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Week 1 Article

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Week 2 Article

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Week 3 Article

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Week 4 Article

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Every teacher knows that an incredible amount of material accumulates during the school year, and classrooms can quickly become unmanageable.

So how can you feel confident and in control of your space from the first day of school to the last? By organizing your classroom in a way that keeps clutter to a minimum and helps your students function independently. Below, veteran teacher Sharon Taylor shares her best tips on classroom organization.

Don't let crayons, glue, and pencils take over your classroom! Instead of requiring each student to bring individual supplies, ask parents to contribute to the community collection if it's possible for them. You can also raise funds for your classroom with a ClassroomsCount™ campaign.

By doing this, you eliminate the need to track which items belong to which students. Store frequently used items in shower caddies at each table for students to share. This will help them learn to take turns and collaborate!

At the beginning of the school year, invest in Scholastic tubs, bins, baskets, and small storage boxes-or get creative and use empty coffee cans, jugs, and baby wipe containers. These will work great for storing manipulatives. Make sure frequently used items are easy to access and clearly labeled with words and pictures. Rarely used materials can be stored out of the way and only pulled out when necessary.

Instead of file folders, try using binders to store lessons and activities. You can organize binders for various monthly themes and topics and can even store small craft samples. Shoebox-sized plastic boxes are ideal for storing larger craft samples. It will take extra work to organize your binders the first year you use them, but by the next school year, you'll be ready to go with minimal effort.

This is a big timesaver for teachers! Before the week begins, set aside all the materials you will need for each day of the week. In your work area, keep a set of baskets labeled by day and store the materials you need in the appropriate bin. At the end of the week, clear out and re-file any remaining materials, and you'll be ready for next Monday by end-of-day Friday.

To have a successful reading program, you need a successful classroom library. The books should be easily accessible and organized so that students spend less time digging around and more time reading.

First, you need to decide how you want to organize your books. Many teachers keep their libraries in book bins that are organized by genre, topic, and level. However you decide to organize your books, make sure the book bins are clearly labeled.

Finally, Taylor has the ultimate tool to keep your classroom library organized: clothespins! Put each child's name on a clothespin and keep them in a basket near the books. When a student picks out a book to read, they should leave their clothespin on the book bin. When they are done reading, if they forgot where the book belongs, they simply look for where they left their clothespin to return the book to the proper bin.

Shop classroom tools for organization below! You can find all supplies, books, and activities at The Teacher Store, where educators get at least 25% off the list price.

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Tips for Organizing Your Classroom at the Beginning of the School Year | Scholastic

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Maximize your classroom in the new school year with first-rate classroom organization.

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Week 5 Article

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Week 6 Article

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Campus Suite | School Websites, Notifications & Mobile Apps

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It's easy to recognize that great communication is at the heart of any great school. What's not so easy to grasp these days is identifying which communication channels to focus on, and when to use them to reach your audiences.

Although there is more technology than ever for connecting with parents, staff, students and the rest of your school community, there are questions and costs that come with learning how to make the most of using it.

Improving your school communications while being realistic about your resources might be the greatest challenge facing you and just about every other school communicator. By the time you factor in the tools, training, time, staffing and tech support, staying current with all these channels can be challenging if not cost prohibitive.

Nevertheless, in your school communications planning you need to focus on using and embracing technology and using all the channels at your disposal. I've identified the six key areas that you need to focus on to be a great school communicator and improve engagement for your school or district.

Granted, these channels are subject to technology advancements. And while it is impossible to predict what next big thing is around the corner, I can tell you these channels are critical for your school for now - your website, social media, notifications, a mobile app, emails and video.

Types of school communications

How and when to share school information has changed dramatically in recent years. What hasn't changed, really, are the kinds of information that need to be shared. Most of your school information you want to share falls into the following categories:

Promotion of school happenings and news (e.g., achievements, events, etc.)

Time-critical school information (e.g., school closings, policies, etc.)

