The Fabulous Fortnightly Fifteen Minute Forum. The First Two.

One of the very best aspects of twitter is that you get a constant drip feed of excellent ideas in schools up and down the country. I have been in my new school for around 18 months and one of the things that I have picked up is that many staff are really keen on sharing ideas and tweaking/improving their classroom practice. As is always the case, time is the greatest barrier to this actually happening. We do have observation triads but I wanted to find something that would be quick and easy and give our staff the opportunity to discuss and share good practice. One idea that I picked up from twitter is the fifteen minute forum. @Shaun_allison’s school have been running the 15 minute forum for some time. I assumed (incorrectly) that it was his idea. Fortunately his wife was on hand to dispel my misconception.

In recent months, a lot of schools have been similarly inspired by what is happening in Shaun’s school.

I discussed it with my head and our assistant head (staff development) and both thought it was a great idea. My head has been an interested observer in both sessions so far. An excellent example to set.
We were going to launch Penyrheol’s 15 minute forum after Whitsun because of the number of staff that are involved in revision sessions after school. However, we decided to launch it on alternate Fridays as not many revision sessions take place at that time (and @Penyrheoldt was keen to get started). The downside- well it’s Friday. I asked staff to volunteer to take sessions and was delighted with the response. The calendar was then scheduled:

The first 2 sessions have come and gone. Considering it is being held on a Friday, attendances have been solid (if unspectacular as of yet). The important thing is that staff that have attended have got something from it. The bottom line is that it gives invaluable time to discuss teaching and learning and reflect on our own practice. This is the “flyer” I produced from our first 2 sessions:

The class dojo 15MF (@ClassDojo) has certainly created a lot of buzz (in school and beyond):

In the pipeline for the future (not included on the current calendar) is SOLO and flipped learning. It is not the easiest thing in the world to “put your practice out there” but I’m hopeful that this forum will grow and grow. At Penyrheol, the 15 minute forum is here to stay. It is great CPD and the biscuits are to die for!!

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