Avoid the noise

As admins and teachers we deal with a lot of noise.  Noise is distracting.  Very often it keeps us from being who we are and from what we are doing.  Noise can be defined for us as all the usual suspects.  What do you hear us complain about?  Parents never understand.  Snapchat is the worst thing ever.  The state doesn't have a clue what they are doing.  Sound familiar?  All these things take us away from the mission.  We lose time away form the mission of kids when we are hyper focused on noise.

I had a recent observation about noise.  A school recently discovered a student with bedbugs.  In this area that has gotten a lot of attention and even television news coverage in neighboring towns.  This  district did their duty of informing the community via social media of the discovery, their next steps and to not be alarmed.  That post got 106 shares and over 8,500 people reached on Facebook in just two short days.  I would love to get that kind of engagement on my school social media pages, but I'm sure our videos are not funny enough.  The general public runs with these happenings and uses them to complain (causing noise) while us folks that work in public schools understand that having a few bedbugs is not a huge setback to the instructional process.  It may be costly to treat, but that treatment happens quickly and professionally to ensure the health and safety of our students.  So we can, you know, teach.

So the next time you are flagging questions about your noise, stay on mission.  You might have to confirm some unflattering information, but be sure to drown it out with all the great things we get to see everyday.  Our mission is teaching kids and that should be weaved into every narrative.  Social media is a great tool to control your narrative.  We are reminded of this over and over and my personal experience is that it is great for promoting the great works of your students and staff.

The best way to avoid all that noise is to use social media for the celebrating and separate communication channels for the informing.  My goal is to create an online culture that fosters praise and celebration.  I would say 85% of my Facebook posts are of a celebrating nature. It’s hard to be critical in the comments when you are showing love to your school family. That’s not to say those haters won’t take to their own page to complain, but you are still in control of your narrative in your space. You are not creating the noise. They have to make the conscious decision to be negative and noisy in your positive social media environment.  Avoid the noise by surrounding your school’s social media presence with all the things that are special about your school. Visit our Facebook page and see what we do. I’m not saying we are perfect, but I am happy with the result.