I let out quite a chuckle when I saw this picture. I’ve been there and I’ve made that face.
*Disclaimer* This blog is not meant to imply that teachers do not appreciate learning. It is also not intended to imply that we are ‘lazy’, ‘unprofessional’ or the like. We wouldn’t be in education if we didn’t appreciate its value. What we don’t appreciate is receiving the exact same training year after year. That’s not Professional Development. That’s insulting. As far as those looking for examples on what could be done during In-Service, please read my other blog entitled ‘Get on the Bus’. Any and all comments which use bad language, insult another who comments by name calling, etc. will not be posted. *
It got me to thinking…teachers are required to attend Inservice “training” before school. It’s always dreaded and I, personally, would rather have a cavity filled than sit 3 days in a hard wooden chair, rehashing the same things year after year after year after…you get the picture. What if teachers were in change of Inservice? What would we do away with if we could suggest anything and people in charge would listen? Ohhh, the possibilities…..
1. Please do not give us binders full of materials we will probably never use because YOU (the planner) attended a training and decided it was awesome. Honestly, just give us an empty binder. That’s what is going to happen anyway. We listen to your synopsis, trying our best not to roll our eyes or poke the person next to us, and then, when it’s over, in the hidden comfort of our room, we are going to throw away these copies and use the binder. Save a tree. Just give us the binder, say you went to a conference and let’s move on. Time saved: 1 hour.
2. Please do not read your PowerPoint presentation to us. At some point in time, we’ve all proven we are literate. Also, doubly, please do not put said PowerPoint presentation in aforementioned binder we will not use. Just don’t. Time saved: 30 minutes.
3. No, we do not want to change how we teach AGAIN because so and so came out with a new technique which looks familiarly like the one we used several years ago until a new technique came out and we used that. And for goodness sakes, please, please, we don’t need another laminated copy of Bloom’s taxonomy. Nope. Time saved: Up to a day. Literally.
4. I like my coworkers, and heck, I even love some that I’ve known a while, but I don’t want to hold yarn in a shape with them and throw a ball around until it falls through a hole. You REALLY want work place bonding? Break us into groups, give us a list of clues and tell us there’s a pay raise hidden somewhere on campus. Oh yeah, you’ll see some bonding, and some true colors come out. Time saved: 1 hour, We’re bonded and richer
5. What we despise? Really, really loathe. Think-Pair-Share = No. You know what’s going to happen? You think we’re sitting around talking about your binder, and your PowerPoint (in the binder) and how much we loved the yarn activity, when really, we’re talking about where we’re going to for lunch. You can call on us and we’ll make something up on the fly that sounds relevant if you need us to do that. We’re teachers, remember? We are experts of thinking off the cuff. We’re still throwing away your binder, and now we know we’re having Mexican food for lunch. You can’t come. Time saved: 30 minutes.
6. Why ask us what the Campus Mission Statement and goals should be if the Mission Statement and goals have not changed in 20 years? Hand us a copy, we’ll grunt in agreement, and we’re done. Please don’t give us a copy and ask us to Think-Pair-Share with the group about these things. We care about as much as the students care that the floors are waxed. Time saved: At least an hour.
7. We know you want us to get into the groove ASAP with our ISPs and our plans for those in DAEP and ISS. We see we have scheduled ARDs or have paperwork on students that have a BIP. We also need to look at our STAAR scores, but the 411 is that we are A-OK with actually saying the words. Time saved: Not really applicable, but at least everyone can keep up with what’s being said.
