Home School Connection

Children are doing more and more reading and assignments on digital devices, but day-to-day interactions with digital devices have instilled bad habits in many kids, including breaking away to text or check social media. These habits make it difficult for them to delve deeply into digital texts the way they would do with materials printed on paper. Teachers are developing methods to counteract these diversions and to teach students how to read for content and context. Interested in trying some of these methods with your own children? Check out Strategies to Help Students ‘Go Deep’ When Reading Digitally on the KQED news site.

A recent survey conducted by Project Tomorrow looks at how teachers are using mobile technology in the classroom. The study finds that although digital devices have improved communication between students and teachers, 31% of teachers and librarians surveyed responded that their students do not have regular access to mobile devices in the classroom.

Perhaps your children’s teachers or school administrators have talked about wanting to increase parental involvement this school year, but might not have elaborated on how to get started. You might want to pass along a link to ClassTag, a free cloud tool designed to help teachers manage home-school communication and boost engagement with parents. Among its features, the platform lets teachers organize events, schedule meetings with parents and match parents' skills with class and school needs.

Perhaps your children’s teachers or school administrators have talked about wanting to increase parental involvement this school year, but might not have elaborated on how to get started. You might want to pass along a link to ClassTag, a free cloud tool designed to help teachers manage home-school communication and boost engagement with parents. Among its features, the platform lets teachers organize events, schedule meetings with parents and match parents' skills with class and school needs.

When you think of digital safety you probably think about cyberbullying, identity theft, and hackers... but what about the online dangers your children are exposed to through the data that is collected about them at school? To learn more about how this data is collected and used, take a look at the article How Companies Learn What Children Secretly Want to help safeguard your kids and understand the targeted marketing that is going on while children do their schoolwork.

Many popular books, including many that kids are required to read in school, are now available as audio books. This technology can be a great option for older students who already have learned to read. If you have concerns, take a look at Ki Sung’s article, Listening Isn't Cheating: How Audio Books Can Help Us Learn. In fact, listening is actually a critical component of Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts, and as many dyslexic students who rely on audio books point out, it actually takes longer to “read” a book this way.  This may be a good article to have in your arsenal if you have a child who might benefit from listening to books.

Finding the best educational apps for kids is a two way street, says Monica Burns, a teacher, author and speaker who writes for the Edutopia site. Both parents and teachers need to keep an eye out for things that work and share what they find. Burns says a good place to start is Edutopia’s curated iPad app collections for K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. You can also visit her blog to check out some great apps for mobile devices, as well as a list of her favorite websites.

Brian Pitts, the technology director at the Longview Independent School District in Texas, suggests that setting rules is not enough to ensure safety of our children online.  In the article, “Is your house safe from tigers?”, Pitts says that being vigilant in monitoring behavior is key to making sure our children are safe on the Internet. Though it is written for schools, his humor and message that cyberbullying is more of a danger to kids than phishing by hackers is right on target.

Is your school talking about the importance of digital citizenship? Parents can help the discussion by bringing up the topic at PTO or parent council meetings. Parent Teacher Organizations can set up webinars, add resources and articles to email or paper newsletters, and make announcements at school events. Resources like the guide How to Take Digital Citizenship Schoolwide During the 2016-17 School Year from EdSurge can also help administrators, teachers, parents and students understand digital citizenship and the importance of adding the topic to schoolwide discussions.

Social media has drastically changed the way we communicate with one another, but the rules for how teachers and students should communicate have not, even though more instances of improper relationships between students and teachers seem to be revealed each year. As one Virginia chief information officer puts it, “One of the things that we absolutely 100 percent expect all of our educators to do is to act and communicate appropriately, whether that is verbal, whether that’s written, whether that’s typed, whether that’s posted, etc.” No matter how much trust you have in your children, it is important to be concerned and vigilant about all interactions your children have with anyone online, teachers included.