Question for Parents of Middle schoolers...school Communication? How?

Updated on August 05, 2015
M.W. asks from Billings, MT
22 answers

I teach middle school in a small k-8 school. I am wondering what parents really want as far as communication goes. I started a class website last year and discontinued it in October after finding out NO ONE read it. Do parents want a weekly email newsletter, paper newsletter, or maybe just monthly. What kind of info do you want? Curriculum info, updates, concerns, or just fun stuff? We have a higher socio-economic group of families that we serve and are all pretty involved. Sometimes I think that by middle school the parents are starting to cut the cord and only want news when something is wrong.
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S.E.

answers from Wichita Falls on

I would want a general class outline at the beginning of the year, or at least the beginning of the semester, and a notification of major projects (you know, the ones that they 'forget' about until the day before they are due). Also if there is a project you need volunteers or help for.

Beyond that I just want to know if something is wrong with my kid or the behavior of the class as a whole. For me E-mail works great.

3 moms found this helpful
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O.O.

answers from Los Angeles on

I'd like grades to be posted on Edline in a timely manner.
I'd like my son to get email reminders about quizzes & tests a few days before they happen.
I'd like for him to be able to review notes via PowerPoint posted online.
I like The Remind App very much.
Not interested in "fun stuff!" Lol

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M.D.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Just speaking for myself - checking a website weekly would probably slip my mind. But a weekly email would be good. Or, a website that sends a notice to all the parents when you post something new would also work Shutterfly can do this - my kids' coaches set up the teams on there, and when something new is posted by the coach, it automatically goes to all the parents' email addresses. You could use it similarly.

4 moms found this helpful
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G.♣.

answers from Springfield on

I'm not there yet (my boys are 6 & 9), and I went to middle school during the stone age (ok, the early 80's), but my parents could have used more communication.

i was that kid who could have been a good student and never caused trouble, so I was very much under the radar. I got easily overwhelmed, so I would "forget" about projects until the last minute or just not study for tests.

I think weekly or biweekly emails with dates of tests and projects would be great. Just a brief explanation of what is being covered on the test or what the project assignment is and dates.

By middle school parents should be cutting the cord. But some kids aren't there yet, so it's helpful to parents to be in the know.

4 moms found this helpful
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M.S.

answers from Washington DC on

I have a middle school son at a small Catholic pre-k through 8th. We get a weekly email with a paragraph from each teacher regarding their subject matter and any quizzes, tests or big projects coming up. I love this system. It gives me the opportunity to observe from afar or give a gentle nudge, when needed.

For grades, lunch balances, etc we use Powerschool. The school also sends home a weekly envelope with the principal note, library notices, fundraisers and any other paper communication. If we need to communicate with a specific teacher, email is our best option

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L.M.

answers from Boise on

My daughter is beginning 7th year this year. Last year was her first year of middle school. This school has the main school website and it has e-mail addresses for all the teachers. Her Advisory class teacher was very good at communicating grades, events and other such matters on a bi-weekly basis. She had 3 other teachers who would send out a weekly newsletter, one being personal to her and us. If he did that for all the students, I don't know. The other teachers were "open" to communication and were pretty quick to respond to our e-mails.

I think it's important to include the parents in what's going on and in today's world, electronically seems to be best way. If they don't read them or respond it doesn't matter. There will be those that do and by sending a message at one time to all parents, it takes no more time.

We may be "cutting the cord" a bit, but you can bet we still want to know what's going on, even if it isn't from our budding independent kiddos. :)

Have a fantastic year!

3 moms found this helpful

B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

Our schools use Edline.
We can monitor classes/grades and keep up with class/school news.
We can email teachers and guidance counselors.
We can track game/sports schedules.
Band/orchestra/chorus/color guard used Charms to track practices and performances, fundraisers and payments for trips.

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S.S.

answers from Chicago on

I loved edline. I hated weekly things I had to read and respond to. A heads up via email blast when a major project is assigned would be nice. Other than that don't need anything home from school unless there is an issue with my child.

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J.B.

answers from Boston on

Push communication - vs. Pull - is the key. I have 4 kids in 3 different schools. Because 2 are in high school, 1 is in middle school and the youngest is team taught, they have 16 academic teachers total, plus PE, band and art teachers. Plus over the school year they play on a total of 9 sports teams.

