when schools focus on the wrong things (from a teacher)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, I was in a meeting about a week before school let out for winter break. We have a particular set of meetings once a month for 2 hours which I think are a waste of time. I bluntly came out right then and there in the meeting and stated that while I agreed with the end goal of the meeting, that the way we were going about it left most of us feeling like we were wasting time and I actually said, "This is really boring and a waste of time" in the meeting. The admin in charge, who I truly love and respect, kindly said, "Yeah, some of you already know exactly what to do, but to be honest, we as admins simply don't have the capacity to differentiate these PD's".

I've thought long and hard about going to that same admin and seeing if we could brainstorm a way to make use of our time in a way that makes more sense. But that would mean signing myself up for MORE work. I'm already at MY capacity for hours at work. I have no more time to give without stealing my time with my family and I'm done doing that. So, I feel like I just have to accept another 2 years worth of once a month meetings that are a complete and total loss for me and many of my colleagues. Better than losing MORE time and seeing my own children even less than I do know.

I'm not tenured in this district and I already have a reputation for saying the things no one else will say. I know each time I do, I take the risk of being fired at the end of the year. That's slightly terrifying to me, as I love my work outside of stupid meetings and we need my salary. But I'm terrible at hiding how I feel and what I think. At the same time, I've been doing this long enough now to know that pretty much nothing I say is going to make a difference. It is very frustrating.

Yes, you WOULD be fired at the end of the year for this at my school. I'm not saying that what you said was incorrect, but I'm shocked that you seem to think speaking like this to a "higher up" in a meeting, in front of other people, is appropriate.

THIS is why we have all these problems in the first place - a culture which insists that teachers should never express any opinion that is not 100% positive, bright, cheery, and completely supportive of whatever idiotic things comes down the pipeline. We are supposed to be robotic and never think critically - what a joke, when teachers are supposed to teach critical thinking but aren't permitted to practice it. When everyone just goes along with everything regardless of what their professional knowledge tells them, that's when we have a system where teacher time is routinely wasted and teachers have no voice. It's not disrespectful to be a professional and voice an opinion - it's disrespectful to believe that professionals shouldn't have any opinions.

See, here's the thing: you say that "it's not disrespectful to be a professional and voice an opinion", and I agree with this, but I think you are absolutely wrong in failing to distinguish between a professional way of voicing the opinion from what you did: "I bluntly came out right then and there in the meeting and stated that while I agreed with the end goal of the meeting, that the way we were going about it left most of us feeling like we were wasting time and I actually said, 'This is really boring and a waste of time' in the meeting." The professional way to communicate your ideas would have been to schedule a meeting (or even drop by the office) of your administrator to discuss your ideas about the meeting material/format. It was NOT professional to "bluntly cme out right then and there in the meeting" and announce that "This is really boring and a waste of time" in the meeting. You were unprofessional and rude. Your administrator is not going to respect you for this kind of behavior, and this is not the way to voice your opinion. You could/should have found a respectful, professional way to communicate dissatisfaction/suggestions to your administrator. Professional delivery of ideas will result in better results, always. No one respects a person who rudely blurts out ANYTHING the way you did, in the context in which you made your announcement.

Here's a tip: I've seen many teachers believe that "taking a stand" (by risking their jobs via rash/rude/unprofessional behavior) will "make a difference", but...while the drama makes a splash at the time, 1. other teachers/admin are not impressed by unprofessional behavior, no matter the message, and 2. after you are fired, you will NOT be going out in a blaze of glory as someone whose actions make admin decide to change policy: teachers who are fired or leave in a fit of pique are forgotten very quickly, and they do not make any difference at all. Dead Poets Society is a movie, OP. Real life doesn't work like that, and on one is going to stand on their desks in admiration to watch you go after you decided to mouth off in a rude, unprofessional way in the middle of a meeting.

I suggest you schedule a meeting with your admin and arrive prepared to speak respectfully, with suggestions for solutions to what you see as problems. THIS is the professional way to voice an opinion.

[Anonymous]

I'm the parent that someone doesn't like and I agree with the poster above. Yes there are ways as demonstrated above that teachers can be listened to. I also think there are things that could actually be discussed in a meeting and not just one on one but in a more professional way. Typically it takes many people saying the same thing to make any change. Teachers are the most abundant job in America, have a union, and are in demand. They can enact change but just have to do so professionally and use their voice in unison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, I was in a meeting about a week before school let out for winter break. We have a particular set of meetings once a month for 2 hours which I think are a waste of time. I bluntly came out right then and there in the meeting and stated that while I agreed with the end goal of the meeting, that the way we were going about it left most of us feeling like we were wasting time and I actually said, "This is really boring and a waste of time" in the meeting. The admin in charge, who I truly love and respect, kindly said, "Yeah, some of you already know exactly what to do, but to be honest, we as admins simply don't have the capacity to differentiate these PD's".

