Music & Measurement Night

Happy Friday to all,

I hope everyone has been able to use the work day effectively.  It feels good to get grades posted and look back in disbelief that nine weeks are already over!  I know that the days often seem overwhelming, but I can not remember a smoother starting nine weeks in my career.  Thank you all for that, I have had a great time and have enjoyed myself.

Looking ahead to our next event, Music & Measurement, gets me excited to see our students and parents on our campus having fun. It is so cool to step out of the moment and just look around at our students that night, dancing, having fun, and spending a relaxed evening at our beautiful school.  I know all of you love those moments as well, it's the 30 minutes before where you are interacting with parents that many of you feel the pressure.  It's important to prepare and plan to make sure you relieve some of that anxiety and feel good going into the evening.

Now is the time to start planning for the evening and communicating with students with the manner they will lead their conferences with parents and any other activities you plan in the classroom.  Now is also the time to start creating the invitations home to parents (personal invitations from students always seem the most successful).  Remember to use email, websites, and any other means of communication available to inform parents about the night.  Below is a list of items/suggestions that I always practiced and still think about when I am greeting and interacting with  parents on these evenings.

• Personal Invitations: Include date, time, room number, outline of evening's activities
• Dress professionally
• Make sure rooms are neat and organized
• Welcome Sign visible as parents enter room 
• Greet each parent at the door with a smile and a handshake
• Try to also greet each parent with positive remarks about their student (Remember tonight is a night to celebrate successes)
• Politely ask parents to call or set up conferences if they try to tie up too much of your time (Let them know you do not want to take time from their child sharing their data or class activities and want to be able to celebrate with students under the pavilion.)

 Thank you all and enjoy your weekend,
James

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