How do you communicate with your students outside of class?
At my school we have a grade book program that allows you to post information and forms. Not many students check it, some parents do. We have our own web sites/pages. Again, not many students check it, some parents do. I post all our forms and announcements, schedules, handbooks and more on these sites, give out paper copies and email them out to parents that sign up.
This works ok for parents, but what do you do to get ahold of students?
Do you:
Email them?
Call their cells?
Text message them?
Everything on paper handouts?
What do you do?
Add a comment and share what you do.
We have an e-mail group through the boosters which is aimed at the parents, and we are making a big push to expand that for next year. We want to include links for the kids to listen to the charts so we are collecting addresses from everybody, students and parents. Fortunately, we have a new and highly motivated booster president who has volunteered to input everything. I don’t know when I would find the time. Sometimes paper forms still work best, though.
By: Vicki on May 15, 2008
at 2:46 pm
My school has what are called “Family Folders”. These are folders that are sent home to the parents once a week and the students are not allowed to touch them. This is pretty effective.
By: Locher on May 15, 2008
at 3:11 pm
Nice blog. We are going to a Copley High School Music Website. We also do mass emails and remind the students about upcoming events verbally at nausea.
By: M Foster on May 15, 2008
at 3:56 pm
Hi Kyle! We usually make announcements and post signs in our hallway for the children. If it is a form they need, we usually hand them out to the children and then post it on our band website. The band website is used to remind students about the annoucements / signs / forms from class but students can get all the info they need at school (many people actually don’t have the internet at our school). Our boosters send an electronic version of our monthly email out which is posted on our website and mailed out (snail mail) to every band family (5-12) in our district. We have been known to call children’s cell phone numbers if needed. Generally, we have a healthy general level of awareness among our students.
By: B DuVall on May 16, 2008
at 10:15 am
Hi Kyle! I am not a classroom music teacher yet I manage my own music studio. Communicating with my students is not giving me much problem. My own website, provided for me by MusicTeachersHelper.com, has been my tool in managing my students well. Here, I also post my announcements, billing among other stuffs to inform my students.
By: Earl on November 19, 2008
at 1:43 pm
Likewise, Earl… Having my own music teacher website makes communicating with my students more efficient. Actually, their music teachers blog also provides helpful tips for us.
By: music teachers on April 17, 2009
at 11:05 am