oct. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/04/04/27engagement_ep.h31.html>.

Epstein, Joyce Levy. School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2011.

Ferlazzo, Larry. "'Back To The Future' For Parent Engagement." Education Week. Education Week, 17 Apr. 2012. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_ahead/2012/04/back_to_the_future_for_parent_engagement.html>.

Ferlazzo, Larry. "Follow-Up: Parent Engagement vs. Parent Involvement." Education Week. Education Week, 23 Apr. 2012. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_ahead/2012/04/the_roles_of_parents_teachers_administrators_in_parent_engagement.html>.

Johnson, Graham. "Teachers: Involve Parents in the Flipped Classroom, Too." Teachers: Involve Parents in the Flipped Classroom, Too. ESchoolNews, 26 Oct. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/10/26/teachers-involve-parents-in-the-flipped-classroom-too/>.

Mixon, Kevin. "Making Parent Involvement a Two-Way Street." Education Week Teacher. Education Week, 7 Dec. 2011. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2011/12/07/fp_mixon.html>.

Molnar, Michelle. "More Parental Involvement Means Fewer Runaways." Education Week. Education Week, 1 Apr. 2012. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/parentsandthepublic/2012/08/parental_involvement_in_schools_is.html>.

Molnar, Michelle. "Va. Superintendent Initiates a System-Wide Involvement Approach."Education Week. Education Week, 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/parentsandthepublic/2012/09/Va_superintendent_initiates_a_system-wide_involvement_approach.html>.

Ruenzel, David. "Just What Do We Mean By 'Parent Involvement'?" Education Week. Education Week, 18 Apr. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_ahead/2012/04/just_what_do_we_mean_by_parent_involvement.html>.

Stansbury, Meris. "Strong Communication Key to Online Learning." Strong Communication Key to Online Learning. ESchoolNews, 6 Oct. 2009. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://www.eschoolnews.com/2009/10/06/strong-communication-key-to-online-learning/?ast=93>.

Using Schoology and Khan Academy for individualized instruction

Education is shifting towards individualized, personalized learning for every student.  Students currently in a special education program have their own Individual Education Plan (IEP) or Individual Learning Plan (ILP).  What educators realize is that every student is different and every student would benefit from their own learning plan.  Technology is going to play a major role in creating these individual plans and also in helping our students meet their goals.

Our students - all students - are different from each other.  They have different attitudes, different motivation, different abilities, and different learning styles.  Educators are finding that all students would benefit from lessons and materials that most closely match these differences.

Technology is going to help educators provide an individualized learning environment in two ways.  First, it will provide the backbone for delivering the content and lessons.  Second, it will provide the educational resources needed to meet our students' needs.

Schoology is the delivery system for individualized learning to your students.  It is the backbone of your school.  Schoology is a Learning Management System (LMS) that allows teachers to provide videos, articles, texts, websites, online quizzes, discussion boards , flipped lessons, and review materials to their students in an organized manner.  Schoology also allows teachers, students, and parents to communicate electronically about their teaching and learning.  Schoology provides teachers with the ability to provide differentiated learning materials that meet a variety of learning styles and learning abilities to all students, and it can even let students work at their own pace by opening new sections once a student completes the previous section. Harlem Academy in New York chose Schoology as their LMS, their web site, and their intranet all in one.  It truly is the hub of the school where everything a student needs can easily be found.

Once the backbone is in place, teachers need to provide high-quality resources that are aimed at different age groups, that meet different learning levels, and meet different learning styles.  Open Educational Resources (OERs) are free resources "documents and media that are useful for teaching, learning, education, assessment and research purposes." There are many individuals and organizations who believe that everyone deserves a high-quality education at little to no cost, and OERs are a way for the whole world to benefit from well-written educational materials.  OER Commons states, "equitable access to high-quality education is a global imperative."

One OER that is making big headlines is Khan Academy.  Salman Kahn began creating video lessons and practice problems on a variety of subjects.  His mission is "to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere."  A pilot program was announced last week for 47 schools in Idaho that will receive a total of $1.5 million to provide teachers with the two days of proper training in using Khan Academy with their students as well as a study to measure the effect it has on student achievement.  This study on the blended learning environment - direct instruction from a teacher coupled with self-guided video instruction from Khan Academy - is being funded by the J.A. and Katheryn Albertson Foundation.

In some instances the teacher will try to "fill the gaps" in a student's learning, but often it will be the student himself who recognizes what he knows and what he does not know and then utilizes the resources provided by the teacher to fill the gaps himself.  Whether a student is trying to catch up, trying to fill in holes, or trying to get ahead, a student will often take that initiative on his own - but the teacher needs to provide the appropriate materials to make that happen.

What is more important, the content used to learn or the way that it is delivered?  That's a subject for an entirely different article.

Get your class online with these six steps

Teachers want to build an online environment for their classroom but they don't know where to begin.  It's an overwhelming task considering how much technology has changed in the last two or three years.  But you have to start somewhere, and you need to start NOW.  Here are six steps for you to begin moving forward.

First, choose a Learning Management System (LMS).  Blackboard is what you probably think of when you hear "LMS", but there are many other choices that have many of the same features, are easier to use, and are also free.  Schoology is my personal favorite because it has some of the best communication features like wall posts (similar to Facebook), text messages, and a classroom calendar.   It also contains offers a well-organized classroom environment to place your assignments, videos, discussion boards, and presentations.  Schoology also integrates with Google Docs and Khan Academy.  Other very good LMS choices include Edmodo, CourseSites, OpenClass, and Haiku.

