Reflection – Storytelling

Challenge

I am working in the administration of a private school that highly emphasizes the

involvement of families. In addition to other duties, I am responsible for organizing

parents’ meetings and the engagement of families in the daily life of the school. Our

school provides many opportunities how the parents can get involved such as  planning

and organizing events, trips, festivals, helping with the practical duties, assisting a

teacher and so on. Parents can choose their involvement area based on their interests,

talents and possibilities. However, despite the mutual agreement between the school

and the parents on the level and intensity of their engagement, over time it slowly

decreases as the parents are more and more busy with other daily responsibilities and

work. Therefore, our school’s challenge is to continually ensure high level of attendance

and engagement of parents in the parents’ meetings that take place once a month and

daily routine at the school. School’s administration is challenged to maintain a high

level of involvement of the parents by creating the added value of the parents’ meetings,

as well as the involvement in the daily life of the school. The project scope involves

parents and administration and it focuses on the change of parents’ meetings and

parents involvement level. The project is planned for 3 months to receive comparable

results and adapt them in the daily life.

Selection

Our school’s administration team has used different tools, however this time we

selected storytelling as a tool to create a deeper level of connection between the families

and the school. In general, parents are very satisfied with the operation of the school

(the general evaluation of the school takes place once a year), however they have to be

reminded on a more frequent basis the added value the school brings to their children

and family in general to inspire and encourage them to be more involved in school’s

life.

Application

Discussing the storytelling as a tool, I reminded the administration, that every school

has a special story, therefore it is important to develop it and make it valuable to

everybody involved. Parents have chosen this school based on their individual

preferences and reasons, we have to connect the school’s story to the families on a more

deeper level. Storytelling is about the connection, it has a logic, emotional connection

and a larger purpose. The main purpose of the storytelling is to inspire people, namely,

in our case – to inspire the parents to be more active and involved in the parents’

meetings and the daily life of the school.

In order to create a good story, the administration team has to pay attention and find

the answers to several questions. Firstly, what is the audience and what they need. In

our case, the audience is the families, especially the parents. To find more specific and

detailed answers to these questions, a focus group of parents took place, as well as a

questionnaire was filled in by all the parents. The next question deals with the sequence

of events in order to give a full picture of the story and history of the school. Finally, it

is important to pay attention to reflection – how the questions can be asked and

answered during the storytelling process. Parents have to feel that they are truly

involved in the school’s story.

The main purpose of the reserach is to find out what the parents need as regards the

school and education, what are their preferences, and how all this can be incorporated

in the school’s story.

In the process of creating the story, in our case following model can also be used:

1) To solve challenge / the problem – to maintain high level of engagement of the

parents;

2) Fellowship – involved people – families (parents, children, other relatives) and

administration and teachers;

3) Existing tensions –in discussions involve all interested groups;

4) Present possibilities – possible solutions and actions.

Insight

In general, people are very busy with their own lives and responsibilities, so storytelling

is an amazing tool to get their attention, to raise the level of engagement and create

passion and energy. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a compelling story and adapt it

if necessary.

By applying the storytelling tool and asking the questions and discussing the answers

with the administration team, we realized that parents are willing to be involved on a

regular basis, however we need to change the structure and the content of the meetings

– to keep them short and focused and discuss only the “hot” topics. After the results,

the administration team came with the idea to create in advance a short informative

video before the meetings. So, once the parents come to the meetings they are prepared

to discuss only the most important questions. That saves time and brings efficiency.

Furthermore, parents also have their important issues they would enjoy to discuss, so

we also decided to incorporate one topic on education suggested by the parents during

the meetings. To make sure the topic would be relevant to most of the parents we had

a brief questionnaire before the meeting.

The administration team also came with the idea to create short videos on school’ story

highlighting the purpose of the school and involving every parent in each video with

his or her engagement story. Now, the parents were truly the part of the school’s story!

The project was carried out three months to receive comparable results. Using the

storytelling as a tool, it is important to create moments of reflection. Therefore, after

these 3 months, school’s administration and parents had a meeting on evaluation of

this project. The results were amazing! The attendance level of the meetings was high.

Parents were passionated and came with more and more ideas how to be part of

school’s daily life. And that was the main challenge – to keep the parents passionated

and involved!

Approach

Storytelling as a design thinking tool is very powerful. Once you develop or create a

compelling story it can bring amazing results. People love to be engaged, however they

get easily tired with more and more information and responsibilities. Therefore a

passionate story that involves them brings a new perspective and passion.

Since people and their preferences change over time, it is also important to keep the

story up to date, therefore we decided to have a brief meeting with the parents every

half term to find out whether we need to adopt some changes in the meetings or story.

Once we receive valuable feedback, we can revise the content and structure of the

meetings and if necessary also the school’s story. The main purpose it keep everybody

engaged – administration, parents, teachers and children!


