School-Home Connections Twitter Chat, 11.17!

Calling all educators and parents!

We all know school-home connections are critical for student success, but there are so many obstacles to overcome to make those connections! When it comes to the things we hold dear at The Family Dinner Project – nutritious food, fun, learning and good conversation – how can we improve school-home connections? What are the specific challenges, and how can we overcome them?

On Monday, November 17 at 8 p.m. EST, please join The Family Dinner Project (@FDP_Tweets)  and co-host Bettina Siegel of The Lunch Tray (@TheLunchTray) as we moderate The Family Dinner Project Teacher Alliance Twitter Chat, where we will be discussing the successes and challenges of school-home connections. Participants in the chat will be entered to win one of two prizes: a copy of Sarah Smiley’s acclaimed book, “Dinner With the Smileys,” or a copy of the forthcoming book “Home for Dinner,” written by FDP team member and renowned family therapist Anne Fishel, PhD. The Twitter chat will use the hashtag #fdpteachers.

Join the FDP team and Bettina Siegel, blogger at thelunchtray.com and nationally recognized commentator on issues relating to children and food policy, as we lead a discussion with chat participants on topics such as:

• How to get parents and schools on the same page about nutritional goals for children
• How teachers can support parents in the often-dreaded “So…what happened at school today?” conversation
• How parents can support teachers by extending the conversation around big themes students are learning in school

And much more!

If you are new to Twitter chats, no worries! Here are some guidelines for participation:

1. If you have ideas for questions or topics to be posed during the chat by Bettina Siegel and The Family Dinner Project, please submit them to Laura Easley, Family Dinner Project team member, at lme465(at)harvard(dot)edu no later than Friday, November 14.
2. On November 17 at 8 p.m. EST, log in to Twitter using your computer or mobile device. Your Twitter account must be public in order to participate; tweets from private Twitter accounts cannot be shared.
3. Our moderators, @FDP_Tweets and @TheLunchTray, will pose questions using the hashtag #fdpteachers. Each question will be numbered “Q1, Q2, Q3…”
4. To respond to the questions, simply type your response in the form of a tweet beginning with the letter “A” and the corresponding question number (“A1, A2, A3….”) and end each tweet with the hashtag #fdpteachers.
5. Select responses will be retweeted by @FDP_Tweets.
6. To see the entire chat, enter #fdpteachers into the #Discover bar on your Twitter homepage, and select “All” to view every question and response in the chat.
7. Another way to view the entire chat is to use www.tweetchat.com alongside your Twitter account. Enter the #fdpteachers hashtag into TweetChat, and view all questions and responses in a livestream format.
8. Winners will be chosen from the chat participants and tweeted out by @FDP_Tweets and @TheLunchTray during the event.

We hope you’ll join us on Monday, November 17 for this very exciting online event!