Welcoming Parent Engagement Through Technology

“The technology you use impresses no one. The experience you create with it is everything.” Sean Gerety. 

For years, technology was something new that many teachers resisted. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, technology became part of their job description, and family engagement was more relevant for all students. Join our host, Rebecca Fisher, and her guest, Chandrée Gudmundson. Rebecca is an elementary school teacher. Meanwhile, Chandrée is a technology consultant with the Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools Division and has brought forward a new way of introducing technology into the classroom.

Today’s podcast focuses on technology for educators, students, and families to collectively work together to engage everyone more meaningfully. When educators encourage connection between school and home environments, more authentic conversations begin to form. 

Resources:

Using Technology to Support Family Engagement

https://blog.kaplanco.com/ii/using-technology-to-support-family-engagement

Schools Can Maintain Parent Engagement With Technology

https://www.govtech.com/education/k-12/schools-can-maintain-parent-engagement-with-technology

This podcast is sponsored by Debbie Pushor Engagement Group Inc. 

Transcript

Welcome to school interrupted. Join us in rewriting narratives surrounding parents engagement in schooling and education. Let's talk about making a shift to family centric schools.
My name is Rebecca Fisher and I am in my sixth year of teaching. I have been with the greater Saskatoon Catholic school division my whole career. And I am based out of Saskatoon. I have been working with mainly pre kindergarten, kindergarten and grade one students. But throughout my career, I've been really passionate about focusing on literacy. And that is more in the primary grades 123. Last year I taught online, which then really sparked my interest of engaging families. And over the years, I wanted to engage families, but maybe just didn't know what tools to add into my career. And taking this class with Debbie pusher, as well as engaging families online, created a new environment that allowed me to work with my families in a way that I was not expecting. I am just completing my master's. And I'm really excited to see what the future brings, and bringing families along within my classroom environment. Today, we are going to be looking at technology and how we can engage families in a more meaningful and authentic way. Teaching online and in person has helped me realize that there's more important ways and honest ways to connect with families. And teaching on line also allowed me more freedom, because I would teach virtually, in the morning with my students. My afternoon was spent more building lessons and having conversations with other teachers and parents. And that sparked my interest in working with families and learning how, as a teacher, I can connect with them in a different way, as they were going to be also a primary support for their children's learning. I'm joined with Sean J. Gudmundsson, and her and I work together for a full year at St. Mark's school in Saskatoon. But now she's working as a technology consultant. And while I've been a primary teacher, she is a middle years teacher. And so I thought this would be a great opportunity to bring her in and talk about parent engagement technology use in the classroom and how it can be broadened outside of the classroom, and how we can engage families in all grades. So thank you for joining me.
So happy to be here. So my name is Sean Drake Edmondson, as Rebecca said, and she's correct. I've been a middle years teacher for, I guess, eight years now throughout my time with GSEs. And I was in the classroom in grade six to eight for about five years, five and a half years and then became a consultant with the division. So it was quite a unique way of getting this job. What ended up happening is I was actually really pushing to have learning management systems opened up within our division, and specifically using Google Classroom, and other ways to engage students with technology. So what ended up happening is, as I was voting for these platforms to be opened up, and then I got to pilot some of these platforms with my students, it turned into more of an opportunity for our division to learn more about learning management systems and how we can use them to communicate with families to engage students, and just to kind of get with the 21st century with teaching. So I ended up doing a presentation on learning management systems. And it turned into a job opportunity for me, which brought me down to the Board Office as a teacher on assignment. And then with my luck COVID hit and learning management systems became extremely important. So that kind of landed me in a different position as a consultant.
I think what was so cool is as a colleague, we worked together you were in great Seven, and I was in grade pre kindergarten. And we didn't really interact as teachers, but we interacted as friends. And then the next year came, you were online working at the division office, and then the pandemic hit, and you were called to do everything, which was so fun to watch, I think, because you were so proud and so excited to teach about Google Classroom. And then that became the entire platform for our whole division. And you had to go about teaching everyone. So can you talk about how you taught teachers how to use Google Classroom, with kind of your videos and sharing how you did that? Yeah,
