Market Your School With Social Media! Or as the Doobie Bros say " Taking it to the Streets"

Well,  it IS a different world we live in!
I lived at 709 E. South St. in Frankfor,t Indiana back in the 70's and 80's and we just went to the school we could walk to.  I knew,  based on my address,  I would first be a Riley Poet, then a Frankfort Junior High Falcon and finally a Frankfort Hotdog.
No letter grades for schools,  no choice, no charters, no vouchers, I had an address and I had a school.

Enter the age of  school choice!

Whether you call yourself public, private, charter, Catholic, Christian or a combination of any of these you have entered the age of Education Marketing!
The deal is though, most schools don't have a marketing or public relations person, so what is a school to do?
I say, as the Doobie Brothers did in 1976, Take it to the Streets!....errr Interwebs....  
People are talking about you and your school!
What are they saying?
Are they right?
How can you get your message and mission out there?
I was fortunate to get to talk about this at #CoSN13 this year.

Here is our slideshare:
Branding & Marketing Your School With Social Media

The slideshare includes some ideas as well as links to schools that I think are doing a great job of using Facebook, Twitter and other tools to get their message out!
No one can reduce a student OR a school to a letter grade!
Not when a picture or a tweet is worth a thousand words!

GO HOTDOGS!

Could a student do that? YES!

I've been asking myself this question a lot lately:

Could a student do that?

I find that the answer is often a resounding YES!

Some examples:

• We are hosting our national conference for New Tech Network in New Orleans, LA this summer. I am creating a Pinterest board and wanted to fill it with restaurants in walking distance, some 'can't miss" sites and more. Except, I live in Indiana and I've never been to New Orleans.

Could a student do that? Yes!
Kaylin, student and member of the HRT team at Satellite Center is now pinning for us!

• During #PBLChat we often discuss getting the community into the school for projects, entry docs,  as experts and more. Teachers are swamped busy, finding more time to make connections is tough

Could a student do that? Yes!
So many students chimed in during that chat and shared that THEY make the phone calls and coordinate the events bringing the community in to their schools.

From Anna, Kent Innovation High student

• We often hear that teachers are reluctant to use tech tools in class that they haven't yet mastered because they couldn't be a resource for the students.

Could a student do that? Yes!
Chris M. student at Rochester Zebra New Tech High often made videos and tutorials with Camtasia teaching students and teachers the ins and outs of Photoshop and other tools. 

• We talk about student voice a great deal these days. We need it during the interview process. Hmm? Have a professional voice and play a role in interviewing teachers for their school?

Could a student do that? Yes!
Students at Columbus Signature Academy play a role in the hiring process, asking questions and having reflective discussion post-interview with the facilitators and director of their school.

• So many tech departments,  as we move to 1:1 and add even more devices, are so short staffed and struggle to keep up with the work order demands in the buildings they serve.

Could a student do that? Yes!
All over the country students are a part of the tech team, in many cases earning credits while they solve network issues, replace laptop parts, image computers and more. We called our team STAT (Student Tech Assistance Team, they even had t-shirts)

I'm certain there are many more ways we can empower students to be an integral part of their own learning in more ways. How are you empowering students?
As you go through your day tomorrow, ask yourself, could a student do that?

Grant Writing Advice: 5 Things I Know

 During my time as a Technology Coordinator for my school district I wrote or co-wrote many grants.  I learned a great deal while a part of that team and through writing and implementing these grants.

