Another Open House came and went (#13!), but this time with a twist. Since I’m looping with my students, I’m also looping with their parents! I couldn’t do the SAME thing I did last year, because THAT would be boring. So I decided to mix it up. Here’s how I planned and executed Open House.
I created a video!
Last year I created a video using Keynote and iMovie to show at Open House. I didn’t want to have to do the same speech five times, and be the talking head like everybody else. Plus I tend to forget to tell the parent certain details, so this ensured that I fit everything in, plus I had time to answer questions.
Well, I couldn’t very well show them the same video! So I created a new one!
I flipped Open House!
Another difference is that I sent a link to the video to the parent a day before Open House so that they could view it ahead of time. I figured that since we only have 10 minutes for each of their 6 classes, I didn’t want to use up 3.5 valuable minutes showing it! I wanted more interaction!
I told the students that they had to remind (nag) their parents to watch the video as it was their homework, and that they would be quizzed on it at Open House.
I gave them a quiz.
I adapted this from Angela Watson’s post on Tips for Open House. Instead of taking roll, I had the parents complete a short About Me quiz on their student.
We played a game.
I created a Kahoot quiz based on the Open House video I made. The winner received a small back-to-school kit for their student.
I held a raffle.
Finally, I held a raffle for a $5 Starbucks gift card as a way of saying Thank You for coming to Open House!
The results…
It was hectic, but fun! We didn’t have enough time for the questionnaire AND the Kahoot quiz, but we made it work. I think that some of the parents were somewhat confused as to why I wasn’t talking about my class, but I assured them that they would hear enough teachers talking all day and that all of the pertinent information was on the video. I think I’ll do it again but start off with the Kahoot and only do the questionnaire if there’s time.
I’m exhausted and elated, and overall satisfied with the results. I’ll try to think of something creative for next year too!
