In response to the 10/18/12 post, “Staff Meetings With a Dash of Common Sense,” a reader writes:

SC,

Period by period faculty meetings were the norm for me as a principal, including before and after school in case a teacher had an ARD, parent meeting, or some other conflict during the day so they had three chances to make it.  In the event that the meeting was simply info only, it went out in e-mail prior to the meeting and attendance was optional for clarification purposes only.

But even that is now old school.  One of the Principals that I support is trying something different… “The flipped faculty meeting!”  
That’s right, modeling the walk the talk philosophy, she is going to digitally record faculty meetings and trainings and have the staff watch on line in a certain time window.  That way when the meeting takes place, staff can go straight to collaboration and check for understanding.  Meetings are quicker, and the original info is on file to review as needed.  It’s only a trial right now, but respecting and protecting the time teachers have to work on what is crucial to support students is important as well.

Good ideas are contagious!

SC Response I really like this idea a lot.  The administrivia can be covered prior to the staff meeting so those at the  meeting can focus on analysis, synthesis and evaluation.  If everyone is professional and comes prepared, this could be a home run. Let us know how this worked over the course of the year.
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