Communication Strategies

Resources

• The Family Voice Project has resources to help families inform the programs and services that serve them and to build strong relationships with the educators and providers in their lives. Each month they release new videos, podcasts, and personal stories. The project is a collaboration between New Hampshire’s Parent Information Center and Children’s Trust.  
• Top Ten Tips, Ideas to Improve Parent-to-Professional Communication, from the Pacer Center
• The Council for Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) has a free online Family Engagement Course consisting of three modules that teach 1) the importance of family engagement; 2) making parent phone calls, and 3) parent-teacher conferences. The first two modules will be particularly useful in transition planning. The modules have readings, videos and quick activities, and take 15-30 minutes to work through. You can bounce around the topics and dive into what interests you most. They feel more like an interactive book than an online course. Note that you have to take a two question survey first – just pick the choices closest to your role.
• How to conduct difficult conversations:
  • Difficult Conversations: Nine Common Mistakes, from Harvard Business Review. PDF version (8 pages, 2010)
  • We Have to Talk: A Step-by-Step Checklist for Difficult Conversations, from consultant Judy Ringer
  • Being Heard: 6 Strategies for Getting Your Point Across, from consultant Judy Ringer
• Protocols are guidelines for conversations and discussions. The National School Reform Faculty has developed a whole series of protocols for different situations and needs:
  • What are protocols?, from the National School Reform Faculty.
  • Facilitating Learning, Logistics and Longevity (PDF, 1 page, 2017) is a Venn diagram of the tasks in three types of facilitation.
  • A master list of free protocols from the National School Reform Faculty.