Category: Reflections

Wide Audience Communication in Schools

There is not a singular tool that can be universally prescribed as the best to reach a wide audience. It truly depends on the purpose of the communication and the audience receiving the message. One must look at their communications from the various points of view in their community because “perception is more powerful than reality” (Warner and Mathews, 2009, Dealing with Perceptions section, para. 3).

COMMUNICATING SCHOOL MESSAGES TO A WIDE AUDIENCE

There is not a singular tool that can be universally prescribed as the best to reach a wide audience. It truly depends on the purpose of the communication and the audience receiving the message. One must look at their communications from the various points of view in their community because “perception is more powerful than reality” (Warner and Mathews, 2009, Dealing with Perceptions section, para. 3). There are three solutions to consider: mass-text-messaging systems, web-page builders, and my most preferred option (and likely the most used option) school learning management or classroom management systems. There are ‘best of’ lists for recent years provided by Business News Daily (2020), Wilson (2020), and Softwareworld (2020) respectively. Technology both has and has not improved the way in which stakeholders are communicated with, effective use comes down to the user. Often, technology creates one-way communication, contrary to the goals of an educational system; “the two-way flow of ideas and accurate information is essential to school improvement” (Kowalski, 2011, p. 23). Technology may create the illusion of better communication, because the data that is shared efficiently and gives families and students a window into the day-to-day progress of the student; this is an important piece of the communication chain as Kowalski (2011, p. 23) points out that “school administrators are accountable to the public” and “the public has a right to information about schools.” However, human to human communication over the phone, video conferencing, and in-person conferencing remains the most effective communication, though this can be difficult to do in large groups; it allows for two-directional and symmetrical information to be exchanged. Technology options have dramatically changed in the past ten years, since the publishing of Kowalski’s (2011) research. Regarding the best tools (over methods) for communicating to a wide audience, there are three options to discuss for education today. 

First, mass-text-messaging: In a school system where poverty is high and families cannot be expected to have regular access to a computer, a mass-text-message system may be the most beneficial. Families in poverty, earning less than $30,000 per year, are more likely to have a phone at a rate of 71% over a personal computer at a rate of 54% according to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center (Anderson and Kumar, 2020). Additional considerations for school administrators should be the rate of poverty in the United States. The amount of children in poverty increased, from 1995 to 2001, from 20% to 28% respectively (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2004, p. 169 as cited by Kowalski, 2011, p. 31). Further, “in the last decade, this rate has risen from 18% in 2007 and 2008, peaked at 23% in 2011 and 2012, and returned to 18% in 2017 and 2018.” (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2020). In a school system with a wide range of home-languages text-messages may be also beneficial, messages can be sent out in groups with the preferred language selected. The home language is an important consideration for administrators. Kowalski (2011, p. 32) notes that large populations of immigrant students have reshaped the school system; schools already strapped for resources have additionally had to customize portions of the education system to accommodate the needs of these students in regards to time, money, and legitimate attendance. This tool is effective for quick short messages relating to school operations; links to web-content can be included for more details. Similar to the connections made through mass-text-messages, email messaging (perhaps for a school newsletter) and social media tools such as Facebook and Instagram can be accessed through smartphones to distribute school messages. These too can be linked to a school website. Tufts University (2021) has compiled a listing of the top platforms including Twitter, Snapchat, and LinkedIn for communications along with user guides that emphasise connections and the ease of access. 

For a general population, in an average school district, a Management Information System would be the one singular tool that I would most rely on as an administrator because it has so many functions within the system. These systems vary in use and pricing, examples include Google Classroom, Schoology, Class Dojo, PowerSchool, ManageBac, Canvas, and Seesaw. Kowalski (2011, p. 135) does warn that the system selected does limit the effectiveness of the public relations efforts based on the functionality of the system. In general, these systems provide on-line learning options, messaging to parents and students through email, documentation and retention of demographics, homework submission and grading, as well as other features. The benefits of these systems include the ability to communicate to general groups, classes, and individuals. Many include language preference integration so that communications are automatically translated to the target home language. They also can help users to track their individual information with the school and give the school access to global data about their population and performance. Teachers and administrators can even use some of these tools to track, manage, and support good behavior in schools. This would be a significant benefit to teachers as they communicate with both students, parents and other teachers. Not only would it have the potential to improve the school community but it may increase school attendance retention. Negative student behavior often results in school suspensions, expulsions, and grade retention levels; the No Child Left Behind Act allows for students to transfer from “persistently dangerous schools” in favor of “safer schools” (Kowalski, 2011, p. 33). Tracking the data could support the communications with state and federal departments regarding the safety of the school. These systems are no better than the data put into them and how they are effectively managed. While they are powerful tools, they are continually being updated and users (teachers, students, parents, and administrators) need to be educated on the updates. Kowalski points to the “information literate educator,” one who can form questions about information needs, identify where to find the information, access the information through computing systems, evaluate the information, organize the information in a practical method, integrate information into an existing database, and use information to solve problems (Doyle, 1992, as reported by Kowalski, 2011, p. 134). In the workplace, and certainly the classroom, of today, information and technological literacy is nearly a given which is why this powerful tool would be my first choice tool. 

