I'm talking about the propensity for presenters to want presentees to share out. I'm not sure where they contracted this strange disease - perhaps in a national webcast that was only available for learning coaches and administrative assistants, officers, chiefs, or whatever they might be called in your district. They brought the malady back to your building and succeeded in infecting your principal and perhaps even your counselor, and sadly some of the teachers contracted it at took it to their classrooms.
It is not life-threatening, but could easily slowly eat away at your nerves until you lose the ability to hear any substance of what is being presented. Not only will you not grow as an educator, but their illness will cause you to second guess your own abilities to pay attention or the learn. You'll notice a sharp memory loss.
It's not your disease, yet you have the symptoms. Turn that around: your symptoms are signs of their disease.
Sharing Out.
They'll say it, but they don't know what it means. They won't even realize they've said it. They'll say they want you to discuss such-and-such topic at your table and be prepared to share out with the larger group.
What do they really want you to do? They want you to share your findings or conclusions with the larger group...but they will not ask you to share; they will ask you to share out. Whatever that means. Were you preparing instead to share in? Share up? Down? Sideways? Would you prefer to share diagonally? I'm sorry to report that your response will only be acceptable if you share out!
Pick up your laptop and head out the front door. You've just been told to share out, and everybody knows you can't do something out when you are inside. They'll chase you down and wonder where you are going, but you may simply claim to have misunderstood the extra syllable. Return to the conference room, library, audicafenasium, or wherever your professional development is taking place, with the beaming satisfaction that you have just seen the sunlight and breathed fresh oxygen while your peers just sat there under the flickering fluorescents, trying to hear over the roar of the outdated HVAC unit. You might have even missed your obligation to share out!
Mayhaps you would like to try the British definition of the phrase next. Merriam-Webster says it means this:
to divide (something) into parts and give the parts to different people
Or you can do what I do, which is less intrusive and slightly less disrespectful, but keeps me awake nevertheless: I like to count the number of times the two words are put together in a single PD session. Be prepared though: if a single presenter says it more than a dozen times, s/he is deserving of a prize. You must absolutely stand up and clap your hands for their obvious efforts to go the extra mile; after all, they've successfully and repeatedly added an unneeded syllable (actually an entire word) to the presentation that was not necessary at all.
Keep track and compare notes with your colleagues at the end of each meeting. Discuss alternative methods of sharing before meeting again. Perhaps you can agree to share telepathically or olfactorily (I know, it's not a word but I know a guy who can do it.). Stretch yourself creatively: maybe you can lead the team to new and innovative ways of sharing that don't require the out.