it was definitely a unique time. As you can imagine, everyone was at home teaching from their kitchen counters, or offices, or whatever spaces they had available. And getting messaging out to teachers was fairly difficult. So as a team, we had kind of decided that using YouTube would be our best option and sending out videos to the division would probably work to get teachers on board with teaching online and give them as much information as we could. So what my day would look like would be a billion emails and calls of questions from teachers. And we would see common trends and turn those into videos, how to videos, how to videos for students, how to videos for parents, and then lots and lots of troubleshooting and where to go next. So to be quite honest, it was all a big blur. I see lots of teachers now. And some of them I talk to nearly every day. And I was like, Oh, it's good to finally put a face to you. But really quite a unique time, we learned very quickly that Google meats and zoom and Microsoft Teams were extremely valuable platforms. And it's been kind of nice, actually being able to keep those around and having that shift in education. And I think that will never go away.
I think as teachers, we learned so much. If you were a teacher that was willing to shift and learn, you are now applying that in today's world. But that also provided families an opportunity to see what teachers were doing. And I think at the beginning of the pandemic, teachers were hesitant. You're very hesitant, like I was hesitant or resistant. I remember calling you. And the funniest thing was you said, Did you watch my video? I thought I had, but I didn't watch everything. And I think that when I went on to online teaching the following year, I remember being able to have a parent section in my Google Classroom, where I could refer to watching your videos, and share that rather than me going your team. And mostly you were able to really dive into how to use Google Classroom how to use technology. But you also didn't just bring that for teachers. You shared how to do that for parents. So I guess another question would be, how do you think moving forward? That will? Do you think teachers will apply that and use that information for their families, even though we're not in an online environment anymore?
Yeah, totally. I think, I mean, this year is a great example of that, we switched to a larger LMS. And we're now using a platform called Edsby, which I think most schools in Saskatchewan are now and the ease at which parents are able to use the platform and dive into it, and connect with teachers and actually be able to see what their children are doing in school has been a super easy transition compared to pandemic times. So it's kind of been a blessing that we prepared them for this. And now we're able to reap the benefits of it. One thing we also have, as we've continued with that way of teaching parents and engaging them by having a little parent portal right on our Edsby platform, and they can click it and access help videos and any documents that they may need to help them navigate and be productive within the platform. So that's been helpful as they're used to that kind of self help, which is great as well teachers can just show them where to go to get that information.
I think all So what's so amazing is all of our students in our division have a student account. But I think up until the pandemic did families actually know that they could go in and see that. And so now being able to have that parent portal, even access through their student account, families can see more so what their child is learning and what they can do at home as well. So do you think that teachers are continuing to engage families? Or do you think that seems like an added step? Quite honestly, with this new platform,
they don't necessarily have an option as to whether or not they're engaging families, they're just doing it. So the beautiful thing is that anything they do on this platform, like adding new assignment, adding lessons, adding rubrics is all visible to the parents. And it's without a teacher having to share it out. Now, grades remain private, unless the teacher chooses to share. But just kind of being able to let parents into our classrooms, and see what we're doing taking outcomes and just being very, very open with our lessons and purposeful has been extremely beneficial. So what we've noticed in high school is that we're getting lots of feedback from high school parents, just saying how, you know, they had no idea what their child was previously doing. And quite often, when we think of parent engagement, we're thinking of the littles, and we're thinking of like pre K, kindergarten, you know, early learning. But in high school, it's actually had probably some of the greatest effects with parents being able to go in, see final marks, see test scores, see assignments, see that their child is overdue on things because there's due dates, and it sends that our attendance, right, yeah, attendance, everything. So
just making it easy for parents to access it and see it. And they're getting involved because they want to, I love that because I was going to ask you about when you were teaching in grade seven eighths or sixth, seventh, and eighth. Like as a primary teacher, I was communicating with my families almost every single day. However, that was at the end of the day at the beginning of the day, when they walked their child to school. So those kids on the bus, I didn't really talk to their families as often. But as a middle years teacher, you rarely saw their families until three way conferences. So now, if you were to go back into the classroom, would you change anything? Or would you add anything to include family engagement, or would like what you're saying adds be just be part of it. And it wouldn't feel like an added step, you're just already doing it? Definitely,
