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13 Steps to a Successful, Productive Special Education Meeting

By: Deborah Walker, M.Ed. It's a fact. If you're a special education teacher, you need to know how to moderate meetings. If your meeting is going to go smoothly, you need to prepare ahead of time. I've put together a 13-step blueprint to help you out.

1. Depending on where you live, the documents that need to be prepared for the meeting will vary. Whatever the required paperwork is for your state, you will need to prepare it in advance. Be sure to make copies for the other team members to use at the meeting.

2. Contact each team member a few days before the meeting as a reminder and confirmation of the meeting. Double check that each member has his or her contribution to the meeting ready to go--including copies.

3. Prepare and make copies of an agenda. If the room you are meeting in has a whiteboard, writing the agenda there will save a tree. For me, an agenda basically serves one function, which is to set up some parameters for discussion. An agenda helps you keep the meeting moving forward. It's your responsibility to make sure everyone gets a chance to speak, that you don't get bogged down in a topic and that you end on time. Everyone on the team appreciates a meeting that has a set ending time.

4. Where is the meeting being held? Make sure people on the team know about this. Be sure the space is reserved, if that's procedure for your school. Most schools that I've worked in have a space issue. If that's the case in your school, you'll need to get creative about possible confidential meeting locations. I typically use a conference room, the principal's office, the library or the speech room if my classroom is occupied.

5. On the day of the meeting all of your prep work should be finished. That way you won't have to scramble around at the last minute. It's important for you to set the tone as professional and civil (at the very least)--even if this means outlining some "rules of engagement" at the start of the meeting. For instance, speak one at a time, no personal attacks, behave respectfully. Really, these rules are nothing more than what we expect from the kids all day long. Should be a piece of cake for us, right?

6. About a half an hour prior to the meeting start time, let the office know where to send people as they arrive. Put a box of tissues on the table where you are meeting, just in case.

7. The first order of business is having each team member sign the roll. This includes you. (I've forgotten this a couple of times myself--oops!) Make sure stragglers sign in also.

8. Be sure all the team members know each other. A good way to do this is just have each person introduce him or herself and their role. If someone has forgotten who someone else is (even though they may recognize them), this introduction gets them off the hook without being embarrassed.

9. After introductions, move on to the meat of the meeting. Quickly summarize the agenda and ground rules and the time you'll be ending.

10. About 20 minutes before the end time, let people know you need to start wrapping up. If it's clear that you'll have to call another meeting to finish your business, stop at a logical point on the agenda and plan another time to get together.

11. Thank everyone for coming and make sure to get all of the copies of draft documents back and the signatures you need before people walk out the door.

12. Running a meeting can be difficult. Preparing what you can in advance leads to a less stressful meeting (at least for me) 9 out of 10 times. When I first started teaching and holding meetings, I wasn't really comfortable in that role. Over time, with practice, meetings aren't so scary anymore. Just remember, nobody is born knowing how to run a meeting.

13. Make sure you get the meeting minutes back from the person who took them for you before you leave.

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Deborah Walker teaches special education to middle-schoolers with significant disabilities. She lives in northern New Hampshire with her husband, middle-schoolers, 2 dogs and 3 cats.. Go to Special-Education-Teacher-Resources.com for more great resources.

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