Tag Archives: meetings

JOMO – The Joy of Missing Out⤴

from

As a bricoleur I have cultivated a habit of saying “yes”, and “yes, and …”, and this has opened me up to many wonderful experiences. Saying yes has helped me to:

  • learn new skills
  • meet interesting people – including a community to base my PhD on
  • discover things I didn’t know that I wanted to know
  • and more …

Of course, sometimes I still say no – and there’s a fine line to be trodden between accepting everything because one never knows what might come of it and saving some spare time in case an unexpected opportunity arises, but this is my spare time and I can use it pretty much as I like. However, this ‘just say yes’ attitude can lead me to be very stressed and overworked when I allow it to spill over into my working life, as it inevitably does.  I’ve written before about my institution’s obsession with meetings, so I won’t repeat that rant.

Today I want share with you the relief that I have been experiencing since realising that I do have the right to say “no” sometimes, and the joy that I have been feeling when practicing that right. We’re all familiar, I think with FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), so maybe you’ve heard of its counterpart JOMO (Joy of Missing Out). In the same way as a smile is a frown upside down, these are often the flip sides of each other. So here’s some times recently that I’ve turned my FOMO into JOMO:

  • Instead of being upset because a submission to a conference or journal has been rejected, rejoiced that I have the time free to do something more enjoyable
  • Instead of worrying that I forgot to complete a Doodle for a meeting, happy danced that it was organised for a time that I couldn’t attend – thus letting me off the hook for further work
  • Instead of feeling FOMO for a workshop on a ‘hot topic’ that I didn’t sign up for, notice that I have space in my working day to eat lunch

So here’s to more FOMO.

JOMO – The Joy of Missing Out⤴

from

As a bricoleur I have cultivated a habit of saying “yes”, and “yes, and …”, and this has opened me up to many wonderful experiences. Saying yes has helped me to:

  • learn new skills
  • meet interesting people – including a community to base my PhD on
  • discover things I didn’t know that I wanted to know
  • and more …

Of course, sometimes I still say no – and there’s a fine line to be trodden between accepting everything because one never knows what might come of it and saving some spare time in case an unexpected opportunity arises, but this is my spare time and I can use it pretty much as I like. However, this ‘just say yes’ attitude can lead me to be very stressed and overworked when I allow it to spill over into my working life, as it inevitably does.  I’ve written before about my institution’s obsession with meetings, so I won’t repeat that rant.

Today I want share with you the relief that I have been experiencing since realising that I do have the right to say “no” sometimes, and the joy that I have been feeling when practicing that right. We’re all familiar, I think with FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), so maybe you’ve heard of its counterpart JOMO (Joy of Missing Out). In the same way as a smile is a frown upside down, these are often the flip sides of each other. So here’s some times recently that I’ve turned my FOMO into JOMO:

  • Instead of being upset because a submission to a conference or journal has been rejected, rejoiced that I have the time free to do something more enjoyable
  • Instead of worrying that I forgot to complete a Doodle for a meeting, happy danced that it was organised for a time that I couldn’t attend – thus letting me off the hook for further work
  • Instead of feeling FOMO for a workshop on a ‘hot topic’ that I didn’t sign up for, notice that I have space in my working day to eat lunch

So here’s to more FOMO.

Death by Meetings⤴

from

Busy work
Busy work flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

My institution has an obsession with meetings. People humble brag about how busy they are, counting the amount of meetings in their calendars as evidence of their busyness and importance. I’m sure this is common practice in HE (for some, I emphasise, not all HE employees are like that!). I find myself falling into that mindset myself – when I set aside time to concentrate on work that has to be done without interruption I feel guilty that I am not ‘really’ working, and when I switch off Teams and email so I can ignore the meeting requests I worry that others will think that I am being lazy.

But this week I spent two whole days working without the interruption of any meetings. Two. Whole. Days. I had time to think, and immerse myself in what I needed to do (and note that this was still work that had to be done – stuff that the institution were expecting of me). I had to be really strict with myself and ignore a couple of last minute meeting requests and also remind myself that having a clear calendar did not mean that I was free to pick up extra work that others thought I had time to do. I still felt guilty – I still feel guilty – but I also feel relieved that I managed to protect my time and complete the work that needed done and also have time to get started on some tasks that I did not envisage that I would ever have time to fit in.