I would already be doing it, it wouldn't feel like an added step. The kind of unique things that online platforms now is you can use the feed, to communicate with parents to write a message about reminders. This is what we did today. There's a nice little journal feature where I could write lessons we covered in school and what their homework assignment is like, maybe it's have a conversation about this or ask your child about this topic, type of deal. However, there's also a beautiful feature where you can do voice recordings on there or video recordings. So if I wanted parents to feel like they knew me a little more before three way conferences, what I could do is I could record myself record a little message at the end of the day, here's your update, here's what we did. And I could switch it up with how I'm delivering that information, giving them a face to see and making it a little personable, which is really nice. And again, super easy for teachers to do.
I remember when I first started my role as an online teacher, that was kind of the very first thing that I wanted to do. We were just starting with this class with Debbie pusher. And I had all these things that I wanted to add into my classroom. And then I wasn't going to be in a classroom. So how can I take that environment and put it into an online and one of the very first things I did was created a video so that those kids also knew and those families like these grade one parents were actually going to be a halftime teacher because I wasn't there with their child doing their assignments. And so it was nice that the parents and children could watch a video a little bit about me a little bit about what their day was going to be like, and have that conversation before. I remember one of my favorite lessons that I ever sent out was we're a Catholic division. And so we have to send out religion assignments. And in our religion, one of the very first things is all about me. And it asks you how you got your name. And in a classroom, those grade ones don't know what how they got their name, they really can't go home and just ask them, and by the time you go home, they don't remember to ask their parents, I created this assignment in an online form. And the parents were right there. So their answers were so meaningful. And it was so fun to see how these families came up with their name. And I think now, if I were to go back into a classroom, I could create that assignment in an online platform, and really not even do it in the classroom. It could just be at home, where they're working through that. And I think that's really important. I think going back to the added step, I think, Now prior to the pandemic, lots of families, really, maybe not, were not as engaged. But also teachers were not interested in engaging families. And I think I remember a principal saying, call at least one parent a week, and tell them how their child is doing. I kind of wonder we have PLC is we've got professional learning communities, at least every second week, teachers are supposed to come together and talk about what they're doing. Having kind of that sprint goal, that fine goal? Do you think that parent engagement could just be included naturally? Now having like, all these platforms, and all these conversations,
no, I don't, I think it's a lot easier to do it. However, being in the position I'm in, we get a lot of feedback and different things. And, for instance, one teacher even wrote this year that, you know, these platforms are too transparent. Parents can see too much they have too much access, they, they don't want them seeing their assignments, they don't want them seeing this and that. And so it's work, like we still need to teach, teach teachers, why parent engagement is important, and how we should engage families how we can reach out, because it's still scary to a lot of them. I would say they still have that fear of like judgment, or I don't, I don't know, criticism. Yeah, sometimes? I guess. So. No, I don't think it's going to necessarily just be natural, but I think they're going to, at some point be doing it without even realizing. And I also think they're going to be pushed to do it. But pushed to do it in a healthy, responsible way. Where it doesn't seem as scary. Yeah, I
think scary is that key word of teachers like their own bubble. And even though we call ourselves lifelong learners, there are lots of teachers who want to stay in their bubble, close their classroom door, give their students a worksheet, correct it and give them a mark. And then when threeway conferences come, they can say their child is doing great, or a few things to work on. And I really think this is challenging. A lot of teachers, my mom is 30 years into teaching. But she, when the pandemic hit, I feel like she was doing more than I was doing. But it was just one she's a parent, and she knows how to interact with parents in a different way than I would. But also she was willing to learn. And I think it's unfortunate that those people are, it's too transparent when they say that, but I think this is a good opportunity to maybe it has to start with admin, because if not every teacher is willing to do it, then admin, bringing up that conversation is something that needs to be talked about.
Yeah, and I can honestly say, the teachers who I still talk to today from the pandemic were one two, had no idea how to do anything online had never been turned into any sort of like videos or voice recordings or, you know, getting students to hand something in digitally that was all very, very foreign to them. And now they're coming to all these PDAs learning everything they can. They're still recording themselves reading videos and sending it home at the end of the day saying this is what I read to your children today. This is what we talk to both talk to them about this. And when I think about the high level of engagement that that creates, and the conversations that the students are then getting at home, as well as in school and being able to take them back and forth. It's just amazing and mind blowing, because we would have never had that when we were younger. And just wondering where it's going to go next. And you know, these teachers were just so willing to learn and jump into it, the things they're doing are just absolutely incredible. And we can tell because I've talked to parents who have children in their class, who say nothing but praise and are and are just flabbergasted by all the things that they're doing.
