Time is a scarce resource in many schools for teachers and staff. Even though most school staff understand the importance and value of engaging with families and communicating in ways that align with family engagement best practices, they often do not have the time or training to do so effectively. Like many of us, they may also not feel confident in communicating with families about difficult topics.

To help teachers and school staff build their capacity in family engagement communication best practices, TalkingPoints is introducing the Message Mentor for back-to-school 2024. Message Mentor is like a built-in helper that allows teachers to level up their family messages with a click of a button. With options for spelling and grammar check, revision recommendations based on best practices, and even starting a message from scratch, Message Mentor is sure to be a teacher favorite.

When will Message Mentor be available?

The new Message Mentor feature will be available starting with the July 2024 product release.

Who will have access to the Message Mentor tools?

Message Mentor tools will be available in the TalkingPoints School and Teacher web products for school users with permission to send messages and teachers associated with a partner school or district. As of September 11, 2024, Message Mentor is available in the Teacher mobile app.

Where can partners access and utilize the Message Mentor tools?

Once released, teachers and school staff with messaging permissions will find the Message Mentor tools when they create a new message or continue an existing message thread. They will see the Message Mentor icon

in the compose modal. Clicking the icon will open a drop down with the three Message Mentor tools listed. All of the options leverage AI enabled technology to help users compose and send messages that incorporate best practices and foster engagement.

What help can Message Mentor tools provide?

With built-in technology, Message Mentor tools include three options to help staff when composing messages. In all cases, staff will have the option to use the updated message as is or make additional edits to meet their needs.

The three tools available are:

Edit spelling & grammar: checks for spelling and grammar errors and fixes them

Revise your message: fine tunes a message that a user wrote to apply best practices

Draft a new message from keywords: Create a message that follows best practice from scratch using a small number of keywords

How does it work?

When a user creates a new message or announcement, they will see this screen:

The

button is initially disabled until the user types something into the message window.

Once something has been entered into the message window, the

button becomes enabled and you have three choices:

If the “edit spelling & grammar” button is selected, the message suggestion will correct spelling and other grammar errors, like sentence structure. (see example below).

If the “revise your message” option is selected, a rewritten message with family engagement best practices incorporated will be shown. (see below)

To utilize the “draft a message from keywords” option, the user can simply enter a few keywords and the TalkingPoints application will create a message from scratch using the keywords and best practice messaging guidelines (see example below)

For each system-generated message, users can select “no, thanks” or “accept & edit.” If the “accept & edit” option is selected, the new message will replace the original message in the main message compose text section. From there, the user can make further edits or send the message as is.

Is Message Mentor available for Direct Messages, Announcements or both?

The Message Mentor tools are available for both Direct Messages and Announcements. With the September 11, 2024 release, Message Mentor is available in individual student message threads.