PTO events and other important issues

Leadership and education improvement ideas (e.g., parent resources)

School levy and community outreach (including fundraising)

Stories and imagery of the school's impact on the community (cool human interest content, alumni, photos, videos)

Now we can ask, "How do I use today's channels for sharing this information?" While schools are not in the business of technology and communication, you still have to do your best and rely on providers that specialize in these channels. Hopefully, you can find partners who provide simple ways to communicate without having to hire multiple vendors to achieve success.

Key school communication channels

I've listed below a matrix that shows how to use each channel and discuss a little more in detail each of the areas.

There are plenty of options, and each channel is used differently and in some cases, at the same time. The goal here is to communicate continuously and while recognizing the purpose and limitations of each channel. When used properly, your parents, staff and students will appreciate it.

Not all channels are meant for every kind of communication from your school. While a text message to a parent is helpful when there's a one-hour weather delay, text messages about, say, the score of the Friday night football game, is hardly news that needs to be pushed via emergency notification.

The importance of understanding these channels and how to use them are critical for effective communication. I've list below each channel and the key purpose of each to help you better utilize them.

1. District and school websites

A website serves an important purpose for school districts and its schools: to be a self-service portal for all information for the school. Websites have changed over the years in how they are designed. A good one is accessible on mobile devices and serves as a hub for social media and other channels. This entails creating a website with responsive design featuring tools that make it easy to manage and share content.

The key to having a successful website that supports all other communication is that it is easy to use and shows all updates of communication that is being shared. For example, if you are promoting a big event, you should have it featured as a news announcement, homepage banner and even a calendar event. Depending on the degree of your CMS integration, it may automatically update, or you may have to update the website manually.

Many schools also use their websites to conduct e-commerce for a variety of payments. In addition, submission forms are used on school websites to gather information or conduct registration for events or enrollment.

2. Mobile app

Mobile apps are becoming a very popular method for schools to communicate. A mobile app can make it efficient to access common information like alerts, calendars, directories, news and lunch menus. Plus it can make it simple to integrate the phone, email and texting features into the app, making it even more useful. While the mobile app is not ready to replace the website, the website pages need to be accessible through the app.

The main benefit of the mobile app is going to be the push notifications. Do not overuse push notifications. Rather, save them for important, time-sensitive announcements and alerts.

There are other key features a school mobile app should have, but one of the most important is the ability to segment your notifications to the specific audience respectively. For example, if the middle school football game is canceled, you should not notify the elementary and high school parents.

3. Notifications and alerts

Critical emergency information and important reminders need to be communicated through a notification system that provides SMS (text), voice and email. There are many notification providers to choose from. These types of systems may or may not integrate with other channels but serve a purpose for time-critical messages. Parents typically have the ability to customize their preference and receive the preferred method of communication.

Schools need to be sensitive to how this type of messaging is utilized. Like alerts via mobile apps, you do not want to over use notifications. It is an extremely effective means of communication but can become annoying if you are getting voice messages about not-so important information.

A few notification facts:

Over 70% of K-12 parents age-group (25-54) have smartphones

Texting preferred over voice calls

For every 1 text message sent, 10 emails are sent

For every 1 text message sent, 12 voice calls are made

4. Email

The email channel is an oldie but goodie and a key channel for schools. We all love it because it is a great form of one-to-one personal communication. Most parents have email accounts, and it allows the school to provide information of all kinds, in detail if needed. Email also features a very high open rate, which translates into an informed community.

The use of email can range from reminders, policies, registration, newsletters and a variety of announcements. A majority of the content sent in email needs to exist on the website and be easily linked to. Email can be the messenger for your website content - still the hub of much of your school information.

Email needs to be a channel that is mastered by schools and utilized to its fullest. There are several best practices that can improve open rate and the overall readability. Most email blasting systems, which provide a higher degree of email security than one a school handles itself, enables important metrics that can help you improve your communication.

