Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Education Ride 365: You Better Do This...Or I'm Going To Ignore That You Didn't!

Posted at 9:54 AM (permalink) 2 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: Education Ride 365, EdClick, Cycle Of Education, Parent Involvement, Discipline

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Education Ride 365: Catch The Wave Of Mobility & Enhanced Communication

Posted at 7:37 PM (permalink) 0 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: Education Ride 365, EdClick, Cycle Of Education, Mobility, Parent Portals, Parent Involvement

Friday, April 20, 2012

Education Ride 365: Flipping Our Paradigm Can Benefit Students, Parents, & Teachers Alike!

• can watch the lesson as many times as they need to internalize the information.
• can pause the lesson when their attention begins to wane or they must, for instance, take a restroom break.
• can watch the complete lesson even on days when they might otherwise have missed it due to illness or other reason for absence.
• can review the information more thoroughly before an assessment or other related activity.
• can dig deeper into the lesson material at the time it is "presented" by, for instance, looking up unfamiliar words or accessing other resources that may enrich or explain the lesson further for someone with their learning style or level of interest.

• can have a better grasp of exactly what content---and in what manner---their child is learning in each class.
• can refresh their knowledge (or learn information) vital to helping their child with homework and otherwise extending & making connections between the content and the child's life outside of school.
• can actually further educate themselves as a sort of continuing education model.

• can become increasingly skilled at preparing tight, rich lessons that both maximize instruction time and are delivered consistently from class period to class period.
• can better adhere to the scope and sequence for their course, never losing pace provided they consistently practice proper lesson preparation.
• can expect all students to be up to speed, regardless of illness or other interruptions of the learning process (such as moves from school to school, teacher to teacher, or class to class).  This includes teacher absences, as well as student absences...for example.
  
• can better target comprehension issues and learning gaps in the classroom for individual students as well as select groups of students, while other students who are up-to-speed can be practicing and/or extending what they have learned.

Posted at 2:41 PM (permalink) 2 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: Education Ride 365, EdClick, Cycle Of Education, Technology, Instruction, Flipped Clasrooms, Instruction, Homework, Parent Involvement, Technology

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Education Ride 365: What We Get Out Of Young People Depends Upon What We (ALL) Demand Of Young People!

Posted at 10:47 PM (permalink) 3 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: Education Ride 365, EdClick, Cycle Of Education, Parent Involvement, Accountability

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Trash In, Trash Out? Would You Like A Pizza With That Vegetable?

Posted at 10:35 AM (permalink) 0 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: EdClick, Child Nutrition, Parent Involvement, School Lunches

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Is Your School Still Using The Computer Equivalent Of The Yellow Pages?

One significant challenge teachers and other educators face when attempting to contact parents is accessing the correct contact information to do so.  Phone numbers, emails, and other contact information change throughout each year.  In most school computer systems, teachers cannot edit or add contact information as they become aware of it.  They can only access a student management system that was populated with data at the beginning of the year and is rarely updated through the year.  On any given campus, typically only one (or at most a handful) of staff are authorized to update this information.  Consequently, the information is as often wrong, incomplete, or out-dated as it is correct.  What an inefficient system!

Imagine too that you are a teacher who has to address email to 20-100 students and/or parents per week.  What a pain!  Of course, a teacher could build a group in their email program, but then the challenge is keeping up with those groups and making sure the email addresses of group members stay up-to-date.  There are better ways to tackle this challenge!

Instead, if you use a web-based communication solution like EdClick's Collaboration Manager, all staff members are empowered to update student and parent contact information dynamically, as they become aware of changes.  At school, from home, or wherever else they are connected to the internet, staff members can access student contact information that is as fresh as the last communication any staff member had with that parent.  When they learn of new contact information, within a minute they can update it for the benefit of all.  It is a dynamic, decentralized process that is efficient, collaborative, and promotes enhanced communication and cooperation between home and school.

Consider this form:

This function is called "Flash Messages."  When teachers log on, they can view and edit their students by section or however they'd like them organized.  Above, you can see Mary Armey's Period 2 Biology section.  The students listed are in this section.  The teacher can easily add or drop students with a few clicks.  They don't even have to type the student's name! 

Beyond their sections, teachers and other staff members can create groups in any way they care to.  Science Club, Football Team, Tutoring Group, or whatever.  Again, it is a matter of clicking links and check boxes.  All of this can be done by teachers with a 30-second learning curve!!!

With this tool, educators in the school can more easily batch send emails out to select students, groups of students, whole grade levels, and even the whole school.  They simply use the form shown above.  Messages can be sent to student email addresses, parent email addresses, or both.  Where the student/parent doesn't have an email address, the symbol of a phone identifies them as requiring another method of contact.

Finally, the system archives all outgoing messages.  In so many ways, this tool tightens the communication loop and further professionalizes a school's parent involvement efforts.   It is a steady stepping stone on the path to continuous improvement in schools! 

You are a call or email away from a personalized demo
right from the comfort of your computer!

Posted at 10:14 PM (permalink) 2 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: EdClick, Collaboration Manager, Parent Involvement, Parent Communication, Continuous Improvement, Discipline, RTI, Special Education

Thursday, April 14, 2011

In The News: A Wise Approach To Difficult Decisions---> Ask The People!

Posted at 5:09 PM (permalink) 1 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: In The News, Budgets, School Financing, Texas, Decatur ISD, Survey, Parent Involvement, Community Engagement, Save Money, Make Money

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Trends: All The World's A Customer---->Is Your School Ready To Reap The Rewards?

• Be Proactive
• Begin With The End In Mind
• Put First Things First
• Think Win/Win
• Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood
• Synergize
• Sharpen The Saw

Download a copy of this list by clicking here

Posted at 12:46 PM (permalink) 0 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: Trends, Budgets, Save Money, Make Money, Communication, Parent Involvement, Community Service

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Parent Resources: Support For Parents Of A Child Struggling With Drugs And Alcohol

Check It Out!  Pass It On!

Posted at 5:12 PM (permalink) 0 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: Parent Resources, Drugs & Alcohol, Counselors, Counseling, Parent Involvement, Student Health, Discipline

Sunday, February 20, 2011

In The News: Parents Are Beginning To Band Together Against Proposed Draconian Cuts In Texas Education

..."We are already at the bottom, and we don't need to race to be last," said Cochran. "We understand there's a budget shortfall, but you cannot cut the school funding for our children."

..."The grim picture across the state is pushing parents to recruit others. They want their voices to reach the state Capitol one way or another.

"We've got a ton of people sending letters to their legislators, meeting with their legislators, planning rallies in Austin," Cochran said.  "We've got a long battle ahead of us. I think more and more parents are going to come out and be heard."

Posted at 9:32 AM (permalink) 0 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: In The News, Budget Cuts, Budget, Texas, Teacher Cuts, School Finance, Parent Involvement

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Parent Involvement: A Reminder To Us All...Whenever Possible, Get Stakeholders Involved In Any Significant Reform Or Initiative From The Onset!

Posted at 6:34 PM (permalink) 0 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: Communication, Parent Involvement, Curriculum, Language Study, Arabic

Friday, January 28, 2011

Parent Involvement: Epstein's Six Types Of Parent Involvement

Posted at 4:47 PM (permalink) 0 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: Parent Involvement

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Accountability: Parents In Florida May Receive Grades From The Teachers Of Their Children

Posted at 4:36 PM (permalink) 2 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: Accountability, Parent Accountability, Parent Involvement