1. Take the time to make certain all of your program dates are on the school calendar and that you have tried to avoid major conflicts with other student groups. Also, don’t forget to set aside time for yourself. Freddie Martin once suggested to write “SOMETHING” on your calendar one weekend every month — that way, when someone asks you to do “something” on that weekend, you already have the date saved.
2. Now that the school year is underway, take some time to evaluate how effective, or ineffective, communication has been between you at school and home. How have you endeavored to communicate important information to parents and guardians? Do you have any evidence that those efforts have been successful or unsuccessful? Assess what you are doing and if it is working as you intended. If you get several phone calls or emails asking for information or for information to be clarified, that is evidence that you need to evaluate what you are doing to get information from the classroom to home.
Sometimes the issue is the method of communication. Maybe you are writing terrific email newsletters, but you are teaching in an area in which internet is not reliably in every one of your students’ homes. Maybe you are making beautiful reminders to send home in your student’s folders, but your students aren’t remembering to make the hand off to their parents and guardians at the end of the day. Ask your administration or veteran teachers in building what ways of communicating which with they have found success and make changes appropriately.
Sometimes the issue is the message in the communication. If you are requesting information, is the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the response clear? If you are giving information, are you being clear and succinct? Make sure to write with correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Keep formatting clean so that your message can come through without extra effort. If you worry with any aspect of the messaging, try to get another set of eyes on it for editing before you communicate it out.
In addition to messages always needing to be relayed, reliable and accurate communication is a way to build trust, belonging, and understanding within your program. Those things are essential and if you aren’t communicating effectively, it will be hard to accomplish the goals you have set for the year. Some time spent early in the year improving communication will pay dividends the entire year through.
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These retention tips are written by various authors and are compiled from "More to Start, Fewer to Quit" a recruitment, retention, and success newsletter brought to you by The Music Achievement Council and Instrumental Music Center.