3.7 Communication & Collaboration
Candidates utilize digital communication and collaboration tools to communicate locally and globally with students, parents, peers, and the larger community. (PSC 3.7/ISTE 3g)
Artifact
Reflection:
To illustrate mastery of Standard 3.7, I have posted screenshots of my current class sites. I utilize a number of tools to communicate with parents and students. My main method of communication is our class webpage. Our district has a learning management system, called eClass, which all teachers use to share resources and post lessons. On this site, I post remediation materials, lessons, and practice assessments. I also post news items and a Google calendar to help students and parents stay aware of upcoming dates and communicate important policies. In addition to utilizing eClass, I use Remind, which is an electronic application, to send notifications to my students’ and parents’ phones. I send these reminders about pending assignments and assessments.
In addition to my sites, I created a Weebly page for the Brookwood Latin Program. This site hosts all the necessary information for parents and students regarding the Latin program, including national exams, trips abroad, and Latin club. I am one of four Latin teachers at my school, which means we have a large program. Therefore, it is important that we have a site where parent and students can find the information they seek.
I have found that using these methods of communicating with parents and students to be very beneficial. The reminders and notifications enable to students remember their due dates. This awareness has resulted in them remembering to prepare for their assessment, which has resulted in higher class averages. Additionally, since the parents can receive the notifications themselves, they are able to help their child. I used to get emails from parents asking for assessment dates so that they could help keep their child organized, but with the implementation of these communication tools, I no longer get these emails. I am constantly trying to utilize more digital communication tools. I want to have my students share and edit their Latin compositions via Google Drive. Utilizing this tool would enable the students and me to review and comment on others’ projects. This review process would help all students improve their writing skills. We could also take these writings and post them online in order to share them with a wider audience.
The effects of these digital tools can be seen in classroom assessments. Since my students are not longer surprised by due dates, they are more prepared and performing better. Due to the positive effects of these tools, I have led staff development workshops to train our faculty in increasing communication via Weebly and Remind. Many teachers have implemented these tools in their classes as well and have seen similar positive results.