Reflection – Storytelling Challenge I am working in the administration of a private school that highly emphasizes the involvement of families . In addition to other duties , I am responsible for organizing parents ’ meetings and the engagement of families in the daily life of the school . Our school provides many opportunities how the parents can get involved such as planning and organizing events , trips , festivals , helping with the practical duties , assisting a teacher and so on . Parents can choose their involvement area based on their interests , talents and possibilities . However , despite the mutual agreement between the school and the parents on the level and intensity of their engagement , over time it slowly decreases as the parents are more and more busy with other daily responsibilities and work . Therefore , our school ’s challenge is to continually ensure high level of attendance and engagement of parents in the parents ’ meetings that take place once a month and daily routine at the school . School ’s administration is challenged to maintain a high level of involvement of the parents by creating the added value of the parents ’ meetings , as well as the involvement in the daily life of the school . The project scope involves parents and administration and it focuses on the change of parents ’ meetings and parents involvement level . The project is planned for 3 months to receive comparable results and adapt them in the daily life . Selection Our school ’s administration team has used different tools , however this time we selected storytelling as a tool to create a deeper level of connection between the families and the school . In general , parents are very satisfied with the operation of the school ( the general evaluation of the school takes place once a year ) , however they have to be reminded on a more frequent basis the added value the school brings to their children and family in general to inspire and encourage them to be more involved in school ’s life . Application Discussing the storytelling as a tool , I reminded the administration , that every school has a special story , therefore it is important to develop it and make it valuable to everybody involved . Parents have chosen this school based on their individual preferences and reasons , we have to connect the school ’s story to the families on a more deeper level . Storytelling is about the connection , it has a logic , emotional connection and a larger purpose . The main purpose of the storytelling is to inspire people , namely , in our case – to inspire the parents to be more active and involved in the parents ’ meetings and the daily life of the school . In order to create a good story , the administration team has to pay attention and find the answers to several questions . Firstly , what is the audience and what they need . In our case , the audience is the families , especially the parents . To find more specific and detailed answers to these questions , a focus group of parents took place , as well as a questionnaire was filled in by all the parents . The next question deals with the sequence of events in order to give a full picture of the story and history of the school . Finally , it is important to pay attention to reflection – how the questions can be asked and answered during the storytelling process . Parents have to feel that they are truly involved in the school ’s story . The main purpose of the reserach is to find out what the parents need as regards the school and education , what are their preferences , and how all this can be incorporated in the school ’s story . In the process of creating the story , in our case following model can also be used : 1 ) To solve challenge / the problem – to maintain high level of engagement of the parents ; 2 ) Fellowship – involved people – families ( parents , children , other relatives ) and administration and teachers ; 3 ) Existing tensions – in discussions involve all interested groups ; 4 ) Present possibilities – possible solutions and actions . Insight In general , people are very busy with their own lives and responsibilities , so storytelling is an amazing tool to get their attention , to raise the level of engagement and create passion and energy . Therefore , it is crucial to develop a compelling story and adapt it if necessary . By applying the storytelling tool and asking the questions and discussing the answers with the administration team , we realized that parents are willing to be involved on a regular basis , however we need to change the structure and the content of the meetings – to keep them short and focused and discuss only the “ hot ” topics . After the results , the administration team came with the idea to create in advance a short informative video before the meetings . So , once the parents come to the meetings they are prepared to discuss only the most important questions . That saves time and brings efficiency . Furthermore , parents also have their important issues they would enjoy to discuss , so we also decided to incorporate one topic on education suggested by the parents during the meetings . To make sure the topic would be relevant to most of the parents we had a brief questionnaire before the meeting . The administration team also came with the idea to create short videos on school ’ story highlighting the purpose of the school and involving every parent in each video with his or her engagement story . Now , the parents were truly the part of the school ’s story ! The project was carried out three months to receive comparable results . Using the storytelling as a tool , it is important to create moments of reflection . Therefore , after these 3 months , school ’s administration and parents had a meeting on evaluation of this project . The results were amazing ! The attendance level of the meetings was high . Parents were passionated and came with more and more ideas how to be part of school ’s daily life . And that was the main challenge – to keep the parents passionated and involved ! Approach Storytelling as a design thinking tool is very powerful . Once you develop or create a compelling story it can bring amazing results . People love to be engaged , however they get easily tired with more and more information and responsibilities . Therefore a passionate story that involves them brings a new perspective and passion . Since people and their preferences change over time , it is also important to keep the story up to date , therefore we decided to have a brief meeting with the parents every half term to find out whether we need to adopt some changes in the meetings or story . Once we receive valuable feedback , we can revise the content and structure of the meetings and if necessary also the school ’s story . The main purpose it keep everybody engaged – administration , parents , teachers and children !