I had dinner a few weeks ago with a friend of mine who is a regular-day teacher. She told me that her principal is discouraging teachers at her school from teaching any science or social studies unless their entire class is testing at proficient or above on their state tests. I had suspected this was the case in some schools, but I was shocked to have my suspicions confirmed. While this is a terrible downturn for our students, this brings a huge challenge – and responsibility – to light for Afterschool. With testing and budget pressures forcing regular day teachers to continue to narrow their focus, It is now up to those of us in Afterschool to offer engaging, hands on, standards based curriculum in subjects where students are missing out such as science, art, social studies, music, and fitness.
View this as an opportunity to broaden your reach. Instead of spending all of your time working on homework or repetitive crafts, start teaching what your students are missing and make your program an invaluable part of your students’ learning. Engage them with new standards based lessons in subjects they don’t normally get to experience. This may sound difficult or time consuming but it doesn’t have to be. Curriculum is already available at places such as Curricubits. Materials can be inexpensive and easy to find if you are able to get creative in how you use them.
By teaching new and exciting material to your students, you can truly make a difference in their learning. Increased general knowledge and a positive attachment to school improves students regular-day attendance and boosts their test scores. Your program can be the place parents turn to help provide their children with a more well-rounded education. If you communicate with parents about all the wonderful things you are teaching in Afterschool, word will spread and your program will never have an empty slot for long.
Go ahead! Leave a comment and tell me what you think.
Camille Diaz Curriculum Curriculum, public relations
Ashley: Text Messaging Guru
In today’s world of social media buzzwords like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, texting, blogging, RSS, Web 2.0, and Wiki, it’s hard to sort it all out and easy to want to give up and try to ignore it for a couple more years. Well, that’s not going to work, because this stuff isn’t going away and if you’re not using social media in your Afterschool program, you are missing simple, low cost opportunities to improve communication with staff, students, and parents. Don’t worry if you don’t know how it all works. Most of the systems are easy to use and user friendly. If you still need help, or you just don’t have the time, appoint one or two social media savvy members of your staff to handle it. Ashley (pictured here) handles almost all of my text messaging as I am a total klutz at that.
Here are a few ways you can get started.
1. Email (can be free or paid)
Ok, this one might be obvious, and I’m sure you already have email, but are you using it as effectively as you could? Are you Read more…
Camille Diaz Parents, Staffing, Students, Technology communication, public relations, social media, Technology
Is your afterschool program stuck in the proverbial doghouse? Do the “regular day” teachers and staff act like your program doesn’t really matter? If so, this is probably not because you have done something wrong, it is because they don’t know about all the great things you are doing right. Do a little positive public relations and open the lines of communication.
Communicate With Regular Day Teachers
Develop systems within your program to work with regular day teachers. Find out what subjects they are covering and do supplemental activities. Get the homework assignments for the week so you can make sure students finish and turn it in. Find out which students need extra help so you can reinforce what teachers are doing during the school day.
Communicate With Parents
Let parents know what their children are doing in your program. Try sending home a short weekly newsletter (just one page) to announce your plans for the week. If parents know how many great services you are providing, they will appreciate your program as more than just childcare.
Communicate With Students
Fill students in! Tell them what you are doing each day and each week. Send them home with some exciting news or experiences to talk about. As they report all the positives about your program to their parents, teachers and friends, your program will gain in popularity.
There is no better way to advertise than word of mouth. So start talking and create a positive buzz about your wonderful afterschool program.
Please leave us a comment and share your tips for creating a positive buzz about afterschool.
Camille Diaz Parents, Students, Teachers communication, marketing, public relations
