How to get the most out of your planning days

Planning days. Every term they are essential to teachers. If you're placed in a very lucky school, you will receive either an afternoon or a whole day off class for planning. During that time it can be difficult to feel like you are progressing with group discussions going off track, time pressures and other distractions slowing your planning day down.

I have attended many planning days, some more successful than others.

Here are my observations of how the BEST and MOST PRODUCTIVE planning days occur.

1. SET AN AGENDA AND STICK TO IT!

Setting an agenda is a must for any meeting and, in order for agendas to work, you need to create a culture within your school of sticking to them. Do NOT let anybody railroad this meeting. Send a request for agenda items out a week before the meeting and let people add items they want to talk about. Then collate the information into one list and send to all who will be attending. If anybody wants to talk about an off-agenda item it can be discussed during 'other business' at the end - if there is time!

2. PICK A MEETING COORDINATOR

Somebody needs to steer the direction of the planning meeting. This could be your HOC or Year Level Coordinator or just somebody who is good at sticking to the plan. Look at the personality types in your year level. Who enjoys the job of leading the group and ensuring everybody sticks to the agenda? It's often easier for a person who is not part of the year level team to steer the meeting and prevent topics falling off course.

3. RECORD DETAILED MINUTES

Minutes are vital for effective meetings and let everybody know what was discussed, what the outcome of that discussion was and who was responsible for undertaking any action and by when. These points are essential for making the most of your planning day. So many meetings I've gone to have not had adequate minutes recorded and we're often left wondering who was responsible for what and when! Select a team member to type minutes as you discuss issues and create action timelines for outcomes. You can download some free templates for minute taking here.

4. COME PREPARED

Ideally a head of subject area should have been selected prior to the meeting and that person is responsible for studying the next term's assessments for that subject. Often year level teams will only have one person for Maths and another for English, however HASS, Science, The Arts, Health and Digital Technology (plus STEM/STEAM) also need some discussion. If you feel your Maths and English are going to dominate the planning day then have some mini-planning meetings on one the other subjects in the lead up to your big planning day.

If you're selected to be responsible for a subject, you need to know that subject inside and out. Understand the good and bad points of assessments (it's great if you can find assessment copies from last year to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the assessment). Research resources that might be useful and bring copies of those along as well. You can find a wealth of free resources on Teachers Pay Teachers but remember that if you are sharing copies of any paid resources around your year level you MUST stick to copyright licensing agreements. You can do this by purchasing extra copies at a reduced rate or your school can purchase copies through the TPT schools program (yes - let your school pay for them!).

5. STAY ON TOPIC

When discussing a subject area, stay focused on what students need to achieve and how they must demonstrate their knowledge of it. Always work backwards from the assessment! Backward mapping is essential in order to cover all the concepts and skills that students must demonstrate.

6. NOMINATE A TIME KEEPER

Agree on one person at the meeting who will keep their eye on their watch. This person should give five minute warnings about needing to wrap up discussions and keep the agenda on track. If more time is needed, agree to adjust the agenda as a group and extend or reschedule the time to discuss that topic further.

7. PARK IDEAS

An effective idea for meetings is to place a large piece of butcher's paper in the middle of the room with a pile of sticky notes. As topics come up that are off agenda, encourage members of the team to write them on a sticky note and 'park' them on the paper in the middle of the table. At the end of the meeting allocate some time to reviewing the sticky notes that have been parked.

8. BE HONEST BUT RESPECTFUL

If you know an assessment item for a particular subject doesn't work for students, now is the time to speak up. Do not sit by and say nothing. It's important that you voice your opinions and suggestions for adjustment of assessments. Team members need to be open to some flexibility. Simply saying "Well my students just loved that assessment last year!" is not productive and doesn't give an air of openness to change. Often what works for your students one year may not work for other students. Be open to change and respectful of other's opinions.

9. CONTRIBUTE TO THE TEAM

Being silent in a team discussion is almost as counter-productive as being dominating. Those teachers that say nothing or very little at meetings are not working as part of a team. Everybody has an opinion so now is the chance for you to have your say. Don't let one or two people dominate the discussions and if this happens, try to open the floor to everybody to hear others' opinions.

What do you think? How do your year level planning meetings go? Do you work in a well-oiled machine or are there one or two personalities that dominate planning meetings?