At a Glance - Module 12

At a Glance image

Quote for Module 12
Parents and the public tend to feel they know the right way to "do school": generally the way they saw it done when they were there. This inclination, added to a general suspicion of schools, means that leaders need to communicate often and effectively with parents about school-related beliefs, plans, and policies -- especially when they vary from the parents' preconceptions about how schools "should be."
Carol Ann Tomlinson and Susan Demirsky Allan, Leadership for Differentiating Schools and Classrooms, ASCD, 2000.

In this Module
You begin implementing your long-term differentiated strategy project in this module. At the same time, you will learn about and design communications with the stakeholders you interact with on a regular basis.

Major Topics

  • Effective communication

Activities

  • Read, “Strategies for Communicating with Parents and Guardians”
  • Read, “Preparing Students and Parents for a Differentiated Classroom”
  • View the ASCD site, “How do you explain differentiated instruction to your students?”
    http://stream.realimpact.net/rihurl.ram?file=realimpact/ascd/tutorials/diffinst/field3.rm
  • Design a communication regarding the implementation of differentiated instruction and the standards to parents/guardians, administrators and/or students
  • Send home/post on your web page a communication about the unit and the grading expectations
  • Post a response to the prompt in the discussion forum # 12

Outcomes

  • Understand the role of communication with all stakeholders

Guiding Questions

  1. What are some of the challenges from students, parents/guardians and colleagues that you may face in your multi-week implementation of a differentiated instructional strategy? How do you plan to overcome these challenges?
  2. How do educators effectively communicate with parents and guardians, students, and community members?
  3. What kinds of information do you need to consider when working with your stakeholder groups?
  4. How can the effectiveness of your communication efforts be verified?
  5. What information would be useful to communicate to parents/guardians, community members and students about your multi-week implementation?