References

Anderson, M., & Kumar, M. (2020, May 30). Digital divide persists even as lower-income Americans make gains in tech adoption. Retrieved January 02, 2021, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/07/digital-divide-persists-even-as-lower-income-americans-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/

Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2020, January). Children Living in Poverty in America. Retrieved December 29, 2020, from https://www.aecf.org/blog/children-living-in-poverty-in-america/

Business News Daily. (2020). The Best Text Message Marketing Services of 2020. Retrieved January 02, 2021, from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15044-best-text-message-marketing-solutions.html

Softwareworld. (2020, December 31). Best Learning Management System (LMS) Software With Reviews & Comparison. Retrieved January 02, 2021, from https://www.softwareworld.co/top-learning-management-system-software/

Tufts University. (2021). Social Media Overview. Retrieved January 02, 2021, from https://communications.tufts.edu/marketing-and-branding/social-media-overview/

Warner, C., & Mathews, J. (2009). Promoting your school: Going beyond PR (3rd ed.). (Kindle, E-book)Thousand Oaks: Corwin. 

Wilson, J. (2020, December 16). The Best Website Builders for 2021. Retrieved January 02, 2021, from https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-website-builders?test_uuid=001OQhoHLBxsrrrMgWU3gQF

Effecting Positive Change from Tragic Reenactment

Two students dressed as the shooters from Columbine, 1999, attended Kentucky High School for halloween and reenacted scenes from that horrific day; the students were suspended. Comments on the report vary between praise and condemnation for the suspension. One comment called for the parents of the students to face criminal charges. Other comments called the actions of the school overreach, lacking specific reasoning for the suspension – admitting that the costumes were in poor taste.

Reacting to the reenacted Columbine shooting with a suspension and a statement, the school could have done more to manage and effect positive change. 

Two students dressed as the shooters from Columbine, 1999, attended Kentucky High School for Halloween and reenacted scenes from that horrific day; the students were suspended. Comments on the report vary between praise and condemnation for the suspension. One comment called for the parents of the students to face criminal charges. Other comments called the actions of the school overreach, lacking specific reasoning for the suspension – admitting that the costumes were in poor taste. 

The school additionally released a statement, as reported by Joyce (2018), “”We take the situation very seriously and our personnel are continuing to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding this matter,” Stephens said in a statement. “The students are currently suspended.”” 

This situation, from a public relations perspective, missed the mark. Releasing a statement is one-way communication that leaves the audience without a method of creating dialogue. That is all that the school did. This is shown by observing the comments in the article (Joyce, 2018); people responding to the report clearly needed an opportunity to speak their mind and the school missed a teachable moment. The school could have explained the reasoning for the suspension, Joyce (2018), gives none. Instead, a community meeting or town-hall may have been a valuable step to take. School shootings have long been a worrisome problem in the field of education and there is likely a community member that is apathetic to the topic.  

Kowalski (20011, p. 14 – 16) identities several goals of PR inside of education; three of these goals “encouraging open political communication,” “enhancing the image of the school district,” and “managing information” could have been served with a communication that fostered open-dialogue. There were clearly people upset with the restriction of the students, the school could have addressed freedom of speech in their communications about the incident and why reenacting the violence of an historic school-shooting would be restricted. Stapelton and Murphy (2018) reported on a shooting that resulted in the deaths of two students and the injury of 18 others, from January of 2018, just ten months earlier. The school could have used this halloween incident and suspension to improve the image of the district by promoting school safety. Creating a forum for open dialogue would have helped the school to manage the information and explain the reasoning with the community. 