So yesterday, when I was back in one of those meetings that I had to attend (camera off, emails open), I came across this book: Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable. I have no intention of reading this book – from online summaries it looks as if it gives strategies for improving meetings and I’m sure it’s great – but what is really needed is a culture change.

And fewer middle managers.

Death by Meetings⤴

from

Busy work
Busy work flickr photo by NomadWarMachine shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

My institution has an obsession with meetings. People humble brag about how busy they are, counting the amount of meetings in their calendars as evidence of their busyness and importance. I’m sure this is common practice in HE (for some, I emphasise, not all HE employees are like that!). I find myself falling into that mindset myself – when I set aside time to concentrate on work that has to be done without interruption I feel guilty that I am not ‘really’ working, and when I switch off Teams and email so I can ignore the meeting requests I worry that others will think that I am being lazy.

But this week I spent two whole days working without the interruption of any meetings. Two. Whole. Days. I had time to think, and immerse myself in what I needed to do (and note that this was still work that had to be done – stuff that the institution were expecting of me). I had to be really strict with myself and ignore a couple of last minute meeting requests and also remind myself that having a clear calendar did not mean that I was free to pick up extra work that others thought I had time to do. I still felt guilty – I still feel guilty – but I also feel relieved that I managed to protect my time and complete the work that needed done and also have time to get started on some tasks that I did not envisage that I would ever have time to fit in.

So yesterday, when I was back in one of those meetings that I had to attend (camera off, emails open), I came across this book: Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable. I have no intention of reading this book – from online summaries it looks as if it gives strategies for improving meetings and I’m sure it’s great – but what is really needed is a culture change.

And fewer middle managers.

Teams Meetings⤴

from @ Mr Bailey Digital Learning

If you are looking to arrange Teams Meetings it is important that you use the correct settings.

Within Glow Scotland pupil video during a Teams meeting is switched off at all times.  Teacher video can be switched on. Both teacher and pupil are able to use audio and both are able to share and present their screen depending upon the settings.

It is not currently possible to record Teams meetings as within Glow this functionality is not switched on.  You may see mention of Microsoft Stream in videos shared on the internet.  This feature is also switched off in Glow.

There are several ways of arranging a meeting, using the meet now feature, scheduling in Teams, scheduling via Outlook.

Stewart Brown of Athelstaneford Primary School shows these here.

In general it is not recommended to use the Meet now feature with students.  This is because there are fewer controls in this option in terms of who is a presenter and who is an attendee.  There could also be potential issues with the meeting remaining open or pupils re-joining a meeting after you the teacher leave it.

I would therefore recommend you schedule any meeting.  In either scenario you need to make pupils attendees rather than presenters.  Otherwise you can find pupils can remove other pupils and mute other pupils too.

Here is a video that looks at stopping that.

Teams meetings they can be within a particular Team or channel or can be scheduled directly from Outlook.

If you schedule in a channel then pupils will be able to chat during the meeting and could posts gifs etc unless the channel setup prevents member (Pupil) chat or posting of gifs/memes etc.

If you schedule via Outlook as shown in this next meeting then since the chat in Teams is not enabled for pupils there is no possibility for pupil chat in this situation.  This may well be good for larger meeting like assemblies but might be less useful in teaching situations.

Mrs Barr of St Margaret’s Academy shows:

  • Setting up the meeting using a calendar
  • Sharing the meeting with others
  • Running the Teams meeting

This is a video from Mrs Barr showing how you would join this meeting.

When ending the meeting as a teacher you should click the three dots and click end call rather than use the hang up (red phone) button.  This ends the meeting for all participants.

Microsoft have this advice on their Teams site.

Further advice for teachers on Connected Falkirk from Malcolm Wilson’s and his Falkirk colleagues.

Is time the great killer in our profession?⤴

from

“Lost time is never found again” Benjamin Franklin.

Teaching is a hard job, it is incredibly demanding. Before you start, I know we get great holidays but we can’t deny the massive wellbeing issue we have with teaching staff across the country. I can’t remember a day of my teaching career where the school hasn’t had to cover a staff absence. A lot of that absence is due to stress related factors which are all caused by the job.

In a recent report Scottish teachers were found to have among the highest contact times in the world. Contact times being the time spent teaching classes and being in front of children. If you add to this the findings of a recent survey of 12000 teachers that our teachers go even further by working way more than their contracted hours to provide the best possible experience for young people.

