Over the many years that #Edchat has been engaging educators, one topic that always generates a huge amount of interest, based on comments, is the faculty meeting. Teachers are required to attend the faculty meetings that administrators are required to hold and very few are happy with the results. The only upside is that with each meeting a check may be placed in the box for attending.
Technology may be a way to update the tired model of the faculty meeting. Email for the faculty may be a great way to distribute the mundane stuff that takes up so much time at these meetings. Of course a really progressive administrator might have a weekly Blog that could address a great many topics that bog down the faculty meetings. Once the day-to-day school housekeeping topics are removed from the meeting there will be more time for more substantive topics that affect learning in education. Using a Google Document to circulate amongst the faculty for suggested topics of discussion for the upcoming meetings might be a great direction in order to address real faculty needs and concerns.
Once topics are decided upon a flipped meeting should serve the faculty well. Material like blog posts or videos could be assembled and distributed using tools for collaboration prior to the meeting. This will prepare the faculty for what will happen rather than dropping it on them in the meeting. Assessment tools could be used for formative assessment during the meeting to gauge understanding of the topic by the faculty. Any teams or committees formed from this meeting can be connected through collaborative tools and shared documents to create a professional Learning community. Administrators in those groups will immediately be aware of any problems that might arise as the groups strive to complete their goals. There will be no need to wait for another faculty meeting to get results
Technology offers many tools to change the face of the faculty meeting. It can make it a means of change for the school culture. It can permit and support teachers with bold and innovative ideas to lead their colleagues into change, or just expand and improve what change is already occurring.
Time in education is a precious commodity to teachers. To waste a monthly get-together of the entire staff is an outrage when there are so many real needs that should be addressed or things to learn. Just because we have always run faculty meetings a certain way, that is not a justification for continuing what is so obviously a bad, or at least an unproductive practice. Administrators need to stop observing and commenting on how technology is being used by others in their school and begin employing it themselves to improve their schools. In so doing they would be modeling for all the thoughtful, meaningful, and responsible way to use technology in education without fear.
[…] Over the many years that #Edchat has been engaging educators, one topic that always generates a huge amount of interest, based on comments, is the faculty meeting. […]
You don’t have to stop at faculty meetings…. Traditional staff meetings that disseminate information that could have been shared in so many other ways can be deadly (I love the quote with the picture). Staff meetings should be held ONLY when needed. Smaller team sharing sessions via Google/Webex/GoTo type meetings are more effective than tying up large numbers of staff for “information dumps”.
[…] “ Over the many years that #Edchat has been engaging educators, one topic that always generates a huge amount of interest, based on comments, is the faculty meeting.” […]
Oh the dreaded faculty meeting. A place were logistical nightmares and volacious teachers thrive. If it were only so simple to be solved by an email. I often find my colleagues inundated with email, and not likely to respond or read those important emails. A weekly blog or a video is definitely the way to go. Also I feel successful communication must involve some sort of novelty or fun. Raffles and prizes go a long way with adults and ensure participantion. Thanks again for the thoughts on this often dreaded meeting.
[…] developers to those opportunities.” Innovate My School: Free Online British Edtech Publication. The Age-Old Faculty Meeting Facelift. September 21, 2015 by Tom Whitby @tomwhitby Over the many years that #Edchat has been engaging […]