Text to all

To make communicating with parents easier, my school adopted a text message system so that messages could be typed into the computer and then sent to numbers stored on the school database. I was an early adopter of this system and regularly send positive messages to parents and carers telling them about how well their son/daughter is doing in my class. Where necessary I send concern texts home about poor behaviour choices but these are few and far between compared to the positive ones.

When the school switched to a new, less user-friendly system the messages home dried up, not just from me but from most teachers. To encourage the use of the new system the Headmaster put on a few lunch time tutorials to train up Principal teachers. I arrived a little late for the Friday lunchtime training and listened to the instructions as best I could. I was keen to start using the new system as this is one of the things I love about teaching – keeping positive connections with home. That same afternoon there were two girls in one teacher’s class who had missed several extensions to get their homework handed in. I thought this was an excellent opportunity to practice my new-found messaging skills. As one of my keys for learning is: “If you don’t use it you lose it”, I stayed late after school and crafted the text messages home about the overdue homework. I highlighted these girls’ names on the phone list and pressed send thinking job done, now time to go home for the weekend. I felt quite chuffed thinking about the positive texts I could start to send home in the next few weeks.

What happened next was a major incident. Within about five minutes I had a phone call from the school office. “Hello, Mr Porter have you been sending texts home?” “Ye--es” I said tentatively, wondering how they knew and how they knew so quickly. “Well you have texted all the parents.” I could hear in the background the office phones ringing off the hook and the admin staff frantically answering concerned callers. I broke out in a cold sweat wondering what on earth had I done. There was a tsunami of reply texts from disgruntled parents, many saying pretty much the same thing, “I don’t have a daughter”, Why are you telling me that Rebecca’s homework is overdue”, “Is my son’s homework overdue?” Some parents were blunter, asking “What planet are you on?” It turned out, I had inadvertently pressed the “text all” option and my message had gone out to approximately 700 numbers on the school phone directory! My headmaster had to react quickly and sent a corrective message to all, explaining that we were testing out a new system and apologising for the error. I had to personally apologise to the children and families involved and to the harassed office staff. The Monday morning staff meeting was especially awkward and the next couple of weeks in the corridor I was met with smiles or sniggers, from teachers and pupils alike.

That embarrassing mistake was a learning experience for me, and some corrective training on the text system was soon provided. However, my habit of sending positive text messages to parents and pupils has not faltered, even though it often means working later at the end of the week or term. The fact is I know it pays dividends in the long run with a huge amount of good will created in relationships in the classroom and with home.

By whatever means you can, it is crucial that positive recognition and feedback is communicated to pupils and home. Parents really enjoy receiving a positive message or a note. It takes time to do but can mean families become more active partners in their children’s learning and pupils know that their good behaviour and effort will not go unrewarded.

This was made clear to me about 20 years ago when I used to pass out praise cards rather than texts. I had given one S4 girl a praise card for her excellent effort and behaviour in my class. She took it and said, “Thank you Mr Porter.” And looked at the card in such a deep and thoughtful way it was if I had just given her £100. “What’s up?” I asked. She was a pupil always getting into trouble around the school but thankfully in my lessons she was wonderful. “I’ve been asking my dad for a new outfit for the school disco coming up but he’s been refusing but last night he said “I’m fed up always getting bad news from that school, if I hear something good about you I will get you whatever outfit you want!” A couple of weeks later I asked how much my RME Praise Postcard had cost her dad - it was £70.

It is important for contact with parents to include positive feedback, passing on specific praise. In this multi-media age, there are many options for how to communicate, and text is still one that can work well.