The Horseshoe & The Fishbowl

We have a new Upper School Division Director (re: principal) at my school this year, and he has already made numerous changes, mostly good, to the way we do things. From a teacher's perspective, one of the most welcome changes has been his tightening up of our faculty meetings. When you get upwards of thirty teachers in a room for a discussion, the focus can go from amiable announcement to snide commentary to unbridled disgust in the span of about fifteen minutes. Remember this is a group of people who were involved in every class discussion in college, no matter if they had something to add or not, "piggybacking on Gordon's hypothesis" or "clearing up what Professor Rispad was getting at there". This is a group of people that kept everyone after class so that they could "bring some closure to our discussion" when all you wanted was to catch the end of the Cubs game with a Blimpie sub. For the most part, these are the people you hated. That said, there is nothing more interminable than a faculty meeting without a clear agenda, as you soon find yourself a spectator to a vicious argument about the appropriate time of day for a fire drill and at least one of the opponents has taken his shoes off.

Now, however, we have a set agenda. And it is released well before the meeting, so people can wrap their minds around its constraints. We also have a fairly set end time, which allows the back-of-the-meeting creepers (like myself on occasion) to get their things together guiltlessly when the hour is near, thus prompting our Division Director to check the clock and acknowledge that it's time to wrap things up. It's a godsend really.

The downside is that he's from Vermont, and by his own admission, a little crunchy granola. We have time for "appreciations" that people offer for one another at the start of each meeting - nerdy name, but actually kind of a nice touch - and he has also instituted The Horseshoe meeting format, doing away with our old Speaker/Lecture Hall structure. Gotta tell you - not a big fan. The Horseshoe, by its nature, leaves everyone very exposed. Being a back-of-the-meeting creeper is no longer an option unless you want to really stand out. Also, since our group is so large, the chasm between opposite sides of the 'Shoe can be so vast that it actually makes conversation more difficult. We also tried something called The Fishbowl once, which was actually a circle within the 'Shoe, and you couldn't talk unless you entered The Fishbowl, and the idea was to rotate in and out when you had something to say. Needless to say this was very confusing and resulted in about 5 of the 40 people actually dipping a toe in the bowl for discussion. We have not attempted The Fishbowl since.

Horseshoe BaeRating: B-
Fishbowl BaeRating: D+