T&L Advisor Guest post — Henry Thiele, Chief Technology Officer for District 207 in Park Ridge, IL: As we start our school days sharing with others our plans for the year, I encourage all of us to take a moment to consider the hidden curriculum that we may share with those around us. Reflect on the messages that you unintentionally send as a result of your interactions, body language, and inflection with students and your peers. Consider that what you share about your values, expectations, and bias through your words, and especially your actions, leaves behind an impression. This extends to how we communicate and interact in virtual communications and on social networks. We must ensure that our emails, posts, and tweets reflect an intent similar to our face-to-face conversations. The stress of the start of the year for students, teachers, and administrators can cause us to rush through communication and prevent us from setting aside time to reflect on how our interactions have impacted our relationships. Set a goal over the next few weeks to be more reflective of the intentional and unintentional messages we send -- and be careful that we are not sending powerful messages that are different than the ones we intended.
