Events are published on the TeachMeet wiki site.  The site is open and anyone is welcome to post events. Most TeachMeets are arranged by a host, posting an event (TeachMeet), followed by participants registering on the wiki site. They then indicate who will be presenting and for how long. The presentations are short, lasting only two to seven minutes.

The guidelines for a TeachMeet are very simple:

• TeachMeets will be meetings/un-conferences where teachers will share good practice, practical ideas and personal insights into teaching with technology.
• All participants are encouraged to be ready to volunteer an idea, a tool or a website that they have delivered in their classroom.
• Alternatively they can discuss a product that they believe enhances their classroom practice.
• New scheme teachers [ECTs] are encouraged to attend and learn.
• The idea behind TeachMeets is hearing stories about learning, from teachers.
• This is a chance for teachers from all types of schools to network and to hear ideas from each other.
• TeachMeets are open to all and do not charge an entry fee.¹

Social media is also widely used to share information about events and encourage networks among the educators. Most events are connected to participants around the world through live Twitter feeds. TeachMeets NSW has held numerous events at schools and also at venues such as Taronga Zoo and the museum. There have been several TeachMeets at universities. These have been an opportunity for pre-service teachers, in-service teachers and lecturers all to be presenting together.

¹www.teachmeet.net (2013)

Matt Esterman was one of the early adopters of this new form of professional learning and has been a key player in expanding the movement in Australia.  He describes the informal nature of the events as a great way to engage teachers in professional learning:

‘A TeachMeet is essentially just a bunch of likeminded people getting together in a certain location… a sort of neutral space where they can share ideas and network a little bit without pressures of systems or standards or required hours or anything like that.’

During TeachMeet sessions there are plenty of opportunities for networking and informal conversations, which the participants appreciate. As the presentations are limited to seven minutes, the purpose of the presentations is to dispense a brief overview of the concept and to encourage the participants to learn more:

‘It’s really, really quick fire presentations and so you as the audience are gathering all these different ideas at once. Then you go off to the break and that is where you have a chat to people; that’s where you can actually go up to the presenter who is just another teacher like you to have a chat about it.’

TeachMeets are an engaging opportunities for early career teachers to learn and network with teachers from their school area. It builds confidence by encouraging active involvement in the sessions and establishes a support network that’s beyond their immediate professional cohort:

‘That dialogue between current practitioners and pre-service teachers as well was fantastic… to give them experience of organic professional development, not just ‘sit in the audience and listen’ professional development.’

It’s 4pm on a Wednesday afternoon, all the students have gone home, and 50 local teachers meet at Rooty Hill High School for an evening of professional development. The strangest thing is that they’re all there voluntarily.

Professional development for teachers has a reputation of being dry, cumbersome, and often irrelevant. For many, it’s become a process of ticking boxes for maintaining accreditation, rather than continually developing their teaching practice.

This is exactly what TeachMeets is working to overcome.

Throughout the evening, educators at different stages of their career took the stage to give their presentations on ‘Differentiation’. Some focused on personalised learning strategies, such as the ‘flipped classroom’, to best engage their students despite the disparity of student standards. Others discussed the use of subject specific apps that assist their teaching for accurate assessment of learning standards. And one early career teacher presented his method of engaging Year 7 students by recording their insights of Macbeth on their iPads. These videos were then uploaded onto a secure class website and discussed in class.

Speaking for a maximum of seven minutes, the format of TeachMeets sparks your interest and provides the opportunity to approach the presenter to find out more. With regular breaks, we saw firsthand the great collaboration and professional networks being established at this TeachMeet.

The informal approach of TeachMeets clearly appeals to the early career teacher demographic. A significant proportion of the audience and several presenters were in the early stages of their teacher careers. The event organiser, Yasodai (in collaboration with colleagues Kelly Campbell and Peter Langfield), is also an early career teacher in her third year of practice.

When asked why the TeachMeet format is enjoyable and beneficial, the common response among early career teachers during that evening was that TeachMeets provides a relaxed, informal setting to interact with dedicated and successful teachers. As Yasodai commented, these interactions allow teachers to extend their professional networks beyond the school walls, helping to create a community of practice. This is beneficial to both the development of effective early career teachers and to also expanding their sources of support.

TeachMeets

TeachMeet Sydney AITSL Project Team 2013

1. Innovative Professional Development: TeachMeets has developed a simple, yet engaging way of engaging early career teachers (and teachers in general) to participate in professional learning. It demonstrates that encouraging participation in an informal setting is an effective means to involve early career teachers.
2. Establishing Networks and a Community of Practice: TeachMeets creates an environment for early career teachers to extend their professional networks and exchange knowledge of professional practice.