Online Parent-Teacher Conference Scheduling: Getting The Word Out
Online parent-teacher conference scheduling can make your life easier. But, you knew this already. It lets your students' parents sign up for those all-important conferences, without having to call you or come into the school. Even though web scheduling for parent teacher conferences offers benefits galore (such as ease of scheduling and the ability to connect with parents), the moms and dads of your classroom kids may not know about it. How can you get the word out and make sure that the parents actually use the online scheduling system?
Email Blast
Make sure that the information about online parent teacher conference scheduling doesn't get lost in the shuffle. Sending home a paper parent letter may not be as effective as a quick email. Why not? There's a chance (a pretty major chance) that your young students will shove that paper into their backpacks and never take it out. If mom or dad do look through their kiddo's folder or binder, they may not notice it. Instead, draft a special email that isn't part of a general class update and isn't attached to any other announcement. Adding the scheduling content to the end of an email about the next field trip or the holiday class party might mean that the parents never see it.
Open House
It's the beginning of the school year, and that means you're planning for an open house night. The parents will come to the school, tour the classroom and spend time with you. As you review classroom rules, expectations, the curriculum, and anything else that's important, you can also provide information about using the parent teacher conference web scheduling system. Along with telling the parents about the online scheduling option, you can also hand them a letter or paper with the link or how-to steps on it. Unlike handing a paper to a child, it's much less likely to get lost or be disregarded when you give it to a child.
Parent-Teacher Organizations
Even though some of the parents can't make it to school for drop-off or pick-up because they're at work during the day, they may be able to attend the evening parent-teacher organization or association meetings. Make a point of at least popping into one of these meetings at the beginning of the school year. This gives you the chance to announce the new web scheduling protocol.
An online parent teacher conference scheduling system lets you effectively communicate with the families in a way that's easy for everyone involved. If this system is new to your school, use email, an open house night, or a parent-teacher association meeting to introduce and explain web-based scheduling.