All of the teams and many of the teachers have websites, and while I know there is great info on the websites, I don't visit them regularly because if they all had them, I would be visiting 30 websites, many with log-in and PW requirements. It's just too much to keep track of!

What I do like is a periodic e-mail with updates, key dates, and a link to the website if that's where the info is, etc. If you use your website to update things, set it up so that parents can choose to receive an e-mail with updates either when they happen or schedule a weekly e-mail with a link to the site. If the website is a pain to administer and you don't find it a good tool for your own use (I know some teachers do a lot of lesson planning and schedule maintenance from their personal websites) then a simple e-mail with a predictable frequency is fine.

General dates are probably the most valuable to parents...we need to know what is happening and when it's due. I gladly link into Google calendars from teachers or welcome a monthly preview of what's due when (big tests and projects, field trip forms, fund raisers, charity drives) so that I can mark my calendar.

By far my biggest peeve is how darn hard it is to get grade information. Sure it's on-line, but I have to log in every day to track things and I know that the system our district uses enables reporting/notifications but they won't turn it on for parents. I would love to get an e-mail every time there is a missing assignment or a grade below a certain threshold. That's probably not something you have control over as a teacher, but just figured I'd throw it out there.

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M.R.

answers from Washington DC on

Like the "Virtual Backpack" that Diane B. describes below, our school system (a really huge one) uses "Blackboard," a system that lets teachers post assignments. Many teachers use it extensively and have a strong expectation that students -- not parents, students themselves -- will know to check Blackboard for additional assignments, links to resources, changes to deadlines, etc. For some teachers it's about "If you don't check Blackboard it's on your own head if you miss something." Some teachers post to it almost daily, but it's not fun stuff or classroom updates, it's all academic assignments and deadlines. I think that if your whole school or school system does not use something like this, you could possibly set it up for your own class, but if you do, you would need to go the whole way -- if you only post some assignments but not others, or don't keep it updated, kids will soon stop looking at it as THE definitive source and will just keep asking you, "When is that paper due? Did the date change? Can I get a sheet with the rubric on it because I lost mine....?"

I'm a parent of a student who just finished eighth grade. What I most wanted, and got, were regular and detailed grade reports. Our school used a new system (separate from the Blackboard system) to e-mail parents student grade updates. This of course has to be a "push" system with personalized grades going only to those individual families, not a "pull" system where people have to log on to some larger site.

Some teachers did it more frequently than others, but where a teacher did use the grade e-mail system, it was hugely helpful. I could see every grade on every assignment, piece of homework, project, test or quiz, all laid out in a grid, with markings to show if something was late or missing. I could get a fast and accurate read, for instance, on the fact that my kid had had a few middling quiz grades in geometry but had done well on homework and class assignments, etc. If you have "involved" parents, this level of communication about where grades stand might be very welcome. It allows them and the students to see where they are right now, and to come to you for help sooner, or a parent can ask a kid, "I see that you're doing fine on unit tests but the quizzes are an issue" or "I see that the quiz grades started out fine but dropped off on that one unit--what's up? Should you e-mail Mrs. X and schedule some help before the unit test in two weeks' time?"

That's more what parents in our schools wanted than anything else. Here's the key -- it means no surprises when it comes to grades. What was most useful about the grade reports was that they kept both us and our daughter abreast of the trends in her grades in detail, and knowing the trends really helps.

By middle school, the parents are (and the students should be) more focused on assignments and grades than on anything else, in terms of communication from the teachers. But please don't confine communications only to "when something is wrong."

Bravo to you for being so very engaged with your students' families and so enthusiastic about communicating. I really think that's great! I think whatever you do should be a push, not a pull, since folks are less likely to go to visit a web site than to open an e-mail; the exception would be if you create a site for posting assignments and deadlines, and if you did that, just be very emphatic about the kids being expected to look there. Good luck.

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C.B.

answers from San Francisco on

Myself, I like it when the teacher posts information on special projects. I do NOT want a weekly newsletter - just an update to the web page when there is information to post. Also, a private e-mail with concerns is also very helpful and welcome. It doesn't sound like the parents are "pretty involved" if they didn't check the website periodically.

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J.C.

answers from Anchorage on

I really only want to know about the things that I need to know about, I don't need the rundown of everything they are doing in class and I rarely read the newsletters they send home. I prefer just to get an email about the important stuff, I always read my email.