And last, but not least…
8. We are not statisticians. Some of us may be able to do statistics under threat, but what we really want to know, in caveman speak even, is ‘You do good’ or ‘You do bad’. That’s it. We are relatively easy to please. Please do not hand us copies of every single test ever taken in the last 15 years and ask us to create and graph the distribution. This is when we suddenly get an ‘urgent’ phone call, or stomach troubles. (By the way, we’re all hanging out in the bathroom, rolling our eyes, heavily sighing, and walking very, very slowly). Time saved: 1 hour
marvelous teacher musings 
To the Administrators who have descended from the clouds to chastise us: “you can listen as well as you hear.” The majority of these comments (as well as the intent of the original post) is a plea for meaningful in service, not a mashup of a book you read or a PowerPoint you downloaded from a seminar. You were listening to what most commentators said: if the only in service we received was what was outlined above, please just let us go to our rooms and *plan* with our co-workers….not once did we mention interior decorate. PLC is a world away from a “before school begins” in service. It involves reviewing data from our students once we receive them. We’re talking about the kumbaya moments before school begins. The teachers at our school last year had constant PLC meetings with no time *ever* for personal planning, parent contact or collaboration. They were told what to say at what time of the day and constantly berated. Our elementary school was also filled with violence from our students towards staff and their peers with zero discipline plan (and if we did a write up, the teacher was on a growth plan: “Handle it in your room. Don’t call us.”) Still, the vast majority of our teachers fought with their entire being to maintain their passion for teaching despite zero support and backup from administration. Sadly, many of the observations made by DR and Tripp sound eerily familiar. We’ve heard them restated in so many ways during staff meetings after District personnel leaves and the fake smiles go away: “You suck as teachers…..where is your passion? Maybe this school isn’t for you.” It wasn’t…and I am blessed to be in a wonderful new school with, I hope, administrators who remember what it feels like to be in the classroom. The countless hugs I receive every day, and the decade of fabulous success my former students have earned is really all the support I need….but just once, it would be so great if an Administrator would put down this month’s new and improved teaching book and talk to us as colleagues and valuable people.
Amen!!! X 1000
Sent from my iPhone
Can you send this to my email. I’d like to share it with our board and staff. Thanks! Tarmstrong@caddo.k12.la.us
I don’t know who you are, Ace, but suffice it to say that there is sooooo much truth in the article as well as your reply – I don’t know when any of the ‘ bureaucrats’ who are in charge of the public education system but they can’t possibly have been teachers & for our administration to actually embrace it all as if they themselves were never in a classroom is ludicrous! I love my job but the BS (and I don’t mean as in ‘degree’) is killing me!!
I love both the blog and this reply! it rings so true… We want to get in our rooms set up for our students. The time for professional development and data analysis comes when we have questions about what is not working with THIS group of children, and when we have collected data on THIS group of children.
Thank you!!! I hate to say it, but I left teaching because of all this “crap” 😦 – my health is more important!
Oh how I wish those in the (Belize) Ministry of Education, schools’ board of management as well as some administrator(principals and vice principals) could read this. Hopefully they would then be able to understand teachers frustration when it comes to these yearly CPD programs. I’ve been sitting through the same thing over and over for so many years. Lord help us teachers.
I shared this on facebook. One of my assistant principals found it hilarious and shared it with our head principal, who used parts of it in our in-service today. They share this pet peeve as well. We have an awesome set of administrators — we are blessed. Oh — I’m at a high school in Kentucky.
This is an awesome post!! I really was laughing out loud and thought to myself ‘does this person teach in my district!?’
I agree, and no matter where you teach, we all work in the same district. Very interesting…
I’m not a teacher. I’m a retired nurse, but you could have been describing our staff meetings and any in service, excepting only those things specific to teaching. Enjoyed it! I always said, “I’ll work a double if I don’t have to go to in service!”
I didn’t hit my spacebar between in and service, but my FB seems to have spellcheck, for some reason!
I was actually thinking about what our back to school meetings and trainings would look like just yesterday. I was trying to think of what would a really meaningful and helpful meeting look like?… What if every teacher had 30 seconds to speak? 30 seconds to give their best teaching advice, or tell their biggest need, ask for help in a certain area or offer their expertise. To truly hear each other and give a voice to the administration? Maybe?
Oh, but see – that didn’t come from a seminar or a paid speaker, so obviously, that kind of knowledge is suspicious. Because, you know, being in the trenches and all couldn’t POSSIBLY give teachers any sort of, I don’t know, knowledge, wisdom, insight, foresight, or anything like that.
That kind of subersive conversation must take place “out behind the barn.”
You are so funny & correct, Cheri!
I think that is a great idea to have teachers share their ideas of what has worked in the past. Or instead of doing three days of inservice, meet some of the kids who will be having them that might benefit from spending time with the teacher without everyone else around. I had my son’s kindergarten teacher call me prior to school starting and was totally comfortable that she could meet his needs. He is on the autism spectrum. That is more important than an inservice to me.