And I think that's where those teachers are really going to stand out as if they are doing nothing. And if they're doing something, and I think, you know, one of my topics was the shift between an added step. But really, teachers were just finding different ways to engage families when they didn't realize it. And again, I think the primary ages are a little bit easier to do that, because like you said, if we read a story, or if we're doing an inquiry project about that, you can do that. But maybe in the middle years, maybe you can speak to this, but the middle years might be a little bit harder with those types of videos. But
to be very honest, I found mental years, harder to engage families in the evenings. Not even because of like the content you're covering, because a lot of content, when you think about mental years is even around social justice issues and big issues happening in the news, and really getting that critical thinking skills to populate. And they could be having amazing conversations with their parents, but it feels like sports and extracurricular activities was often taking over their evenings and really focused around that instead of focused around anything I was posting or delivering or, or wanting to engage them with. So I had to come up with kind of like unique ways to get parents to bring it up. Because oftentimes, the students were so busy that they wouldn't even think of it at the end of the day, because they were just wondering, what do I have to do next? What's my next task, this and that, and then oh, it's the end of the day, restart tomorrow. So yeah, that was one thing that it was more just writing a little blurb that, you know, parents, this is what we covered today. This is how you could, these are some questions you could ask your child about. And having those conversations in the vehicle they would often do or other things was just kind of an easier way rather than recording a video of me doing it or this and that it was giving parents talking points for their children.
And it's not so much an assignment. And I think sometimes teachers and parents think that when a teacher sends something out, it's an assignment that their child is going to have to do, and that these parents are going to have to do with them. And really, you might do a few of those throughout the year. But like you said, if you're reading your classroom, and you're realizing that a lot of these things won't be done because of those extracurricular, then creating those conversations more so and then bringing them back into the classroom. Did anyone talk about this with your family? And then creates more of a balance and bringing those family connections into the classroom? Without really, like you said, doing any extra work?
Yeah, a lot of new perspectives would always come in when those types of quote assignments went out.
I think going back to your videos that you made, you really influenced me when I was an online teacher to create videos. And how many videos do you think you have made that have been published with the division? I'm putting you on the spot
where now I think in the three hundreds high two hundreds,
yeah, yeah. And like long videos, like they're not just little snippets. How long on average would a video being?
I tried to keep them little snap at? I would say they're between like, a minute and a half, two minutes to hopefully understand some of them are more like 15.
Yeah. But again, those are the certain things that they need to be brought in like You can't just leave something out on. Like I remember, like I said before logging onto Google classroom in the pandemic, when there were certain little buttons that you have to push so that it's on your portal. And if you did not include that in your video, not a single teacher would be on Google classroom today, or their child would not be on to do their assignments. And I think when I was working online, up until December, I really did not think that I was doing a horrible job. It wasn't bad. But I was still missing something. And I think, coming back into Debbie's class, and having those conversations about parent engagement and what we're doing, you know, these teachers that were in the school, were talking about all these assignments that they were doing, and a lot of the teachers are primary teachers so they could have those conversations. And because parents weren't allowed in the building, parents were willing to do things more outside of the classroom. And I was finding that I was not getting the parent involvement that an online teacher should. And again, I was one of six grade one teachers, and I was the only one that felt like this. But I think in these conversations I really was brought to, in conversations, and your videos made me think that I should start doing that. And so in January, I revamped my entire way of teaching. And I created videos, started doing more of like, a blended approach. Yeah. And it was really hard to at first, we used a program called loom. I know you don't use that one per se. But when I was using loom, and I was making those videos, I would stare at myself, it would take me like seven tries to make this one little 32nd video. But then, when I started making those videos, I then also asked parents, what else do you want? Like, what else do you need from me? It's not a judgement. It's, what can I do differently? Yes, some of the parents were saying things like, you need to be online all day, every day. And that wasn't my role. But there