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A.R.

answers from Dallas on

This year I'll have a 6th grader and an 8th grader. Our school has a parent portal, I use that to check grades very often - my older child does as well because he's an athlete and concerned about eligibility. I do not want or need to know about fun stuff unless it's something parents are allowed/encouraged to attend, my kids will tell me about it. I do want to know the assignments each week. We, like many of our friends, have busy lives with the kids in competitive sports. Balancing and prioritizing are learned skills - if I know the weekly assignments I can help my kids prioritize their time wisely so that everything gets done. Eventually they will learn to do this themselves but for now I am helping them figure it out. Last year my 5th grader's teacher had 0 communication and it was tough. 7th grader was much better because I knew what was coming each week and could help him plan.

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O.H.

answers from Phoenix on

Personally I only want to know info specific to my kid via email or a call. Anything else my kid tells me or the teacher sends a paper home. Or I'll call the office or look on the school website at the calendar.

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M.L.

answers from Cleveland on

I was very sad when I read answers yesterday that seemed to imply recording the test scores was the only thing parents were interested in. I my mind at that point it's too late. My kiddo is starting 6th but in our district it is still part of elementary school. I want to know when test are coming up and projects are due.
every kid was given an agenda book were that stuff could have been copied down. The teachers stopped using it in January. ....or kiddo stopped using it. I dunno. I would have found an email at the start of each unit with dates for tests helpful.

I agree with everything. Isntthisfun posted.

His first grade teacher had a Web page but first off I could see it might be hard for parents to remember to go to it. Also it seemed like it was updated so sporadically so I stopped checking after a while. But that could have been her.

also had one teacher us Facebook in a closed grouo. Didn't love that but she shared tons of what they were doing.
Sorry for typos on my phone

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D.B.

answers from Boston on

I taught in a similar school. We put all our info on line. I'm saddened that no one read the on line website. One thing we had a problem with was parents thinking that, because they paid tuition, they could have instant access at any time to any teacher for personal info/updates on their children. No two parents got the same info that way. It was inefficient.

Our local public schools have something called "The Virtual Backpack" where they are instructed to check for assignments, events, schedules, field trips, etc. The sign in front of the school often has timely messages too, with frequent reminders to check the VB - it puts the responsibility in the parents' laps and prevents them from saying they didn't know what was going on.

No way I would do a paper newsletter - it's inefficient unless you have a family without internet access. Besides, kids don't deliver them, parents find them months later in the bottom of the backpack covered in old juice stains and cracker crumbs, and long past the date of applicability.

What I did for my middle schoolers was write out my expectations and general curriculum at the start of the year: what book(s) we were using, general topics for the first few months, how I graded (what mix I was using of tests, quizzes, class participation, homework, projects, learning games, small group/team work, etc.), and roughly how much homework they could expect. I told them homework assignments would be posted on the website. I explained my philosophy of teaching and learning. I indicated my position on make-up work, extensions and test re-takes - I let kids re-take one test per term, and I gave other opportunities for ameliorating the effect of one bad grade on the total term grade, plus things I offered for extra credit. I listed supplies that were needed and volunteer opportunities, as well as a "parents can help their child by….."

Thereafter, I gave updates - "We're working on XYZ, students are writing a series of skits/plays to put on for the younger grades, and we're taking a field trip to ABC or having a class visitor on Topic D." I gave reminders about due dates for big stuff (projects) and listed topics to be reviewed/studied for an upcoming exam.

If I had concerns, those went in an individual email. If I had something awesome to report, that went in an email. Emails included in the "signature" part a reminder to check the website.

There was a school newsletter, and I always made sure I had timely articles in there about what we were doing. That was a good place for the "fun stuff" like how the little kids reacted to the assembly where the middle schoolers performed classic kid stories in Spanish or set something to music.

Honestly, if parents can't be bothered to check the website (assuming it is well publicized and easy to navigate), I don't think you have to substitute individual emails (people don't read those either) or paper updates. Emails should be for their own child's information, or reminders for things like permission slips (send to all those affected but keep the recipient list hidden so Parent A doesn't know that Parents B and C also didn't complete the slips).

Don't make more work for yourself just because people don't use the system.

