Session #1 The Importance and Challenge of School Home Communications

This session serves as the foundation for the work ahead. In this module, Patricia will introduce you or your team to the intersection of family engagement and communication and the cultural and systemic barriers to home/school communication. Participants will work through examples that lift up the concepts. By the end of the session, participating educators will have a greater ability to recognize communications that don’t work and a strong foundation to create communications that do.

Session #2 The Words We Use

Sometimes the language we use to explain school practices and goals to families is complicated and full of educational jargon and acronyms. This session gives teams and/or individuals the skills to effectively “translate” those words and acronyms. Learn how just little changes in wording can have a big impact when it comes to building relationships. By the end of this session, participating educators will have the tools to immediately improve critical written and spoken school communications.

Session #3 Information Overload

The amount of information that our schools send home, how we send it home, and what we send home can often cause parents to tune us out and disengage. That’s why it’s important to give parents and caregivers the information they want to know and need to know in ways that cut through their busy lives. Just as students require differentiated instruction, families require differentiated approaches to communication. In this session, Patricia helps participants learn how to pare information down into digestible, useful pieces that can help build trust and family engagement.

Session #4 Non-Verbal Communication

Words matter. But how we string words together and how we say words can often matter more. Non-verbal communication makes up 65 percent 85 percent of communication. Improving non-verbal communication starts with an awareness of families. But it also involves an awareness of what else might be going on in your life and attention to things like body language. In this session, participants will learn simple tips and techniques they can use to ensure that tone and body language are helping build the relationships.

Session #5 Challenging Communications

Every relationship occasionally requires difficult conversations and communications. The same is true in our relationships with our families. The key to challenging conversations or communications is to look at them as opportunities to build even deeper bonds with our families. In this session, participants will work through their fears about difficult communications. They’ll learn how to set the stage for these interactions, how to begin and end communications, and how to respond to the emotions of families.

Session #6 Learning at Home Activities

All parents and caregivers have the capacity to support their children’s education. But sometimes we assign home activities that are not “doable” for our families. Maybe they require background knowledge or skills. Maybe they require too much time. Or, maybe they require a financial investment. In this session, participants will learn the importance of providing families with simple, doable activities that can reinforce or extend the learning at home. They’ll learn how to provide parents a choice and the importance of honoring the activities and learning they are already doing at home with their children.

Session #7 Sharing Student and Learning Data

Never underestimate families. Families have the capacity to understand even the most complex education information, assuming we effectively communicate. Research shows parents want to know how their children are doing in school. It’s important for schools to share data. But school and student data can feel formal and intimidating to parents. In this session, participants will pull together all of the information from the lesson series and apply it to communicating learning goals, objectives, and school and student data. Participants will learn how to communicate about data in a way that leaves parents feeling knowledgeable and empowered to participate in their child’s learning.

Session #8 Creating Lasting Change

In the final learning session, Patricia offers suggestions to help you create buy-in with staff. Participants will receive practical tips to help develop a school/home communication plans tailored to school improvement goals. This session also served as a “wrap up” of the larger course, giving participants the tools and ideas to ensure school communications are not only received, but understood.

Coaching sessions