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By Dr. Harry Tennant
Saturday, September 8, 2012 Education Ride 365: Stop This Meeting, I Want To Get Off! I remember reading a book sometime ago entitled Stop This Meeting, I Want To Get Off. I don't remember it being an exceptionally good book, but I do recall the general premise and the title has always struck me as one many educators can relate to.  Some non-educators are unaware how many meetings teachers and other school personnel are required to attend. Parent meetings, staff meetings, department meetings, special education meetings, committee meetings, and sometimes even meetings to prepare for meetings. Understandably, educators boil when they hear the uninformed pipe off about how easy it must be to simply teach a few classes, enjoy an "off period," then leave school well before other 9-5ers begin their commute home. Typically they follow by citing the "three month summer" (that no educator really gets any longer) and the frequent long holidays that make teaching less than a truly full-time occupation. The reality of being an educator is much different.  Rather than cite all the ways the job is extremely taxing beyond that of many other full-time occupations, my aim in this post is to briefly introduce this problem of seemingly perpetual meetings and suggest a few guiding principles that can lessen the burden. --Meetings with educators should primarily be about matters that cannot be addressed through other forms of communication. Granted, sometimes it is important to meet or reinforce relationships with a face-to-face meeting. Most of the time, however, if an email, telephone call, or other form of communication will achieve the end, it is better for all involved to communicate in that manner. Furthermore, professional staff (including administrators) should follow this principle by only using meeting time for content that cannot otherwise be communicated by---for example---a weekly newsletter, announcement board, or some other form of less burdensome communication.  --Participants should attend reliably and punctually. It is such a shame when most meeting participants have gathered yet they must wait for others who are tardy and trickle in (or must be rounded up) as if others have that time to waste. --Most meetings should be guided by an agenda of what is to be covered, in what order. This should be followed as closely as possible. --Once a point is made, that ax should not be ground again and again just to emphasize the point, make someone feel bad, or try to win the matter.  --All participants should be prepared to hear and learn from the perspective (paradigm) of others so as to respond in a more informed and relevant manner rather than merely in a manner that will advance or defend their personal or professional perspective/position. --Educators are often perceived as talking down to parents, in a condescending tone full of education buzz words. Parents are often perceived to be dismissive or oblivious to the 'big picture' of operating a school with hundreds or even thousands of children in need of structure, routine, and a requisite level of conformity necessary to run an orderly, academically-successful campus. These perceptions, in particular, should be reconciled to promote the conditions for genuine, constructive consensus.  Suffice to say, educators spend quite a bit of unnecessary time in meetings that would more often be better spent actually prepping for lessons, delivering instruction, giving feedback to students, attending to other student needs, and the plethora of other responsibilities they have. I will revisit this theme in coming posts with other ways to achieve this end. Everyone---especially students---would benefit if more often we'd stop the meeting just as soon as we could get off of it and onto the most important tasks involved in best educating the entire campus of children. Posted at 8:58 PM Keywords: Education Ride 365 , EdClick , Cycle Of Education , Meetings 0 Comments |