Communication

 Communication is an important part of everyday life. Doing so effectively is even more important, especially as a classroom teacher. My coworker and I decided that communication would be the focus of our individual professional development plan (IPDP) for this school year. In order to achieve this we collaborated on ways we could make new families to our school district feel welcome, access information and resources they needed, and welcome them to the community. This was to be our first year implementing home visits and completing student biographies for each ELL student. Due to COVID, we were unable to go through with home visits, however, we did create digital copies of the student biographies and sent that to parents to complete for their child/children. 

Personally, I wanted to have strong communication with my non-English speaking families, many of which speak Spanish. Ironically, I took four years of French in high school so, besides several common phrases, I know next to nothing in Spanish. I turned to technology to bridge the gap and friends, I hit a jackpot! 

TalkingPoints was introduced to me by a fellow ELL teacher at our biannual ELL PLC. Basically, ELL teachers from all the surrounding districts get together to support each other, review our programs and discuss what's working and what's not. I was immediately interested in TalkingPoints and began experimenting with it right away. Essentially, one can set up classes within the platform, insert parent phone numbers, and communicate with those families in their native language. To sum up this application; GAME CHANGER!

Below I will highlight my favorite features of TalkingPoints:

1. It's FREE!!!

2. Automatically translated messages in over 100 languages

3. Ability for families to directly respond in their native language

4. Message scheduling (I love this for conference time!)

5. "Office Hours" so I don't get notifications when I don't want them

6. Capability to utilize on my phone or computer

7. It has way more features...so check it out by clicking HERE!

This application has made me feel like a more competent teacher. I can reach out to families about their students and in most cases, communication is reciprocated. I actually feel like I can make a difference now and help to provide these families the same experiences that English-speaking families have with the school. I feel like this year more than ever families are coming to me with questions, concerns, and needs. I credit TalkingPoints for my success in connecting with families.