Creating the campfire culture

TeachMeets come in all shapes and sizes and at their heart they are about creating sustainable communities of teachers, focused upon improving teaching. In the words of Sir Tim Brighouse, they are about teachers talking to teachers about teaching and learning. This post is about creating TeachMeets within school and considers the larger TeachMeets.

After a long day in the hills, nothing lifts the spirits than the sound of a camping stove roaring in to life for a brew. This is also an opportunity to 'wash-up' the day: to debrief and talk about successes and failures. To learn for the next day and to set priorities. This is part of the culture on the hills and something that I've come to call the campfire culture. It's where stories are told and learning is shared. Of course, in a wild camp, it's important to get the operational elements right. The tent needs to be pitched, equipment stored, food eaten and the all important lighter. The be successful, systems need to be in place. However, no matter how much of a gear freak I am, the real joy is in sharing the experiences of the day, getting ready to adapt plans and working out how to improve.

Thing is, it's really important not to forget the most important thing about CPD: that it should create sustainable communities of educators within schools. All meetings within schools are TeachMeets as they are opportunities for teachers to talk to other teachers about young people and learning. I still consider that the best form of CPD doesn't happen across blogs or twitter, but within organisations where colleagues speak to each other. That way the learning is contextualised, shared, embedded within schemes of work and becomes sustainable. External events are often about individuals and it's tricky to fully meet the needs.

Tips to create TeachMeets at school

Be prepared for meetings - crunch the data, speak to teams and come ready to talk about things rather than do things.
Create an agenda and share it via a cloud based system. Do this as far in advance as possible. Allow participants to add to and pre-write the minutes up to a certain deadline. This allows all parties to control the agenda, turn up informed and ready to contribute.
Don't wait until a meeting to discuss an issue.
Ban AOB and keep agenda items linked to learning.
Talk about individual students and groups of learners. How will what you do in the meeting impact on them?
Meet more often but for shorter.
Ensure that each meeting allows participants to share stories of classroom practice.
Agree and record actions points and ensure that someone is accountable for delivering on them. Set a timescale for completion.

Like mountaineering, TeachMeets have no rules and we shouldn't be worried about their format or shape. The main thing is to ensure that the main thing is teaching and learning and building sustainable communities of professionals. If TeachMeets are one off, commercial events then they are probably more akin to CPD events run by more traditional companies, after all companies and subject associations et al contract teachers to deliver the training. Big conferences, such as those run by subject associations, also use teachers and those across different stages of education, often creating a melting pot of sharing. There are many blogs out there that offer tips and suggestions around TeachMeets, what I would say is don't get stuck with someone else's agenda or vision of what one is.

The TeachMeets that I'll be working on during the next academic year are:

9th November 2016 at the Royal Geographical Society - TeachMeet RGS - #TMRGS

A geography focused TeachMeet aimed at creating a community close to London. This has around 80 participants. A subject focus allows those that arrive to get more out of the time.

21st April 2017 at the University of Surrey, Guildford - TeachMeet GACONF17 - #TMgaconf17

Another geography focused TeachMeet. It took 6 years of asking to get this on the programme and the first two have been fantastic. Again, geography focused with a smorgasbord of speakers, most of whom have also contributed to the main conference programme. Followed by the now legendary #beermeet.

1st July 2017 - Brighton in a pub - TeachMeet Solutions - #TMSolutions

The TeachMeet with no organised sessions or speakers or talks. Just a bunch of teachers in a pub sharing great ideas. Put together with partner in crime Leah.

I remember the first TeachMeet Pompey - it was seven people in a classroom and during its time saw almost 200 meet on a battleship and forts. It's all good, as long as it's about the communities and not the presentations or the commercial stuff. TeachMeets should aim to create the campfire culture.

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge. I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post. I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff. If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey. As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others. Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up. I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions. From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment. From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die. How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach? Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment is not always conducive to profound

The danger of Teaching and Twitter conversations: poorly formed bipolar arguments.

Sometimes in life, there really are only two options. Get the wrong one and you can look like a muppet. Take this useful sign for the toilets in Morocco. I successfully navigated it, choosing the right option. The result? No egg on my face. As a mountain leader, there are many right or wrong decisions that I’ve faced, as there are all over life. It’s not a good idea to let inexperienced young people walk themselves down Snowdon. They may die or be seriously injured. If someone is showing the signs and symptoms of hyperthermia, you need to treat it fast in a specified way. There is no real arguing with this sign: Other options are less obvious. Take this sign recently spotted near to where I live: Now, I wouldn’t consider sleeping in a bin. However, faced with a sub-zero night, I could see the appeal. The danger? Being tipped into one of those huge lorries with a compactor. (by the way, I only really considered all of this thanks to questions from my four year old boy).

David Rogers

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