I've thought long and hard about going to that same admin and seeing if we could brainstorm a way to make use of our time in a way that makes more sense. But that would mean signing myself up for MORE work. I'm already at MY capacity for hours at work. I have no more time to give without stealing my time with my family and I'm done doing that. So, I feel like I just have to accept another 2 years worth of once a month meetings that are a complete and total loss for me and many of my colleagues. Better than losing MORE time and seeing my own children even less than I do know.

I'm not tenured in this district and I already have a reputation for saying the things no one else will say. I know each time I do, I take the risk of being fired at the end of the year. That's slightly terrifying to me, as I love my work outside of stupid meetings and we need my salary. But I'm terrible at hiding how I feel and what I think. At the same time, I've been doing this long enough now to know that pretty much nothing I say is going to make a difference. It is very frustrating.

Yes, you WOULD be fired at the end of the year for this at my school. I'm not saying that what you said was incorrect, but I'm shocked that you seem to think speaking like this to a "higher up" in a meeting, in front of other people, is appropriate.

THIS is why we have all these problems in the first place - a culture which insists that teachers should never express any opinion that is not 100% positive, bright, cheery, and completely supportive of whatever idiotic things comes down the pipeline. We are supposed to be robotic and never think critically - what a joke, when teachers are supposed to teach critical thinking but aren't permitted to practice it. When everyone just goes along with everything regardless of what their professional knowledge tells them, that's when we have a system where teacher time is routinely wasted and teachers have no voice. It's not disrespectful to be a professional and voice an opinion - it's disrespectful to believe that professionals shouldn't have any opinions.

See, here's the thing: you say that "it's not disrespectful to be a professional and voice an opinion", and I agree with this, but I think you are absolutely wrong in failing to distinguish between a professional way of voicing the opinion from what you did: "I bluntly came out right then and there in the meeting and stated that while I agreed with the end goal of the meeting, that the way we were going about it left most of us feeling like we were wasting time and I actually said, 'This is really boring and a waste of time' in the meeting." The professional way to communicate your ideas would have been to schedule a meeting (or even drop by the office) of your administrator to discuss your ideas about the meeting material/format. It was NOT professional to "bluntly cme out right then and there in the meeting" and announce that "This is really boring and a waste of time" in the meeting. You were unprofessional and rude. Your administrator is not going to respect you for this kind of behavior, and this is not the way to voice your opinion. You could/should have found a respectful, professional way to communicate dissatisfaction/suggestions to your administrator. Professional delivery of ideas will result in better results, always. No one respects a person who rudely blurts out ANYTHING the way you did, in the context in which you made your announcement.

Here's a tip: I've seen many teachers believe that "taking a stand" (by risking their jobs via rash/rude/unprofessional behavior) will "make a difference", but...while the drama makes a splash at the time, 1. other teachers/admin are not impressed by unprofessional behavior, no matter the message, and 2. after you are fired, you will NOT be going out in a blaze of glory as someone whose actions make admin decide to change policy: teachers who are fired or leave in a fit of pique are forgotten very quickly, and they do not make any difference at all. Dead Poets Society is a movie, OP. Real life doesn't work like that, and on one is going to stand on their desks in admiration to watch you go after you decided to mouth off in a rude, unprofessional way in the middle of a meeting.

I suggest you schedule a meeting with your admin and arrive prepared to speak respectfully, with suggestions for solutions to what you see as problems. THIS is the professional way to voice an opinion.

I'm OP and I didn't write the post were responding to.

[Anonymous]

The only solution to these waste of time meetings is not to have them. Which will never happen. I'm the poster who said what we were doing was boring. Fwiw, I said it during the meeting where admins asked us straight out what we were thinking and feeling about the meetings. They wanted to know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the parent that someone doesn't like and I agree with the poster above. Yes there are ways as demonstrated above that teachers can be listened to. I also think there are things that could actually be discussed in a meeting and not just one on one but in a more professional way. Typically it takes many people saying the same thing to make any change. Teachers are the most abundant job in America, have a union, and are in demand. They can enact change but just have to do so professionally and use their voice in unison.

hahahahhahahaha!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, I was in a meeting about a week before school let out for winter break. We have a particular set of meetings once a month for 2 hours which I think are a waste of time. I bluntly came out right then and there in the meeting and stated that while I agreed with the end goal of the meeting, that the way we were going about it left most of us feeling like we were wasting time and I actually said, "This is really boring and a waste of time" in the meeting. The admin in charge, who I truly love and respect, kindly said, "Yeah, some of you already know exactly what to do, but to be honest, we as admins simply don't have the capacity to differentiate these PD's".

