Meetings That Matter

We must understand that a meeting is never just a meeting; it’s the town square of human dynamics-the place where people gather to act out their anxieties and fears, hopefully to find joy and rejuvenation in their connections.

-Shane Safir

So I’m just going to go ahead and say that many meetings we as educators typically have at school are not places where people find “joy and rejuvenation in their connections.” Most of the time I would say the word “meeting” brings about eye rolls and excuses. We hear people walking out of meetings muttering, “What did that have to do with me?”

When I started my new position as a literacy leader it was very important to me to build connections and relationships with the teachers before any literacy work began. A part of that relationship building was promising myself (and them) that I would not gather teachers together unless each person attending had some stake in the topic of conversation. For the most part over the last two years I have honored that intention, thus building trust with the faculty and showing them that I am not interested in wasting their precious time. I meet with teachers one on one, or if there is a group called together, it is because everyone there has the same need or reason to be there.

It is now year three and I am seeing that there is going to have to be more communication among grade levels around literacy, curriculum, and literacy practices. It is with this intention that I went into Chapter 10 of The Listening Leader: Leveraging Listening Routines. I am looking for ways to hold meetings that are worthwhile, community-building, and help us do what is best for kids without teachers feeling overwhelmed or frustrated by the time commitment. My goal is that teachers walk away from any meeting I call thinking, “That time was worth spent.”

First, Safir talks about the power of routines, and how routines can give meetings meaning and purpose. We have all had those uncomfortable moments where it is excruciatingly quiet and everyone just stares at the meeting leader with arms folded and nothing to say. Or the meeting where one person’s energy/passion takes over the entire dialogue. As leaders, we have to be able to notice what is happening and have facilitation moves to counteract what is happening.

Safir encourages leaders to start the meeting with affective routines that "promote listening, reflection, and empathy across difference” (p. 224). Then, move into imaginal routines that incorporate brainstorming or visualization activities to get teams imagining possibilities. Next, move on to conceptual routines that have participants learning and reflecting on ideas that were inspired during the imaginal routines. Finally, she talks about practical routines that "give your team the time and authority to plan, practice, and implement new ideas” (p. 231). My guess is there is flexibility within these routines. That not every meeting will encompass every routine, every time. I do like the idea of naming the routines so that I can think about the task at hand when I call teachers together and figure out which of the routines may help us do our best work together.

What might this look like in my own work? I decided to play the ideas out and imagine how this may look next year. Maybe it looks something like this:

I call a meeting with one teacher from each grade level K-4 to talk about literacy homework and what that might look like grade level to grade level. When the participants get there I have chocolate out for everyone with a personal note from me describing something I noticed them doing in their classroom the week before that really impressed me or made me think deeper. This helps calm the amygdala part of their brains right away creating a sense of appreciation, rather than judgment.

Next, I might refer to the topic of literacy homework and ask them to share one thought they have on homework on a post-it note. Something they feel has been successful in the past, maybe a concern or question, or maybe their personal philosophy on homework. Then we could do a round of Rumors where they find a partner and read what is written on the post-it note. Once each person has shared, they switch post-its and find someone else to share the post-it note in their hand with, and then switch again until everyone’s ideas have been shared with the majority of the participants. This is a low stakes way to get ideas into the room (Affective Routine).

From there we might read a short article together about the research on homework, having teachers stop and jot as they read. Then we would move to what Safir calls "Four Corners", in which there would be prompts to get people talking in each corner. One prompt might be a question one has about literacy homework. Another prompt might include what you want to see happen with literacy homework, what you agree or disagree with after reading the article, or what other grade levels are doing right now in terms of homework (Imaginal Routine).

We might then move on to a Conceptual Routine where I would ask the teachers to take their post-its and put them up on a whiteboard and then sort them by idea or thought. From there we might sort or categorize the ideas and then figure out what problems or questions we might still have around literacy homework. Once all of the ideas are up on the board, we might all take a step back and ask ourselves: What could the next step be? What could we all commit to and try before we talk again? (Practical Routine). This will leave every participant with something to bring back to their teams and a way to begin. Finally, before they walk out the door, I will remind them of the great work that was done.

This is one way I envision how we might begin our meetings with groups of teachers next year. As Safir reminds us, it is really all about balance. If you can’t get to all of the routines every meeting, try to find ways to get them all in over time. The routines calm the brain, create expectations, give everyone who wants a voice the chance to use it, and builds the idea that we are all in this together, and that “well-designed meetings help grow a listening culture” (p 236). This is how I can continue to help teachers grow without losing the trust I have built over the past few years and create a culture of joy and rejuvenation in communication. To create meetings that matter.

Want to be sure you don’t miss any posts from this summer book club? Subscribe to this blog today and sign up for the newsletter at readbyexample.substack.com.