Do you send out any kind of newsletter or communication to your students besides your blog and web site?
For many years I created and sent out a really nice printed newsletter called “Noteworthy News” with info about upcoming events, pictures and recognition of students, a question of the month, trivia tidbits, etc. Once I developed my website, I anticipated that people would just use that for keeping up with what was going on. However, I quickly realized that that wasn’t going to get the job done. So, I also started just printing out a text version of the latest updates to the website.
Now, since all my families have e-mail, I send regular e-mails announcing upcoming events and such. I usually attach registration forms to the e-mail, but also print out additional copies and send them home with the students just to make sure that they are aware of what is going on and can opt to participate if they are interested. I would like to develop a fully-fledged e-newsletter that I send to my families on a regular basis, but haven’t yet done so. Hopefully a project for this summer! Music Teacher’s Helper provides an excellent interface for this, so I plan to utilize that once I get my act together!
One thing that I have learned is the importance of lots of communication using a variety of methods. I used to just depend on people to read whatever I sent and then show up or participate in activities accordingly. As I’m sure you can guess, that was not very successful. I’ve made a concerted effort to become better at verbally communicating with my students and their families. I talk about various events for weeks leading up to them, ask the students and parents if they are interested and want to participate, remind them about deadlines, etc. This helps build enthusiasm, and has resulted in a significant increase in my studio’s participation in various events. Definitely worth it, because there are so many valuable opportunities that I don’t want my students to miss out on just because I didn’t do a very good job of communicating with them!
Natalie’s follow-up question for open discussion: I would be really curious to hear how other teachers communicate with their studio families. Do you send out regular newsletters? Does anyone send a full-fledged e-newsletter (and if so, can I get on your list?!)? What communication methods have you found to be the most effective in your studio?
Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail me sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!
I also learned that they just don’t check my online calendar! I’ve got to put something in their hands. I send email reminders for everything. About every other month, I make up a one-page newsletter, but I do it as a hard copy, not via email. It also helps that about half of my moms attend the lessons, so I’m seeing them regularly.
I used to send a new year letter but I stopped. I send emails, attach billing invoices, forms etc, extra assignment sometimes. Still, people forget things. I print out extra forms. Mostly, emails work well in my studio as I have a small studio.
I now send an email to my families as the way to keep everyone up to date. I wanted to make a nice studio newsletter every month, but that became too much and I was putting off communicating because of it. I feel very free to call and talk with parents as needed, plus on the students’ assignment sheet is always a spot for a quick note back and forth.