Competency 2: Communication Skills Related Tasks 2.1.4: Conduct staff meetings.

Narrative Description of Tasks: Conduct several staff meetings as a lead teacher and/or committee member, to assure the continuous progress and functioning of the school. Meetings will focus on instruction, data teams, grade level team meetings, and PBIS. The focus is to provide an agenda, highlight important issues and concerns, roles of staff members who are involved, and elaborate on the outcomes of each meeting. I will complete two to three meetings of each category.

Smart Goal: By April 2014 I will perform administrative duties by conducting staff meetings as a lead teacher or committee member. Specific: Conduct several staff meetings as a leader of a committee. Measurable: Perform at least two grade level meetings and assign roles within the committee. Attainable: Grade level meetings provide a support system for staff members. Relevant: The delegation of administrative duties to staff members to assure the overall functioning of the school. The idea is to also provide a support and communication system for staff members. Timely: By April 2014, I will conduct several grade level meetings, assign roles within the team, and collect minutes for each meeting.
Process, Purpose, and Approach: Administrators delegate authority to representatives who carry out the overall mission of the school. Lead teachers and other administrators will follow proper procedures to institute these practices in teams and small groups to make sure all staff members are aligned with the schools improvement plan. Individuals who have leadership roles are essential; they serve as a reflection of the school leader herself. After only three years into the profession, Latricia Brown-Coates (school leader) had appointed me Lead Lower Elementary Teacher. I was obliged and accepted the new position with enthusiasm. The first and most important thing to do when beginning the process of implementing team meetings is to implement effective communication with the Administration Team. The Admin Team meets with lead teachers to set up the agenda with important school events and issues referring to instruction, academic achievement, and school improvement. As team leader, I had to pick a applicable time and day that would be feasible for all team members to attend. After several discussions with the team and the Administration Team, we decided to meet every Friday from 6:45a.m. - 7:30a.m. During the first meeting, teachers were given the right to choose a role within the group. I stressed the importance of individual roles within the team. Teacher roles help the meetings run smooth. Mr. Raddatz took on the role as a note-taker. His job is to highlight important information along with any questions that may draw concerns that is not answered in that meeting that may be brought up in the future meeting. Ms. Blakely is the team facilitator. In this position, she controls the

group discussions and mediates any issues that may emerge during the meeting session. Mrs. Smith is the time keeper. It is imperative that we are timely during meetings. Students start arriving at 7:00a.m. and instruction begins at 7:50a.m. Mrs. Smith must keep us on track; therefore we can get through the agenda and cover all the important components. Ms. Winchill was appointed focus keeper. During discussion, it is common to get off track and stray away from the agenda. Ms. Winchell keeps us focus on the agenda and decrease side bar conversations within the group.

Reflection I have conducted several meetings thus far and I must say, it has been difficult to orchestrate due to the number of teachers having difficult schedules to work around. All of the K-3 teachers live outside of Flint. Commute times range from 15 minutes to an hour. Most teachers find it hard to get to Northridge Academy early for a meeting and still try to find time to prep. In order to make it possible, team members must leave their homes as early as 5:30a.m. Unfortunately, a morning meeting was the only feasible time available, as everyone does not share similar prep periods. In this instance, working outside of our contract hours was inevitable. Next time, I will avoid asking what time and days teachers can meet. I will set a date and time during contract hours. The idea was to try and accommodate everyone; I came to the conclusion that there will never be a perfect time, but a meeting during contact hours is most desirable. Another issue that emerged during meetings was irate stakeholders. When stakeholders are not familiar with the schools process and policies of doing business, they can display ignorance in regards to topics that they disagree with. One teacher decided to vent and share her feelings about the way the Administration team operates in the building. The conversation escalated and time spilled over to our instructional time. Numerous teachers were upset, they felt that there is a time and place for that type conversation. Mrs. Brown Coates (school leader) became aware of the situation and called us both in for a meeting. Next time, I would address the issue and schedule a future meeting between the two of us, to address her concerns from that meeting. As a future administrator, I took the passive approach which was obviously the wrong approach to take as a leader and quickly learned from my shortcoming. Artifacts Attached below are Grade Level Meeting Agendas for grades K-3rd grades. Along with the agendas are typed agenda minutes that highlight important concepts we covered in the meeting. Majority of the notes covers systems that are in place, instructional practices, upcoming events, and deadlines.