10 New Lead Teacher Meeting Tips

by Ken Royal

New to Leading a meeting? Recently, I had a talk with a 3rd year teacher, who had been selected by her principal to be lead teacher for her grade level. She’d had two meetings that didn’t go well, and she couldn’t figure out what to do. As I listened, it really was a familiar story to me. This young teacher was dealing with two veteran teachers, who came late, changed the meeting from group to individual goals, and were driving the meetings away from positive change to no change at all. They were also a tag team of negativity. This was a tough order for a fairly new teacher assigned to lead. Additionally, the other teachers were younger, with fewer than 3 years experience.

Here are my recommendations to new teachers, or anyone who needs to lead a group; they helped one, so possibly the thoughts may help you, too. I purposely left out the coffee and snack.

1. Have your meeting in a neutral location if you can. Never have it in a group members room, there are too many distractions, from correcting papers to parents walking in for impromptu conferences. And if you have the meeting in your room, make certain you post a note outside the door, stating there’s a meeting going on—please do not disturb.


2. Have a laptop, fired up, ready for sharing, taking notes, etc. If you can’t type notes and lead, get someone to do it for you. If no one can, take notes with pen and paper—however you do it—take notes. Not knowing what you’ve said at a meeting is like not having a meeting at all. There’s no excuse. If it’s OK with the group, a very inexpensive digital voice recorder can be helpful, just for playback, but also for podcast purposes. There’s nothing wrong with a clipboard, but today, leaders can do more.


3. Beginning a meeting with a short summary of the previous meeting can jump start the new conversation. Try not to go backwards, if it can be avoided. Stating group accomplishments can be a nice pat on the back.


4. Make the agenda short, no more than three items. If you walk in with a grocery list, three is about how many, most will pay attention to, and actively participate in. Make certain to stick to the agenda, and refer to it, if members try to sidetrack. Compliment good sidetrack-suggestions, and note the possibility of a topic for the next meeting, or online discussion. Give everyone a task. It's important to charging individuals with something to bring back to the group for the next meeting.


5. Make one of your early meetings about how to extend and contribute between scheduled meetings. Some districts have collaborative online places for staff meetings, but if not, try Google docs. It’s easy to set up, do, and worth a meeting time to teach. I’ve only known two people who didn’t get this, and they weren’t teachers. This is a great way to stay in touch with the group, get great ideas and meeting suggestions from everyone, share and collaborate to accomplish tasks. Warning, don’t confuse everyone with your latest and greatest online whatchamacallit, your online meeting collaboration needs to entice the chalk pushers in your group, and not just the Web experimenters. Talk of Wikis and Moodle can be possibilities, but make sure you know your group.


6. Be prepared for the unprepared. Have some printouts ready for anyone, who has forgotten to bring something. I don’t recommend printing for all, you don’t want your group to get lazy, but you need to be compassionate for those, who forget to bring something—for whatever reason. It is appropriate to remind everyone to bring materials, just as you’d like to be reminded.


7. Invite others to the meeting. Bring in other staff that can help complete a task, or help the group understand a new technique. Include art, technology, library media, guidance, or an administrator. You may even know an author, historian, scientist, or education market specialist that will share with your group. Think beyond the group to bring more to the group.


8. Take charge. It is OK to set the limits. If you are the group leader, it’s not appropriate to be Captain Blye during a meeting, but it is very appropriate to have a talk with a member, who seems to be carrying a lot of baggage you don’t own. In most cases, this works. Never give up on anyone in your group. It is very difficult to remain negative in a positively productive group anyway. It’s just too much work.


9. If you’ve tried everything, and a group member is just out to scuttle the ship, your last resort is a meeting with the administrator above you. Chances are the group member's antics are already known. Ask for suggestions, not for the administrator to take care of your problem.


10. Giving in or giving up is not an option. Don’t give in, or give up on the group, because of one individual. You were chosen to lead, not deal with an adult, who acts more like an unruly child. That task is better left to those in charge of that sort of thing—if it comes to that. If you've done the job, the group will help. Leading is not about standing alone.