When I was in third grade, we had weekly Show-and-Tell. One day, Eric Bauer brought a jar, a marble, a cup of heavy whipping cream, and a salt shaker. He showed us how to make butter. Everyone got their turn to shake the jar, watching it transform from liquid to thick, from milk to butter, becoming something that moved around the jar all slow and languid-like. We spread it on saltines and ate it as a snack. It was delicious—room-temperature and smooth, gently salty on the back of our tongues. I’ve never forgotten it. It was interesting. It was do-able. I went right home to try it.
That experience is the blueprint for what I call an "anchor topic"—a simple idea to transform your staff meetings.
It works for any professional meeting—with a whole staff, with a department, with a team, whatever.
Let’s set a scene. It’s your monthly staff meeting, and nearly everyone who works in your school is in one room. It’s the one time a month you get everyone together—your best opportunity to get a lot done. But it’s also a complicated mix of personalities, job titles, and moods. There are people who work directly with students and those who don’t. People making decent money and people who aren’t. People who want to be there and people who don’t. People who are 23 and people who are 63.
We all know the danger: meetings that become a cliche of “I just survived another meeting that should have been an email.” The anchor topic’ll fix that right up.
Here’s the idea: You have your agenda, and it covers all the necessary business. But you don't start with business. You start with one fundamental topic that anchors the entire experience—a topic that is relevant, practical, and engaging for most everyone in the room.
The principles are simple:
It's led by people who really know. You can lead it, or an expert staff member can, or maybe a low-key guest. It honors the expertise already in your building.
It’s a conversation, not a presentation. No slide decks. No notes or handouts. Just real talk from real people who know what they’re doing.
It’s active, not passive. Think more role-play, Q&A, or group brainstorm than "sit-and-git."
I did this last month with a group of principals. Our monthly meeting is where we get critical operational information. The attendees know its value, but they don’t enjoy it. It always feels a bit like shoving a sleeping bag into its tiny storage bag—everyone belongs, sure, but it’s a little… forced.
So, instead of diving into management tasks, we spent the first half of the meeting with an in-depth conversation led by our district’s legal counsel. He dug into the law behind records retention, giving specific and practical examples of when records need to be preserved and why. It was awesome. They learned, they came away with something practical, and—best of all—it was immediately applicable to their work.
Here are a few ideas you might use with your staff.
Foundations and Procedures:
Topic: Review of Sunshine Laws or Public Records policy.
Who Presents: Your superintendent or legal counsel.
[Why it works: Demystifies a complex topic and empowers staff to be compliant and transparent.]
Topic: A safety deep-dive: Q&A on scenarios and responses.
Who Presents: Your SRO or local law enforcement.
Topic: Who’s Who in the IEP/504 Process—providing clarity on roles and responsibilities.
Who Presents: The special education department or an intervention specialist.
Topic: How to use the walkie-talkies correctly. (Seriously!)
Who Presents: Your administrative assistant or a recess/hall monitor.
Instructional and Collaborative
Topic: Quick De-escalation Strategies—managing high emotion in students (and self!).
Who Presents: Your school psychologist, behavior specialist, or counselor.
Topic: A quick idea storm on an AI tool your staff is using (like Magic School or Gemini).
Who Presents: Your instructional technology team or a few teacher-users.
Topic: Vertical Alignment Jam Session—mapping out a skill like “writing a summary” or “solving multi-step equations” across grade levels.
Who Presents: Instructional coach or department head.
Topic: Co-Teaching Models in Action—real truths on what actually works.
Who Presents: A successful co-teaching pair from your building or district.
Light-Hearted and Culture-Building
Topic: "Appy Hour"—sharing a can’t-live-without-it website, app, or tech trick.
Who Presents: A rotation of different staff members.
Topic: The "I Wish I Knew Then" Panel—wisdom from veteran staff.
Who Presents: A panel of your most experienced staff members (teachers, aides, custodians, secretaries).
[Why it works: Honors experience, builds cross-generational respect, and offers genuinely useful advice.]
Topic: “SOS Squad”—developing a definitive list of who to call for every tiny problem (the copy machine breaks, the microwave needs cleaned, a sub’s laptop won’t power up).
Who Presents: Principal, secretary, and head custodian.
Topic: Mission Moments—a dedicated time for quick, fun, and celebratory moments from the month.
Who Presents: Anyone and everyone.
You get the concept. To find your next anchor topic, just ask your staff. What do you wish you knew? What task feels inefficient? What are you curious about?
Remember Eric Bauer and his butter. That activity made an impact because it was engaging, it involved all of us, and it gave us something we could use without pressure or mandate. That’s the feeling you want from an anchor topic.
Let’s stay curious—
Jen
P.S. Everything you read here comes from a real person, tapping on a real keyboard, thinking about real-life school leadership. It’s all me—no bots, just butter-making memories.
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