Teachers need to be able to easily communicate with other teachers and parents. School hours can make communication via visits or phone difficult, but email is a convenient tool that allows communication to take place when the receiver has time. Most schools now provide a school hosted email account for their teachers. There are some things to keep in mind that will improve the usefulness of email communication.
Check Email Often
As with a voicemail or snail mail box, an email inbox should be checked at least once a day. This can be done at the beginning or end of school, or during a preparation or lunch break. Any messages that should have a response need to be addressed immediately. Even if a question or concern cannot be addressed right away, send a short message indicating that it is being looked into. This prevents the sender from worrying whether the message was received or if it is being ignored.
For school vacations, there are several options. One is to set up an “out of office” message through the school email software to inform message senders that their message will be seen once school is back in session. If the school provides a web-based option, then the messages can be opened from anywhere outside of school through a web browser. Another is to forward all messages to a personal account, but be careful about replying since the personal account will become the reply address.
No Personal Use
Resist the temptation to use the school email for personal use. Having access to email from the classroom makes it easy to quickly send a quick message to a friend or email a spouse about weekend plans. Remember that the account is being provided for school uses and professional purposes. Sending an email to a parent about an assignment or emailing a colleague about professional conference plans would be an acceptable use of time at school. Personal correspondences, however, should be sent from a personal email account outside of contracted school time.
Address Book
Set up the address book to contain commonly used addresses. Many email clients provide a convenient listing of everyone in the building or district. Create some aliases for groups of people such as a department, parents of students or even the students in the class so that it can be chosen once and all included email addresses are automatically added to the message.
Having a school provided email account is an easy way to keep professional correspondences together. It also provides a convenient method with which to communicate with parents and other teachers. Remember to use it responsibly and only use it for messages related to school.