I've thought long and hard about going to that same admin and seeing if we could brainstorm a way to make use of our time in a way that makes more sense. But that would mean signing myself up for MORE work. I'm already at MY capacity for hours at work. I have no more time to give without stealing my time with my family and I'm done doing that. So, I feel like I just have to accept another 2 years worth of once a month meetings that are a complete and total loss for me and many of my colleagues. Better than losing MORE time and seeing my own children even less than I do know.

I'm not tenured in this district and I already have a reputation for saying the things no one else will say. I know each time I do, I take the risk of being fired at the end of the year. That's slightly terrifying to me, as I love my work outside of stupid meetings and we need my salary. But I'm terrible at hiding how I feel and what I think. At the same time, I've been doing this long enough now to know that pretty much nothing I say is going to make a difference. It is very frustrating.

Yes, you WOULD be fired at the end of the year for this at my school. I'm not saying that what you said was incorrect, but I'm shocked that you seem to think speaking like this to a "higher up" in a meeting, in front of other people, is appropriate.

THIS is why we have all these problems in the first place - a culture which insists that teachers should never express any opinion that is not 100% positive, bright, cheery, and completely supportive of whatever idiotic things comes down the pipeline. We are supposed to be robotic and never think critically - what a joke, when teachers are supposed to teach critical thinking but aren't permitted to practice it. When everyone just goes along with everything regardless of what their professional knowledge tells them, that's when we have a system where teacher time is routinely wasted and teachers have no voice. It's not disrespectful to be a professional and voice an opinion - it's disrespectful to believe that professionals shouldn't have any opinions.

See, here's the thing: you say that "it's not disrespectful to be a professional and voice an opinion", and I agree with this, but I think you are absolutely wrong in failing to distinguish between a professional way of voicing the opinion from what you did: "I bluntly came out right then and there in the meeting and stated that while I agreed with the end goal of the meeting, that the way we were going about it left most of us feeling like we were wasting time and I actually said, 'This is really boring and a waste of time' in the meeting." The professional way to communicate your ideas would have been to schedule a meeting (or even drop by the office) of your administrator to discuss your ideas about the meeting material/format. It was NOT professional to "bluntly cme out right then and there in the meeting" and announce that "This is really boring and a waste of time" in the meeting. You were unprofessional and rude. Your administrator is not going to respect you for this kind of behavior, and this is not the way to voice your opinion. You could/should have found a respectful, professional way to communicate dissatisfaction/suggestions to your administrator. Professional delivery of ideas will result in better results, always. No one respects a person who rudely blurts out ANYTHING the way you did, in the context in which you made your announcement.

Here's a tip: I've seen many teachers believe that "taking a stand" (by risking their jobs via rash/rude/unprofessional behavior) will "make a difference", but...while the drama makes a splash at the time, 1. other teachers/admin are not impressed by unprofessional behavior, no matter the message, and 2. after you are fired, you will NOT be going out in a blaze of glory as someone whose actions make admin decide to change policy: teachers who are fired or leave in a fit of pique are forgotten very quickly, and they do not make any difference at all. Dead Poets Society is a movie, OP. Real life doesn't work like that, and on one is going to stand on their desks in admiration to watch you go after you decided to mouth off in a rude, unprofessional way in the middle of a meeting.

I suggest you schedule a meeting with your admin and arrive prepared to speak respectfully, with suggestions for solutions to what you see as problems. THIS is the professional way to voice an opinion.

And if you have tried to do it this way at least a half dozen times already? What then? When you have colleagues quitting left and right because of it? (yep, we had 5 teachers walk out because of the district's inefficiency this year so far alone in a small district of about 5000 kids total) I've already been to the superintendent in private twice. I've been to the school board meetings a few times. No one will listen. My school's entire teaching staff stood up at a school board meeting, wearing all black, and gave a vote of no confidence to our entire central office. Honestly, I think I'm going to have to leave, because I'M being DISRESPECTED along with my students.

[Anonymous]

I retired from teaching a year ago. 35 years in the field and I can count on one hand the number of meetings a principal or central office admin led that was worth the time. Don't stress too much about meetings or you'll lose your mind. They are the worst part of the job, but only a small part of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It's no secret they are behind/below where they should be.

If you are a good teacher/educator, you should know that there is no such thing as "being behind where they should be". You're assuming that ALL kids in the same age group learn, say, math skills, at the same rate. We, as educators, have to advocate for a system that respects kid's different learning abilities and maturity levels. If a kid is "behind", it's not the kids' fault (or the teacher's), but the school system!