Here’s something I’ve been meaning to share with you since the beginning of the school year! I’ve been inspired by Roxanne’s work to polish my own work.
One thing that I looked carefully over in August was the confirmation letter I send to my schools. Just about every VC my schools do is scheduled through my office. And when it is scheduled, we send a confirmation letter. It used to be really long!!
But not everyone needed all the information all the time. So I moved several chunks of the letter online to my new preparation page:
- Student Letter (to send home or use in class)
- Preparing Questions for a Videoconference Lesson Plan
Then I added these resources:
- Permission Slip (if needed) One of my schools had just asked for this.
- After the Videoconference. Have students reflect on this worksheet about their videoconference and what they learned; then send it home.This one was inspired by Fort Worth Museum of Natural Science and History.
As well as some tried and true classic preparation resources:
- Preparing for an ASK Videoconference . (In addition, you should receive a kit from REMC; if not please contact us!)
- Interview Notetaking Guide for Veteran
Moving this online allowed me to majorly tighten up my confirmation letter. Now it looks like this:
To: teacher
CC Principal and VC Coordinator(s):Subject Line: VC Confirmation: *title*: *date*
This letter confirms that your videoconference program has been scheduled.
*title*, *content provider*
*date & time*
## students attending (please correct if inaccurate)The total cost of this program is $XXX.
Your district will be billed $XX after the program. The remaining funds are paid by REMC.
If you must cancel, please do so at least 5 business days before the event, or you will be charged for the event.Preparing for Your Videoconference
Please be ready to start 5 minutes early.You may contact **content provider** to discuss the content of your presentation.
Phone: *****
Email: ****
Please remember that any scheduling changes need to go through Berrien RESA.**Content provider** will send you materials for this program. If you’re not sure what to do with materials or the materials don’t arrive, please call me right away!
Additional preparation resources are online here (worksheets, student letters, questioning lesson plan, ASK prep info, and more):
http://www.berrienresa.org/technology/vc/vcscheduling/preparation/If you have any questions, you may call me or email me. Thank you.
Short & sweet! I think this works much better. Additional resources are there for those who need them, and the email only contains the most critical information.
What about you? Have you recently polished your communication for teachers who are busy speed readers?