Second, get all of your current classroom materials online. For most people, this will mean scanning all of their documents into PDF format and posting them on their LMS, which is fine for your first year of going towards a digital environment.  The PDF format is great for viewing a document because you can view it on a PC, Mac, tablet, iPad, or cell phone.  The drawback is that most users will not be able to type or write on it without some form of conversion or software.  At some point you are going to have to answer a very serious question - are you ready to convert all your documents to something else like Google Docs?  Until you are ready to ask that question of yourself, just get your things online so your students can access them.

Third, find the best resources to supplement and expand your instruction.  The fact is, everything you teach is being taught by someone else, and they can probably say it or explain it better than you. Find videos, lessons, activities and games created by others that support what you teach.  Khan Academy has thousands of videos but they focus mainly on math and science.  YouTube has excellent videos if you can sort through the clutter of baby videos, pet videos, rambling video blogs, and 10,000 renditions of Gotye's Someone That I Used To Know.  A new site to consider is Sophia which has instructional modules for students and also for teachers' professional development.

Fourth, decide if you are going to use a textbook as the main source of information, as a supplemental resource, or not at all.  Once you make that decision you will be able to decide how much of your students' reading will be online.  Start by contacting the textbook company and see if they are willing to provide you with an electronic version of your current book.  Some of them will do so for free.  If you are looking for a new textbook, consider sources such as CK12 which creates actual classroom textbooks for free in a digital format. Another option is browsing the iTunes U catalog to see if another teacher has created a book or a course that your students could use.

Fifth, choose sites, materials, and software that are free, Internet-based, and work on multiple devices.  Evernote is an example of this. It is a powerful online notebook that can be used with your computer, tablet, or cell phone.  Free materials and apps allows your classroom to become a model for other teachers, and choosing resources that can be used on most devices allows all students regardless of location or income to access your lessons.  What is the importance of being accessible on multiple devices?  Well, look at what you currently own.  I use a computer at work, a tablet on the couch, and a cell phone on the go.  We own different devices, and nothing is more frustrating than having access to data on one device but not another.  Also, you have no control over what your students will bring to school.  Students will bring every device ever made, and you have a responsibility to make sure your materials and assignments are available to the widest audience possible.

Sixth, expect to tear your site apart and start over next year.  For every assignment posted on your site, you need to ask yourself, "Is this really what I want my students to do with their time?"  The answer is usually, "no."  You will slowly get away from worksheets and readings and move more towards discussions, videos, and collaborative assignments where students create new bodies of information and share it with the world.  You might even move towards a flipped classroom model (search flipped classroom, Jon Bergmann, or Ramsay Musallam).  A traditional classroom involves a teacher providing instruction during class time, and then students practice their work at home without the benefit of a teacher to guide them.  A flipped classroom involves providing as much instruction as possible online through videos and other means which allows you to use classroom time for guided practice.

Your students are going to love your new classroom, but it takes time.  A lot of time.  Today is the day you should get started.

Preparing for a 1:1 Classroom

Several presenters at the ICE Conference reiterated the same idea; going to a 1:1 classroom requires a huge amount of effort up-front, but it gets easier for the teacher every subsequent year.  I attended the conference in hopes of finding helpful hints for flipping my classroom using the 1:1 design.  I took ideas from different presenters and came up with a list of things to get done by next fall.
1.  Create a library of 5-9 minute videos that students will watch as homework each night.  Ugh!  This task will be time-consuming.  Do we have a summer curriculum project?  Get a You Tube channel.
2.  Learn how to use Moodle as a portal. 
3.  I can have students take quizzes at home or in class using Moodle.  Quizzes can be imported through ExamView.  Sign-up for an ExamView class.
4.  Find Salmaan Khan on You Tube.  Apparently he has a tremendous number of science lectures and demos already made, which would decrease the number of videos I would have to make myself.
5.  Investigate the Mobile Interactive Whiteboard ($300) which would allow me to roam around the room while I write on the tablet and project the information.  Prevents being locked in one place and improves ability to manage the classroom.
6.  Go digital with my curriculum.  All handouts should be prepared and placed in Moodle for kids to access.
7.  Create a list of apps that my students will need to successfully learn in a 1:1 classroom.  An app that appears to be extremely useful for students is "Good Reader."  It allows Powerpoints to be converted into pdf files, which kids can type their notes into or write on top of with a stylus.  It also allows me to grade documents, put immediate feedback on the paper using a stylus, and email the document back to the kid.  Sounds great for going paperless!

Flipped Classrooms

Andrew Montgomery from Roycemore School presented how he manages a flipped classroom.  I think the one thing we should take away from his presentation is that he does not expect the videos and resources that he posts to replace classroom instruction.  They are posted to allow students to preview the material before class and to review the material after class.  He realizes that (a) some kids do not have Internet access at home, and (b) some kids simply won't watch the videos even if they are considered a requirement. Posting the videos helps students get ahead or to at least keep up with the class.  


His videos are 5 - 9  minutes long which helps to keep them interesting and focused.  His videos are all narrated whiteboarding sessions using his Mobi board to write and Screencast-O-Matic to do the recordings, or they are narrated presentations/ PowerPoints.

Along with the videos, he also posts additional materials and links to go with the lessons. He uses Khan Academy, a site with high-quality video lessons that focus mainly on math and science but the site does include other subjects and topics.


The overall focus for Mr. Montgomery is to use the videos to help students prepare for the lesson that day.  Students have a rough idea before class begins whether or not they understand the material, and they are prepared to ask focused questions during the instruction. They are ready for the lesson, which makes the instructional piece go faster and therefore allows for more time to practice the material, i.e. do their homework in class while the teacher is still with them and available to answer their questions.