were things like, you know, you make these videos, but sometimes we don't have time to watch the videos and do the assignments. But maybe you could have a list of the assignments for that week. And just a really quick outline of what they're doing. Because my assignments became more, choose what you want to do that day. You have to get all these assignments done throughout the week, but you get to choose. And so that was kind of a shift where I allowed parents into my teaching, even though I still created the content, parents still had a voice. And all of a sudden more families were handing in assignments, more families were engaged. And I think, well, thank you for making videos. Because that really brought my attention to realizing how even though you may not have been thinking about how you can shift to parent involvement. For me, it was a way to connect. And I think one of the best stories was I sent out an assignment and I didn't have a video. And one of my highest readers stayed online until the very end of the class and said Mrs. Fisher, you didn't make a video. I didn't even create the assignment. So I kind of was like I well, I already posted it like I can't repost it but I was I said she was like, you can read of all the students you can you can read and it's gonna be okay. Like it honestly was just like choosing a beginning sound. I'm interested to know. Like, if I were to do it again, in my own classroom, how I could engage families the same way. And I think that's going to be like a challenge.
Well, I can tell you, the teachers who have gone from pandemic times to now in the classroom, they are using a blended approach. So what they're doing is the ones who jumped all in, especially French teachers, I find because a lot of times in French, you don't have parents who speak French at home, but they do want their children to learn it. And so what they've done is they've taken all those videos they made during the pandemic. They now teach it in school, and then they post it on their online platform for parents to watch at home too. So the children can revisit it the parents can revisit it also if the child miss school or is on vacation for some reason, they can see it and the works already done. Like you have all those videos. story you've created them, if you're a new teacher, creating them, like you said, takes time, definitely. And at first is a lot of work. But once you get used to it, and then you have kind of your bank and can reuse it and push it out, they've just been loving what it's been doing in their classroom, because at the end of the day, we no longer have frustrated parents, because they have a much better understanding of what their child's learning and how they're learning it, and can help them out.
And I like what you said about experienced teachers who have made those videos already, they can just input them into their classroom. But have you been working with new teachers in engaging technology? Which then, really, if we engage in technology, you're engaging families in a whole other way. So what are you finding with new teachers? Are they stressed beyond belief, or
new teachers will always be new to us, like, I want you to think back to when you started teaching, and the pile that was thrown at you and learning lists that and everything, but now also add in a calm accommodate for all these sick a yes, and that and do this online platform and post this here, a benefit, I guess as we move through generations is all the generations coming forward are a lot better with technology. But these students still didn't use a bunch of it in high school, university, things like that, right? Like they used a bit of it, but they weren't fully submerged in it.
They knew how to click onto a meat totally. So
there's still a big learning curve there. But the difference is they're not afraid to do it. So they're jumping in there doing the work and putting it in there. But they're also still learning themselves. How do I teach reading? And how do I teach math? And the basics. So that's, that's still being worked out with a lot of them, bringing parents into classrooms. That's all wonderful and great. But we know as teachers, we don't always have the opportunity to do that. Yep. So just that transparency alone, and showing them the curriculum Like honestly, this Yeah, this is exactly what we're working on. This is the indicators we're looking for. Here's a rubric that is designed based on the outcome or based on ICANN statement, and making it really, really simple and black and white just
allows parents to be a little more confident with what's going on in the classroom, and maybe have those conversations naturally with our children. Yeah, and I think you touched on it, the ICANN statements are huge, and they allow teacher and parent friendly language. And I remember in my classroom, prior to being online, I would post my ICANN statements, because my students knew that that's what they were working on. But when I was working in a classroom, we weren't really doing online learning yet. And so I think that will be a great shift for me because I can take my ICANN statements that are in my classroom, but then also send them to families, because then like you said, driving to extracurricular activities, you can then say, I saw that you were doing addition, in math today, or this week, you were working on community. Do you know what that is? Now? Can you tell me about it? And rather than it being a quote, unquote, added step, as a teacher, or a parent, it's more just one of the things when we were in primary, lots of kids go home, and the parent says, What did you learn today? And it's always nothing. And I think this is a really good opportunity, where you send these ICANN statements, and even if it's just that, what did you learn today? Nothing. Well, actually, I saw that you were learning about communities. Oh, yeah. We were talking about that. And I think that actually is a great jumping off point. Because in primary for sure. And you might want to speak on middle years, but when I'd have three way conferences, that is always with parents talked about, they were always so happy to see this portfolio, because they would say my kid just says they did nothing. And we try and talk about it, but they didn't engage. Yeah, yeah.
