Social Media & Schools: The Celebration Post

There are few things that people, in general, enjoy more than a good celebration!  Celebrations evoke so many positive feelings & emotions and have the effect of bringing people together!  We have so many things to celebrate and be excited about in schools!  Whether it be learning, social, or milestone, celebrations are a huge part of the story we tell and we should be proactive to ensure that our families have the opportunity to take part in these because these are the events and happenings that can have the greatest effect on our family engagement and brand building experience!

Folks like myself, Tony Sinanis & Joe Sanfelippo, as well as my own district's superintendent, speak regularly about taking control of the narrative being told in regards to school.  The celebration post on your campus and/or classroom social media pages should be an important part of what is being shared!  These celebration posts speak directly to all of the wonderful and positive things that happen at school daily and should highlight individuals, groups, clubs, events, learning, service to name a few!  All that said, the celebration post was a very natural progression after beginning with the information posts!  Here are some great places to find celebrations on your campus.

• Community service/events
• Grade level concerts
• PTA events
• Class parties
• Assemblies
• District events

Here is an example of a recent post;

Post by Eagle Ridge Elementary, Keller ISD.

In full honestly, the celebration post probably makes me the most uneasy of any of the posts due to the fact that more than any other post we'll discuss, you are taking and posting pictures of students.  It is important that you are aware or your district's policy.  My own district has a posting/sharing student photo and information item on beginning of school verification process that helps greatly in this.  The list of students from this list who cannot be photographed is often short and for events and such I review it and keep that with me.  For classroom, it is something that can be easily memorized and remembered.  Also be sure your are aware of any students that cannot be photographed for legal reasons as well. Often, this will be indicated on the list I mentioned before, but sometimes they do not align.  Do not let this stop you in your efforts or cause anxiety, but do be thorough in your preparation!

Last year, celebration posts made up 35% of our posts (Facebook), which was a close second to the information type!  We have lots of great things to celebrate at Eagle Ridge and we made sure that was part of the story shared with the tool of social media!  If we truly want to be in community, not only do we need to continually learn together, but we must celebrate!

Happy posting

B