Today I created a public page on my.uen.org, a site students and parents can access for detailed reminders, calendars, and homework help from me. This tool could really streamline communication between teacher and parents: remind the student to wear a jacket and bug spray for the day's field trip to Logan Canyon, for example. If the parents and students habitually checked this page I could avoid copying notes and stuffing backpacks for a classroom full of students, saving time and paper. This way parents could still see announcements in the event that papers are misplaced between class and home. As a parent I have to sift through piles of various notes from each of my four children's teachers and it often takes 30 minutes or more every afternoon. Then my trash can is full!
My daughter Jessica's 6th grade Language Arts teacher has created a similar site with email reminders to visit it often: at any time we can see what happened in class and what is due tomorrow. If she stays home sick one day, we can look up what she missed and be prepared when she returns to class with makeup work. He has assigned that we visit the site at least once a week and respond by email (Jessica gets points for "my homework" as a parent). As a "digital immigrant" I was at first frustrated that I would have to take the time to log on and check it out, but more than other class she has, I feel like I know what she is learning and never worry that there will be surprises at parent-teacher conferences. I love that we are working as team and saving trees in the process by eliminating all the paper notes back and forth. My attitude is slowly evolving from technology being a hassle to technology being a powerful tool linking parents, students, and teachers as a community.
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