Meeting Wise: Making the Most of Collaborative Time For Educators

by Kathryn Parker Boudett, Elizabeth A. City

This book, by two editors of Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning, attempts to bring about a fundamental shift in how educators think about the meetings we attend. They make the case that these gatherings are potentially the most important venue where adult and organizational learning can take place in schools, and that making more effective use of this time is the key to increasing student achievement.

In Meeting Wise, the authors show why meeting planning is a high-leverage strategy for changing how people work together in the service of school improvement. To this end, they have created a meeting-planning "checklist" to develop a common language for discussing and improving the quality of meetings. In addition, they provide guidelines for readers on "wise facilitating" and "wise participating," and also include "top tips" and common dilemmas.

Simple, succinct, and practical, Meeting Wise is designed to be read and applied at every level of the educational enterprise: district leadership meetings with central office staff, charter-school management summits, principals' meetings with teachers, professional development sessions, teacher-team meetings, and even teachers' meetings with parents and students.

Genres: Education, Leadership, Nonfiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published August 12, 2014

Reviews

[Serena Christianson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was assigned this book for my EdD program and at first I thought "a book about meetings? This is going to be dull." Well, I was so wrong! This book should be required reading for any working professional. Even though the authors wrote this for education leaders, the content is universally applicable. I loved their commentary in the opening chapter about "if teachers are trained to write lesson plans, why don't managers receive training on how to run meetings?" (I'm paraphrasing, but that was the spirit of their statement).

I appreciate that they broke down how to create an effective meeting agenda and had chapters on how to effectively facilitate and participate in meetings. We've all been in meetings where it's tense, there's a chatty Cathy, or everyone's afraid to disagree. The authors provide tips for navigating these situations in very practical and applicable ways.

I am very glad I was introduced to this book and wish I could've learned about it sooner. In all honesty, this might become my go to gift for graduating students because it's so relevant.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm sure there are a million books about meetings, but I sure love this one. While this focuses on how to make the most of regular meetings, I find that it's awfully helpful with even my one-time "here's what the data shows" meetings. It's also a perfect complement to Storytelling with Data. In both cases I often want other people to draw conclusions from whatever I show, but that's just not what my data-consumers have necessarily been trained to do. Or I present a piece of the puzzle but the meeting organizer had something entirely different in mind, making our goals not aligned. If I can be very clear about what I'm presenting it's easier for us to know if we're working at opposite purposes.

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe I'm so old that I loved reading this book about how to run meetings. There is some great stuff in here whether you're in education or not. I have been using the strategies and other elements here religiously both in professional and personal engagements with schools and I will never turn back!

[Gerard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually started this in the fall, and used it to reshape how we run meetings at my school. It has been very well received, and dramatically changed the validity of meetings. The various roles in meeting wise help create greater accountability for all involved. This is another must read and applicable to any organization.

[Meghan Sitar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I've read about effective meetings in an educational setting. And, sadly, I've read a lot of books about meetings.

[Vanessa Mozayani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has some great tips to make meetings more productive and engaging. I intend to implement some of these strategies.

[Jade Van · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read it for work. Not the worst book.

[Laura Sammut · Rating 4 out of 5]

You’d think a book about meetings would be as dry as a meeting running overtime. Not true. Worth a read for anyone in leadership or management positions to ensure laser sharp focus during meetings and making the most of collaborative meeting times.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great resource for considering how to make meetings more productive

[Anita · Rating 2 out of 5]

a lot of checklists which could be potentially useful but I'm looking for evidence here not broad claims about welcome activities get it together guys

[Jdchaffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Homework completed just in time for tomorrow. A lot of useful food for thought about how to best utilize our most valuable resource: our time.

[Laura]

Required summer read.