Wellbeing in Teaching and Learning Community of Practice: Launch Meeting Highlights

When so many of us are feeling taxed, overstretched or something to that nature, adding another thing to our schedule, like a Community of Practice meeting, even to focus on something we are committed to and interested in, may seem too much. However, being in a community, especially during these stressful times, may be just what we need.

We left our launch meeting feeling better than when we arrived and that was because of the connections we made and the similarities we saw in the challenges we face. We discussed a simple and efficient way to give back to ourselves and others: can we give ourselves 10 minutes to transition between meetings?

Classes are scheduled with a 10-minute break between them to allow for student and instructors to get to their next class. So why are we not doing this for meetings as well? Instead, we are rushed or late to meetings with no time to reflect on the one that has just ended or to ready ourselves to arrive grounded and present for the next one. As a result, we feel stressed, we are less focused and are less productive.

We invite you to experiment with the following practice: try holding meetings that are 50 minutes long instead of 60 minutes long. We can take these “10 minutes of opportunity” to:

• Reflect (on the meeting just completed)
• Record (thoughts and action items on the meeting just completed)
• Relationship build (continued chatter with colleagues, peers and friends)
• Refresh (with a movement break or whatever one needs)
• Refuel (have a snack to keep the mind working)
• Release (stretch break and bathroom break)
• Respond (to a few urgent messages)
• Rest (socially; eyes away from the screen)
• Reach (the next meeting on time)
• Ready oneself (for the next meeting; arrive grounded and present)

We intent to implement this practice for the meetings of this Community of Practice moving forwards. We invite you to join us on Thursday, December 7^th, 2023, 2:30 – 3:20 PM in ART 361 to reflect on any challenges or resistance encountered when implementing this practice, the impact it had on your wellbeing, and if this was well-adopted! Looking forward to it!

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