State Reflections Network Meeting 2 How to support local program participation To access the recording of this webinar, please use this link (https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/9179820781302758925). If you have questions please email Reflections@PTA.org

Barriers to Local Program Participation Lack of resources Disinterested and busy students Uninvolved or busy parents Overburdened Reflections Chairs and volunteers Participation in the Reflections program is typically the biggest difficulty Chairs have when running a Reflections program There are lots of different barriers that impact participation and it is important to remember that those barriers impact one another to make growing program participation difficult Disinterested and busy teachers Lack of program knowledge

General Messaging and Benefits PTA Reflections Welcomes all students and supports their learning Brings families together and offers easy way for parents to get involved Offers teachers extended learning opportunities Will position PTA as leader in their community Connects schools and their community with the arts Despite the variety in barriers, the common solution for decreasing participation is remembering the general, and unique, benefits of the Reflections program. But to make sure your messaging is impactful, you must be deliberate and specific in letting audiences know about the benefits of Reflections. You need to overcome a variety of barriers unique to the audiences. For example, Teachers may think the program is a burden Communities may not know the long reaching impact and reach Parents may not feel inclined to make art with their children Students may not feel good enough The next slides discuss these groups and provides messaging/benefits for each group

Students PTA Reflections Supports students success at school, work & in life Builds and demonstrates critical thinking, communication, collaboration & creativity skills Celebration Events give students confidence and they are engaged in their own learning Consistent Participation can help in building a portfolio Can be easily incorporated into a resume/college application Students are your most important audience – they’re your participants and the group you need to market to most. But students have their own specific barriers that have you have to overcome. Students might feel like: Reflections isn’t cool They don’t have access to the right resources/supplies They’re not good or talented enough They do not understand the program/process To overcome these, you need to be general enough that your methods for communicating are heard, but specific enough that the message is received. You might consider using posters that advertise the program or morning announcements that describe the program and deadlines. TIP: Try using art from previous year’s submissions to show students that they don’t have to produce perfect art to be involved in the program. TIP: Get other students who have participated to encourage their fellow students to participate.

Families PTA Reflections Informs families about arts education challenges schools face Provides opportunities for parents to be involved in arts advocacy Connects families and offers them a positive experience where memories are made Making parents aware of Reflections is a great way to get students involved. The biggest barrier with this families is lack of knowledge around the program. Options for making parents aware of Reflections include: Sending home flyers Plugging Reflections at a PTA meetings Talking to parents in student pick up lines TIP: Create a one pager to send home in student folders that includes family engagement ideas related to Reflections. Consider including thematic questions or suggested crafts around the theme TIP: Host a Reflections event for parents and kids to make art together. Consider having different stations that teach parents and students about the different categories/divisions.

Teachers PTA Reflections Provides recognition for teachers involved in support of PTA Supports their teaching by increasing student engagement and offering extended learning opportunities Allows teachers to easily incorporate creativity into the classroom Provides teachers with an additional way to support students Helps schools achieve positive measurable results in higher grades, attendance and test scores Teachers can be a great resource for increasing participation, but teachers may be uninterested or feel like the program is just extra work. Rather than having administrators (or yourself) blanketly require teachers to plug Reflections, consider finding allies amongst supportive teachers. This can give you insight into more specific challenges that teachers are facing and help you develop creative ways to get Reflections into the classroom. An easy way to get teachers involved is building a one-pager that shows how teachers can incorporate the program into their classroom. English teachers can use the theme as a writing prompt (Literature entry) Gym teachers can incorporate the theme into a dance portion of their curriculum (Dance choreography entry) Science teachers can ask students how they might look within (Visual arts entry)

Community PTA Reflections Provides connections to local businesses and organizations Offers changes for arts professionals to work with students and the school to share knowledge/skills Connects students with their community increasing civic engagement Creates opportunity for sponsorship and marketing for local businesses Communities organizations and businesses by and large do not understand what Reflections is – this has to change to work towards increasing community participation. Whereas with other groups (i.e., teachers, community, students) you can describe how great the Reflections program is, when it comes to community partners your messaging needs to focus on how the program benefits the community/the partner. Some messaging you can use: Reflections is a nationally recognized program (marketing) Reflections drives students to create more and use creativity more often (costumers for art stores) Reflections celebrations bring families together to celebrate art (advertising at events) TIP: Work with art museums to see if any exhibits resonate with the theme Look Within, then encourage students to visit and be inspired. TIP: Have local organizations or businesses share Reflections flyers, in return for you sharing their flyers.

Questions? Discussion Questions/Notes: How are you all working with students to increase their participation? NY – plans to begin plugging Reflections as a college and resume builder NY – Reflections focused PTA meeting with a parent/student competition around the them EPTA – How do you promote with restrictions? Use teachers or find parent allies to promote the program How do you get people involved in training? PA – Make training available online after it occurs NY – Hold conference calls so people can ask their questions without being physically present EPTA – Bylaws requirement that leaders must go through training and have proof it was completed MN – Hold trainings for board and council members to make sure knowledge about the program is decentralized How do you focus on diversity when thinking about student participation? NY – Translations into language other than English and Spanish EPTA – International festivals Host and international festival and include a Reflections booth or art-making station to encourage students to use their culture (along with the theme) as inspiration for Reflections States with Community/State PTAs Alaska Massachusetts Europe