This is having a big impact on the mental health of teachers and this workload issue is now the biggest priority for our teaching unions. It was reported early in 2019 that nearly 4000 teachers in the UK were signed off with stress and stress related illnesses and 75 percent of Scottish teachers frequently feel stressed due to their workload. This is a real issue in our profession.

If we want to improve schools and attainment then maybe we should consider the wellbeing of staff and how they spend their time. This study from Briner and Dewberry outlines that staff wellbeing is the key to a schools success.

Time is our most valuable resource and how we spend it has a direct impact on the quality of our lives. Time is a big issue in schools and it is often wasted by teachers and school leaders. How many times have you sat through a staff meeting and began listing off your to-do list and how much better life would be if you could just go and get on with it.

Time in front of classes is invaluable and time well spent. Providing, of course, you have planned for a meaningful learning experience and the students have left with more than before. It is not here where we need to tackle how we spend our time but it is with the rest of our hours that we need to be more selective.

So what are the biggest killers of time in our profession and how do we go about tackling them.

Meetings. Who wants to go to them and how many times have you left a meeting feeling it is a waste of time. Far too often meetings are a waste of time, are dominated by one or two personalities, fail to produce decisions and are costly in time and money. However this doesn’t have to be the case. Here is a very small list of recommendations on how to make better use of meeting times:

  • Avoid lunchtime meetings where possible. Everyone is entitled to a lunch and should have one.
  • Think about alternatives – why not try a google doc everyone can edit in their own time and share ideas.
  • If you must have a meeting share the agenda and required reading 48 hours in advance.
  • Consider if everyone has to attend the meeting. You could invite a small number and have them cascade the information.
  • Appoint a chairperson, timekeeper and snack bringer. The timekeeper must ensure you stick to time.
  • Make the meeting 30 minutes or less and don’t waste a second of time. Make time your prisoner.
  • Send out a summary of the meeting so that agreed outcomes are actioned.

Emails. They take time to write, read and action so it is important that they are used properly. We can’t get away from emails as a quick and easy way of sharing information but they shouldn’t be something you check every time you have a second. There is way more to life than an email. So what can you do to take back control of emails:

  • Set times that you allocate to reading and responding to emails. Perhaps when you arrive at work, for 15 minutes at lunch and 15 minutes at the end of the day.
  • Only respond to emails when it is impossible to speak directly to the human on the other end.
  • If you use apps I would highly recommend Boomerang. You can pause your inbox (meaning no emails will be received during paused times) and you can boomerang emails so that they can be delivered back to you at a specific time.
  • Never, ever send an email in the evenings. That is your time to be present for your family and loved ones.

Marking and Reporting. Until this year I would spend hours of an evening writing reports to be sent home to parents about how young Simon is getting on in my class, often using the copy and paste tools. This is unfair on pupils, parents and more importantly teachers. Could we find a better way to report. My school has and it is much quicker, user friendly and involves the young person. If you want to know more check out http://www.didbook.com. As for marking, I have spoken about this before where I advocate for replacing it with Verbal Feedback. You can check this post out here.

It is important that we streamline what we do and make everything we do for the right reasons especially if we want our schools to be high performing and happy places to work. First and foremost every action we take must improve pupils outcomes and secondly they should ensure a teachers wellbeing is a top priority. After all a happy teacher is a good teacher, surely?

 

What’s the plan?⤴

from @ Reach

 If you get extra support at school, you may have a learning support plan. Your plan will set out targets for each term, and the support you need to reach them.

You have the right to be involved in deciding what goes in this plan. You should get the chance to talk to your teachers about whether the plan is working out well for you.

Confused? Get in touch for more advice about planning your learning and support. 

The post What’s the plan? appeared first on Reach.

Tips on going to school meetings⤴

from @ Reach

You should get the chance to have your say at meetings to plan what you learn and the support you need. If you’re nervous about going to meetings you can take someone with you to help you get your views across.

Remember:

  • You know yourself better than anyone else does
  • Before you go into a meeting think about what’s important to you
  • Adults must listen to what you think is right for you
  • Getting involved can make you feel more in control of your life
  • There are people who can help you have a say. They are called advocates. Ask your school to help you find one.

The post Tips on going to school meetings appeared first on Reach.