While studying Current Issues in American Education with Dr. Vaughn at the University of Oklahoma, I was exposed to the concepts of Classroom Meetings and the idea of Student Voice. The concept of Student Voice is nothing new to those in education, but the idea of making sure students have a voice combined with Classroom Meetings where students can discuss how they are feeling about certain life issues prior to getting into the educational lesson (Dabbs, 2013) at hand is a natural compliment.
I live and work in Oklahoma City where most of the students struggle not only with school, but also with hunger, adequate clothing, and parental supervision (Felder, 2015). It makes sense that students who are struggling with very complex issues at home might need to process these events in a safe environment prior to getting down to the educational business at hand.
According to Bandura’s social learning theory, children learn from interaction, modeling, and imitation (Cherry). While studying all this, I also came across a Tweet linking to an article from Edutpoia where writer Scott Taylor discusses the importance of face to face meetings with teachers in our technology obsessed lives (2013). However, as an administrator, I wanted to look at how to apply all this information to teachers. A school’s culture is important to students’ learning, and according to Dr. Kent Peterson, staff development: "It affects attitudes toward spending time to improve instruction, motivation to attend workshops, and the [activities] people choose to participate in” (2015).
Thus, I am changing up our typical staff meetings this year. Normally, the administrators come in, share information each Monday afternoon, we end quickly, so as not to waste any of our teachers’ time, and that is that. That is the old way. This year we are going to focus on celebration, face to face discussions, teachers having a voice in staff meetings, and affirmation of individual teachers. This will be our agenda:
Welcome (2 minutes)
2 celebrations and 1 concern (10 minutes)
Staff share out (3 minutes)
Administrators get 5 minutes each to share vital information (15 minutes)
Close with 3X5 cards of affirmation for a teacher
The process will consist of me putting two 3X5 cards in our teachers mailboxes each Monday. One will be for the 2 celebrations and 1 concern. The teachers will fill this out prior to our staff meeting. They will share these celebrations first around their tables and then their concerns. If a concern has been overcome since the last meeting, a check mark will be placed next to it. Thus, these concerns will be shared first. Those concerns that have not been overcome, will be shared, so that those veteran teachers can share some possible solutions with the teachers who have not been able to overcome their concerns the past week. (I would expect these conversations to continue after the staff meeting ends since 10 minutes is not enough time to fully flesh out all the ends and outs of possible concerns.) Once the tables have shared, we will have a quick full staff share out with two celebrations and one concern.
The second 3X5 card will be for each staff member to write a positive statement about the randomly chosen teacher (to be shared in an email and asked to be kept secret until the end of the staff meeting). These 3X5 cards will be left with the identified teacher as they leave the staff meeting. These cards will be available for the teacher to reread as tough and tiring days come. During the second semester, we will also include the secretaries, custodian, and maintenance staff in the celebration cards.
At the end of the meeting, the 2 celebrations and 1 concern cards will be left on the tables to be collected by the administrators. This would give us a way to see the individual successes and the concerns that had been conquered and those that hadn’t. The concerns that had not been conquered would be a focus for the principal and assist principal to visit during the week to see how to assist in these concerns. My goal in this is to allow the teachers a time to voice their victories and defeats weekly, be affirmed, and celebrate the week’s victories.
References:
Cherry, K. Social Learning Theory: How people learn by observation. About Education; Retrieved from
http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/sociallearning.htm
Dabbs, L. (2013). The Power of the Morning Meeting: 5 Steps Toward Changing Your Classroom and School Culture. Edutopia; Retrieved from
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/morning-meeting-changing-classroom-culture-lisa-dabbs
Felder, B. (2015). Student Poverty Challenges More than Schools. Oklahoma Gazette; Retrieved from
McLeod, S. (2007). Lev Vygotsky. Simply Psychology; Retrieved from
Peterson, K. (2015). Is Your School’s Culture Toxic or Positive? Education World; Retrieved from
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin275.shtml
Taylor, S. (2013). Four Suggestions to Help You Lead by Relationships and Realize Your Vision. Edutopia; Retrieved from
