Meeting+Agenda+11-05-2010


 * Week 11: Teacher Inquiry: Developing as a Healthy Education Professional **

 PLC Group Name: M.E.A.H. PLC Meeting Location: In Person Cite Lab PLC Meeting Time: 3 hours

 Teachers wear so many hats: counselor, parent, referee, etc. You nurture others all day long, and sometimes, you’re all out of nurturing ability by the time it comes to taking care of yourself!
 *  Hour 1 **
 *  ENGAGE **

 We’ve talked about being a better teacher by inquiring into your own practice. Today we are going to talk about teacher well-being. As an anticipatory set for today’s lesson, please begin read the following article. (As with all readings, it is intended to prompt discussion, not intended to be the only authority on the topic.) Teacher Wellness: []

Activity: 2nd Reading Resource [|http://tsn.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2017/~/teacher-wellbeing---positive-steps-to-improve-school-performance]
 *  EXPLORE **
 *  Hour 2 **

1. How will you take care of yourself and your career? · Get enough sleep · Exercise 30 minutes a day · Dinner with your family every night · Eat healthy · Have a planner · Control your stress by doing your favorite activities · Help yourself first then others. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">2. If you are assigned to be the PLC leader during your teaching year, what type of activities will you do to help your team members overcome their stress? · <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Growth program · <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Provide ideas from personal teaching experience · <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Offer your friendship · <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Give good advice · <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Praise the teacher including suggestions <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">3. As a group, how can we help each other understand the school's policies? · <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Do PLC meetings weekly · <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Be updated with changes <span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Maintain constant communication with your PLC group
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">EXPLAIN **

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[PLC leaders: Here is where you will present a brief activity for the group to test its collective understanding and to push it into new directions. I’m suggesting something like this as a starting point. . . <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Your own well-being—how well you manage the work-life balancing act—impacts the climate in your classroom and even your students’ performance. What else could it impact? Could decades of promised education reform be inadvertently thwarted by teachers’ wellness? Or, is this just a bunch of overinflated nonsense? Suggested topics:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> ELABORATE **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How can teachers get and keep a healthy perspective?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How can humor be used?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How can you interview your potential jobs to understand they kind of work environment and culture that is at that school, and how that would fit with your own personal needs for success?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 1. As a group, reflect on what you have learned today about becoming a healthy educator and maintaining work-life balance. What will it take to keep YOU a healthy, happy professional educator? • Engaging in personal hobbies? • Remaining involved in your church? • Planning time to see friends? • Getting up at 5:30 to run every morning? • Continued professional development on areas that spark your curiosity? • Making a commitment to getting work done at work and not bringing it home? What choices will you make? Where will you draw boundaries? How can you beat the odds of 1/3 of teachers leaving the field by the 5-years point?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Hour 3 **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> EVALUATE **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 2. As a group, draft a brief statement (approx 1-2 paragraphs) of what you learned or new understandings you came to during this discussion. What did you agree with/about, and what did you not agree with/about? How do you KNOW you learned and grew?! <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> As a group we believe that the teachers should be appreciated for what they do. Being a teacher is not as easy as it may seem to some and thus, every teacher should be appreciated for what they are doing. Even though sometimes we may not agree on their teaching skills, they are trying and we are here for the children"s well-being. If the strategy works for that teacher then it should be kept. We also agree that engaging in personal hobbies is important to maintain your well-being. All though we do not agree on the same hobbies, we believe it is important to have hobbies/activities that relieves the stress accumulated. What we learned through this program is that it is necessary to improve teachers performance and effectiveness by using strategies. We did not agree in using the same lessons to teach or the same strategies but, we did agree that it is important to use efficient strategies. We also agreed that we must teach based on the student population. One year students may behave and learn a certain way and the next year they may learn completely different. We also agreed that we must teach to different learning styles. Some students may be very advanced and some may be very behind it is our responsibility to ensure that all students improve their learning.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Individually, it is time to register to present at the QUEST Teacher Research Symposium. Registration is simple, and REQUIRED! Just go to this link and enter your name, email, and general presentation topic (your wondering!): []

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 4. Individually, please send your “PLC Check” as an email to Dr. Pierson and Caroline: --What/Who worked well in today’s PLC meeting? --What/Who didn’t work so well in today’s PLC meeting?