Lines of Communication

• rewritten the Communication Committee's organisational principles
• changed how we deliver our newsletter, ATA Glance, to you
• started to rethink our communications to non-teachers, e.g. parents, business leaders
• solicited your suggestions for a redesign of our Local's logo
• worked with provincial ATA to make Local 38's website part of TNET

The Communications Committee is one of the most dynamic and interesting committees in our Local. It's responsible for gathering articles and information from teachers and elsewhere, and then getting it out to you. If you enjoy writing articles, updating websites, and planning communications strategy, then this is the committee for you.

We have a need for several new members, so please contact me at communications@ata38.ab.ca. Joining the committee is guaranteed to be interesting and rewarding for you. And the level of commitment is up to you; we meet once a month and write and edit articles as time permits in-between meetings.

The new ATA Glance is one of your Local's ways of using the internet to provide you with the information your need to be an informed teacher. There are many interesting, timely, and inspiring stories bubbling up from the classrooms and schools tended by CBE teachers. And there are many important issues for teachers to become aware and informed about. Our newsletter is one way for you to learn about all of these. Perhaps you know about one of these stories, and would like to tell your fellow Local 38 members about them. Contact ATA Glance editor Pam Reed at ataglance@ata38.ab.ca with your story ideas.

Communications doesn't end with our membership. There are issues in education we need to emphasize to other stakeholders, such as parents, business leaders, and politicians. We need to improve our ways and means of reaching out to these people to elicit their suggestions and support. Perhaps this is an area that interests you, and so you can see how to contribute to the life of your Local and fellow teachers? If so, the Communications Committee is for you.

We've received more than 30 sketches and suggestions for a new logo. Thanks for all the entries! Soon the Communications Committee members will decide if there are one or two that we can recommend to the Executive Committee as a basis for approaching a graphic designer, and awarding the $138 prize!

And finally, our big, ongoing, project is the Local 38 website redesign. We've got it all planned out: the site architecture, features, and overall look have been agreed to by Executive. All that's missing is, well, TNET. We've discovered that putting together a Local site and TNET's portal technology is really, really complicated. But we've been working very well with our provincial colleagues and, promise, progress is happening. Just not quite as fast as we'd originally hoped! So what else is new?

Once those technological issues have been ironed out, we'll be out of the starting gate. We'll be filling up the website with news, views, and information about and from the Local's Executive, committees, and, most importantly, member teachers. This is a great way for you to use your communications skills along with the internet, all as part of a breakthrough initiative. Come on, it'd be great to get involved!

Well, my news and pitch are complete. I hope I've encouraged you to get interested and maybe even activated. I look forward to hearing from you.

If you have any questions regarding your Local’s website or other communications issues, please contact me at communications@ata38.ab.ca.

And please, consider writing an article for ATA Glance telling us all about the interesting and fantastic things Calgary Public teachers are doing.  We really need to tell ourselves our own stories.