What's the scarcest resource in schools? Almost any educator will answer, "Time." The lack of time for colleagues to work together is one of the biggest barriers to improving teaching and learning. All too often, educators also say that the biggest waste of time ismeetings. People in schools attend dozens, if not hundreds, of meetings a year. How can that time be used wisely? This book, by two editors of Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning,attempts to bring about a fundamental shift in how educators think about the meetings they attend. The authors make the case that these gatherings are potentially the most important venue where adult and organizational learning can take place in schools, and that making more effective use of this time is an important key to increasing student achievement. In Meeting Wise, the authors show why planning meetings is a high-leverage strategy for changing how people work together in the service of school improvement. To this end, they have created a meeting-planning "checklist" to develop a common language for discussing and improving the quality of meetings. In addition, they provide guidelines for readers on "wise facilitating" and "wise participating," and also include "top tips" and "common dilemmas." Simple, succinct, and practical, Meeting Wise is designed to be read and applied at every level of the educational enterprise, from district leadership meetings and professional developmentsessions to teacher-team meetings and even teachers' meetings with parents and students.
Kathryn Parker Boudett is the director of the Data Wise Project and a lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Elizabe th A. City is the director of the Doctor of Education Leadership (EdLD) Program and a lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Overview of the Book 3 How to Use This Book 5 SECTION I: THINKING DIFFERENTLY 1 Why Focus on Meetings? 9 Time as a Resource 9 Meetings as Powerful Learning Spaces 12 2 The Meeting Wise Checklist 19 Purpose 21 Process 24 Preparation 32 Pacing 34 3 Using the Checklist 39 Complete Agenda Overhaul Greenville Fifth-Grade Team Meeting 40 Targeting Intentional Collaboration Jackson County Central Office Leadership Team 48 Targeting Adult Learning Sheldon Academy Faculty Retreat 54 Targeting Outcomes High School Parent/Teacher Conference 58 Targeting Problem Solving Over Compliance Statewide Quarterly Superintendents' Meeting 61 Targeting Connections National Anti-Bullying Network Virtual Meeting 64 The Meeting Wise Agenda Template 68 SECTION II: WORKING DIFFERENTLY 4 Setting Up for Success 73 Foudnational Setup Tasks 73 Recurring Setup Tasks 78 5 Wise Facilitation 85 Keeping to (and Deviating from) the Agenda 88 Supporting Full Engagement 99 Managing Conflict 108 Maintaining Awareness of the Role You Play 116 6 Wise Participation 119 Keeping to (and Deviating from) the Agenda 121 Supporting Full Engagement 124 Managing Conflict 129 Maintaining Awareness of the Role You Play 133 7 Becoming Meeting Wise 141 Finding an Entry Point 142 Words to the Wise 148 SECTION III: RESOURCES Selected Readings 153 Selected Protocols 155 Protocols in Brief 161 Quick Reference Guide 165 Notes 173 About the Authors 175 Index 177
"Meeting Wise offers a set of guidelines and case studies, with the aim of giving educators practical advice for improving the efficacy of meetings. The text is more than a handbook, however. Boudett and City seek to encourage educators to reconsider how they think about - and approach - the meetings they lead and attend. Educators need not view meetings as annoyances or distractions. Instead, the authors argue, these venues can be rich sources of collaboration and invention." -- Charlie Tyson, Inside Higher Ed "Meeting Wise is a valuable resource for anyone seeking to gain value from his or her meetings. I, for one, will assign it to my leadership classes as a 'gift' title to enhance their skills and appreciation for collaborative learning." -- James J. Harrington, The Journal of Continuing Higher Education "Highly recommended especially for educators; Meeting Wise is also an extremely useful resource for any career professional." -- Jennifer Simmonds, Midwest Book Review "This is a short, practical book that I strongly recommend to any administrator. There is also useful advice on being a good meeting facilitator (rather than simply a chair) and on being a good participant. More importantly, when I finished reading the book, I could, in fact, imagine a time where I looked forward to meetings." -- Lee Skallerup Bessette, Women in Higher Education
