Practical Access Podcast

S6 E13: How to Lead a Meeting

November 23, 2021 Season 6 Episode 13
Practical Access Podcast
S6 E13: How to Lead a Meeting
Show Notes Transcript

While sitting through a meeting is one thing, leading one is another.  Leading takes extra time, effort, and preparation, but that's not all. In today's episode, Drs. Lisa Dieker and Rebecca Hines are talking about how to prepare to lead a meeting. Tune in to learn some practical tips that you can implement! 

DDon'tforget we love to hear from our listeners! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. We look forward to receiving your questions on our Google Phone (407) 900- 9305, Facebook (Practical Access), Twitter (@AccessPractical), or Instagram (@Practical_Access).

Lisa Dieker  0:12  
Welcome to Practical Access. I'm Lisa Dieker.

Rebecca Hines  0:15  
And Rebecca Hines and Lisa, today, I think our listeners are going to get some of our expertise.

Lisa Dieker  0:23  
Yes. So we've been asked to talk about a topic that I think is going to be interesting, we're going to think about this kind of this season's been a little bit of a theme of STEM and children in beautiful, rich, diverse communities. And the question is, how do I better facilitate and organize my meetings, when I'm working with professionals or families, and I'm a new teacher. So I'm going to let you give your best first thought on that question.

Rebecca Hines  0:52  
I'm well known for my organization,

Lisa Dieker  0:55  
That's true to but you're good at having me. 

Rebecca Hines  0:56  
I am. Lisa. And as you know, it starts with honestly, as simple as it sounds, it starts with a simple but clear agenda. That's funny that was on my list. If you're if you're a teacher, and you're like, Becky, I feel like typing up a digit, I didn't want to think about how it should look, just use your Microsoft Word, their templates for agendas, or a whiteboard or a whiteboard. But but but something on paper, not, don't think necessarily in terms of your audience, think of yourself something that's going to help guide you also on your agenda, put the approximate number of minutes that you're going to talk about each topic. And that's not to say that you have to stick with it, but accuse the other people at the meeting, that we're not going to be talking for 30 minutes about this one little issue, you know, like, rein it in, plan around time start with an agenda?

Lisa Dieker  1:52  
Well, you know, that's interesting, because I was thinking similar. But specifically, when we start thinking about STEM, we tend to go to the deficit. And I think that's what you're talking about with time. Yeah, cuz you know, 30 minutes. So I would start that agenda with what the kid does well, in math, science, technology, engineering, whatever you might be talking about. But I also think we have to make sure that agenda respects the shift we've seen in math and science teaching. And, you know, I hate to say we're not 12, just in case our listeners, since you never get to see us, I would say we have a few beautiful rich lines in our faces from smiling too much and laughing too much. But one of the things that really the shift for our listeners, especially if you're a new teacher, is keep in mind that the shift should be may not be in every classroom. But this is what the standards have really shifted across the country should be a lot more about kids having dialogue with each other and engaged in that math and science content. So make sure that your agenda doesn't reflect what I would call the 1950s Special Ed model of drilling kill that, you know, this kid needs to work on, you know, things that are 1950 skills, instead of how do we really celebrate that kids strength in what we know is the shift in thinking. And that'll be important when you talk to both professionals and families.

Rebecca Hines  3:11  
And I have some similar notes on that lease. And I want to be specific about that idea of starting the meeting talking about something positive with students. Rather than having a complex form, I always asked all of the teachers, all the content area teachers to just do a little better form with just a triangle and a plus sign. And I would ask them to think in terms of what are three things this student does? Well, they feel they didn't On the plus side? And what are three things that they would like to see change. So you know, triangles, this change symbol, and it's this idea that let's not focus on what a child cannot do, let's just say what would we like to see change? And you mentioned the idea of dialogue. I think it's important for parents to also talk about these things. And I think it's important for students to be able to talk about what they see as their strengths, and what they would like to see change. So if you had even the most simple format for people to start directing these specific comments, I think that's a real value add. I also wanted to mention around this idea of dialogue. giving parents the language to support their child in science is also important. And it's not it, we have to assume that these parents are many years away from formal science education, so they're not going to naturally know the exact terms. So the more specific we can be in a meeting about here are the key terms that we're going to be studying. At least the parents will be familiar with those terms in any kind. bit of information we can give them about that, just to support their child in their thinking, I think is key.

