TEACHERS | TalkingPoints Reviews

by Eeyores

Even after “bug fixes” I am still getting notifications of unread messages that do not exist.
Also, I scheduled a message, noticed a typo, and there was no way to edit it without hitting cancel and retyping it as a new message. It wouldn’t even let me copy it.
One last thing, they should let us know what phone number is used for us to send the SMS messages. If a parent wants to send us a message, but doesn’t have TEACHERSTalkingPoints , it is impossible for us to give them directions to initiate contact with us. It seems a little off.
It is great app for keeping contact relevant to your classes, but, honestly it lacks some basic functionality.

by MSch0909

I want to start off with how convenient TEACHERSTalkingPoints has been! I love that parents can “text” me without giving my personal number out. Parents seem to love this option.

But if there is ever an issue with your account, it’s impossible to get ahold of a customer service representative in a timely manner. It should not take a week or more to get a response or to recover a password/account.
I wish they were more proactive with helping resolve account issues.

by RealDJN

TEACHERSTalkingPoints is great for communicating with parents across all languages. But, there are a few shortcomings with the user experience: (a) there is no way to mass delete messages (I.e. student enrollment notifications and parent messages) so it is hard to keep a clean inbox; (b) when using an Apple Keyboard, TEACHERSTalkingPoints doesn’t support landscape mode; (c) intermittently the Student/Parent profile screen do not display; and (d) the compose message screen could be made more intuitive and easier to begin an individual message. Great service, but I think improvements are needed with TEACHERSTalkingPoints functionality!

by Ms. OctoberLilyPad

I like using this TalkingPoints because I don't need to share my personal mobile number with families. I also like the possibility to have the message translated to the parents language of preference. I could also see using this with older students who are English Language Learners. The information gets to the person who needs it, and they can respond immediately or later now, just like text messaging.
However, it is not the easiest to use for families who are not "tech savvy." I don't know if the parent version of TEACHERSTalkingPoints is set up the same as the teacher version but my explanations of how I use TEACHERSTalkingPoints did not help the parent.
Also the English to Korean translation may not be the most faithful or accurate. A parent mentioned that my message was confusing and requested to get English messages. It may be that my message have too many English conventions that are difficulty to translate to Korean. A "tips and tricks for making your message/ announcement translation ready" would be nice. And stronger translations.
Overall, I would recommend TalkingPoints. And if they continue to improve it, will recommend it to any school system I am in.

by Wanderinglanna

Talking points has allowed me to send many messages to multilingual families as we are working from home. The translations are not always 100% accurate especially when a parents literacy in their home language is not very strong. However it has allowed me to make many more connections with parents in a quick and efficient manner.

by Crina Brock

I have used Talking Points this past school year to communicate with parents of English learners and it’s been the most parent-teacher communication I’ve had. Some parents mentioned that the translation is confusing and in same cases they preferred English, but overall, it has been very very handy! I definitely recommend it to any teachers, but especially those in ESOL.
I’ve had only 2 challenges with it:
A. Many times I can tell that I’ve gotten messages but they do not load on my IPhone. Most school days I leave the website open on my work laptop for quick texting with the parents, but if I want to see the messages on my phone, sometimes I can’t read them.
B. Sometimes I receive a message that appears as 2 lines long and I think I’ve read what the parent said. At random times, I’ve clicked on the parents’ original message (some languages I understand) and discovered That their message was actually much longer, and a good part of it never got translated.

by Mtra. Rivas

That’s my review, from a teacher’s perspective. I have many families who still ate not able to access ParentSquare but are able to still use TalkingPoints. I love all the features- scheduling messages, polling, etc.

by Sc1entist

So easy to use, and adding info using google sheets is great! I just give kids a google form with the info on the template and then copy+pasted it, and I was able to input the contacts of almost all of my 150 families within ten minutes.

by HsHamm

TEACHERSTalkingPoints has been an excellent resource over school closures caused by COVID. I love how it sends direct SMS messages so it doesn’t matter if the parent has TEACHERSTalkingPoints they still get the information. I also like how I can see both the original message and the translated message.

by Stupid Health

Talking Points has been an asset to my classroom. I teach a newcomer (sheltered) class and was unable to speak with most of my parents. TEACHERSTalkingPoints has opened the doors of communication and helped the parents feel like they are part of the class. I would not have survived distance learning without Talking Points!

by Ellesdubya

I love that I can send messages easily with parents who speak different languages. Also love being able to create message templates and send bulk messages while still keeping it somewhat personal by using the [studentFirstName] feature. This has revolutionized parent communication for me!

by Jilly-C

Dudes. I teach in a school where 40 languages are spoken. Many students are new to my district and sometimes new to being in school at all.