Joyce, K. (2018). Two Kentucky High School Girls Suspended After Dressing Up As Columbine Shooters for Halloween. Retrieved from https://www.foxnews.com/us/2-kentucky-high-school-girls-suspended-after-dressing-up-as-columbine-shooters-for-halloween

Kowalski, T. J. (2011). Public relations in schools (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. 

Yan, H., Stapleton, A., & Murphy, P. (2018, January 24). Kentucky school shooting: 2 students killed, 18 injured. Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/23/us/kentucky-high-school-shooting/index.html

Missed Opportunities for Safeguarding Students

In 2018 teachers from the Middleton School District dressed as the border wall, presented the statement ‘Make America Great Again’ and coordinated with another group of teachers dressed as Mexican immigrants, photos of both these costume groups were posted to the district Facebook page; later the superintendent retracted the photos and replaced them with a recorded apology.

In 2018 teachers from the Middleton School District dressed as the border wall, presented the statement ‘Make America Great Again’ and coordinated with another group of teachers dressed as Mexican immigrants, photos of both these costume groups were posted to the district Facebook page; later the superintendent retracted the photos and replaced them with a recorded apology. 

The situation described by Maxouris and Gray (2018) was initially managed well; however based on the information provided there were many missed opportunities for school improvement and community relations. 

While political speech is typically protected, this case may be viewed through the lens of student safety and wellbeing. The school – and certainly the superintendent  – has a duty first to the students and their wellbeing. Given that this incident occurred in 2018, during the Trump administration, this political topic of imigration control and reform was certainly present in the everyday lives of students, even elementary students. Given that the Middleton School district is composed of 4,000 students (About Us/About MSD, 2020) and according to Idaho Ed Trends (as cited in Maxouris and Gray, 2018), almost 13% of the school’s population is Hispanic. 

The teachers dressed in a way that some parents “described as racist,” Superintendent Josh Middleton described the costumes as “clearly insensitive and inappropriate” and an immigrant rights advocate Beth Almanza commented that the photos were “extremely disheartening” and “heartbreaking” (Maxouris and Gray, 2018). This alone identities the controversy within the community and the potential harm to students. 

Given that there was potential harm to students, the retraction of the posts on Facebook, with the addition of an apology was a good first step in managing the incident. The Middleton School District states that it has a “goal to provide quality education… in an atmosphere safe for growing and learning” (About Us/About MSD, 2020). The retraction satisfies this portion of their mission. However, they also state that the learning should be completed “through the collaborative efforts of our staff, students, parents and community” (About Us/About MSD, 2020). 

The post from the Superintendent Middleton, creates what Grunning (as cited in Kowalski, 2011, p. 12) would call two-way asymmetrical communication. It is not collaborative. It does not create a meaningful dialogue between the stakeholders in the school community. The superintendent’s post creates a message intended to persuade the public that the removal of the content was a reasonable response. Members of the Facebook page would be able to reply to the post and comment, though this function in social-media would fall short of symmetrical communication; it is unlikely that “mutual understanding,” as described by Grunning, (as cited in Kowalski, 2011, p.12) would emerge from this lone response. 

This response falls short of the full force that public relations can have. The National School Public Relations Association (as cited in Kowalski, 2011, p. 14) defines Educational PR as “a planned and systematic two-way process of communications between an educational organization and its internal and external publics designed to build morale, goodwill, understanding, and support for that organization.” It would be interesting to follow up on the impact that this incident had in the community or if the superintendent was able to spark conversation or further actions in the community that did promote understanding and support for the organization. 

Because the response does not create dialogue or meaningful two-way communication,  the morale and goodwill that could have come from this difficult incident is missed. 

Considering different actions and approaches to only the Public Relations components of the response, the school could have held a community forum to discuss the issue, integrated community voices into the classroom to discuss immigration reform, and discussed the issue directly with the teachers. However, given the bandwidth of working time and attention, this response from Superintendent to internally review and publicly apologize may be all the time that was actually available. 

About Us / About MSD. (2020). Retrieved December 28, 2020, from https://www.msd134.org/domain/32

Kowalski, T. J. (2011). Public relations in schools (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. 

Maxouris, C. & Gray, M. (2018). Elementary School Teachers in Idaho Dressed Up As a MAGA Border Wall for Halloween.  Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/02/us/idaho-teachers-border-costume-trnd/index.html

Subjective and Objective Student Assessment- A Thought Experiment on Student Learning

What assessment is fair to every student?

