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Gathering Ideas to Hold Engaging Meetings

To start on a positive note - I have just completed the end of year staff reviews. During the meetings I asked for staff feedback as to whether or not a weekly meeting was too much. The general opinion was that our meetings are valuable, that they help the team to feel informed  and that they also allowed time for team building.  The Librarians  - the contents of the book drop worry me a bit! I hope that, our meetings are slightly more engaging than the Middleton Interactive Learning Centre's, however, I have been gathering ideas to make them even more engaging. What we already do Have an agenda that everyone can read and add to prior to the meeting Make the minutes of all meetings easily accessible Ask a different staff member to speak about something informative each week - not necessarily about work!  What we could do better Stick to the timings on the agenda Be less repetitive Rotate minute takers Make the meeting norms more ex...
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Better Team Dynamics

Monday morning is team meeting day. Ten personalities, ten different jobs. How can we ensure that everybody has an opportunity to contribute and feels comfortable doing so? Running meetings is not my strong suit. Do we need to "run" meetings. Would it be more democratic to rotate the chair or would that simply make participants feel even more uncomfortable? I would like to gather ideas here and share my experiences trying to make necessary meetings useful and engaging and making the most of the strengths of every team member. Cham, Jorge. "The Phd." The Phd Comics , Piled Higher and Deeper Publishing, 2016, phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=719. Accessed 26 Apr. 2018.

Harnessing the power of your classroom library

I could easily be frustrated by the number of teachers who ask for resources that I already know they have in their classrooms, instead, I see this as a problem that I can help solve.  It is all very well repeatedly telling them that they need to use the library catalog more effectively. The fact is, they don't and won't, and why should they? It is the role of the library to provide easy access. Sometimes they need to learn how to do it and other times they just need me to do it for them. But, what if they could get the information they want at the click of a single link? They would feel independent and be able to access what they need - when they need it. Every classroom in the primary school at UWCSEA has around 500 books in it. It is not a reasonable expectation to think that every teacher will know every book. Here's how I can help.... I already have a LibGuide explaining classroom collections  but is even this too complicated? Recently a teach...