It's a fact. If you're a special education teacher, you need to know how to moderate meetings. If your meeting is going to go smoothly, you need to prepare ahead of time. I've put together a 13-step blueprint to help you out.

1. Exactly what documents you need to have ready for the meeting depends on the state you live in. At the very minimum you will need a meeting sign-in form, something to take minutes on, a copy of parental rights and, if it is an IEP meeting, enough draft copies for every two people to refer to during the meeting. You will need additional documents for evaluation meetings, referral meetings and so forth.

2. Contact each team member a few days before the meeting as a reminder and confirmation of the meeting. Double check that each member has his or her contribution to the meeting ready to go--including copies.

3. An agenda will help you keep the meeting on track. Most people like knowing exactly what needs to be discussed before they can leave. Running a meeting is not a group activity. It's your job to make sure you don't get sidetracked and that you end on time.

4. Make sure you know (and reserve) your meeting location. If your school is like mine, space is at a premium. Be creative. Can you use the art room at a certain time? The library? The 4th grade classroom? Nearly any space in the building is a potential meeting place so long as confidentiality can be maintained.

5. By this point, you've done everything you can to make sure the meeting will be professional and well-run. In other words, the documents are ready to go, confirmations have been made and the location has been reserved. When I anticipate that the meeting might devolve into tears, yelling and personal attacks, I state at the start of the meeting that the ground rules are being respectful, waiting to speak one at a time, and sticking to the agenda. I also strongly state that no personal attacks are permitted. If any of these ground rules are broken and the meeting gets out of hand, I will adjourn the meeting. Nobody on the team is compelled to sit in silence and be on the receiving end of another aggressive team member. They can get up and walk out.

6. About a half an hour prior to the meeting start time, let the office know where to send people as they arrive. Put a box of tissues on the table where you are meeting, just in case.

7. As people filter in, have them sign the attendance sheet. Acknowledge everyone.

8. Do introductions if you need to and then move on to the agenda.

9. Make sure each member has an agenda. Remind the group of the end time, and ground rules. Now is the time to let the group know if one of the team members will be leaving early.

10. About 20 minutes before the end time, let people know you need to start wrapping up. If it's clear that you'll have to call another meeting to finish your business, stop at a logical point on the agenda and plan another time to get together.

11. Thank everyone for coming and make sure to get all of the copies of draft documents back and the signatures you need before people walk out the door.

12. Running a meeting can be difficult. Preparing what you can in advance leads to a less stressful meeting (at least for me) 9 out of 10 times. When I first started teaching and holding meetings, I wasn't really comfortable in that role. Over time, with practice, meetings aren't so scary anymore. Just remember, nobody is born knowing how to run a meeting.

13. Make sure you get the meeting minutes back from the person who took them for you before you leave.