Imagine for a moment – you are a student, learning in a subject that you find to be difficult. Consider a time that you struggled to grasp the content; but, you ‘failed’ the mid-term exam. Can you remember a time in your life or the experience of your students that the ‘failure’ to learn at the mid-term actually motivated a positive growth in learning. What would be in the best interests of the student?

  • How would positive based assessment impact a student?
    • Why mark down incorrect understanding?
    • Why not reward correct knowledge?
    • Assessment at any time?
  • What would be the impact of students choosing their mode of assessment?
    • Unless the mode of assessment (a writing task in an English class for example) is germane to the assessment, why should the mode matter?
    • Can students show their understanding in multiple ways?
  • Could a student be assessed fairly at any time?
    • What if the student completes the learning task late? Does that change the amount they have learned?

What would be in the best interests of the teacher? The teacher has a set time-frame to assess every student – a semester, a week, a day perhaps. What would be fair to all of the students? If the teacher allows for maximum flexibility in assessment, are they setting the path to every student achieving their very best? What if the student does not display mastery at the same level as another student simply because the modality of the assessment does not allow for some expression of knowledge?

Suppose a science class is finishing a unit on the water cycle. One student might choose to be assessed traditionally by completing a paper based test. A second student may opt for more flexibility in how the information is presented and create a presentation with graphics and written paragraphs that explain the content. A third, less talented writer with test anxiety, may opt to create a dance that demonstrates the water cycle. All three students may have the same understanding. The mode of assessment will reveal different sets of knowledge.

The first student will show a prompted understanding of the knowledge deemed important by the teacher.

The second student – assuming they are a good writer – will be able to clearly articulate what they understand to be important in regards to the water cycle.

The third may be a highly accomplished dancer – and compose a dance that could be interpreted with all the same content as either of the first two students, but it is dependent on the teacher’s ability to understand the dance.

It seems there is a line between subjective assessment and objective assessment. Clear criteria, the correct and incorrect answers are set in one corner. As is the case with student one, accolades are given for reproducing the answer exactly as instructed. It is clear which student has the information and which does not. Some may argue that test anxiety gets in the way – a re-test on paper or even orally may be the remedy.

This is set against the modality of the student that creates their own mode of assessment and tells the teacher what they know. The second student clearly has done this.

The third student may need to interpret their work for the teacher, which is ultimately an oral report (a hybrid of student one and two); perhaps the second two students can even assesses their own work for their own grade. At what point is the assessment fair? At what point does the assessment support the learning of the student?

In life outside of school – which all teachers must consider in the instruction of students – the later, student created assessment, seems to be more applicable to growth. The answer to a real world problem rarely has a clear single solution. With the drive toward soft-skills such as flexibility and creativity this mode seems to be the most relevant. It also allows students to test how they want to be perceived in the world and how their ideas my be received. However, for the sake of teacher-ease and transparent fairness to the students, a clear ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ answer is clearly the way to go.

 

 

Reflection on PRESENTING in CLASS

I think presentation is essential. Therefore, I ask that my students do it frequently and the stress is lessened. All students are also rewarded with a single clap of respect from the entire class after every presentation, 1, 2, 3, *clap*. It’s just part of my expectations. However, I have provided accommodations for students gripped with fear. Accommodations have included, presentation in a seated position instead of standing in front of the class, written work read by another student on behalf of the shy student, small group instead of full class presentations, recorded at home and sent in presentations, and fully excused presentations as part of an identifiable medical disability. Any clearly seen accommodations like this are often accompanied with a class discussion about different abilities with fear and presenting – as well as why learning to talk in front of the group is important.

Reflecting on IGCSE Scope and Sequence

My students have the IGCSE Literature coursework over two years. They meet for 3 hours per week in four class periods. This gives them about just over the recommended 130 hours of guided learning (168 hours of seat time over 28 weeks of school, less time for special events and school-wide testing).

Each novel we have studied this year was done over about five weeks: four weeks to discuss, analyze, and synthesize the plot, themes, characters, important quotes and other literary elements. The remaining week is used to revise and take a mock exam on the one novel. For drama, I tended to take seven weeks to unpack the text in a similar way. Regarding short stories and poems, this was generally done with a two class series to study and revise. Followed by a mini-mock exam each week on the texts that were studied up to that point.