TalkingPoints has facilitated effective and timely commmunication during one of the most crucial times in our lives - when students went from classroom to virtual learning. What an essential tool and a total Godsend for teachers! Thank you for making it. Omg.

by Charlotte-2018

As an ESL educator, Talking points is my main way of communicating with families, who speak a language other than English at home. I rated it 4 stars because the translation isn’t accurate or understandable for a few languages. I had a Farsi speaker & a Vietnamese speaker telling me that they would rather me write them in English, because the Talking Points translation is hard to understand.

by Alpsgirl

So this is a great app... the only problem I had was setting up students with unusual names for White America... it would constantly autocorrect when I had inputted the names correctly so I had to go over the names letter by letter at times and re-input letter by letter to have the correct name... but after you get your list set up (I have 50 students all with non- white American names) it is easy and intuitive...

by Oboegiirl

Having this platform available has made communication with parents so much easier. I can create a template message to use over and over again easily. I can create announcements to send to all of my classes and have it done in just a few clicks. I also like that messages are always translated to the language that I indicate when I set up each family. I have recommended TEACHERSTalkingPoints to every teacher I know!

by TeacherWiens

Talking points allows me to communicate efficiently with the diverse families on my ESL caseload. It translates my messages into their first language and bridges communication between the school & family that might be lost otherwise. I love sending pics to families with a brief description of what their child is currently learning. Parents love the real time updates & it helps them stay connected & feel included as an active part of the learning team. I can’t recommend TEACHERSTalkingPoints enough!!!

by Topspin93

I am a kindergarten teacher and have used TEACHERSTalkingPoints for 2 years now. It has been a gift with being able to communicate with my parents. I love that there are options to translate messages into my parents’ home languages. There are so many benefits to TEACHERSTalkingPoints...sharing pictures, read receipts, polls, sending classes to other teachers (PE or Music teacher), and sending messages at a later time is one of my favorites features. I would highly recommend TEACHERSTalkingPoints. I was able to teach myself how to use it pretty quickly and it’s user friendly!

by Bree Walls

TEACHERSTalkingPoints has been a game changer when it comes to communicating with parents of my students who have complex needs - I wish I knew about to sooner! I’ve been able to not only communicate with my Spanish speaking families but easily form relationships with them as well! I felt kind of weird having TEACHERSTalkingPoints on my phone but I have my school email on my phone too, I just sent boundaries when I check it. I love that you can add other members like related services (speech, OT, PT) too. Overall all TalkingPoints is a fantastic app that is user friendly and has made communicating with families much easier!!

by Ms. Herd

This platform is one of the best forms of communication for parents and teachers. I highly recommend it. Not everyone checks their email but most people check their text messages because most of the world has a cell phone. After 23 years of teaching, I am convinced this is one of the best tools for communication. My parents usually respond pretty quickly and they’re able to initiate contact with me as well. This makes it easier than checking emails that are often littered with junk mail. Again, I highly subscribe to this form of communication. #ThankYouTalkingPoints

by Ealaddin

I am a third year science teacher in a 100% English Language Learner campus. This means 100% of my students come to our campus with zero English and learn English while at my school. That presents a different challenge when trying to communicate with parents important information from our school. TEACHERSTalkingPoints translates to Spanish and Swahili (which is primarily what is spoken at our campus) and it is so helpful to communicate with families!! This is an absolute game changer and life saver. I would recommend TEACHERSTalkingPoints to anyone who likes the idea of the Remind app, but needs it to be accessible to ALL parents. My only complaint is that it doesn’t have access to all languages, but I think that would come with time as they become more known with time.

by Tickedoffalot

I thought it was going to be a wonderful app, but something went terribly wrong with it. I received emails that I had messages from parents, but when I attempted to open them to reply, both my HP and MAC laptops said it was malicious and the get out of the site. It won’t recognize my login but then tells me I already have an account. SO FRUSTRATING!!!

by This App Is Really

Nice to have an app to use the service. Very glitchy and slow to load.

by Misselyseee

It