Online Teacher Conference Sign Ups

I have always hated the back and forth paper passing it requires to sign up parents for teacher conferences. This year, I decided to try a new approach. I used a website called VolunterSpot. I looked at it and thought I would give it a try. I wanted to make sure I used a tool that would be easy to use and not obligate my student's parents to sign up with another website. I have to say that after I used this for my sign ups, I will definitely use it again. It was extremely easy to sign up, set up times, and send out to the class. There were even videos to use in case I needed help. When the link went live, my parents signed up with no questions! It went extremely smoothly. I sent out a survey after wards (surveymonkey.com) and 97% of my parents preferred this option over paper sign ups. They commented that it was very easy to use. My two comments are that one parent didn't get their reminder email until after the conference. Secondly, this online option doesn't give you a way to manipulate your schedule in case you need to spend more time with a particular parent. That is the only real negative I have. Overall, thirty minutes with each parent gives me the time I need to talk, but I can see how this might not work for some. I highly recommend this website if you would like this option for scheduling anything from teacher conferences to classroom volunteers.

www.volunteerspot.com

Report Cards and Conferences Are Here!

The trimester has come to an end and report cards are completed! Now it's time to give myself a grade on the start of fourth grade. I have to say that things are going pretty well! I give myself an A-. The minus comes from the unknown of the year; not knowing the trajectory of the year but that will be fixed next year. As for technology, I think we have done pretty well as a class! We have produced one Voicethread project, five writing assignments (three of them have been shared on our blog), many math days where we explored ipods, a research project using tech, conference sign ups online, a very successful Twitter exploration, and parents have commented on our student's work! I think my favorite technology success is the independence my students have gained using Twitter. Each day, one student is the iPad Twitter person. They are in charge of tweeting our learning and adventures. They are allowed to look at our followers (60+ other classrooms) and see what they are doing and they are allowed to comment (if approved by me). We probably average about five tweets a day from students. I didn't expect this success but the children are loving it. I know it sounds like small successes but with being in a new classroom and new grade this year, we are doing well! I am excited what the new trimester will bring for us.