5. Social Media

These popular social media channels are driving how many businesses and organizations are sharing information. They need to be a big part of your communications mix as well. Understanding which social media to use and when to use it requires understanding the limits and life cycle of the content posted to each of these channels.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube are the key channels we're talking about here. There are other, but these are what your school should be using to reach the increasingly digital and mobile stakeholders your school serves. The beauty of social media is how easily the content can be linked to other social media channels, and how easily it can be shared with many people.

Regardless of which media you're utilizing, building a following and, in turn, encouraging sharing (see viral) is what it's all about. For a solid drill down on making the most of social media at your school, check out this article and a link to the Social Media Guide for Schools.

Whether you're Tweeting out 140-character messages several times a day, making daily Facebook pages or weekly blog posts, all these vehicles and others can be utilized at the right time to get your messages across.

6. Blog

A blog can be one of your school's best opportunities to engage parents and the community. Many schools prefer to position it as a superintendent's blog, which gives you a forum to reinforce the school brand, strengthen ties with media, and depict your school leadership precisely the way you want. You have total control of the messaging, and can use it to articulate, support and clarify policy, and spark dialogue. Note too that not all posts have to be serious. Some posts can be lighter than others. Simply sharing thoughts, photos, anecdotes, and other's content can all help personalize your school's leader.

If properly promoted, your superintendent's blog (or school blog) can deliver the messaging priorities that can boost public confidence in your entire district. Promote it on your website homepage, share it on your school's Facebook page and other social media, promote it through your non-digital school communications as well.

Check out Kathy Brant's article on how to launch a school blog.

6. Video

Videos and the favored channels to share them - Youtube, Vimeo, Vine, and Periscope - are becoming popular because we all love the medium. Like all the channels I've covered, however, there's a time and place for video.

Whether it's live streaming events or recording for posting at a later time, video is a crowd-pleasing way for schools to capture, chronicle and archive great school content.

When it comes to a how-to video, a personal message, highlights from an event, something humorous, touching or otherwise entertaining, video rules. Video is not, however, the best way to depict something time critical.

Some schools are even creating their own Youtube channels. using them to post everything from football highlights, to school productions, to superintendent's messages. Even if you don't have a Youtube channel, you can create video galleries and archives of your school events.

A word about non-digital communications

It's important when plugging your school content into the right channels that you not forget the non-digital parents. It may be hard to believe, but there are actually parents who have no email accounts nor smartphones, so it's important that you not overlook the old-school ways of getting messages to them.

Printed newsletters, the time-tested take-home packet that's jammed into kids' backpacks, solid media relations to get that school closing to the TV stations, school signage, posters, flyers. These are all areas that will not only help you continue to reach your tech-less parents, but can supplement your communications through digital channels.

Printed and other non-digital communications should be used to cross-promote your digital channels too. Place social media badges and icons on select printed media (like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, tune in our YouTube channel, etc.) to show all your audiences that you're doing all you can to reach them.

School content at the right place, time, and price

Over the years, I've answered questions from thousands of school administrators looking for new website designs or website hosting solutions. But of late, the questions are now including how to integrate website communications with all these other channels I've mentioned here.

Keeping up with communication trends these days does require a scorecard of sorts, and a way of figuring out how to use all these channels without breaking your school communications budget.

Whenever you have school content that needs to be shared, examine all your communications channels, and be sure you have the information queued up in the right channel at the right time. And be on the lookout for tools to help you manage the task of playing traffic cop for the growing amount of content traveling the avenues available in this digital age.

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As co-founder of Campus Suite, Steve believes behind every great school is great communication. His tech savvy and passion for design fuel his desire to help administrators understand, embrace and seize the power of web communications.

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6 Key School Communication Channels and How to Use Them

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It's easy to recognize that great communication is at the heart of any great school. What's not so easy to grasp these days is identifying which communication channels to focus on, and when to use them to reach your audiences.

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Week 7 Article

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Schools should continuously be striving to improve. Every school should have this as a central theme in their mission statement. Schools that are either stagnant or complacent are doing the students and communities that they serve a major disservice. If you are not progressing, you will ultimately fall behind and fail. Education, in general, is very progressive and trendy, sometimes to a fault, but you must always be seeking out something bigger and better.

