Show, don’t tell

One the rule we tell our writers in schools is to show, don’t tell.

Don’t give away everything up front. Give the reader space to experience the story through thoughts, feelings and senses.

Yet when it comes to meet and greets with the parents how often do teachers and schools do the opposite?

Tell parents about our school culture.
Lecture them about how and why learning is different from when they went to school.
Talk about what we’re going to do.

How is that experience any different from the ‘meet the teacher’ evenings back when you were at school? Could we be writing an unintended narrative that things in school haven’t changed all that much

What if instead of talking about culture, we showed it right from the start.
What if instead of talking about how learning is different, we gave them the same learning engagements we plan for their children.
What if instead of talking about what we are going to do, we include parents in the process better?

What might ‘meet the teacher’ evenings look if we spent more time on show?