My 10th Grade Social Studies June Newsletter

I prepared a newsletter, slightly fictitious as it refers to our own group wiki rather than the actual class group wikis which I would expect and encourage. The link for the Newsletter is http://letterpop.com/builder.php?newsletter_id=90561. I used LetterPop as it was easy to use, gave the right appearance and professional look, and allowed importation of images and links without any difficulties. It was also easy to access online which is an important factor, particularly if parents access the newsletter electronically as opposed to hand distribution.

I think communication between parents and teacher is critically important. As a parent, I have seen the disasterous results of poor communication between teacher and parents. There is absolutely no excuse for failing to send materials and notes home to parents, for neglecting to call, and for relying on a five-week notice to advise parents of poor performance of their children. Unless parents are enlisted in the educational cause, all students are at risk for failure. I know the old adage about teachers not having time, and I suppose frequent calls home might detract from the teachers' planning and classroom preparation time. However, with the advent of the Web 2.0 tools we have learned of in the past few weeks, there are so many creative options for communicating with parents electronically and remotely, at your own pace and time, and for allowing their feedback. This newsletter format is informational in a more generalized way, supplemented with more personal and direct means of communication such as personal web pages, blogs, and wikis. All platforms allow two-way communications, in more direct and centralized formats than separate e-mails which can be overwhelming to the teacher; they are quick and accessable to teachers and parents alike.

I think blogs, perhaps moreso wikis, would be good means for mass communications and advising of specific learning objectives, unit themes, projects, deadlines, , etc. More direct communications could probably be accomplished on blogs, with e-mails for highly confidential exchanges. Of course, you should provide your phone number to your students' parents, I believe, to foster open communications and allow for the opportunity for personal calls about serious and sensitive matters. I think podcasts would be fun and useful to impart to your parents what you sound like in the classroom and give some life to the written word. Flickr images of the class and learning themes would also be something parents might like to see. After all, parents really don't know what transpires inside the classroom, and these are great ways for them to find out.

If I were to use this Newsletter medium in school, I might make it more content specific with links to the actual resources we use in class. The newsletter I prepared for this exercise is an "end of the year" newsletter which reminds students and parents about test preparation for the omnipresent standardized tests and celebrates the year's achievements and the joys of summer looming for the kids. I would probably make it more content rich earlier in the year, and try to let parents know where in the historical timeline we were at a given moment. I think discussions at home about the Depression, World War II, the atomic bomb, etc., are very enriching, but these discussions can only occur if parents know to talk about these things as their children are studying the topics. Parents could even be invited to post their own stories about historical events on wikis or blogs, for recitation to the class by their sons or daughters.