Lisa Dieker  5:06  
Yeah. And I, you know, I can't agree with you enough in everything that you just shared. And I would just add a layer to that to really be thinking about, as you're making that agenda, this concept that really is being driven post pandemic, which is this accelerated learning mindset, that, you know, we aren't going to keep kids back, because they missed a year, we're going to keep them at grade level, keep intention, but we're going to think deeply, as Becky just said, about what specifically that kid needs to understand the math concept is that that improper fractions are also mixed numbers, whatever it is that you that you're teaching that day. And I think sometimes we get so caught up in what kids are missing in math and science, that we forget to focus on where they're trying to go next. And so keeping that upward trajectory. So make sure that when you're talking with a professional, specifically, you talk about how we keep the upward trajectory is we really need to understand this IEP, we need to understand that this kid can keep the upward trajectory, but they need a calculator, or they need text to speech or speech to text or they need more time. Or they may need a peer to repeat phrases to them. But I think we often forget that it is that math and science content isn't harder. It's that we think deeper sometimes in a in that deepness builds. And so in that building, helping families understand, look, you know, my own son, I'm going to take a real true example here has a college degree, and he still can't tell you what six times six is. If you asked him and you said, I'm gonna give you a million dollars, he be like, wait, wait, wait, how are you to give me a me, because he understands it's six groups of six things, and he can count it. But with a calculator, he can answer it in two seconds. So mathematically, he sound but many times we want to keep a kid like him in a room doing flashcards, it didn't matter. So my last piece here is as you're thinking about those meetings, not just the strengths and areas, but what's the trajectory? And how are we going to accelerate that kid in our agenda by celebrating the IEP and celebrating where the content is taking the kid next.

Rebecca Hines  7:11  
And I will kind of end mentioning the content, I think, you know, we hear a lot about standards. As a special ed teacher, I might be responsible for many different subject areas, or maybe I'm supporting students only in one. But I recommend that everybody, take a moment to download the state standard app in your respective state. Mastery Connect has state standard apps I can with, you know, with one or two swipes get at exactly what a third grader, a fifth grader, an eighth grader should be talking about in science. So if I might not be a science specialist, myself, I can certainly stay abreast of the language and understand what the students are supposed to be working toward. And I want to be able to share that tool and that language with the parents. I want to be sure that I'm on the right track with my content specialists. But I want to be very specific in my language. Because just as you said, kids who struggle in science, especially at the secondary level, a lot of times, it's because they don't understand the vocabulary of science, not that they can understand the concept. So let's be more intentional about our language, let's find a tool, even if it's an app, to be able to pull up that science language on a dime.

Lisa Dieker  8:32  
And my last thought here is in the meeting, I always like to say let's shift our mindset a little bit, not about how do we make up deficits, but how do we pre teach districts? So you know, if the kids have big likes to eat, let's use the taste factor. Let's use the smell factor for those vocabulary. But what can I in this meeting offer? To have the family and that professional? Whichever one I'm meeting with try to be the person who becomes an asset to pre teach concepts. Can I send him vocabulary again, true story, I used to say, look, if you'll send me the science vocabulary in high school, I'll make the PowerPoint slides will Josh and I'll do that on the weekend and use images because he's a picture bass learner. And so now if you have the I've done you a favor. Josh has done some work over the weekend. And when he walks in and hears this vocabulary word, mitosis, for the first time, it isn't like what it's my toes on my feet. No, he has a basic understanding. So think about how in that agenda, you can set it not only to the student strengths, but how you can empower that professional either an educator or that teacher to help you pre teach and help you kind of get kids ahead of the game instead of always playing catch up.

Rebecca Hines  9:45  
So just to recap, starting with an agenda, considering time limits, just so we make sure we get to all of our topics. I always in a meeting, think about what are the takeaways and in this case, we've mentioned several tools that you'd want to leave either parents or colleagues with when they leave that meeting, again, with the end in mind, what do I want? What do I want to happen as a result of this meeting and plan accordingly?

Lisa Dieker  10:12  
All right. Well, thank you for joining us for this session on how to have a professional meeting with parents and families. And please send us any questions you might have on our Facebook page, or you can also send us a Tweet @accesspractical