Welcome to your Post-Pandemic Planning Guide to bring back music to your school.
Your program may have taken a toll this past year and rebuilding it will be challenging, but you are not alone. We are here to walk beside you and help you every step of the way to bring back the music!
Our guide has a singular focus: Rebooting and reinvigorating your recruitment and retention efforts. Every two weeks we will provide goals, ideas, action items, checklists and advocacy materials that you can use to get your administration, staff and, most importantly, prospective students excited about music making.
Throughout the spring semester, you should expect to receive relevant content to help you prepare for the upcoming school year. This might include talking points for an impactful conversation with your principal, recruiting and retention ideas, and creative tools to ensure that music remains a cornerstone in your school in life after COVID-19.
Like anything you hope to strengthen, your recruiting program can benefit from regular “workouts.” We’ve built a 16-week training plan to guide you through the rest of the school year, breaking action items into manageable to-dos and helping you finish strong, with a full, robust program for Fall 2021.
Whether you’ve been with us from the beginning or are just finding us now, feel free to join in! Our plan is meant to build on itself in a logical way, so actions you take in Session 1 will pay off in successive sessions. However, each session is also a complete package, so you can also zero in on the session topic that you need help with the most.
Perhaps you have some thoughts on how we can improve the Post-Pandemic Planning Guide, awesome content that’s helped you or want to share what you are doing now to prepare for Fall 2021. Drop us a line here — we’d love to hear from you!
Are you ready? Let's get started!
Click on the links below to go to specific Post-Pandemic Planning Guide Sessions:
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This week, we’re focused on recruiting! With spring here, we must have a productive recruiting season to ensure our program is full and vibrant next fall.
In-Person Recruiting Ideas
If you are presently enrolled in in-person learning, here are some great recruiting ideas that we have borrowed from fellow educators.
“Blitz Week” — Pick a week for a recruiting “blitz” at your feeder programs or elementary school. Hang up posters around the school. Order campaign-style yard signs and place them in the carpool drive-through for parents to read. Welcome students as they are coming in and out of the cafeteria at lunch with a small ensemble performance. Submit a morning announcement or create a video to be played during the school’s morning broadcast. Scheduling a specific “blitz week” can be an effective way to reach incoming students.
Drive-thru Instrument Safari — Take a page out of Jacob Campos’ book at Franklin High School and set up a date for parents to do a drive-thru instrument safari. Arrange your high school sections throughout the school parking lot and provide a safari path for parents to navigate with their child and listen to each section. Each section can pick a fun song to play that features their respective instruments. Students can vote on their favorite instruments, and directors can speak with each family after they have completed the safari — all while socially distanced and outside.
Virtual Recruiting Ideas
Teaching virtually doesn’t mean your recruiting efforts will be any less effective as in previous years. Here are some ideas that will ensure next year’s class is as full as ever!
Hybrid and Blended-Learning Recruiting Ideas
Many teachers are teaching both online and in-person. Here are some recruiting ideas that translate to both in-person and online learning.
Don't Forget to Check-In
By now, we should be aligned with our building principal and counselor about our plans for next year. If not, a scheduled conversation can help bring everyone up to speed. But it’s important that you check-in regularly. Schedules and decisions can change, so you must be aware of any conversations that could impact your program. A casual conversation to confirm everyone is on the same page ensures that there are no surprises later.
Resource Roundup
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We hope you’ve found the first two sessions helpful and are taking positive action to build toward a strong Fall 2021. We’ve got your back and are going to walk beside you, step-by-step, in bringing back the music!
In this session, we have three big areas of focus:
GOAL: Tap in to Your Counselor
In Session 1, we outlined a conversation with your building principal that will help you plan for the coming year. This week, we turn our attention to having a similar conversation with your school counselor to determine how you can best partner with them to increase student enrollment.
Important things to consider:
RECRUITING TIP: It's Elementary
RETENTION TIP: Get S.M.A.R.T.
While it's great that we are getting a jump-start on recruiting for next fall, don’t overlook the importance of retaining the students already in our program. Here is a great resource that provides a “S.M.A.R.T. approach” to retaining the beginners presently enrolled in your program.
If you haven’t started yet, now is the time to collect testimonials from your parents and students for use later in the spring for recruiting. This email/letter template from Session 1 can be sent home to encourage students and parents to share their experiences.
Resource Roundup
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For this session, we’re focused on setting the table for credible, impactful conversations with your building principal, school board members and elementary school teachers. It’s important that we proactively share information with key decision-makers to ensure our program’s voice is heard throughout the spring and the entire decision-making process.
Let's Talk Minimizing Risk in Music
There is still a great deal of concern relating to the spread of COVID-19 in our schools, so it's important that we are prepared to address this head on. Fortunately, there are significant studies underway that directly address how to minimize risk in the music classroom. Here are the key takeaways from the most recent findings in a long and abbreviated format.
We also want to communicate this information to our key decision makers in an easy-to-follow format, so that they can make the best decision possible. Don’t assume they know what you know! Here is an email template you can use to communicate this important information about safety measures to your decision makers.
GOAL: Get Your Community Involved
It's vitally important that our community supports the arts, and who better to lead this charge than music teachers? The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) recently launched an initiative called “ARTS ARE EDUCATION.” You can find the press release for this initiative here. This is an easy, turnkey way to share the importance of music with your community and gather support.
Get your community involved:RECRUITING TIP: It's Elementary
Recruiting can never start too early, and elementary school music teachers are a great ally in this activity. Here are some things to do now to kick-off recruiting alongside your elementary school teacher:
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Goal: Lay the Groundwork
□ Touch base with your building administrator or principal to determine your teaching schedule for the coming school year as well as what needs to happen to have a successful recruiting season. Here is an email template to kick off that conversation and checklist of items to consider to ensure you are prepared for this conversation.
□ You may need to remind your administrator why music is a crucial part of the curriculum. Here is an example of a presentation successfully used by teachers in Lincoln, NE to ensure continued support of music programs.
We all know recruiting is 24/7, but it is more important than ever to be focused, organized and proactive. We’ll provide a recruiting tip or action item in every email to help and inspire you. Our tip this month is:
□ Start collecting written and virtual testimonials from your parents and students about the importance of music in their lives. These can be outstanding materials to help you recruit later in the semester. Here is a sample email letter you can use to collect these testimonials.
If you are looking for some more resources to help you with these conversations and to-do items, here are a few you might consider:
The MusicEdNow team is an cross-industry committee joined by a common goal to help music teachers navigate the challenges facing music programs. It was formed in 2020. It is made up of industry and teaching professionals Nick Averwater (Amro Music, Memphis, TN), James Weaver (Director of Performing Arts and Sports, National Federation of High School Associations), Bob Morrison (Director, Arts Ed NJ; CEO, Quadrant Research), Marcia Neel (Senior Director of Education, Yamaha; President, Music Education Consultants Inc.), Tyler Swick (Robert and Sandy Ellis Elementary School, Henderson, NV), Barry Trobaugh (Director of Bands, Munford High School, Munford, TN) and Lisa MacDonald (Director of Marketing, Yamaha).
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