Feeding Frenzy

Sometimes I accidentally forget to fill my bird feeder for a couple days when it becomes empty--usually when I notice that I do not have a flock of finches, cardinals, nuthatches, woodpeckers, bluebirds, and blue jays roosted in my back yard.  It seems that it does not take long for word to spread in the aviary world that fresh seed is out for all to devour.  Soon, the flock returns to my yard, feasting upon the crunchy morsels, and then flying away to obviously spread word that there is “good stuff” in that yard over there.  Hard to believe that such a small act on my part can create such a feeding frenzy. 

Sometimes our schools can be just that—a feeding frenzy.  After a spell of non-communication with families, any little piece of information seems to spread like wildfire.  Obviously, I prefer POSITIVE messages to become viral, rather than the negative.  It is so easy for the public to think that nothing is happening in the schools if they haven’t heard anything in a while.  That is when the occasional negative message circulates globally in an instant, just because that is the ONLY message coming from the school in a while.  We have a plethora of vehicles to create continual excitement about our schools—social media, email, displays, websites, blogs, videos, and even retro newsletters!  Educators need to “toot their own horn,” for excellence occurs every day, and it is difficult for one person to be omniscient of every instance of awesomeness.  It can be as simple as a tweet about students on a field trip, artwork, lab experiments, or social studies presentations.  It could be a mass email congratulating students on the completion of a major test, project, or initiative.  A parent thank-you post on Facebook could be shared just as often as the tirade about displeasure about school being canceled (or not) due to weather conditions.

A regular diet of small awesome messages being circulated around our communities will significantly outweigh the occasional not-so-awesome ones.  We can all create that feeding frenzy—just don’t let your feeder go empty for too long.