Google Doc version (to view or copy): Why School Communication Matters: Strategies from PR Professionals
STUDY GUIDE: Why School Communication Matters: Strategies from PR Professionals
- Authors: Kitty Porterfield & Meg Carnes
- Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Education
- Publication Date: 2008
Directions
Are you looking to expand your communication practice in the classroom, school building, or school district? Consider diving deeper into this text to gain new strategies and tactics to employ to develop and strengthen your relationship with families as partners in a remote or hybrid learning environment. Below are a series of reflection questions to ask yourself as you are reading this book. These questions could also be used as group discussion questions for a more collaborative conversation. This resource was adapted from TheMainIdea.net.
Resource
Part 1: The Relationships
- In a changing world, what are the best ways you build relationships with families as partners?
- Listening to learn is a relationship building strategy to consider employing. How often do you find yourself closely listening during the week?
- When you are communicating with families as partners, in which situations or settings are you most successful? (examples: face-to-face, virtual, phone, group, one-on-one)
- How has your communication practice changed to employ technology since the beginning of the pandemic?
- Consider the different stakeholders you communicate with to support student learning in a remote or hybrid learning environment. Do your communication strategies differ by generations of stakeholders? Should you consider utilizing different strategies for communicating?
Part 2: The Framework
- With the change in the learning environment from face-to-face to remote or hybrid, is a new communication plan for classroom, school building, or school district needed? If so, who might help generate a new plan?
- What are the best delivery methods for communicating with families as partners in a remote or hybrid learning environment?
Part 3: Special Interests
- When families have concerns, do you have strategies in place to address stakeholder needs?
- In a remote or hybrid learning environment, learning needs are constantly evolving. Do you proactively consider or anticipate what challenges families as partners might encounter when a new learning strategy or plan is implemented?
Part 4 & 5: The Crisis & The Toolbox
- Do all staff members, from classroom educators to front office staff at the building and district level have the information needed to respond to questions families might reach out with? How can information be shared with key responders?
- In a remote or hybrid learning environment, what communication gaps have surfaced? What tactics are you using to bridge the communication gap?