Group Meeting Protocol
Teacher Leadership Resource Tool – Meeting Protocol
By Jon Kovach, UCLA Center X Professional Learning Partner
Context
This meeting protocol was developed for science teachers participating in the CPEC ITQ-608 grant. As one of the grant support providers it was my responsibility to facilitate extended meeting time for teachers after the school day. These meetings would typically be short (1 -2 hours), so it was important to quickly decided meeting objectives and outcomes, and provide time for reflection.
Why – Purpose and Intent
This meeting protocol allows participants to brainstorm, advocate, and reach consensus on group tasks (work items, pressing issues, etc...) in a way that promotes equal voice, shared decision making, and ongoing collaboration to craft meeting outcomes and reflect on future work, and timelines.
How – Thinking process that led to the development of this protocol
When I started to facilitate the second year of a CPEC-ITQ grant, I created a needs assessment to uncover participant’s desired outcomes for the upcoming year. I was not involved with the grant in year one so it was important for me to understand their impressions of year one, before I could start designing engaging and fulfilling professional development. The needs assessment indicated a demand for more structure during meetings to guide and focus participants. Through my own experience as a department chair, I know it can be challenging to structure professional development with a large group of adult learners, during a limited time, and meet the needs of the individual and the group. Reflecting on previous challenges, and using the results from the needs assessment, led me to the following thoughts and design.
When developing the protocol, I felt the following actions needed to take place with the CPEC participants to ensure the group would focus and reach their desired outcome: a quick group discussion and consensus, equal voice, accountability, and reflection. I also wanted to ensure minimal preparation to use the protocol, so it would be adaptable to different situations.
For time management, I decided that the protocol should be done in under ten minutes and limit cross talk. Limiting cross talk would also lower the affect filter and promote safety in the group. The protocol must also provide opportunities for each participant to speak and share his or her opinion. To hold participant’s focus and keep them accountable, the group would need to select a recorder to document the decisions and the person(s) responsible of the meeting. Participants would also receive a copy of this document the following day to promote accountability for the next steps to complete their outcome. This protocol would hopefully lead to self-directed learning for the group, and ultimately be facilitated by them alone during meetings.
What – Directions for the protocol
- When all participants are in the room, the facilitator (within, or independent of the group) starts the meeting
- The group will have 3 minutes to brainstorm individually what they believe the group should focus on during the meeting time. They are to be specific as possible. This can be done on individual sheets of paper. A list of possibilities could be given to the group such as:
o Planning an upcoming unit
o Reviewing common student work or assessments
o Reflecting on previous lessons for improvement
o Differentiating an upcoming assignment
o Coming to consensus on common grade-level SDAIE strategies
o Preparing equipment for upcoming experiments
o Identifying strategies to use with focus students
o Examining and writing learning objectives - The group now has less than three minutes to share out their ideas. Each person shares one idea at a time until all ideas are spoken. There is no cross talk or feedback at this time
- Each group member will now briefly advocate for (not against) one or two items he or she feels would benefit the group most. There is no cross talk during this step. This process should take two to three minutes
- The group now comes to consensus on which items they would like to devote their time to. This process can be done by voting on the items with the understanding that the remaining items are just as important but will be worked on at another time
- The group chooses a recorder to document and guide the work during the meeting. This recorder checks in with the group at the end of the meeting to make public what work still remains, what is the timeline for completion, and who is responsible
- The recorder is responsible for each group member receiving this information by no later than the following day
Reflection
When I introduced this protocol with the CPEC participants the first time, I noticed the structure of the protocol was successful in guiding the participant’s discussion. The participants were able to come to consensus quickly, and the discussion before this was shared and meaningful. Participants where focused on the work they had chosen and also took the time as a group to consider next steps and a timeline for completion.
After further thought I found this protocol was able to meet the cognitive styles of both field dependant and field independent participants (Witkin et al. 1977). Whereas field dependant learners see the forest, field independent learners see the trees within the forest. By providing organization, opportunities to share ideas, construct an overall goal, and reach group consensus, the field dependant participants were able to focus on the desired outcomes. By hearing the other participant’s needs, the field independent participants were able to understand the why behind the group’s decisions. It also met the need for working on individual outcomes, or parts of the overall goal that is characteristic of field independent learners. Being aware of both cognitive styles allowed for group flexibility, and created “buy in” for the work at hand.
Over time the participants would facilitate the protocol during each meeting, and eventually the tight structure was not needed, but the spirit of the protocol was still followed. I have had many opportunities to use this protocol with groups I am facilitating for the first time and have reached similar outcomes. The minimal preparation of the protocol allows it be to used in the moment when it is obvious a group has different needs than what may have been planned.
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