We Were All Yellow, Too

You know that song "Yellow" by Coldplay? You know why they used the word yellow? I don't either, and it turns out it just sounded good, so maybe they didn't either. So now you know why I titled this post the way I did. It's all very complicated.

This is going to sound like an ad for Remind. That's okay because I love the app for its user-friendly interface and its versatility. I used it first when it was Remind101 and I was a classroom teacher. I continued to use it when I became an administrator to deliver information to all my staff at 3 different schools. When I became a Chief School Administrator, I started to use it as a way to alert the community to upcoming events, closures due to inclement weather, and any other pertinent information. It's fantastic.

Now to the part when I got so caught up in if I could, I forgot to ask if I should. When I was still in the classroom, I started using my Remind account to let the students know I would be collecting the work they were doing while I was out. I scheduled text messages to go out at periodic intervals during classes to give the students the impression I was watching over them, keeping them on task. They would get messages letting them know that the assignments were going to be graded as tests or quizzes.

At the time, I thought that assigning value to it on a greater level served multiple purposes. One - the students would get through necessary work, and we'd be able to move forward when I got back. Two - the task and its importance would help to develop a management tool for the substitute.

Some issues with this. Adding "value" to an assignment given without being present to explain the assignment means you're still dealing with the missed day as soon as you return. You're still dealing with that missed time because - let's face it - it's not fair to students to not have access to their teacher when an assignment is going to count significantly toward their grade. Also, if the assignment is really a tool used for classroom management, it's disingenuous and just a compliance tool.
Compliance is a funny thing. It'll keep you working just hard enough to keep out of trouble. That's not where growth happens. If you've been keeping up, I'm all about the growth and moving forward. Engagement and compliance are not the same things. Compliance drives a wedge between the school environment and the recipients of the communication. No one wants to feel as though they're being spoken at.

School district employees, teachers and administrators alike, need to be sure that communication is driving engagement not compliance. Your communication should be bringing people into the world of your school and making them feel involved. This involvement connects parents, students, and community members to the school environment. It makes everyone feel like they have a place there, which leads them to want to take care of it and help it grow.

So what tools are you using to communicate with your students, parents, staff members? Are you using those tools to distribute information to get people to comply with the message, or are you trying to get them to connect with the school and be a part of that community? I'd love to hear your experiences in the comments section, but it's not a requirement, and it won't count toward your grade.