And I don't think middle school parents need - or should have - daily updates. Kids are supposed to be learning to be more responsible by that age, and I think those are essential skills and expectations to be teaching. Parents may be very involved (regardless of socio-economic status) but they need to make their kids more responsible as a life skill in preparation for high school and college and jobs.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.C.

answers from Philadelphia on

You are correct...I only need/want to hear from the teacher if there is a problem. However, I thought it was a good idea when the teacher sent home a checklist and due date for a major science fair project that required my signature.

FYI...my daughter's school has a parent portal so I frequently checked my daughter's grades throughout the semester.

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S.R.

answers from Denver on

I find that you need to send them an email with a link to the website every time it is updated. Otherwise they won't take the time to remember how to get there. Have you tried that?

M.D.

answers from Washington DC on

I communicate with my kids teachers via email when I have a question or if there is an issue. I hope, that by middle school, I have done my job as a parent and my child has the tools to learn to manage their responsibilities with minimal input from me or my husband. We still attend field trips, award ceremonies, etc, but as far as the day to day stuff, it is their job to start learning that on their own.

As far as work/projects are concerned, I check the Home Access Center (HAC) website daily for all 3 of my kids. I can find hteir grades and upcoming or missed work there. But no, I likely wouldn't use a website for each teacher.

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J.K.

answers from Wausau on

Our school district has a system for all grades where parents can see newsletters from various schools, put money into lunch accounts or pay other fees, I can see current grades (grades 7+) and know if work is missing, etc. It's great.

It actually ramps up in middle school with more information. The offices of the Middle and High schools send out emails regularly with information about all kinds of school-wide stuff.

Class websites are great too - our middle & high school teachers post their schedules and what is being worked on, links to assignment resources, erc. As a parent, I rarely visit individual teacher sites because they are really meant for student use. Your target audience is sitting in front of you. When a teacher wants a parent to see something on their individual site, they send out an email with a link.

Parents need to pay attention to older kids, more so than the younger kids. The parents who are not interested in knowing anything unless something is wrong are often the parents of kids who are struggling. Not always, but often. If more parents would maintain an interest in school happenings all the way through 12th grade, fewer kids would have problems. I don't mean hover or get over-involved, just pay attention. Keep informed. Many emerging issues can be addressed early on, before they become real problems.

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L.Z.

answers from Seattle on

I love that you are interested in trying to stay in contact with the parents of your middle schoolers. I was surprised that I didn't get much correspondence from my 6th grader's teachers at all last year. I even wrote emails with concerns and never heard back. I loved how one teacher of my third grader stayed in contact. She wrote a very brief email each Sunday night and it covered the general highlights and reminders and linked to more info on her website. It took less than 5 min to read each time and there was plenty of info on the site if I needed it. It covered what they were working on, upcoming events, field trip reminders, etc.

S.C.

answers from Kansas City on

I'm disappointed for you (and as a parent) that no one used the website, I would have loved that (guess I'm the exception!) However as someone mentioned, I suppose if you have multiple children in multiple activities (yikes) it might get to be too much. But then....I feel like that is somewhat on the parents too - sure it's "the thing" to be in all those activities, but you still need to be able to keep up with everything. If it's too much, perhaps it's not all the websites that are the issue, perhaps it's simply over-scheduling.

One of my son's teachers did a closed fb page (for parents only, this was in first grade) which was great. It took some 'net/FB savvy but she figured it out and I loved it. I wish all his teachers would do that.

His teacher last year (2nd grade) only did monthly newsletters. That was nice, but we also communicated via email fairly regularly. I'm one of those parents that will reach out if I have a question. To some extent I don't think it's just on the teachers. Yes, if it's announcements or things we need to know - but just communication in general should go both ways.

As far as middle school unfortunately I can't answer to that as we are just starting 3rd grade this year. I suspect you're right about cutting the cord. But the fb idea I thought was awesome, and I don't know, might be something even parents of middle schoolers would appreciate? Barring that, I honestly feel like a good old fashioned distribution list in your email is probably the best. As far as what to put in it- I would say if you do it weekly it would be smaller, if it was monthly it'd be bigger, but either way, I think including pretty much everything would be best. Curriculum, fun stuff, all of it. Anything you think a parent ought to know about what their kiddo is up to at school. And of course including your contact info so they can just hit that "reply" button.

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