As I have talked with teachers I hear a lot of them say they struggle with parent support in Virtual Learning. How can we support parents in Virtual learning? As a parent, I have been on the other side of virtual learning. When the pandemic began I was not teaching so I will say I felt like an outsider. It was only because of my prior virtual teaching experience that I was able to navigate and understand how to help my children.
We have all seen the post, parents who literally hate everything about online learning. It takes too long, my kid can’t log in, parents complaining about staying up all night helping students, just all the things. I get it! It was definitely all these things!!
As teachers, we can help create better online experiences for parents. Before I go on let me just say we can’t fix everything parents hate about virtual learning and some people will just complain just to be complaining. But we can reach those parents who desire a better experience with virtual learning and are willing to try.
Ease the Learning Curve
The first thing we must do is ease the learning curve. If you have never used Google Classroom or Schoology it will definitely look foreign. We solve this problem by training our parents to use our Learning Management System (LMS). How can we do that? We can make sure we have written instructions to follow, better yet send them video tutorials from Youtube. If you’re feeling ambitious create your own tutorials and share them with your parents. I’ve created these for teachers in my upcoming course.
Keep them in the Loop
I communicate with parents via ClassDojo at least once a week. I make sure parents know what we are working on from week to week. I use these “What we’re Learning” slides to post info on Classdojo. These slides are a part of a bigger product I created that includes editable Agenda Slides with stickers. Because I spend time building relationships with parents in the beginning of the year, they know they can reach out to me when they need to.
Let them know you value them
Let parents know you value them by ensuring they understand that they are an intrigal part of the virtual learning process. Let them know that their participation makes the virtual learning process better for their child. Run ideas by them about projects before you tell them students. This will do two things: prepare them so they can prepare thier child and shows that you care
Support parents by easing the learning curve, keeping them in the loop and letting them know you value them.When parents participate in virtual learning, they make the process of virtual learning better. When we offer parents meaningful support, they feel better about helping their child. They know when assignments are due, what their child is working on and where to find resources to help their child. When we empower parents with the tools they need to be successful they can support their children. This frees us (teachers) up from constant emails and texts so we can focus on being our best.