MEA hosted its annual Winter Conference in early December. Members gathered for a full day of free professional development, taking away many lessons on a variety of topics from Assertive Communication Strategies to Mentoring to Union Contract Guidance. If you couldn’t make the conference this year, MEA encourages you to read what your fellow educators had to say about this event and what they learned and actions they can take so you will better understand what training is available to you, and then hopefully join us next time!
Assertive Communication Strategies for Educators in Collaborating with Administrators and Engaging Parents
- Session Feedback
- This was a great session! The presenter was able to tailor it to what we needed, and it became more of a question/answer session and discussion, which I found really helpful.
- Wonderful session! Loved the presenter! She made me feel like I could be confident and professional with my parents and administration!
Lessons Learned/Actions to Take
- I will go into meetings knowing my goals for the outcome and prepared to keep bringing the conversation back to the issue at hand.
- I think being more mindful about my using “I statements” when communicating with guardians about student behavior.
- I will explore the idea of having our union leadership meet with admin more frequently than the 4 times a year we currently meet. I will also look into doing a climate survey.
Mentoring for Retention
Session Feedback
- I really enjoyed the information from the presenter and the discussion with other colleagues. We received excellent resources to take back to school.
- This was phenomenally organized and facilitated! Great resources thoroughly explained without overwhelming.
Lessons Learned/Actions to Take
- Review those materials more closely and incorporate the one that describes the trajectory of the the new educator through the school year. I think I can get a lot from that, because we’ve had high staff turnover in the last three years, and we’re still losing staff after the school year started. I can put that one to use for our whole staff, I think.
- Check out the mentor handbook to see if there are any things that could use some tweaking. I believe that there have been no revisions in years. I would like to take another class to get a fresh outlook.
Your Employment Contract: It’s Not a Book of Neat Ideas and Interesting Suggestions
Session Feedback
- I learned so much during this session, including many things about my contract I would have never even known to look for. So informational and helpful!
- This was also a great session which moved very quickly. I learned a lot more about the process of taking grievances to the next level if they are not addressed.
Lessons Learned/Actions to Take
- I will be keeping my contract handy to look up exact information.
- I will pay closer attention to what is included in my contract. I am going to talk to stake holders about removing he/she in the contract and change it to they.
- I will look for a scheduled hourly work day, sick time information, and ask for a classroom budget
