Professional Development Articles

Meeting and Sharing

As an art educator, you may feel isolated in your building and even in your district from other educators. It is critical, therefore, that you find ways to come together with your fellow art educators so that you can share, listen, and grow.

Art Meetings: Getting Started

If you are fortunate enough to be in a district that has a fine-arts supervisor, then that person might initiate regular art meetings that greatly benefit the art teachers. These meetings could be for all grade levels if it is a small group. If the group is large, two meetings can be established: one for the elementary level and one for the secondary level.

If there is no supervisor, an art teacher can initiate meetings by inviting other art teachers in the district, city, or area to an organizational meeting after school. Be sure to:

• give teachers enough notice so that they can fit the meeting into their schedules
• allow time for teachers at schools that dismiss late to attend
• invite all art teachers (phone trees, flyers, e-mail)
• state the ending time of the meeting (60 to 90 minutes)
• state the purpose of the meeting (determine needs and desires of group)
• ask volunteers to bring snacks

The First Meeting

At the beginning of every school year, it is a good idea to conduct a needs-assessment survey, even with groups that meet on a regular basis. This task might be as simple as asking attendees to establish groups of three to five teachers. In the small groups:

• assign a scribe to write down ideas
• assign a reporter who will share what the group has discussed
• brainstorm goals for the coming year
• identify any current practices that they would like to keep
• agree on frequency of meetings (monthly, every 6 weeks, etc.)

As groups share their ideas, it is important that each idea be carefully recorded. After the meeting, the leader or some other volunteer should list all suggestions in a survey format. These are sent to all teachers to rank by importance. This will give the groups some direction as to the goals that teachers believe are priorities for the coming school year.

Before adjourning the first meeting, be sure to set the next meeting date. Try to schedule a day that accommodates the majority of attendees. If some can never come on Tuesday and others on Thursday, then rotate the meeting dates.

The Biggest Bang for the Buck

To get the most from art teacher meetings and come away believing that such meetings are a powerful learning experience, teachers need to see a purpose. One way to achieve this is to establish a share time at the end of each meeting. During this part of the meeting, teachers share successful ideas, practices, or lessons. This can be done randomly so that anyone can share at any meeting, or teachers can be assigned to share at a given meeting.

Teachers who plan to share an idea should be encouraged to:

• provide a handout when possible
• bring examples of work
• share pitfalls as well as successes

You may feel that adding another meeting to your schedule is not worth your time. However, meeting with other art educators is one of the best uses of your time. Sharing unique problems and solutions on art-related issues such as scheduling, kilns, duties, and special education can benefit every art teacher.