Project 3 - Plan and Run Faculty Meetings
Overview -
The opportunity for staff to come together as a entire school community should be purposeful and with clear intent. I plan faculty meetings on a regular basis with the intent to share information that teachers can use to inform their practice immediately. The faculty meetings I scheduled were used to discuss issues such as the school fiscal situation, facility usage, parent concerns, behavior issues, school calendar, dress code, school regulations, incoming school visitors, etc. However, faculty meetings served another important purpose which was to improve school communication and relationship building. It was important that faculty meetings be used to promote relationship building and collegiality given the autonomy of the teaching profession. Building collegial relationships support better collaboration among teachers. When teachers work together in a collegial way they are learning from one another while they collaborate to produce the end product. So, not only were my faculty meetings meant to discuss pertinent information, but they were designed to build collegial relationships that would lead to better collaboration among staff in achieving our intended outcomes for students.
Reflection -
In general, the faculty meetings served the purpose of providing pertinent information to teachers about school issues. However, they fell short in helping build collegial relationships for various reasons. First, the meetings were not held on a consistent basis because I would get sidetracked by some other pressing issue. Second, because we are a small staff, I held a lot of impromptu to meetings which took the place of formal faculty meetings. Last, I did not do enough work to change school culture around the purpose of faculty meetings. My goal next year is to have a set schedule of faculty meetings with a clear purpose outlined for each meeting. Also, I want to concentrate on building the collegial relationships in a more direct and purposeful way.
CPSEL Connection -
CPSEL Standard 1
- Identify and address any barriers to accomplishing the vision. (Used faculty meetings to discuss how and if we were meeting the vision as a school community)
CPSEL Standard 3
- Establish school structures and processes that support student learning. (During faculty meetings curriculum, behavior and school policies were discussed to make sure our efforts were in line to support student learning).
CPSEL Standard 4
- Communicate information about the school on a regular and predictable basis through a variety of media. (Faculty meetings were used as a means for me to disseminate important information about upcoming school fiscal and policy changes that impact student learning).