Match the Grant with Your District Strategic Plan
No matter how cool the opportunity, if it doesn't fit with  your district vision, mission and strategic plan, you may end up with cool tools or a neat program that doesn't go any deeper than that. I know that sounds obvious, but I've been tempted to do this, I'm guessing you might be too. Your strategic plan should be a living document, so live within it so you can meet your goals. Sort of like asking yourself,

"Would you buy those shoes on clearance if they were still full price?" If the answer is no, don't buy them. If it wasn't important enough to include in your plan, walk away. Focus

Talk to the People the Grant Will Affect
I once worked on a grant with my superintendent to get video conferencing equipment for our entire school district. It was a really complicated, long process to write this grant. Eventually, we DID get the grant and then the fun began, it was super time consuming to implement and report on. The time spent on this grant in relation to the amount of use the equipment got was a fail.  The teachers in the buildings really weren't ready for or interested in video conferencing at the time. They already had a bunch of new tech tools, and a million other things on their plate. Actually, the whole tech department had a lot of new tech tools and a lot on OUR plate.  Eventually we made good use of the grant, but the timing was bad, talk to people who will actually use the equipment/program etc.. before applying.

Keep Copies of Everything
So many grants are now "submit online only".  I highly recommend writing everything in Word or Google docs, save it. Especially the section that asks for data that you will use over and over again as you apply for other grants.  I wish I had a dollar for every time I filled in info on an online form and had the form freeze up and I LOST IT ALL. (Nope, not really, I really really do put it all in word and then copy and paste it in. )

Check Yourself
In working on a grant  with a fellow administrator, we wrote a truly incredible grant, I mean, we were on fire,  it was an amazing plan. The only problem? We both had actual full time positions with the district already and the grant plan we had written would take a ton of time to implement, measure and report on. So we "checked ourselves". What is the essence of what we want to get out of this grant, what CAN we actually manage, we scaled back in order to do it well. And, we got the grant! 

Follow the directions
Sounds simple, right?
Surprising how many people don't do it. If the grant is to be double spaced, a certain font, font size, specifies no more than two attachments, wants you to stand on your head while faxing the app and singing God Bless America, DO IT.
Just follow the directions.

Lastly, where are my go to places to find grants besides just watching my Twitter Feed? These two.
eSchool News Funding Tab
EdWorks Facebook Page

Don't forget about your own state DOE, local community foundation and big chain stores like Target who often run mini grants for teachers:)

Happy grant writing!

Let's commit to not just talking about "student voice" but actually listening to it!

The phrase "student voice" is getting a lot of traction lately.  Whether it is a part of our #PBLChat conversations where you often here the phrase "voice & choice" or if you have been following the #stuvoice hashtag we know we should be listening to students, but I'm not sure how often it truly happens. 

One place I know students feel at home sharing their voice is on Twitter.  I am so proud of how the voices of students have grown organically as a part of #PBLChat.  Each week we have a number of students join us , they lend an authentic voice to our conversations, several of our topics have even been student suggested.

We have a number of students who jump right in to our chats each week and they would be happy to be a member of your PLN as well.  The tricky part for you might be knowing that they are students.  They confidently share their opinions, advice and philosophy about learning in such a profound way that I bet some of our chatters have no idea they are talking to HS students.    Due to the busy lives of work, school, FFA 4H, sports and more the group changes from week to week and I find it even more impressive that they choose to take the initiative to learn alongside all of us.

These students found this outlet for their voices mostly because they were already connecting professionally via Twitter with their teachers or as a part of different projects in their school. I love how I see the students now connecting with each other, across states and time zones to discuss and share.

Here are some sample tweets from a few of our "regular" chatters. 

 

 










I love this next one!




Doesn't it illustrate how we all feel after a great connection with our PLN? 

Some of these students share topic ideas in our #PBLChat google doc, in fact, it looks like this week's topic will be one from a student.  I love how it is an exact concern we often hear from teachers!

Ask any teacher who has left the classroom for other positions what they miss the most and they will say "the students".  I love that students joining in on our chats makes me miss that less.  Sometimes, I even get to meet this student PLN in person.

I always love going to learn with students and teachers but this last visit was special. I got to meet @MrMackAttack1 and @Emcredible3 in person, tour their school and even have time for some great face to face conversation.

Let's commit to not just talking about "student voice" but actually listening to it!