A few years ago, when I was working in a district near my home (a very fine district by most conventional measures), I received a call from my contact: “The head of the science department is eager to talk with you about a problem.” I naturally thought it was about some design or implementation issue with UbD.
No, it was about Dept. meetings: what can be done to make meetings more productive? “We never get anything done, and some people just hold forth unhelpfully.” He asked me if I had a meeting protocol.
I have thought about this problem a lot. Because so often ongoing meetings in schools are, indeed, so unhelpful and frustrating. They are often just about ‘administrivia’ that could be better covered in writing, or there is no protocol to ensure that the meeting is productive and all voices are heard.
I had quickly cobbled something together for the science chair, but I now have an opportunity, as a result of two current projects, to develop, try out, and refine a meeting protocol for admin. teams and academic departments. Readers, do you know of or have you worked in a school that has really effective processes? Please share.
My friend and colleague Andy Greene, Principal of Candlewood Middle School in Half Hollow Hills NY, is a great facilitator of staff meetings. He makes each of his 8 staff meetings per year focus on some important PD issue. He publishes an agenda in advance that also asks people to read something and come prepared to discuss the issue at hand, the meeting consists of small-group discussions and exercises designed to yield products and shared understandings, and it ends up with action items. (We have video of Andy facilitating these meetings and I will post some clips soon.)
At the least, we can use UbD thinking to improve meetings:
Goals: What’s the intended outcome of the meeting? Action, new ideas, understanding, some or all of the above? State the outcomes on the agenda in UbD terms – transfer, understanding, knowledge & skill.
Evidence: what counts as an effective meeting and outcome? What product/performance would count as evidence of success? What rubric can we use to frame meetings in terms of the conditions and indicators of success? Can we thus take stock formatively during the meeting as to how we’re doing against those criteria? Any productive meeting ends with follow-up: is it clear what the next steps are, who will do what, on what timeline?
What then follows for the agenda, the activities, and the sequence of topics in the meeting? Who should fulfill what roles to make the meeting effective? What training might be needed to ensure that unhelpful behavior is called out as such and lessened?
All examples of effective meeting protocols or summaries of them are welcome, by posting or email. I will soon put up a draft here and get your feedback.
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18 Responses
As a building principal, I tried to plan every faculty meeting like a lesson, using UbD principles and starting with the outcome,or goal,of the meeting. It was always my intention to actively engage my learners (the teachers) in relevant and meaningful content and to allow them to learn from each other. Like most good lessons, I tried to make sure that my work, as the teacher, went into the planning and that during the meeting itself the teachers were doing most of the work. I tried to take advantage of facutly meetings to model instructional strategies that teachers could take back into their classrooms and use with their own students the next day. Now that I am in a district level position facilitating dozens of meetings each month I continue to try to apply those same principles. No one likes to sit and be talked at – whether you are 6 or 66!
These are great principles, thanks. Do you happen to have any revealing agenda or protocol handouts to go along with them?
One of the most effective techniques for better meetings is time limits on speaking. Unfortunately, people often resist this claiming that is undemocratic. The opposite is true, unlimited speaking time empowers a few individuals to dominate a meeting. Time is a scarce resource that that should be apportioned fairly.
Very helpful rule. Even if one makes it a (looser) norm than a time-limit rule, it is clearly fair and liable to give voice to all. After all, the Congress has long followed your rule for this very reason.
The most effective principal I have ever evaluated was in a middle school of a large school system. She met with every grade level and special teachers during their planning period on Wednesdays, every week throughout the school year. These groups were small, intimate, supportive. Administrative info was shared; teacher input was fostered. This was time consuming, but so effective a practice that created a wonderful school for teachers to work in and kids to attend. When this principal was moved to a new school in another part of the school system, 90% of her teachers asked for transfers to follow her.
Wow! Impressive. Do you have a sense of the questions/protocol used?
Thanks for sharing some excellent points regarding meetings. I am constantly seeking ways to improve meeting time. For teams of teachers, I have always used Mike Schmoker’s protocols as guides for the work. Some of them, and others, are linked here: http://www.sde.idaho.gov/site/rti/rtiConfDocs/Carnine%20and%20Silverstein/Powerful%20Procedures%20Take%20Away%20packet.pdf
Check out this link for one of my favorites–“22 minute meetings.” http://www.eduleadership.org/22-minute-meetings/
Fantastic! The 22-minute meeting poster should be one of those rare things that IS posted in every room – cf. my earlier post on posting objectives 🙂
I suggest your readers consider the work of Bruce Wellman and Bob Garmston: Adaptive Schools: Developing and Facilitating Collaborative Groups. More information is available at http://www.thinkingcollaborative.com. This work is tried and true and has definitely supported improved work in collaborative teams.
Thanks for the Wellman-Garmston recommendation. My colleague Jay McTighe who knows Bob, recommended his work to me, too.
We try to have administrators design their meetings just as teachers would design a lesson.
What is the problem to solve?
What tools from your tool bucket will help?
What will you do to ensure that all ideas are heard and considered?
What will you do to invite all group members to participate actively and feel valued? What will you do ensure that your group is well organized and that you use available resources efficiently?
What will you do to ensure that your final result is of the highest quality given the resources available?
-Our tool bucket of tools and our “challenge” template are available here: http://www.realworldlearning.info/spec—resources.html
Thanks so much, Jack – great page of resources, for working with kids and adults.
Also check out Michael Fullan’s Professional Capital. While not about meeting protocols specifically, the principles certainly apply.
How helpful. I teach in China and the agenda’s are always hidden. We’ve asked but requests for even some hint on the topics are never revealed. It’s quite frustrating when a topic is sprung and the teachers have no chance to properly prepare.
We are using a book by Kanold and Larson (http://www.solution-tree.com/ccmath-plcatwork-leaders-guide.html) with teams of administrators and teacher leaders this year. Chapter 1 has a lot of helpful resources on productive meetings focused on student learning – as the title would indicate, some of the specifics are tailored to math, but most of the ideas I think generalize to all grade levels and disciplines. (Even better, the entire first chapter can be read online – click “Look Inside”.) They also refer to the AllThingsPLC.info site, which has numerous downloadable tools and protocols. Thanks for bringing up the topic and thanks to those who shared resources above!
Thanks for the tip! Lots of great readings in these comments. I’m going to compile a list and post it eventually.
A former principal held faculty meetings during planning blocks to allow for small group discussion and PD, typically in line with a book we were reading as a school. This was also effective in ensuring coaches would be able to attend as well as others with after school duties. We still had the large back-to-school meeting and end of the year, but the small groups were productive. He would cover administrative items through weekly emails, which would also highlight teacher accomplishments. He held monthly meetings with department chairs to examine school improvement and other school vision items, which the chairs would then go back and facilitate discussion with their departments.
Now, that sounds like a sensible use of limited time – and a reflection of the idea that differentiation applies to the staff as well.