One thing with middle years that I use ICANN statements for is so I create my rubrics with them. But then students always have to self assess first, right? And when we're doing portfolios, and I do digital portfolios. Students are reflect on those outcomes with those ICANN statements like, can I actually do this yes or no? And if not, what do I need to do to get myself there until they'll write a reflection, but parents being able to see that they can then comment on these digital portfolios, right, they can comment on these items, they can write a little piece about it, I can comment on these items, right about how we're going to get there, what we're going to do to, to get to the, to the outcome, desired outcome. But yeah, it's just kind of a an easier way about going about that scary curriculum. And so it's a really, really handy tool. But with this learning story, students are also able to post themselves, they're able to do videos of themselves, they're able to do pictures of work hand in documents, hand in lots of stuff. And it all just kind of keeps it on a stream where their parents are able to see we're able to see they're able to see throughout the year, they have a plus button on all of these items. And they're learning stories, and they're able to just click and add them to their portfolio. And their portfolio automatically sorts itself based on subject and grade. And it stays with them their whole lives. So they can write something like a self reflection, like I said, they can write goals, stars and stairs, lots of different ways you can do a portfolio, or just use it to put you know, here's what I'm proud of, here's what I need to work on. And then like I said, parents can see it, they can comment on it, they can like it, we can comment on it, write about it. And they can see it right up until the time that they graduate from grade 12. So could you imagine having Kindergarten to Grade 12 work all in one spot for you to see,
I feel like that is where if we continue to build on technology, I feel like that is one something that I'd love to do. And I know that some teachers are already doing it in the primary years, but also something where our division could move towards, because I feel like every year we get the email of we are cutting down how many trees and it's such a waste. Whereas now we can take photos of all the assignments, scan them, and then provide families also, like you said, direct input and direct ideas of what their child is doing. But also, it can carry through throughout their years, how many mums in their basements have their children's portfolios, from kindergarten to grade eight, at least I know, my mom does. Whereas now, you could have it on your computer.
Yeah, and the nice thing too, is that, again, it's it's not just the pictures of the assignments, you can use it to track a student's reading. So you put your phone down or your iPad down, you press record audio record, and you now have a sample of them reading and you've added it to their portfolio.
I love it. That is something that I also want to continue doing. So trying to wrap this up a little bit, what are some of the takeaways on how we can continue encouraging parents continue encouraging teachers to include technology in their classroom, so that they are not only building off of what they are doing already in the classroom, but how Looking forward, we can continue having parents feel like they have a voice in their child's learning,
I think the biggest thing is just going to be showing teachers the benefits, because it still does seem very daunting for a lot of teachers to put the work in to learn these new platforms. And they're always scared that we're going to switch it on them and this and that. But, you know, walking them through with PDF, showing them how it's beneficial, showing them how it creates engagement, how it actually will, will work in their favor in the classroom. That's kind of where it starts. And then, you know, eventually drawing that hard line as to this is what's expected. And our goal moving forward right now is to create more transparency with what we're doing and transparency and communication. I would say like just keeping parents in the loop about here's our goals this week, here's what we're working on, here's our outcomes so that they're well aware of the learning targets that are going on within their child's classrooms. And that's I think, in large part going to come down from Admin eventually right and be a little bit of a push but I don't think it's I don't think it's gonna be a hard push I think I don't think so either. There's not going to be a lot of resistance there.
Yeah, I think you're going to get more teachers on board. Because at the end of the day, if they realize it, it actually could create less work for them in the end, rather than more work. And although it might seem like more work at the beginning, like we know, as a first year teacher, it's hard at the beginning, but then it becomes easier with time, and with the ability to let yourself shift and learn from those moments. So I want to thank you for joining me and keep making your videos and being an influence to all teachers and parents out there. And well, thanks for having me. And I'm definitely curious to see where we go in the future. But I think it's I think it's going to be a good shift.
I think it's already been a good shift, and I'm looking forward to what's coming next