Jen P, English Department Chair, wrote: I do something similar with (download it by clicking the link here ->) texter @ the beginning of each semester – this way I can not only fire off a student’s parent/dla, but also formulate a generic message that can be customized with a few key words.
Nice find Jen! Texter is a great free tool that allows us to write often repeated phrases with only a few keystrokes. It can instantaneously write something like your signature line, a salutation, or even an entire email. In the blog entry below about how to email from the grade book, texter could be used instead of Windows Notepad.
You’d have your three feedback notes for students set up as key words like ‘hype, failing, and acing,’ and then the whole message would drop right into the email. Adding this step is great, because with it you can avoid jumping back and forth, copying and pasting from notepad. It’s a great find! Below is a quick tutorial posted originally by ‘lifehacker,’ who I encourage you to add to your RSS Feeds in Google Reader, which was covered earlier.
Again, thanks for sharing Jen… now this is what I call a PLC! What great folks to work with!
-Shu
May 29th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Hey Shu,
Thanks so much for this! It will definitely save me time = )
Two questions:
1. Most of my parents do not have or read their emails, so I’ve had to use the phone. Any suggestions?
2. At my old school, we could not put the student’s name in the subject for privacy reasons. Have you experienced any of this?
May 29th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Chrissie,
1. Check out google voice, which is the evolution of grandcentral. I haven’t played with it enough yet to definitively do a tutorial, but that one’s in the works… it’ll be a biggie, I promise! If parents aren’t checking email, though, that’s a tough one. Why give someone an email if you’re not going to check it? Maybe at the beginning of the term when you speak with students and families, you should carefully word your question like “Do your parents have an email they check regularly?” During that phone conversation, I ask parents to check student grades weekly if they have a computer at home. If they don’t, I make sure they know they can call me any time. My famous line is “We’re all four a wheel on this party bus, you, me, student, and DLA. To get to the party, we’ll all have to help support the payload. Are you involved in your kid’s education? (always, they say yes) Good. You’ll love this! You can check your kid’s grades any time you like!” Then I follow through with how to click the ‘check grades’ button we put in the course.
2. Never had a problem with using the kid’s name in the subject line. So long as NCVPS doesn’t have a problem with it, I wouldn’t worry unless a DLA asked me to stop doing it.
January 4th, 2010 at 6:45 am
hi what is up?
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:18 pm
..again because of FERPA I put the child’s first name and then last initial. Like if his name is John Smith. I would put “John S.” or if they have a unique first name like Rainbow Smith I might do the reverse and put “R. Smith” in the subject heading
) That way it does not violate privacy laws and I can still easily do a name search for them in my email if I have to.
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:24 pm
I don’t think using the kid’s name in the subject line violates ferpa lines, but I might be wrong. I prefer to use the kid’s name in the subject line for easy searching too Elizabeth!
Also, since the last post, Chrissie, I actually have found something that will help you make calls to lots of parents quickly. I’ll do a blog entry on it soon, but you can check it out now. It’s called dialmycalls.com, and it’s a lifesaver! The best part of it is that after you send out pre-recorded calls to kids and parents, you get a report documenting which numbers went through and which did not!
shu
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:54 pm
ok, I just have to say…that is FANTASTIQUE! I can’t wait to see the blog entry…so cool! And you know what I found this…”FERPA allows schools to disclose personally identifiable information without consent in a limited number of situations, such as release of a student’s directory information (see below for further discussion), release of records in response to a valid subpoena, and disclosure of information and records to school officials with a legitimate educational interest in the educational records. ” I believe we, and the DLA are included in the “legitimate educational interest in the educational records” so it does not seem that the exchanging of contact info, including, full names and numbers is a violation of FERPA. just a lil something less to worry about
)
February 3rd, 2010 at 6:22 pm
niiiice!