The Importance of Repeating Messages for a Passing Parade of Students & Parents

Minnetonka 2016 Homecoming Parade

Often we concentrate efforts on getting out a key message and then think we're done afterwards. We often think we can move on and that it won't need to be repeated or revisited. In education, we may have a building or even district -wide theme around anti-bullying, being peacemakers, learning from failure, etc., or have key points of which we want all parents and/or students to be aware, such as 1:1 policies or digital citizenship guidelines and best practices. Since these messages are important, it is vital to think about the frequency and reoccurrence needed for these messages to be fully known. 

There are many ways a message or key points in a program can be lost as quickly as the following school year (or sooner). If we fail to remember that new students and families who weren't part of the learning in a prior year don't actually know the material, problems may arise. Also, forgetting that in a few years all students and/or families may have moved on to another building completely leaving no one who was part of an original event/lesson. Yet another reason a message may get lost is because students and their families may not be ready for it, such as a message that is for upper elementary students that doesn't apply to the second grade students/parents.

Minnetonka 2016 Homecoming Parade

One of my former colleagues used to remind us to think of students and their parents as a passing parade, and educators as viewers on the side watching them pass. In her analogy, she spoke of the need to repeat the same messages over and over again to each passing grade level marching by in the parade for the reasons previously explained above. This is an important point to remember in education. During Digital Citizenship next week and in all the other upcoming public service announcements and communications this year and in the future, remember your audience in education. You may need to revisit, repost, and repeat yourself frequently rather than checking something off as completed and moving on. Once and done isn't enough.

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• Parenting in the Digital Age: Finding a Healthy Balance Webinar Part II
• Parenting in the Digital Age: Finding a Healthy Balance Part I
• Parenting with Purpose in the Digital Age... It's Complicated
• Parenting in the Digital Age Part 2: How Much Should Parents Snoop?
• District Digital Citizenship Committee: Tonka Schools Campaign to Raise Awareness of Cyber Safety at Home