Plan, Plan and then Plan some more.

Staff meetings... we have all seen these Memes

I remember back to teaching, we all dreaded that Wednesday meeting.  Two hours of being talked to, getting information I could have read in a memo.  Sitting in a chair thinking about all the things we could be doing instead of this.

I also get it, the principal's job is busy.  To organize a staff meeting correctly, you need to plan.  Just like a great teachers plan for amazing lessons.  It is hard work and takes time.

I set a goal for myself this year, to plan awesome (hopefully) staff meetings.  I don't want to waste people times.  I want staff to value the time, learn together, build community and have fun.

I had my first staff meeting last Wednesday.  I spent 3 hours planning for 1 and 1/2 hours.  One thing that works for me is having a presentation to show.  It helps me stay on time and kept us moving.  Here is the one I used at my last staff meeting.

We started the meeting with writing postcards to students.  Each teacher wrote at least 2 students a "great work" postcard.  After the meeting, I spent 30 minutes addressing and stamping all the postcard.

Next was a district presentation.  It was boring, but I could not do anything about it.  So, I followed it up with a game.  I used Popsicle sticks to make groups for my staff.  After grouping the staff and passing out paper, I told them the rules.  "Here are the rules, there is only one.  Figure out the game and you have 5 minutes."  They flipped over the paper and started the YouTube timer video. They were collaborating.  They were using tech to look up things.  They were inferring information based on a picture.  They were laughing and building relationships.

After we played the game, I set the tone with a quote.

Rotations were next.  We had some information to gather and new people for them to meet.  I hit play on the time YouTube video and I was able to move around/listen to conversations.  The video would beep after 5 minutes and the staff would rotate.

Next was some quick announcements by staff for staff.

We end with this amazing Ted Talk by Rita Pierson: Every Kid needs a Champion.  It is a funny and very uplifting video.  

Of course, we needed a new staff picture.  So, we took care of that too.  What a hard working, great looking, fun group of colleagues!!!