Student communication is a very important part of education. Assessment is an important part of education. Before you take a formal assessment, you need to give students basic benchmarks to measure where they are. Giving students feedback is paramount to create self-awareness. Students need to know how well they have mastered the material to a degree before the test or assessment. Being able to give good directions is an important quality in education. Effective student communication allows students to ask questions and for teachers to give answers. Being able to post information in anticipation of questions is a good strategy. There are a number of student communication programs that organize and prioritize information. These are important advantages for teachers to have. As a profession, we have evolved from in the past, just writing information on the board at the end of class and hoping that everyone writes it down and remembers it. Having a record of all the work you do and communication that you have documents all the efforts you make as a teacher. I strongly recommend that you use one of the programs listed below.
Great Communication Websites/Apps for Secondary
Google Classroom Best of Class
You have to be a Google School to use this and get a full understanding of how it works. If you are not a Google school, you can use it, but without practice with students, you will not fully understand the product. This is the best product to organize student work, assignments, and in documents.
https://www.google.com/edu/products/productivity-tools/classroom/
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-classroom/id924620788?mt=8&at=11lnN7
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.classroom&hl=en
Canvas
This is a good alternative to Google Classroom. You can post assignments and materials online. Students log in to see the assignments and materials. Parents get a login to keep track of their children's progress. This creates organization and structure for the students. The parental feedback from the app also creates accountability.
https://www.canvaslms.com/k-12/
Student: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/canvas-student/id480883488?mt=8
Teacher https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/canvas-teacher/id1257834464
Parent https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/canvas-parent/id1097996698
Remind Honorable Mention
This website is free, and it allows you to communicate with all of your students without exchanging phone numbers. There is an iPad, Chrome, and Google Play app to go with this website.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/remind-safe-classroom-communication/id522826277?mt=8
Website https://www.remind.com/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.remind101&hl=en
Chrome https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/remind/jppddpkfhdojffabldnpdacpeoefcljp?hl=en
Mac https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/remind-safe-classroom-communication/id1059891751?mt=12
Edmondo
This website and app are a great way to communicate with your students.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/edmodo/id378352300?mt=8
Website https://www.edmodo.com/
Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fusionprojects.edmodo
Windows https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/apps/edmodo/9wzdncrdsmjn
Showbie
This app is a great way to share documents with students for iPads. There is also a Chrome extension that allows Google Schools to use the product as well. This is a good choice for the paperless classroom.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/showbie/id548898085
Great Communication Websites/Apps for Primary Grades
Seesaw: The Learning Journal Honorable Mention
This is a portfolio website and app for iTunes, Google, and Amazon.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/seesaw-multimedia-journal/id930565184?ls=1&mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=seesaw.shadowpuppet.co.classroom&hl=en
ClassDojo Honorable Mention
This is a very popular way for teachers to communicate with multiple parents.
Bloomz
This app allows you to share information with your students safely. This is a very highly rated app also helps teachers communicate with parents.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bloomz-one-app-for-all-your/id690437499?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.bloomz&hl=en
Gradebook
This is a gradebook and parent communication app. You can import your gradebook then use the important data when emailing parents about underperforms. The program generates comprehensive data in the form of reports. Your school might have something like this set up already. If it does not this Google Sheets add on will help you to communicate information proactively.
Flubaroo
This is a popular add-on to Google Sheets. The add-on makes grading easier and gives you several options to choose from.
https://gsuite.google.com/marketplace/app/flubaroo/817638980086