Differentiate Your Story

Photo Credit: www.gigaom.com

Over the past several years I have spoken at many educational conferences on the topic of telling your school's story. There are so many virtual tools available to engage stakeholders virtually with what is happening in our schools. Some people like to read short tweets or posts, while others prefer images or sound bites. It is now an expectation that a parent can take out their mobile device, click on a variety of apps, and follow what is going on in a particular classroom or school. Schools must differentiate the way they tell their story. Here are 8 tools that Black River Middle School uses on a daily or weekly basis to disseminate information and activate stakeholder engagement ....

Animoto ~ Create a Week in Review photo/video multimedia presentation.

Slides ~ Push out a daily Quote of the Day on a Google Slide presentation.

Docs ~ Curate and archive daily announcements that can be accessed on website and social media feeds.

Twitter ~ Tweet out classroom learning experiences and sports scores.

Facebook ~ Post exactly what you tweet out on a daily basis.

Instagram ~ Share images of school happenings and model digital citizenship all at the same time.

Remind ~ Utilize the Remind App to share out important school information via text, email, or push notification.

Website ~ Provide relevant, accessible, and minimal-click information.

Pinterest ~ Archive online content related to your school.

Learn more about the different ways that Black River Middle leverages the power of social media and web tools to differentiate communication by visiting www.chester-nj.org/BlackRiver.cfr

Brad Currie is the author of All Hands on Deck: Tools for Connecting Educators, Parents, and Communities. He is one of the founding partners of Evolving Educators LLC. Brad is a 2014 ASCD Emerging Leader and Bammy Award Finalist. He currently serves as a K-8 Supervisor of Instruction and Middle School Vice Principal for the Chester School District in Chester, NJ. Learn more about Brad by following him on Twitter @bradmcurrie or visiting his website at www.bradcurrie.net.