Our students aren’t the only ones bombarded by information–their parents are swamped, too. And for high school students, it’s likely that we as teachers spend more time with them on a week day than their parents do (between clubs, sports, and other extra-curricular activities, family face-to-face time can be sparse).
So parents are busy and students don’t always communicate with them about what’s going on in class. Many teachers communicate with parents through email blasts and weekly newsletters. But teachers, we’re busy, too, and those newsletters can take time we don’t have.
If you’re like me, you have to turn in weekly lesson plans, anyway, so I simplify my life and keep parents in the loop by creating my lesson plans in Google Slides. Keep in mind that my weekly lesson plans don’t have to be insanely detailed because I’m also required to hand in very detailed unit plans. Every system is different.
Here’s what you need to do:
1. Save your lesson plan template as an image.
2. Resize a Google Slide Presentation to whatever size you want.
3. Insert the image into the background of your Slide. Don’t forget to select a blank layout.
4. Insert text boxes into the appropriate places on the slide and type your plans.
Grab The Cheat Sheet for Free HERE!
5. Publish your slide show to the web.
6. Share the presentation link with the appropriate admin (I set it so the slides do not advance–then they are only looking at the current week’s plans).
7. Every week, copy a new slide to the top and type your plans. Since it’s published to the web, it will automatically update–no new link required.
8. Every week, send an email blast to parents (I do this through Infinite Campus, but there are many ways–even creating an old-fashioned email list). I type a short greeting, upcoming due dates, and a link to the plans (the same one every week) so that parents have immediate access to it.
Grab The Cheat Sheet for Free HERE!
Tips:
– Place a link at the top of the slide to your class calendar.
– Create an email blast template for each class you teach so you don’t have to retype everything (including the link).
– Make cards with a QR Code to this presentation and hand them out on parent/teacher night.
Here’s what mine looks like:
How do you keep parents updated? Leave a comment and let me know.
And don’t forget to check out last week’s Tech of The Week: Use Learning Apps to Impress.
