Standard 9: Communication
The voice that an administrator sends out to community, parents, students, teachers and staff is measured by the effectiveness of the communication these individuals receive. An administrator can plan a meeting or event and orchestrate every detail, but the meeting or event will go unattended, if it is not effectively communicated. Communication is a two-way-street. It is the information sent in detail of the who,when, where and why and how it is sent. The other road is how the event is listened to or received. You must know how to send a communication to your parents without a phone or internet communication. You must think about actively listening to all stakeholders on how they received certain information and then revise future plans to include what was learned. You must send communication out more than once, in different forms and follow-up with sending out notes and praises of the accomplishments.
I am a proven leader in communication. I have actively listened to my community and I have increased the population of two of the schools is which I served in a leadership capacity. If an administrator listens to the curriculum the parents want for their students and is able to incorporate this into the academic program, parents will choose to send their students to a school who listens and provides these learning opportunities. While I served as Magnet Coordinator of Lincoln Middle school the population grew to nearly 1200 students with the highest gifted population in the district. Now, at Nolan Middle School the new population is projected at above 1100 with the notoriety of excelling in academic excellence. Effective listening is the key to understanding a community’s needs.
There are multiple ways to communicate as long as you know your community and how to effectively communicate. If a low socioeconomic community lacks formal communication devices, then visit the local churches and get the information in the church bulletin. If there is a local market or community center, put up flyers. Make sure the local papers cover the information about the communication. Write a note in the agenda and make sure the students get the information home by providing follow through such as a signature or return information for documentation. Other communications can be sent through email, phone connect-ed messages and announcements in the mornings and at all school attended functions. Place communications on the school marquee or place a banner on the school fence of upcoming events. If you are communicating to elementary students, flyers and notes attached to the agenda will work.
Effective communication is the key to building and maintaining relationships with all school stakeholders. A school community becomes great through active listening and communicating. It is important that students, teachers and staff understand what is happening daily. Calendars, emails, administrative alerts, announcements are all needed to provide information and to ensure the safety of all members of a school’s community. If every individual student is communicated on which academic standards they have mastered and which require remediation they will further their academic gains. If teachers are communicated on new policy or requirements in a timely manner they can implement these changes within their academic programs. Communication is the key to strengthen success.
"Communication is the real work of leadership."
Nitin Nohria
SUPPORTING ARTIFACTS:
Email to Staff: It is always important to email staff on items or concerns. Sometimes staff members do not have the full picture and considerations must be taken into account before decisions are made. It is important to have staff's voice on decisions, when an administrator has given a duty to a lead-teacher for enhancing leadership growth. Attached is an example of such an email with redacted names.
The voice that an administrator sends out to community, parents, students, teachers and staff is measured by the effectiveness of the communication these individuals receive. An administrator can plan a meeting or event and orchestrate every detail, but the meeting or event will go unattended, if it is not effectively communicated. Communication is a two-way-street. It is the information sent in detail of the who,when, where and why and how it is sent. The other road is how the event is listened to or received. You must know how to send a communication to your parents without a phone or internet communication. You must think about actively listening to all stakeholders on how they received certain information and then revise future plans to include what was learned. You must send communication out more than once, in different forms and follow-up with sending out notes and praises of the accomplishments.
I am a proven leader in communication. I have actively listened to my community and I have increased the population of two of the schools is which I served in a leadership capacity. If an administrator listens to the curriculum the parents want for their students and is able to incorporate this into the academic program, parents will choose to send their students to a school who listens and provides these learning opportunities. While I served as Magnet Coordinator of Lincoln Middle school the population grew to nearly 1200 students with the highest gifted population in the district. Now, at Nolan Middle School the new population is projected at above 1100 with the notoriety of excelling in academic excellence. Effective listening is the key to understanding a community’s needs.
There are multiple ways to communicate as long as you know your community and how to effectively communicate. If a low socioeconomic community lacks formal communication devices, then visit the local churches and get the information in the church bulletin. If there is a local market or community center, put up flyers. Make sure the local papers cover the information about the communication. Write a note in the agenda and make sure the students get the information home by providing follow through such as a signature or return information for documentation. Other communications can be sent through email, phone connect-ed messages and announcements in the mornings and at all school attended functions. Place communications on the school marquee or place a banner on the school fence of upcoming events. If you are communicating to elementary students, flyers and notes attached to the agenda will work.
Effective communication is the key to building and maintaining relationships with all school stakeholders. A school community becomes great through active listening and communicating. It is important that students, teachers and staff understand what is happening daily. Calendars, emails, administrative alerts, announcements are all needed to provide information and to ensure the safety of all members of a school’s community. If every individual student is communicated on which academic standards they have mastered and which require remediation they will further their academic gains. If teachers are communicated on new policy or requirements in a timely manner they can implement these changes within their academic programs. Communication is the key to strengthen success.
"Communication is the real work of leadership."
Nitin Nohria
SUPPORTING ARTIFACTS:
Email to Staff: It is always important to email staff on items or concerns. Sometimes staff members do not have the full picture and considerations must be taken into account before decisions are made. It is important to have staff's voice on decisions, when an administrator has given a duty to a lead-teacher for enhancing leadership growth. Attached is an example of such an email with redacted names.
| redacted_email_to_teachers.docx |
Email to Parent: While on vacation, I received an email from a distraught parent who had not received pertinent information. I responded to the parent about the situation and apologized for the error. It is important to admit incorrect information and to apologize for misunderstandings. Even if one is on vacation, a quick note will stop the parent from becoming more concerned and then aggravated. The attached is an redacted sample of an email.
| redacted_parent_email.docx |
Flyer: Back to School is a very important day. Many 5th grade students and parents are very nervous about moving from elementary to secondary. A flyer is posted on the web and printed for disbursement to my projected 6th graders.
| back_to_school_nolan_ms_01.docx |
Orientation Scavenger Hunt Form: I created this form and use it for our 5th grade scavenger hunt. During 4th quarter we invite our projected 5th graders to travel the school to learn how the school is mapped out. They have a map and they walk about the school with their parents visiting classrooms. Representation of teachers are in their classrooms and they stamp the map to show that students made it to Math. Once the map is completed the students return the map for the potential of a prize. On the map we gather pertinent information (including email addresses) of our future Nolan family members for communication purposes.
| front_passport_nolan.docx |
Nolan Population Projection: Nolan Middle School has increased in population. I have attached the projected increase data table. Listening to parents, students, community will enable an administrator to plan for needed curriculum offerings. If this planning is effective - parents and students will choose to be a member of the school community. My skill for increasing the student population combines many learned resources from my previous experience as a Magnet Coordinator of a title-one school. With appropriate planning and outreach, a school can grow into a productive-well attended highly effective educational facility.
| 5-_school_population.pdf |