Brianna Tartabini

stayintouchwithbri.weebly.com
EDU-225
June 13, 2016

Entry 1: Technology to Support Communication

Introduction
Technology is something that has sky rocketed in the past fifteen years particularly.
Though this new age of technology has affected a lot of things in the world, it has especially
impacted classrooms and they way things are introduced and taught in them. Technology in the
classroom provokes a lot of non verbal communication as well as verbal communication.
Students receive individual laptops to do research on while in class, and also can be put into
group activities as well. There are also many ways that students and teachers are able to look up
current grades or assignments once school is over and they are at home. Many helpful websites
such as progress book, a personal class website and social media help students and parents to
stay up to date and in touch with school assignments, questions and events.
Technology to Enhance Communication
Progress Book:
Progress book is a classroom management resolution that incorporates grade book,
attendance and student and also parent communication. (Progress book, n.d.)Teachers will use
progress book to maintain their students progress and information. Teachers will use progress
book to communicate with parents by first off ensuring that the parents has the website properly

set up to their childs name. Then parents are able to see the progress that their child is making in
class so they can wither praise or help out their child if their grades are rough. Also, students
have access to progress book, so they will be able to see how they are doing in a class. If a
student has a homework worksheet to complete and he or she left it at school accidentally, you
are able to go to a resource tab in progress book, in which some teachers will link that worksheet
so the student can print it off and ensure that it is completed. As for the community, people such
as school administrators are able to peak into this to see the overall progress of the students in
that particular school or area.
Class Website:
A classroom website is something every teacher should consider. A classroom website is
a website that was created and designed all by the teacher of the class. This enables teacher to
stay in touch with students, parents and any other person, such as another teacher or
administrator. A classroom website can provide parents helpful resources about class events and
assignments. It can also provide websites that make it easier for parents to help their children
with homework. Also a class website can help remind students when they have assignments due
and when there may be a class part or event that they need to bring something in particular to
school. Lastly, a class website can impact the global community by giving those ideas that came
from the website created or insightful resources. Overall a class website has a lot of good,
information criteria that can be used to help many. (Miller, 2016)
Social Media:
Social Media, while many believe that it is something only teenagers use, this is far from
the truth. Many people including teachers and adults use social media to communicate and set up

events together. Teachers can use social media to communicate with parents. For instance if a
teacher says to a parents to add them on a face book page that has to do with his or her students
class, they can easily become friends and see different events that may be taking place in the
future so they are prepared and ready for what is next. Also if a parents child forgot to write
down their homework, they may be able to message the teacher for a prompt response. Teachers
of students, especially in high school can communicate with one another with say twitter.
Teachers can tweet reminders of when finals are or things as simple as when a school dance is.
Lastly, teachers using social media can communicate with the global community very easily by
setting up a teacher blog or webpage where other teachers or parents can give their insight or
suggestions. (Churcher, Downs, Tewksbury, 2014)
Remind:
Safe, simple, free, remind is describes itself in those three words. Remind is something
that may not be familiar to many, but once it is, people fall in love with its effective simplicity. It
helps teachers to keep their students engaged and on track, dude to the instant communication is
allows. Also students can communicate with the teacher without exchanging personal phone
numbers. Remind can also do the same when it comes to teacher interactions, they are able to
discuss lesson plans and help each other out using this website. Teachers are also able to
communicate better with the parents of their students staying up to date and reminding them to
remind their children of a particular event or assignment. It is an all around effective website that
can make communicating a breeze. (Schumann, Wangenheim, Groene, (2014)
Communication Internet Security and Safety

Internet security and safety is something that is critical, especially when it comes to the
students. It is so easy to veer off onto a non appropriate website. Teachers should have a game
plan that involves a security program on all devices that can access internet. Implementing this
can be as simple as a teacher calling a staff meeting to discuss it. After they initiate the program
that is best for their school, they then need to relay that to the students so that they are aware and
understanding what to expect and how to use the internet. Teachers should send letters or emails
to the parents explaining how the school has begun and the seriousness of t it. Once everyone is
on board with the program, it will be a breeze to deal with on all ends. However, teachers and
staff members should be able to access some sites that students cannot by simply entering a
password that only they know, that allows them to use sites that may be helpful to them.
(LaRose, Rifon, Enbody (2008)
Concluding Paragraph
Technology allows a variety of information to be right at ones fingertips. It is so easy to
communicate and to access information on the internet. There are many websites and programs
that help to make communication in with teachers, students and parents a breeze. Progress book,
which is a site that helps parents, teachers and students to stay up to date with current grades and
assignments, is a very helpful resource. Also, a teacher who creates a class website creates a very
helpful tool for both students and parents, and also future teachers who are looking for advice or
ideas. Having a class website is a great way to stay up to date with the most current events, class
assignments, as well as helpful resources that is added in. Lastly, social media can really help
parent to parent interactions. Students, especially young aged ones tend to make up little white
lies to get out of doing homework. Social media is a great way for a parent to message another
parent to ask if their child was supposed to have homework. It is also a good way to stay up to

date with school programs. Overall the internet has a lot of good programs to offer, it is all a
matter of taking effect and actually using them.

References
Miller, B. (2016). Can I Use This App or Website for My Class? Knowledge Quest, 44(4), 22-29.
Churcher, K. A., Downs, E., & Tewksbury, D. (2014). "Friending" Vygotsky: A Social
Constructivist Pedagogy of Knowledge Building through Classroom Social Media Use.
Journal Of Effective Teaching, 14(1), 33-50.
Parent Access to ProgressBook. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.nhsd.net/ParentAccesstoProgressBook.aspx
Schumann, J. H., von Wangenheim, F., & Groene, N. (2014). Targeted Online Advertising: Using
Reciprocity Appeals to Increase Acceptance Among Users of Free Web Services. Journal
Of Marketing, 78(1), 59-75. doi:10.1509/jm.11.0316
LaRose, R., Rifon, N. J., & Enbody, R. (2008). PROMOTING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
for INTERNET SAFETY. Communications Of The ACM, 51(3), 71-76.
doi:10.1145/1325555.1325569