Whether you call it a PLC, a Team Meeting, a Department Meeting or a waste of time (hopefully not!), there are some pretty simple, but pretty important questions your team and you should mull over.
The more I see school teams working together, the more I realize that it’s not about the form of the meeting (though poor form or no form can definitely get in the way of productivity), but about the content. If you’re not leaving with STUFF TO DO/ALTER/ADJUST/DISCONTINUE, then I’m not quite sure why you’re meeting at all!
Take a look at these questions…if you’re brave enough, print ’em out and hand them out to your team and get their take on it. After all, don’t you want your meetings to be more productive….and GASP….meaningful????
I know…it’s crazy talk…
Question #5: Are we meeting for a purpose or are we meeting just to meet?
Question #4: Are we re-hashing old issues or un-solve-able issues or are we focusing on what we actually have control over?
Question #3: Do we name students BY NAME when we talk or do we talk in generalities?
Question #2: Do we have a running list of what we’ve tried and what happened or do we approach each meeting like we’ve never seen each other before?
Question #1: Do we leave each meeting with something instructional to do or are we focused mainly on non-instructional tasks?
Which question provides a challenge for you? I’d LOVE to hear from you (and I DO answer all comments)…