This one time, at band camp…….
My sister teaches Grade 2. She has likened her job to crowd control at a large, public event. Although her job and my job rarely have anything in common, after last month’s [painfully long, drawn out, not relevant, I-think-I’m-bleeding-from-the-ears-] meeting, I have decided to take a few notes from my sister and hopefully apply them to the next meeting. Before anyone speaks up, they should try to go through the following checklist, which my sister uses for her 8 year olds:
1. Does what you have to say have to do with what we are talking about? If yes, go to the next question. If no, put your hand down and put your listening face back on.
2. Is it a tattle? If no, go to the next question. If yes, I do not listen to tattles.
3. Is a question or a comment? Remember! Questions are: Who, What, Why, When, Where and How? and I know the difference between a question and a comment. So no fooling! If it’s a question, proceed to the next item on the list. If not, I’m sure it’s very interesting but if we all shared a personal story, we wouldn’t get anything done!
4. Has someone else already asked it? Has it already been answered? Several times? Were you paying attention? Had your listening face on? Are you sure?
I think if we follow the above 4 questions, we can cut next meeting time down from 1.5 hrs to 15 minutes. True Story.