Taking over the faculty meeting, one idea at a time.

Over MOST of my career, I have seriously dreaded faculty meetings.  To sit and listen, at the end of a long day, to upcoming events and calendar items, in a stuffy room when there is SO much you need to do back in your room is just plain hard.  Plus , we are usually hungry, thirsty, need to find the rest room and have to call at least one parent! 
In recent years, it has been clear that my own administrators are trying to revamp faculty meeting time into real, valuable PD sharing opportunities. It certainly seems like the movement is not just in my building and flipped as well as creative use of those 10 hours a year seems to be more common than in past years.
@LisaMeade23 who blogs at http://msprincipal23a.blogspot.com/2014/08/faculty-meeting-smackdowns.html
is certainly leading the way with her "faculty meeting smackdown" idea!

Now, truth-be-told, the idea of a smackdown scares me as we should be working together not "knocking down an opponent in a wrestling competition!"  Yet, we are a competitive lot.  We all want to do our best and to be at the top of the heap so putting a competitive spin on things does get our blood flowing.  

Lisa's idea was to have teachers sign up for 2-5 minute slots sharing ideas with their peers.  It sounds so simple and yet so profound at the same time.  It forces us (teachers) to look reflectively and critically at what we do well.  It forces us to think about our strengths and areas where we can grow.  If forces us to look inside and outside our rooms.  

If we were to do this in MY SCHOOL THIS YEAR, I would run like a mad woman to the sign up sheet and be eager to share how TWITTER, this wild and crazy medium of internet travel, has been the VERY BEST FORM OF PD I could have ever envisioned.