Ning for Parents

Hello Everyone.

I have fairly recently created two Ning networks for my second and fourth grade parents and plan on using them during this upcoming school year. I want to "bridge the gap" and design a place where there is constant communication between parents and myself. Please let me know if you have had any similar experiences.

Regards,

Matt

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Permalink Reply by Dai Barnes on August 5, 2008 at 3:16am

Hi Matt

What is your position in school to warrant you communicating with parents in such a way? This would be frowned upon in my school as parents will have direct access to you but not to other teachers. Great idea but the pressure could get overwhelming.

Dai

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on August 5, 2008 at 8:01am

I think communication with parents is a good idea, I send out informative emails and newsletters often. There is one word of caution with a social networking option---student confidentiality! I teach in a special ed program for gifted kids and just this morning received an email from my "boss" reminding us of that confidentiality when sending emails to parents, classroom teachers, and other specialists.

The beauty of a social network can also be its problem. You will not be able to "discuss" student issues with parents since all other parents would have access. If there is no discussion wouldn't a blog or website serve the same purpose, that being keeping parents informed about what is going on in the classroom?

You may not want "constant communication with parents"! Just a thought.

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Permalink Reply by lynette guastaferro on January 25, 2009 at 5:07pm

I think this is an interesting experiment because you are also setting up parents to share with each other. I am about to blog about this idea.

What if you could foster the community to talk to each other about issues. It would take a good facilitator but I would have tried it. There are parents that might create problems and issues but other parents might mitigate. I can promise you this generation of students will demand this... a way to connect to a group of poeple whose kids have similar assigments and similar challenges. I am a parent and I already want it.