Product Description

Infuse staff meetings with enthusiasm and purpose, and breathe new life into school culture!

Could your staff meetings use a zap of energy? Do you want more participation and less reluctance when you gather your team? Good educators know that fun, emotion, meaningful connections, and high expectations drive learning and committed attention to a task. This sourcebook overflows with strategies, activities, and resources designed to bring these all-important qualities into the faculty meeting.

Teacher leaders will discover the keys to improved collaboration, teamwork, and productivity—and new tools to improve group processes. By modeling best practice at staff meetings, leaders also give their teachers new engagement tools that they can put directly to use in their classrooms. The authors demonstrate how to reduce the "chore" factor of meetings by:

• Lightening the atmosphere with creative approaches
• Starting with purpose-focused theme music and other energizers
• Building relationships within the team that transform the school culture
• Overcoming barriers to productivity
• Rewarding and appreciating staff in innovative ways
• Closing the meeting with a bang—and a plan

As the energy from your staff meetings ripples through the school, every teacher and classroom will experience the motivation and focus that you create!

(20060626)

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57234 in Books
• Published on: 2005-12-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
"Sheila and John Eller have used their experiences in educational institutions to frame their suggestions in ways that are easy to relate to our own uses. One of the strengths of the book is the manner in which the authors examine each meeting aspect, described how problems might hamper the effectiveness of a meeting and them provide numerous approaches to positively impact a meeting. The book is filled with fun and engaging activities. It is very easy to read and see the applicability of the content. I recommend this book to anyone who plans meetings." (NACADA Journal, Spring 2007 )

"The helpful suggestions and creative approaches will help school administrators create an atmosphere conducive to productive relationships that can transform a school's culture." (Curriculum Connections, Fall 2006 )

About the Author

John Eller is an educator with varied experiences in working with adults. He has worked with masters students in developing professional learning communities at both Southwest Iowa Principal's Academy; an assistant superintendent for curriculum, learning, and staff development; a principal in a variety of settings; and a secondary and elementary teacher. He works with groups to help them unleash the potential that may be locked up inside their organizations. In addition to the work he does in training and supporting facilitators, he also provides organizations with assistance in the areas of dealing with difficult people; building professional learning communities; employee evaluation; conferencing skills, coaching skills; strategic planning strategies, school improvement planning and implementation; differentiated instruction; leadership for differentiation; employee recruitment, selection, and induction; supervisory skills; effective teaching strategies; and a variety of other topics pertinent to today's educators. He has authored books on substitute teaching, support materials for school leaders, and has assisted in the design of the e-learning communities in the areas of data-driven instruction and differentiated instruction that are currently being implemented by Sagebrush Learning and Corwin Press. He has experience in writing e-learning course material and coaching site leaders in their implementation efforts. He has his PhD in educational leadership and policy studies from Loyola University-Chicago and his MS in educational leadership from the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Sheila Eller has worked in a multitude of educational settings during her career. In addition to her current position as a principal in the Stillwater, Minnesota, School District, she also has served as a principal in other schools in Minnesota and Illinois, as a university professor, as a special education teacher, as a Title 1 math teacher, and as a self-contained classroom teacher in Grades 1-4. She is a member of the executive board of the Minnesota Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) and has been a regional president of the Minnesota Association of Elementary School Principals. She has completed advanced coursework in educational administration and supervision at St. Cloud State University and holds a master's degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and a bachelor's degree from Iowa State University.

Ms. Eller is a regular presenter at the ASCD national conventions, sharing her expertise on the topic of effective staff meetings and multiage instruction. While serving as a professor at National-Louis University in Evanston, Illinois, she worked on the development team for a classroom mathematics series that was adopted by several districts in the region. Her classroom and instructional techniques were featured in a video that was produced as a complement to this series. She works with educators to develop energized staff meetings, school improvement initiatives, multiage teaching strategies, employee supervision, and other teaching and learning content areas.

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Customer Reviews

Very good resource to use !
I found "Energizing Staff Meetings" to be a very helpful resource as I planned my faculty August workshops this year. The book is full of ideas on creative ways to start meetings, how to refocus during a long meeting, how to bring in music, problem solving and a host of other ideas to make staff meetings productive and fun.