The class has been directed to paper one and paper two. With a small class and inexperienced IGCSE teaching staff, internal examination was not selected. Supplementary materials have ebbed with student needs. My current class found use in watching the full stage version of “A Raisin in the Sun”, excerpts from “A Separate Peace” and excerpts from multiple move and stage versions of “Romeo and Juliet”. The class last year, did none of these elements. We have also borrowed this year from the IBDP program assessment of the IOC as another method for textual examination – giving students the opportunity to speak about their understanding, rather than just writing about it. Our text sequence is aligned with the IGCSE History course. For example, during the Key-Study of South Africa, we are reading “Cry, Beloved Country” and during one of the WWII units, we read “A Separate Peace”.

The Cambridge scheme of work has been effective for student and class reference. We use it often as a formative and informal progress check. We do not follow a text book. The order of texts is in alignment with the content in other courses.

Bell Ringers and Exit Tickets

The idea there is that the start of every class is the same with the Bell Ringer activity and the close of the class is always one of five activities. I leave it open because depending on the class, different closing activities may be appropriate. Tradition is important – and it creates closure that the students can expect and count on. The ‘shout out’ is nice because it teaches students to be complimentary of others and recognize their academic talents. I limit to it to academic activities in class: “I like the way Ali identified his personal connection to the metaphor in the poem.”

Lesson Plan – NBCT Style

After many years of teaching and four years of hard work, I became an NBCT this year. Upon reflecting – my lesson plan is really key to effective planning.

In my experience the most important sections of a lesson plan are as follows: 
– The standard(s) addressed by the lesson

– The language function or command word within the learning objective (e.g. analyze or identify)

– The syntax within the class provided for the student to complete the work (e.g. class notes, annotation of text, Venn Diagram)

– A logical sequence of events such as: 1) Introduction/Get Thinking/Bell Ringer quick activity 2) Instruction of content through lecture, group work, or individual work (this may connect to homework). 3) Extension and practice from the instruction. This may be solo or within a small group. 4) Demonstration and sharing of learning – students share out with class, teacher assesses and questions for development of work.

I rarely use my lesson plan in the actual class. I often review the plan in advance of the class, first thing for the day. I always start with the lesson objective following or as part of the introduction activity. When I am unable to get to the formative or summative component due to time constraints, I will either add this to the homework for the night or push out the plan for an extension into the next class.

Think – Pair – Share

An interesting and often useful strategy for teachers. 1) Students take time to think about their personal response to a question (I have found this works best with critical thinking); 2) Students share with another student – they share their response and their thinking process – they have an opportunity to refine and check their understanding; 3) Students or pairings share with the group their responses.

In my experience, TPS is enhanced when the pairing is not just with a random person. There are productive pairings within the Zone of Proximal Development. Two intermediate learners in the same group can support the information and understanding that they each bring to the conversation. A high level student and a low level student does not result in mutual learning – because the high level student draws little to no benefit from the low level student. The low level student will either frustrate the high level student with their lack of knowledge or the high level student will spend their time teaching the low level student and receive no parallel exchange of information. One critique of this is that it keeps low level students with low level students. However, the sharing is an essential part of the learning strategy. Here, students are exposed to the range of ideas. If the teacher solicits responses from a range of ability levels, all students get heard and the exchange of ideas is  supported across levels while allowing small pairings to support each other at the same point in development.

Youth Theater Needs Lessons – not simply games

I’ve been working in the field of youth theater for the past decade. I find that when it comes to training acting skills and getting specific with young actors about the skills they are learning such as voice, speech, physicality, using objectives, and general analysis of a character plot and given circumstances, Drama games do not cut it. Drama or improvisation games are good for general, unspecific, and inferred skills that actors use every day in theater. However, to break through that and actually transfer knowledge in an explicit way, Young actors need formative lessons that are equivalent to a musician playing a piece of music. Similarly, you cannot train a classical musician through jazz improvisation. Drama or improvisation games are good. But, I do not rely on them anyway to actually teach my students. Drama and improvisation games are good for days when I want to depart from a lesson sequence. Yes, fun is essential in learning and especially in a creative discipline such as theater. However, it is difficult to engage student voice and ask students to articulate what they have learned in a drama game. Learning should be based on formative lessons with specific skills that are being practiced in improvisation or a script.