#EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020: Bitmoji Classroom, Day 18

 

Welcome to Day 18 #EdTechTeacherChallenge August 2020. Today, we are going to add your contact information to your main virtual classroom slide. 

Why is this important? Students and parents need to know that you are available to meet their needs  which means they need to know how they can contact you. Here are some options that you can use:

* Email: Do not be afraid to give parents and students your school email address. This method of communication allows families to contact you whenever it is convenient for them, but also allows you to be able to contact them back on your time. It also gives you an immediate record of the communication and what it was about in case you need to reference it for later.

*Phone: If you are going to give parents a phone number, I suggest two options:

1) School Phone Number: even though schools are not physically open, the numbers still work and secretaries are checking them. They will then forward you any messages they receive for you.

2) Google Voice: This is a feature of Google that allows you to get a semi-anonymous phone number to give to parents and students. These calls will be forwarded to your actual phone number without parents and students ever seeing your actual phone number. This allows you to maintain your privacy and eliminate 2am phone calls. 

(NOTE: If you school is a GSuites school, Google Voice may not be enabled. You will then need to sign up for Google Voice using a personal Google account. Don't have a personal account? You can sign up for one for free.)

* Social Media: Some teachers have social media accounts that they use for school purposes. This is a great way to share information and communicate with families. A couple of notes: 

• Never share your personal email with students and parents.

and

• Even with teacher/school based accounts, do not follow students and parents back.

The reason for two notes is that we, as teachers, NEED a separation between professional and personal domains. I can discuss more about this philosophy in a later post.

* Communication App: There are lots of communication apps that you can use with students and parents. Like all other apps, you need to make sure that they are compliant with all the laws around student data, privacy and accessibility. These apps include Class Dojo, Remind, Seesaw...the list is extensive. Here is a link for Common Sense Media (great educator and parent site) that recommends 16 different apps that you can research on your own: https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/best-messaging-apps-and-websites-for-students-teachers-and-parents.

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Now that you now what your options are and you've chosen your communication method, you can add this information to your first Slide. Just like all the other elements in your virtual classroom, you want to make sure that it is readable for students and not distracting. You can use icons with links, QR codes, links over text, etc. The choice is completely yours. 

You don't even have to put the information explicitly on your first slide. You can put a link to a last slide in your presentation. This the option I did in my virtual classroom. My reason for this was because I wanted my information to be large and clear and felt that a dedicated contact slide serves that purpose best.

Here is what my two slides representing my contact information look like.

Home Slide w/ added link to Contact Information. The "Contact Me" button links to Slide 4 which is below.

Contact information slide

How are you going to communicate with parents and students? What will your contact information look like? Let me know in the comments below. Share you progress with me @MrsMathMagician on social media. Be sure to use the hashtag #EdTechTeacherChallenge. I look forward to hearing from you.

Peace, love and happiness always!!