How to be entertaining to teachers?

August 12, 2009 1:03 PM

How can I spice up a presentation on building procedures to a bunch of middle school teachers?

During our orientation in a couple of weeks, I need to present to my faculty some new policies and procedures when it comes to building logistics like lesson plans, meeting schedules, classroom set-up, school expectations and other routines and technicalities of the school day/year. I've been tasked with making the presentation interesting and engaging and not just "Here are some new forms we will be using this year and here are meeting schedules, etc. etc." I have to fill 90 minutes and be entertaining and fun. I'm seriously drawing a blank here (which is strange because I always have suggestions for the teachers to make their lessons more fun). Maybe I'm just having a hard time seeing this as a teaching moment because the material is just so darn dry and matter-of-fact?

I have access to and can use lots of technology, if this helps.

posted by archimago to work & money (4 comments total)

I have been told that if you want teachers to sit in a meeting, you have to give them cupcakes. Lots of cupcakes.

Honestly, this sounds like the sort of meeting that drives people bananas because it could just as easily take place via a few broadcast emails. So, I would skip being entertaining, give them cupcakes, and be aware that 90 minutes is a long, long time to listen to explanations of bureaucracy. So hand out forms, but don't go over every detail on them -- stuff like that.

Ninety minutes. Ow.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 1:07 PM on August 12

The drawback to making it entertaining is that, unless you're really entertaining, the teachers will sit there thinking "I'm sitting through a meeting about paperwork that's taking longer than it should because the presenter is trying to be funny."

Want to win points? Hit the important parts of the new forms and let them go early. Cupcakes don't hurt.
posted by fatbird at 1:09 PM on August 12 [1 favorite]

I'd make a point to only talk about what's changed from the previous year. Don't waste 20 minutes talking about a form everyone already knows how to use and then show the one line that's different than last year.

If you have policies on classroom set-up, perhaps you could walk the teachers over to a room that is appropriately set-up?

Nothing is going to help with this presentation except getting it done. I've sat through hours of this stuff and humor rarely works.

I'm sure you've been charged with doing this by your superior, but I'm going to echo A Terrible Llama and wonder if this can't be done via e-mail. Teachers are bright people but tend to get bored (and disruptive) pretty quickly when their time is wasted. Especially when they're trying to start up a new school year and have literally 100 other things to do.
posted by jz at 1:29 PM on August 12

I need to present to my faculty some new policies and procedures

One thing I love about my school is that our admin team often asks teachers to parse new ideas and policies ourselves, in small groups or in a whole-group discussion, and report to each other/the group as a whole.

At the start, assure everyone that talking about the policies is more important at this stage of the presentation than taking notes, and that you'll be providing a detailed packet of policies/procedures at the end, summarized, you hope, by the great discussion you're about to have. (Big smile here).

People rotate around the room (a room with a snack table in the middle - think kitchen-island-as-discussion-center!) to check out the policies you've set up on the walls for twenty minutes, and discussion of each with others would let the big questions "bubble up" to the room as a whole. Chairs are set up in triads, not rows. If I've got a question that I think I'm the only one asking, I might not ask it; if I've heard the same concern/praise from two or three others, we're all more likely to contribute. Just don't let it become a one-way Ben Stein deal.

In the last two minutes, give out your one-page only bullet-point summary sheet on top of your handout packs, and orally go through them Follow-up over e-mail a few days later in a friendly way, reminding teachers who to contact (each other as well as you!) for support/advice.

I have to fill 90 minutes

As a teacher, as long as I get the info I need and my questions answered, letting me go ten minutes early is great, but if you were any faster than that I'd be wondering what you left out. Keep it fun by explaining to the staff that you're shooting for 80 minutes, and if you don't meet your goal, you're in charge of cupcake/whatever provision for the next month. Put up a big clock, check in with people quickly with a smile.

Your urgency paired with the group format, also, will keep the more prolix yadda-yadda-y members of your staff a bit quieter, hopefully. If Janine or Frank always tell stories rather than ask questions, the group-filter aspect above may allow the quieter Marcus and Lydia to pipe up for once.

Stick around afterward (minutes 88-90) and take questions, but make it clear through body language and actions that you're tidying up your display and that you "want to make sure other presenters have enough time", if applicable.
posted by mdonley at 2:07 PM on August 12