School leaders who regularly include their constituents in the decision-making process find it advantageous in many different ways. They understand that involving stakeholders in the decision-making process can ultimately transform a school. Progressive transformation is continuous and ongoing. It must become a mindset and regular way of making decisions to maximize effectiveness. School leaders must actively invest in the opinions of others, understanding that they do not have all the answers themselves.

Varying Perspectives

One of the most beneficial aspects of bringing different people to the discussion is that you get several different perspectives or points of view. Every stakeholder is going to have a distinctly different point of view based on their individual affiliation with the school. It is important that school leaders bring together a varying range of constituents with their hands in different parts of the cookie jar so that perspective is maximized.

This is naturally beneficial as someone else may see a potential road block or benefit that someone else may not have thought of. Having multiple perspectives can only boost any decision-making effort and lead to healthy discussions that morph into growth and improvement.

Better Buy In

When decisions are made through a process that is genuinely inclusive and transparent people tend to buy in and support those decisions even when they are not directly involved.

There will likely be some that still disagree with the decisions, but they typically respect them because they understand the process and know that the decision was not made lightly or by a single person. Buy in is extremely important for a school because of all the moving parts. A school operates more efficiently when all the parts on the same page. This often translates to success which benefits everyone.

Less Resistance

Resistance is not necessarily a bad thing and offers some benefits. However, it can also totally destroy a school if it morphs into a resistance movement. By bringing varying perspectives to the table, you naturally negate much of the resistance. This is especially true when collaborative decision making becomes the norm and part of the expected culture of the school. People will trust a decision-making process that is inclusive, transparent, and holistic in nature. Resistance can be annoying, and it can definitely impede improvement referendum. As stated before this is not always a bad thing as some resistance minimally serves as a natural system of checks and balances.

Not Top Heavy

School leaders are ultimately responsible for their school's successes and failures.

When they make critical decisions by themselves, they shoulder 100% of the blame when things run amiss. Furthermore, many people question top heavy decision making and never fully buy in. Any time a single person makes a key decision without consulting others they are setting themselves up for ridicule and eventual failure. Even if that decision is the correct and best choice, it serves school leaders well to consult with others and seek their advice before the final say. When school leaders make too many individual decisions they eventually distance themselves from other stakeholders which is unhealthy at best.

Holistic, Inclusive Decisions

Collaborative decisions are typically well thought out, inclusive, and holistic. When a representative from each stakeholder group is brought to the table, it gives validity to the decision.

For example, parents feel they have a voice in a decision because there were other parents representing them in the decision-making group. This is especially true when those on a collaborative decision-making committee go out into the community and seek further feedback from like stakeholders. Furthermore, these decisions are holistic in nature meaning that research has been done, and both sides have been carefully examined.

Better Decisions

Collaborative decisions often lead to better decision making. When a group comes together with a common goal, they are able to explore all the options more in-depth. They can take their time, bounce ideas off one another, research the pros and cons of each option thoroughly, and ultimately make a decision that will produce the greatest outcomes with the least resistance. Better decisions yield better results. In a school environment, this is extremely important. A top priority for every school is to maximize student potential. You do this in part by making the correct, calculated decisions time and time again.

Shared Responsibility

One of the greatest aspects of collaborative decision making is that no single person can take the credit or the blame. The final decision lies with the majority on the committee. Though a school leader will likely take the lead in the process, the decision is not solely theirs. This also ensures that they are not doing all of the work. Instead, each member of the committee plays a critical role in the process that often extends beyond simple decision making into implementation and follow through.

Shared responsibility helps reduce the pressure of making a big decision. Those on the committee provide a natural support system because they truly understand the commitment and dedication to making the correct decisions.

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7 Ways Collaborative Decision Making Can Transform Your School

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Schools should continuously be striving to improve. Every school should have this as a central theme in their mission statement. Schools that are either stagnant or complacent are doing the students and communities that they serve a major disservice. If you are not progressing, you will ultimately fall behind and fail.