Take a Break: Scheduled messages during school vacations with ClassTag

I try really hard not to do a ton of work during school breaks. I really need the time to rest, and I want to spend time with my family and friends, not worrying about work I could or should do. However, I also like to encourage students to practice their instruments over breaks, since many of them have more relaxed schedules. With ClassTag, I was able to set up messages to be sent out over break before I left school last week. It's super easy to schedule announcements for any time in the future. After clicking the giant plus sign in the right hand corner and choosing "Announcement", this screen pops up. Fill in the fields, then click "add send time" in order to schedule it for the future.

Scheduled announcements are super handy for many different purposes, and make it easier to maintain work-life balance while communicating with families at a time that works for them. ClassTag's stats let me see how many families read my announcements. I notice that they are more likely to get read if I schedule them to go out during evening hours (likely because many parents aren't working at that time), so adding a send time is an easy way to improve communication with families.

Ready to sign up for ClassTag and level up your home-school communication? Sign up here !

--I am a ClassTag ambassador. I receive ClassTag coins and referral incentives for sharing how I use ClassTag in my teaching, but really do believe in their service and think it's useful for teachers.

I hope all teachers are having a relaxing, enjoyable break!

Managing Huge School Events is a Breeze with ClassTag!

The biggest event of my school year has come and gone! October flew by since it was consumed by preparing for Cantonstock, a big music concert and fundraiser day that my school system puts on. As one of the music teachers, it's my Super Bowl. Getting information to all my students' families is essential to making the event happen. We need students to arrive at different times depending upon what groups they perform with, and need parent volunteers throughout the day to help. In addition, many students are trying to perform around sporting events and other commitments and require more detailed information on timing and logistics. ClassTag makes communicating all of that super easy!

First of all, ClassTag makes it easy to set up multiple classes. This is key for those of us who teach many different groups of students. Here's the list of classes I see in my account:

I'm able to separate out each section of my band, have a group for my Orff ensemble, and share a class that I co-teach with another teacher so we can both send out announcements and communicate with families. This is so much easier than many communication tools - no more email lists, confusing groups, or limit to the number of sections you can set up!

I was able to set up Cantonstock as an event for each of my classes. An event within ClassTag allows all the information regarding any sort of time-bound activity to be kept in one place. In addition to concerts and out-of-school events, I could see this being used to remind parents to return permission forms, or to help families remember days off school or special events like pajama day and field trips. It's really easy to create an event, and the form helps make it easy to remember to add all the details:

 ClassTag can even remind parents of events with weekly emails! It's also easy to schedule announcements about events (I set up everything in early October for an event in early November) in order to save time during those busy weeks while still keeping parents in the loop.

Events are just one feature of ClassTag, but it's a very useful one for sure. If you'd like to sign up and try it yourself, please consider using my link. Thanks for reading!

--I am a ClassTag ambassador. I receive ClassTag coins and referral incentives for sharing how I use ClassTag in my teaching, but really do believe in their service and think it's useful for teachers.

Resource Share: ClassTag

I really, truly like ClassTag and they didn't pay me to write this. I may receive an incentive if you sign up using my links in this post, however I'd recommend ClassTag with or without their affiliate program! 

As a music teacher who runs ensembles before and after school, I have to communicate with a lot of families. Emails can be really cumbersome with large groups (especially with privacy concerns) and phone calls take too long. When I have information to share with families of my students, I use ClassTag. ClassTag lets teachers communicate with families, with group and private messaging features. It also lets you schedule events and coordinate volunteers, appointments, and to-dos. Basically, it's everything you could need to get families the information they need to engage with school. It saves me countless hours and keeps parents fully informed about what's going on at school.

Setting up ClassTag is super easy. It starts with a 2 minute sign-up process, and then you're ready to make a class. I have 6 classes set up, one for each ensemble section I teach. ClassTag allows you to add co-teachers to a class, which is great for many circumstances in which 2 teachers work with the same students. It's possible to import family email addresses into ClassTag simply by copy-pasting from a spreadsheet, which is super convenient. You can also print sign-up codes for each student, or input the information manually. Once they're signed up, parents can add their phone number if they prefer SMS alerts, or can get the app for their smartphone and receive messages there.

Using ClassTag is even easier than setting it up! There are plenty of options to make ClassTag as customized as you want it, but sending an announcement requires just a few clicks and typing out your message. There's a handy preview screen before sending, which I think is a great feature. I use announcements to communicate class cancellations, reminders, home practice assignments, and any other information that I want families to know. Links and attachments can be used in announcements to help direct parents to other information.

The private message system within ClassTag is also a nice tool. Parents can ask you a question without having to search for your email or phone extension, and you can answer when it's convenient. There's a demo class that lets you test all of these cool features out without sending it out to an actual class, which I really like.

I highly recommend ClassTag for parent communication, and I believe the system is especially well-suited to music teachers. Please consider using my link to sign up if I've convinced you, or ask any questions that might help you decide if ClassTag is the right family engagement tool for you.