Ryan Block

http://mrrwblock.weebly.com/
EDU-225
5-19-16

Entry 1: Technology to Support Communication

Introduction
Technology is a huge part of an educators life and as an educator technology is a tool
that cannot be over looked in a classroom. To better enhance your chances and improving
communication with parents educators need to have some sort of plan of attack when it comes to
technology. Using technology such as email, smart phones, skype and a classroom website will
give parents lots of options on on how their student is performing academically and also how
their students behavior has been during the school year. Without proper communication with
parents their students learning and behaviors could not be corrected resulting in loss of valuable
learning time. Technology such as email, smart phones, skype and a classroom website will
improve students chances at being successful in class and at home.

Technology to Enhance Communication

Email:
A teachers school email is probably one of the most important tools while at work
because it helps keep an open communication between teacher and parents. Some parents do not
want to be disturbed during the day and the only way to get a hold of them is through email.
Emails also allow a teacher to attach and send missing assignments, send discipline actions, and
also possible emergency problems that happened at school. In recent decades, e-mail writing
has become one of the main ways for personal
and professional communication which allows millions of people from different socio-

cultural backgrounds to keep in touch by means of this asynchronous digital device (Canga,
2013). Students also will be able to access homework that they have missed due to a family
emergency or maybe being sick for the day by just emailing the teacher for the assignment which
allows them to stay up to date on their work. When it comes to a global community teachers are
able to reach out to other teachers in district through district email or even other districts and are
able to swap ideas for bettering the classroom. The district email is a powerful tool that is able to
help teacher stay connected with everyone.

Smart Phone:
The smart phone is a teacher's best friend because it allows you to do so much while
living a busy life. Teachers are able to email, call parents about how students are doing and they
also are able to punch in grades using a gradebook application. With a smart phone teachers are
also able to check grades for students anywhere inside or outside the building with the same
gradebook application. For example, the smart phone is a small, hand-held device that is a cell
phone and a computer the next generation of the PDA. The smart phone has become
indispensable to Hughson during her first stint as a teacher. She can store information about a
student's progress and consult it as she works with the student. She uses it to make notes about
something that a student needs to work on, and can even take a picture of the child's work to email home to the parents (Deaver, 2007) When it comes to using a smart phone for global
communication teachers are able to use smart phones to watch webinars on how to apply new
techniques in the the classroom. When smart phones were invented it was the best thing that
could happen to a new teacher because there are so many ways to use it for educational purposes.

Skype:
Skype is a way for teachers to video chat with parents, students and even other teachers
without even leaving the school or the classroom. Skype is a video chat program that allows face
to face conversations through a tablet, computer or even a smartphone and works as long as there
is internet connection. With skype a teacher could set up a video chat with a parent about a
students individual education plan at the parents convince and schedule. Video chat like skype
also allows students who are struggling with an assignment to call in and have a face to face
conversation with the teacher and get instruction on how to solve the problem. When it comes to
the global community new technology, such as the Skype-based virtual coaching used with
Kalli, has already begun to provide a promising direction for these changes, making possible new
forms of interactions between students and university instructors (Rock, 2013). Teachers could
use video chatting like skype for some many things like getting help from a teacher or
professional from another area who specializes in a certain area like behavior. Video chats like
skype can improve communication in the classroom and could be set up for all teachers to use.

Website:
The biggest key to having a classroom website is making sure that it is accessible for
anyone to use it like making sure that you have the right fonts, colors and it is easy to navigate.
(Admundson, 2009). Classroom websites are great for teachers to use because it allows teachers
to blog about the classroom and also provide information pertaining to what the students are
doing while at school. When it comes to a parents prospective parents are able to access the
teachers website and see when events are coming up like picture day through the class calendar

or click on the email the teacher link to get a hold of the teacher. Students will be able to access
their class links like Read-180 and System-44 to work on at home if they are low on minutes
from school or to catch up on lessons they missed from being sick. As for the global community
other teachers from all over the world will be able to access the teachers page by googling it
and will be able to borrow ideas for their own page. If done right classroom webpages can be a
really efficient way for students, parents and other teachers to access what you are doing in class.

Communication Internet Security and Safety

Security should be an educators number one priority before a student logs in on a
computer. The textbook mentions to identify security risks that threaten home and school
computers (Gunther & Gunther, 2014) which is something that teachers need to mention when
talking to students. Students at a young age should be taught that the internet is a big place and
teachers need to give them examples of the dos and do nots of using the internet. When
addressing parents teachers need to explain to them that when it comes to internet safety and
what school children can access while at school is getting harder because districts are hiring
network administers to make sure the students are not able to access harmful content (Melgosa,
2013). Staffs at the schools have to understand that using technology and the internet is
becoming more and more dangerous in classrooms because of the threats of internet security
being easily manipulated. (Weafer, 2002) Although schools have beefed up their security when it
comes to firewalls and protecting their computers Trojan horses and other viruses can still
happen (Hua, 2011). Communication is key with parents, students and staff about how the
internet is still a lot like the wild west in that there is so much information out there that no one

knows how much of it is safe for students to look at. Teachers still need to monitor their students
closely while they are on the computers for their safety.

Concluding Paragraph
Technology is a very powerful form of communication and using technology like email,
smart phones, skype and a classroom website will increase the teachers chances of being
successful. Using technology can save a lot of time for students who need to look up information
quickly but it also is a great tool for educators to get out information. With smart phones, and
easy access to email teachers are able to get out accurate information to parents and students so
they are able to keep on assignments, and test. Teachers are also able to use their classroom
websites in the classroom for easy access to sites that students use on a daily basis instead of
searching for them on the computer. The one thing that teachers have to remember most is to
monitor what their students are doing while on the internet for internet security. Even after giving
the students the talk about how the internet is a big place they still will try and access things they
are not supposed to. All of these tools come at a cost but if you outwieght the bad with the good
than teachers will see all of the future upside that technology can bring to a classroom especially
when it comes to better communication with parents and students.

References

Amundson, L. (2009). Five Steps to an Accessible Classroom Website. Learning & Leading With
Technology, 37(3), 16-19.

CANGA ALONSO, A. (2013). VOCABULARY USED IN E-MAILS BY MIXED-ABILITY

EFL SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS. Revista Espaola De Lingstica Aplicada (RESLA
(Revista Espanola De Linguistica Aplicada)), 26107-126.

Deaver, D. (2007, November 21). Digital Savvy: Smart phones help student teachers assess
progress, keep parents involved. Winston-Salem Journal (NC).

Gunther, G. & Gunther, R. (2014). Teachers Discovering Computers (8th ed., p. 411).
Boston,MA: Shelly Cashman Series. Retrieved from https://viewer.gcu.edu/R4MF8V

Hua, V. (2011). Redefining the Security Wall. T H E Journal, 38(7), 36-38.

MELGOSA, A., & SCOTT, R. (2013). School Internet Safety: More Than 'Block It to Stop It'.
Education Digest, 79(3), 46-49.

Rock, M. L., Schoenfeld, N., Zigmond, N., Gable, R. A., Gregg, M., Ploessl, D. M., & Salter, A.
(2013). Can You Skype Me Now? Developing Teachers' Classroom Management Practices
Through Virtual Coaching. Beyond Behavior, (3). 15.

Weafer, V. (2002). Blended Threats. T H E Journal, 30(5), 16.