MAVA Conference

1. Mastering the Communication Channels

Principals are defacto managers yet haven’t been trained as managers. Mastering the Communication Channels is about improving and maximizing your ability to influence and persuade while becoming a more effective communicator. The main way principals communicate with the community is through weekly update emails.  How can these be written to best win over the community?  How does a principal “message” their electronic communication? How do you keep superintendents informed without bogging them down with the details and how can one be an effective communicator in front of the school committee?  These questions and many others are addressed in this interactive program.

As a principal (similar to any manager in any company) there are many channels of communication a principal is responsible for:

1. Down – Principal to teachers (employees)
2. Out – Principal to parents/community (customers)
3. Across – Principal to other admins such as SPED dept. heads, other principals, guidance dept. head, dept. heads etc.
4. Up – Principal to superintendent, FINCOM, school committee (corporate leaders)

Solve current communication challenges with strategies and techniques to get more buy in from each communication channel.

2. Beyond Engagement

Starting in Grade 5, student engagement drops each year until Grade 11, where it bottoms out at 32%. This interactive program empowers principals and teachers with engagement techniques to become more approachable, initiate and receive feedback from one another, listen actively to avoid judgment and labeling, foster intrinsic motivation, and identify and address social emotional factors while successfully modeling self-awareness and a growth mindset.

• Motivate students to be more engaged listeners by recognizing the signals we send
• Create mutual trust and enable two-way emphatic communication and active listening.
• Empower kids to feel heard and valued in the classroom
• Perceive the whole student by avoiding biases or assumptions from behavioral patterns

Participate and embrace developing new engagement techniques by participating in Beyond Engagement:

1. Building A Student’s Confidence

A student typically develops their confidence and self-esteem through grades, achievements in extra-curricular activities, or popularity. However, the main ingredient for a student to build confidence is their ability to foster a growth mindset and overcome obstacles that they perceive as difficult, impossible or boring.

Highlights: Apply the following behaviors and skills inside and outside the classroom

• Convert Criticism into restorative feedback
• Promote and model self-advocacy
• Empower teachers and students to be confident and effective communicators
• Incorporate passion to inspire enjoyable learning

Through experiential learning, participants will encourage communication and feedback, create templates for students to recognize improvements and genuine achievements. In addition to collaborative activities, role-playing and simulations, receive communication techniques that you can immediately implement in the classroom.