TeachFX spoke with Adrienne Hudson from Kirkpatrick Elementary school. Adrienne emphasized the importance of engagement. Below are some of the key takeaways from the event.

“Engagement as a 360° Endeavor: Expanding the Spaces for Everyone to Become Involved” 

How have schools/principals successfully engaged with parents and families this year?

• We created a google classroom called School Wide Announcements. One place where that link existed and shared with parents, students, etc. for a variety of different purposes (events, meetings, announcements).

• We also included a newsletter (used a platform called S'more) with that. Insight - text wasn't being read but the video was being watched. So, we gave the highlights via YouTube videos. They can message you back on the same link. 

• Newsletter for families and for staff (bi-weekly); can see who opened and interacted with that

• Use screencastify - share screen and have my face in the corner (more personal)

• Included interactive links

• Flipgrid videos for students to share their knowledge about different topics

• Wee video - uses this, simple editing features

• Quik - uses this to create compilation videos or slideshows… drop videos/photos from an event, include a song 

How do efforts with parents translate into engagement for students during instruction? 

• Started every day with school-wide announcements and then got into school-wide learning.

• Used flipgrid - allowed students to record their own videos and shared them on school-wide announcements in the morning.

• Students would also share read alouds - this helped address fluency problems our students were having - and students had a ton of fun with this

• Incorporated science content into the school-wide announcements 

• Drive-through events (to keep everyone involved - in-person and remote students)

  • Award ceremonies

  • Celebrations

  • Learning opportunities (skeleton day)

What does student voice look like? What does it mean to engage students? How could you expand your thinking about it in new ways for the year ahead?

• We modeled this first! School wide learning initiative - we had to teach them how to do these things. Example: modeled the read aloud before we asked the kids to do them.

• It became even more important during the pandemic to give students opportunities to speak and connect

• Allow teachers figure out what works best in their classrooms: Plays/acting things out, News reporter students, Show and Tell, Edpuzzle

What kind of data did you collect and evaluate? 

• Survey data (anonymous qualitative data) - teachers and students are very honest (as long you create a culture where everyone feels comfortable sharing their feedback)

• Attendance tracker (attendance was a huge challenge this year) - tracked attendance in the traditional way, but got more detailed (hybrid, virtual, “present-by-parent-participation,” “present-by-assignment.”)

  • During team meetings would dive into this data to do some reflection and make changes based on learnings 

• TeachFX - teachers could see the actual student voice in the room; evidence of student engagement (what parts of the lesson were most engaging and getting students talking)

  • Example: Kindergarten teacher felt like she had too much teacher talk, even though she’s being engaging as a teacher… but after talking to Adrienne she decided to try and empower students to lead parts of that lesson or even the chants/recalls

  • Another example: a teacher noticed there was very little silence in their classroom, wasn’t giving students enough opportunities to show what they know, do independent work

Want to learn more about TeachFX at your school? Let us know!