Parent Engagement in Classroom and Student Learning
Welcome to our Website. We are two teachers (Sonja Hoogenboom & Shaun Wood) from Otonga Road School, in Rotorua New Zealand, working on our Teaching Inquiry for 2016. We have also been accepted to follow this inquiry under the umbrella of the Ministry of Education's Digital Era Learning Teaching & Assessment (DELTA) Programme - Grassroots Ideas, which has a focus on 'Investigating and sharing ideas to help schools around New Zealand to effectively use digital technologies for teaching and learning.'
Last year, we identified parent engagement in student learning (particularly digital based learning) as a concern that needed to be addressed. This year we want to target three areas of parent engagement that are an integral part of student learning: (Engagement in the school - knowing what is happening and being involved, engagement in the class of their child/children, and engagement in their child's learning).
Our Inquiry will focus on the use of the app Class Dojo to connect with parents and whanau. We will focus specifically on the use of Class Story (a quick and easy to use and access page), where 'snack bite' posts with or without pictures are sent instantly to invited members. We will also investigate the use of another Class Dojo feature; Messaging, to send notices, general information and individualised information whenever necessary. By providing links in our posts and messages, to our Class Blogger pages, we also hope to increase engagement in these sites too.
As a side, we will continue to promote our school app to build overall engagement with the school, and our student portfolios to build overall parent/whanau engagement in their child's learning.