Oh and please don’t use a Prezi instead of a Powerpoint to wow us! It isn’t better because the text flies out at us. Sometimes I miss the typewriter sound and applause of an old powerpoint.
Peppering presentations with educational cartoons and/or video clips from The Office don’t help either.
I read your post and all of the comments and found myself saddened, but at the same time, found truth in much of what was said on both sides of the fence. Like one commenter, I was hoping to glean the “whats” of what good in-service professional learning experiences would look like. I didn’t mind the “dont’s” (and that was helpful), but was hoping you would balance that with some things positives you would recommend. The #edchat PLN on Twitter recently discussed what good PD model would look like (“What would a successful model of professional development for educators look like? – http://goo.gl/57ECZe), and the #caedchat did as well (no archive available), and I was encouraged by what educators had to share. The focus wasn’t on the “Before School In-service” training, but on professional learning and taking charge of that. I believe that if administrators would take the time to ask what works best for teachers and treat them like professionals who are lifelong learners, there would be better results. Perhaps that would translate into better time spent in professional learning even before school starts.
I’m a technology coordinator, who taught for 9 years (college, K-8) and love connecting with teachers. I’ve been trying to beat the drum for more teacher-driven professional learning, and it’s been hard to get that to move with the pressure admins. feel around the change with the CCSS and the rapid changes in the digital world we all live in. In spite of that, I try to stay optimistic and encourage both teachers and admins. to focus on developing professional learning plans. Take charge of your own learning and share it!
I’m also of the mind that a culture of learning communities are important – teacher-driven – working on improving teacher practice for students. Some of that may be district/state initiatives (i.e. Common Core SS, etc.). Some structure is helpful and norms I’ve found are good for keeping the PLC on track. But the key is that it should be a place that teachers can be connected learners, who learn from each other and support each other in their work. Thanks for bringing to us some food for thought.
The most useful and memorable trainings in 25 years of teaching from elementary to secondary level were those that added to skill sets needed for THAT year’s student and/or curriculum success, particularly ones that met several times throughout the year. Planning that led into production with relevant lesson tools was top of the list. The most useful workshop ever was one in which the instructor put me on-line with a list of amazing resources, gave me 2 hours to check out ones best suited for my subject. Having been notified weeks in advance to bring a topic or lesson to develop, I then spent the afternoon making a set of lessons from daily instruction on through to a test. Some teachers chose to divide the lesson making jobs. Others chose to work in pairs or alone. The second most potentially successful training was NOT because the setting was unsuccessful. The goal was to teach uses of 2 new computer programs by ‘walking’ the learners through the steps, trouble shooting and taking notes on the ppt slide hand out as we went. The instructor didn’t make sure the room was ready for this type of hands on teaching and we lost 2 hours while the tech guys worked on it. The instructor was also not able to manage a group of 30 people and was quickly shanghaied by the loudest couple of squeaky wheels in the group. The rest were left to muddle through the handout and ask each other questions as best we could. Many of us had to go to our campus administrator all year to get help with one of the testing programs due to that instructor’s lack of classroom management skills. She finally spent an afternoon training a couple of teachers so they could help manage the problem created by the paid ‘drive by’ professional. Administrators who choose relevant training and monitor said are the first critical step. Another is the sorting of teacher groups into sessions most needed by THOSE staff members and then following up on the adjustments and lessons they were supposed to apply to their jobs. I was lucky in my career to have had supportive administrators who visited classrooms frequently and were proactive regarding the changes in curriculum and state requirements.
P.S. I am a big fan of common core curriculum and teacher accountability. Too many of my colleagues just collected the same $$ for doing too little to prepare students and in doing that added to the problems faced by next year’s teachers and classroom/student groups.
“I’ve been trying to beat the drum for more teacher-driven professional learning,”- YES a drum circle!!!!!
an hour of YOGA
a Tai Chi class
A book discussion group
a 30 minute WALK
a 30 minute strength training session
Some of the best trainings I’ve attended have been technology related–the ones that give us hands-on training for new AT tools, to check out new websites, use new software and to create new lessons and/or update current plans.
