- Develop Techniques to Limit Individual Conferences
Most of the school leader’s formal conferences will be individual con-
ferences with one to three people. If planned properly, time will be well
managed and outcomes will be positive.
- Post-observation conferences with teachers will be part of many days.
Time can be saved by doing the following:
o Schedule the observation early in the day so a conference can be held
later the same day.
o Between the observation and the conference, word process the
description of the lesson and/or make a list of the items to be dis-
cussed.
o At the conference, elicit the teacher’s self-evaluation. Check the list
of items to be discussed to be sure all important aspects of the lesson
have been covered.
o Allow some time for “small talk” about school issues, recent books
read, and so forth. Time getting to know the staff better is time well
used.- Conferences with parents and/or students will also be part of many
days. Elsewhere this book provides suggestions for such meetings, such
as allowing some time for venting, taking notes when the parent or
student speaks, having a file box with index cards on “repeat” parents
and students, and so on. All these techniques save time. In addition, if
the school leader has a scheduled appointment with a parent or student,
she should have the student records on hand (or ready to access on her
computer). No time should be wasted looking for files at the time of
the meeting. - Principals will sometimes have to schedule grievance hearings with the
union representative and the teacher bringing the grievance. In New
York City, such hearings can be scheduled after the regular school day.
Doing this, however, extends the school day for all involved. Some
principals prefer this, feeling that after-school hearings in some way
“punish” those bringing the grievance. In the end, however, such prin-
cipals also inconvenience themselves, especially since an after-school
People Are More Important than Paper 67