August Challenge- Best Back to School Tips

[PS_AM1]

Hello PowerSchool Community Members!  

Back to school time is here again and we would like to know your best back to school tips that can help other districts or parents get ready for the upcoming 2019-2020 school year.  The tips can be anything from how to plan for the week, help students adjust, or ideas for parents on how to be more engaged throughout the year.  

The first 20 members who take the time to share their ideas will receive some awesome PowerSchool Swag.  We are eager to hear what the tips you guys have to offer so do not be shy.  Let's help each other to have a successful year.

Here is to the 2019-2020 school year PowerSchoolers! 

[MrBanks73]

I got this idea from another teacher and thought I would share.  We just had our open house and I always have a QR code up with my contact information or links to important websites or information up in my classroom when they come to visit.  That way they can add my information to their smartphones right away with ease.  Many parents appreciate it.

Have a great year!

MrBanks73

[jamiem7]

Thank you for sharing this tip! @MrBanks73   This seems like a great feature to utilize for both staff and parents!

[Sunshiny]

As a secretary I like to have a weekly journal/pad and write all the items needing to be done the week before I start, the week before school, and first week of school. I have this saved as well for following years as a quick reminder of reports I like to have printed, supplies needing to be ordered etc. and then I am not scrambling!

[JeffG9]

Before I became a member of the team that supports 70+ PS Districts I was an ELA and Film Study teacher. One of the things I was always sure to do was hav a "self-service" website, where students could go to download assignments or handouts they missed due to abscence. I also used to post help links to general MLA formatting and things like that.

[sonyacoenen]

I know it’s September but thought I would share my thought in case it is helpful to anyone else.
I have found that letting my daughter take more ownership in choices regarding school (to an extent of course) eases her anxiety. Choosing fun school supplies, how she wants to label/organize them, choosing extra supplies for the home room teacher, etc. These may seem like small things but letting her take ownership in the back to school process in any way that I can has certainly helped her “first year of middle school” anxiety.
Hope this helps 😃

[SowmyaN]

Hey @sonyacoenen, Thank you for sharing the tip with the PowerSchool Community members.

[MDeFore]

Our biggest issue has been with parents creating their new accounts, which then sync with our new PS learning instance, but the password doesn't. I was able to generate a report with all instructions miraculously onto one piece of a paper if printed. (Funny, they still go to those access id/password and try to login with those). This goes out over the summer in a mailing packet with a bunch of other back to school info. I also make myself available at open house to help any parent create this accounts. One thing we did was included a Digital Pass for all of our home games, it is located on our LMS. This really got parents to create those accounts in order to get into those games for free. 

[Brianrubin]

Every year, I would take my county pacing guide, testing schedule (was not the same), pad of paper, pen and a cooler of my favorite beverage and sit on the beach in July. I taught on a traditional 4x4 block and would number my paper 1-90.  I'd mark in my days of state testing. count backwards to give time to review. I would then try to match up the pacing guide and available days to each unit that way I would know what and when  I was teaching each unit. 

As the school year got underway, I would make adjustments and rewrite the paper to adjust for remediaiton and interuptions. The benefit was I knew for each subject what I was expected to teach, a general idea of when I would be there and take pressure off of getting how I'm going to manage. 

[ElstonS]

Hi @Brianrubin, 

Thank you for participating in our PowerSchool Community!

We appreciate you sharing your Best Back to School tips with us. I am sure a lot of community members will benefit from your expertise. 

[phuong2020]

Thanks for the helpful topic. I wish you success on the road ahead

Friv 9

Friv 1000

Friv1000

Friv 10

[Sunshiny]

I thought I was getting Powerschool swag 😞

[jamiem7]

I am so sorry you did not receive the cup with the PowerSchool logo.

I have followed up in a private message to discuss this further.

[Dave_Tchozewski]

Well @PS_AM1  I see that we have not yet reached 20 members with Back To School ideas, so I will chime in with mine in mid February. This suggestion works anytime of the year and is often overlooked as a way to communicate with your staff, teachers, students, and parents. 

Are you harnessing the power of Sign In Screen Custom Messages? You'll find this when signed in as Admin under District/District Setup/District Information. Here, you can customize what your users will see on their sign in page. Hard to miss these messages. Inform users about maintenance (see example), end of term, Tips & Tricks, and whatever you want to communicate. You can even inlude live links to help users get somewhere quicker. This messaging is done at the district level, so you cannot customize messages for each building. 

What messages have others shared in this space? Share so we can all benefit.

[Reshma]

Hi @Dave_Tchozewski 

Thank you for sharing your experiences and suggestions to improve PowerSchool SIS for all users!  

[kgrundon]

I am an eSchoolPlus user and one of the things that we implemented that has helped our students and parents the most was taking advantage of the HAC News.

First, I changed the HAC Starting Page from Registration to Week View.  This not only displays the HAC News at the top of the page but also provides both students and parents the cycle day information.

Second, I use HAC News to communicate down times, Back to School Nights, Parent Teacher Conferences, etc.  Also have allowed our teachers to utilize this feature as well.

Finally, I continually review HAC setups to ensure that we are taking full advantge of the sytem and providing our parents and students with applicable information such as the Alerts.  Parent feedback on the Alerts has been very positive.

[Reshma]

Hello @kgrundon,

We are really glad to see you sharing your implementation with us!

This seems like a great tip that would help our community members going forward!  We appreciate your thought and looking forward to hearing a lot from you!

Happy PowerSchooling!