Mr. Khabushani is a middle school history teacher in Los Angeles, CA. He learned about TalkingPoints from his school principal and used it communicate with families in their home languages. His goal was to send more individual messages through TalkingPoints, since the previous school year, he had sent more general announcements home.
This is what he had to say about his experience:
TalkingPoints has changed my practice as an educator. I feel much more supported knowing that at any moment I can send a message to my parents. I feel much more connected to them. It has encouraged me to, at any time throughout the day, open up TalkingPoints and drop them a note. It has also encouraged me to send positive observations. And much more often I find I send messages letting parents know how wonderful their student is doing in my class.
I have certainly seen a difference in parent participation at home. Based off of my students’ increased productivity, it is clear parents are holding them accountable more often. There is more project involvement and homework involvement. At the beginning of the school year, 50% of my 8th graders turned in a project for a grade. With TalkingPoints, that went up to 95%.
Parents are well-intended, care about their kids and community and want to be involved but the communication barrier prevents involvement. With TalkingPoints you can send constant reminders and pictures to keep parents informed.
