Do You Spotlight the Good Stuff?

When you are going 90 to nothing and all hands are on deck trying to keep your schools running and students learning, probably the last thing on your mind is sharing out noteworthy celebrations. Sound accurate? If so, don't be ashamed! Because OPSRC works with schools statewide, we KNOW you have success stories that are happening every day. But even knowing how busy you are, it's a tragedy to not be sharing that information. Why? Because there are multiple benefits to educating your community about the positive things you are doing to not only educate your students but to make their entire educational experience one they'll remember their whole lives:

• You build trust. People want to be reassured that the taxes they pay that go to your school are being spent well and are giving their children access to programs, devices and overall experiences that will make their children well-rounded, community-engaged citizens and also competitive in college and in their future careers. They want to know you are setting a quality foundation on which their children can build throughout their lives.
• You show instead of tell. People want to SEE the innovative programs you offer not just hear about them. They want to SEE their students building robots, coding computer programs, developing artistic skills in painting or photography or screenwriting. Showing pictures--or better yet--videos of students explaining a project and demonstrating how it works is a much more powerful testament to your teachers' instructional skills and the programs in which you have invested. Helping students grasp complicated concepts that they then translate to tangible products gives the public visual examples of what students are doing every day when they hop on that bus and head to school.
• You demonstrate your ability and capacity to successfully and responsibly implement various programs, curriculum and educational opportunities. This can be a huge boost when you are, for example, applying for grants. Providing real data that shows student academic gains, finished products and multiple years of a program's success can help bolster your case when requesting additional funds through grants and other funding opportunities.

"But Sarah, we just don't have the time or manpower to showcase these things," you say. Not to worry: that's where we come in.

We host weekly Monday Motivation and Feel Good Friday Facebook Live events, where we talk with educational experts and also highlight various school accomplishments that you want to showcase but just don't have time for! Case in point: just last week, we traveled to Okmulgee for a Feel Good Friday with teacher Lucky Burney and some of his animation students who just this summer won awards in Hollywood for their work. We talked about their experiences while in L.A., but we also focused on what they have learned about animation--and themselves--by being a part of this club. See for yourself: