One of the complaints I heard during my initial "temperature check" was that there was a major lack of communication in our school. Teachers and parents felt that they never knew what was going on. Communication is paramount in our schools, whether it is admin to teachers, admin to parents, teachers to parents, teachers to students, or student to student. Communication is essential for student success! When I realized there was a disconnect, I started digging deeper into the issue. I started asking questions like:
- How can I improve communication for teachers?
- How can I improve communication for parents?
- How can I improve communication for students?
Improving Communication for Teachers:
One of the main complaints that I received from teachers was that they felt they were often left in the dark regarding important issues. They also shared frustration over schedule/calendar changes they were often unaware of. After much research, I discovered how to effectively use available technology to address these issues. A little over a year ago, I used our Christmas Break to put myself through Goggle 101. I read as many articles and watched as many videos about using Google to increase communication. I first learned how to develop and share a LIVE master calendar. Next, I wanted to be sure to communicate our schedules. I created LIVE Google documents that would allow my communications committee to publish and update our master schedule, related arts schedule, bus duty schedule, and ISS schedule. Finally, I created a private Google Site to host all these communication tools. This allowed me to house all our calendars, schedules, manuals, and frequently used documents in one place. I shared the Google Site with all faculty and staff, and created a shortcut on their desktop computers. I encourage all faculty/staff to login to their free Google account and check the site daily for updates!
To communicate blanket information quickly, I started sending "Housekeeping" emails. My faculty/staff know that if they see an email from me that has "Housekeeping" in the subject line, it's important…read it carefully! I use these emails to quickly communicate information regarding issues, concerns, upcoming meetings, policy/procedure, central office updates, safety/security updates, etc…
Improving Communication for Parents:
The first step we took to provide updated information to our parents was to update our school website. We updated the pictures, information, faculty/staff pages, and useful links to better assist our parents. The next step we decided to take was to step into the modern century...lol. We decided to create social media websites. What we learned was that there were already several unofficial Facebook sites created by people outside our organization. We contacted Facebook, and they helped us set up an official Facebook page. This was very popular with our stakeholders. They love to read the announcements and celebrations we post! We also created an official Twitter account to post the same material.
Besides communicating through technology, we also wanted to increase parent communication via phone and face to face interaction. I started encouraging my faculty to make positive phone calls to parents. This means a great deal to parents when a teacher takes time and makes an effort to communicate the good things their child does. This also goes a long way with parents when teachers have to make those negative calls home. If they know the teacher truly cares, they will be more likely to support the teacher. To increase face to face communication, we host parent education sessions throughout the year. These sessions are opportunities for parents to come to the school (after working hours) to learn about different topics, such as: safety, testing, health and hygiene, high school transition, literacy, homework help, STEM, etc… Each session is led by a different teacher(s) in our school. Students earn ten bear bucks if their parents attend!
Approximately one third of my students are car riders, which means a parent/guardian drop them off and pick them up. I quickly realized I was wasting an opportunity to communicate with one third of my parents every day. To take advantage, I started trying to spend time out in the car rider lines. This creates an opportunity for parents to talk to me about issues, and vice versa. I also scraped up the funds to purchase two LED signs to place at the car rider drop off area, and near the main roadway. We use these LED signs to communicate upcoming events.
Improving Communication for Students:
To improve communication with students, I decided to beef up our morning announcements. Normally, students halfheartedly listen to the traditional morning announcements over the PA system. So, I discovered how to use PowerPoint and a Mixer add-on to develop video announcements. I embed fun video clips and music to celebrate the students of the day, birthdays, and other student achievements. Students love to hear and see their names on the video announcements. Therefore, students now clear the halls quickly to ensure they don't miss the morning announcements.
Conclusion:
Based on our school climate survey that is completed at the end of each school year, the actions listed above improved the overall level of communication at our school. Teachers and parents feel more aware of upcoming events. Parents also appreciate the opportunities we are providing for them to come into our schools, learn about important topics and issues, and provide valuable feedback to our organization. Although a few teachers still struggle with the technology used to share our in-house information, most seem to appreciate knowing that they have a place to go find the most up to date material and hard to find documentation.