Using Classtag To Help Manage Expectations

This year teachers have SO much on their plate. Some of you may be teaching face to face with students in your classroom or maybe you are still teaching virtually. Maybe you even teaching like me… I have both students in person and virtually that I am teaching at the same time!

How many times have you thought to yourself this school year is like no other year? There are so many more issues that I am finding I must deal with this year. Do you feel like that too? One tool I use that is really helping with classroom expectations is Classtag. Using this app helps keep my parents informed of everything that is going on.

Managing Student Expectations In-Person and Online

One issue that I am always dealing with but in a totally different way, this year is behaviors. My in-person students are adapting to being back in school. When the students returned to the classroom, I treated it like the first day of school all over again. We went over rules and expectations. They did great for a while but, I am seeing now that they are getting comfortable some times they always are not making the best choices.

The same goes for the students are home. Back when school began, we started off each Zoom session with our virtual meeting rules but, after a few weeks, we stopped going over them each time we met.

There are days where I feel like I need to just speak with some of my parents about a missing assignment or maybe a situation that happened over Zoom.  How many times have you sent an email about a situation and then maybe not get a reply or know if their email was even seen?

Emails may take a while for the parents to read so that is why I prefer using Classtag to message them. Using classtag, when I sent a message to a parent it sends a text or email to them right away. Parents seem to read texts more than emails I am finding out. When I use Classtag to message my parents they are instantly informed of what is happening in our classroom. If I need some work done it will let them know. If I notice that a student was not following our expectations during our Zoom session, the same thing. It is private, quick and it helps get my students back on track for learning.

I also love to use Classtag to focus on all the good things I see too. You can send video files and pictures straight to the parents. I really like to show parents how students are doing with their sight words and reading. Parents love getting them too!

Another feature with Classtag that I really like is that I can even tell if a parent reads the message but does not reply to me. That is like a piece of gold….lol  Just knowing that parents are seeing my messages lets me know they are aware of what is going on. I don’t get that with emails that is for sure!

Classtag is a great tool for teachers

Classtag is a great tool to help with behaviors in the classroom. It helps keep parents informed of what is going on in a private setting. It helps keep the parents who have students in school informed just as much as the parents that have students at home. It has helped me build a great bridge between home and school. It is a great way to communicate with all the families in your classroom.

This blog post was written in partnership with ClassTag, and the ideas and reviews are honest and completely my own.