Thanks for sharing! I appreciate that you addressed both teacher thoughts and those of the people who do the trainings. We are all in this together and if something is broken, we need to fix it for the good of the students. Great thoughts!
Hm … we hate think-pair-share so much, yet we make our students do it all day long.
Good point!
That’s a good point! Students probably hate it and find it a time-waster, just like the adults do.
I don’t do a whole lot of think-pair-share…it IS in fact a waste of time, and the kids do EXACTLY what we do when WE are told to think-pair-share. They visit, and discuss anything other than what we want them to.
They most certainly do…which is why I don’t use it. If it doesn’t work for me, it was be hypocritical of me to assume it works for them. 🙂
Only because admin expects to see it when they deign to visit the classroom.
The students hate it, too!!!
Can’t believe I put up with this for 35 years. The love of the students literally pulled me through. Please, please, please people – go into education for the right reason – loving and communicating with kids. Walk beside them and quit putting yourself on a pedestal and forgetting why you went into the profession anyway. Don’t even get me started on the way too many administrative positions who seem to look down on the worker bees like they’ve never been there before. Remember it’s the teachers and counselors and staff that allow you to keep your job. I can’t remember the last time I felt truly respected. I shutter – but I’m out now and I can finally breathe and remember only the good times and the remarkable students and parents that kept me hanging on. God love them every one and I wish I could have seen every one of them through.
Some administrators have “never been there before”. Some went from student teaching to assistant principal in just five years. What real classroom experience do they even have?
Or less 😦
Amen!! I taught for 30 years and loved when I could close my door, or open it on a beautiful day for that matter..and teach. I agree with you whole heartedly, and would like to say that a rule of thumb for me was that the poor and/ or bored teachers generally went into administration. There is so much life and passion to be found in teaching, there’s never a need to be elsewhere on campus.
Amen! Let he teachers teach.
Reblogged this on Thoughts on Education in Australia and commented:
Wow, so true it is SCARY
Hilarious. Thank you!
How about just giving us time to get our classrooms set up for the first day? That way I don’t have to spend 5 days of my summer,copying materials, hooking up classroom electronics, preparing lessons for the first week and organizing/finishing everything that I couldn’t get to in June because I was busy with the minutia of analyzing my student learning objectives.
Amen and hallelujah! Heaven forbid teachers would be able to work in their classrooms. I sometimes feel we are treated like children with too much free time.
Amen! Heaven forbid you sneak in a phone call you weren’t supposed to be making on school time. Not to mention eat a twinkie!!!!! No, thou must spend every single minute on inservice time listening to idiots who have not been in the class room in 5 years but have lots of new research to share with us soldiers of cross!
Amen! A trillion times Amen!
YES! I so totally agree. Every year they give us a classroom day and by the time August rolls around, it mysteriously becomes full of meetings!! grrr
Can I get an A-men!
Oooh, you hit the nail on the head. I’ll start my day with a smile. An earlier comment requested ideas for inservices. Technology and materials I can actually use in my classroom. A general SmartBoard quick run through does me diddly. But, a 30 minute session with fellow teachers who use my curriculum in which we look for and share and practice using actual SmartBoard games and activities… bazinga. Or, time to sit with fellow teachers who teach the same curriculum, let us divide up a couple of units. I can share what I created for unit 2. Bob can share what he created for unit 8. Joan can share what she found for unit 3. Suddenly we all have different resources and ideas and feel refreshed.
Just using the word “inservice” sends a strong message. If a district is still describing a professional learning as “inservice” everyone is in trouble. That word went out in the 80s…..
The driving question….What will have the biggest impact on teacher effectiveness that results in student learning? We might want to analyze our beliefs/principle around change and adult learning. What do we believe about learning in general? What does implementation look like? Is change a process of an event? Does it happen in isolation?
What do you think about Roland Barth’s take on Learning Communities where educators are……
•Talking with one another about our practices
•Sharing our craft knowledge
•Observing one another while we are engaged in our practice
•Rooting for one another’s success
Your thoughts?
I think that Learning Communities is a wonderful idea. Teachers discuss the students and help each other to learn how to deal with certain problems. Best idea, I ever heard.
You think changing the word changes what it actually is? YOU are part of the problem.
I would love to have training where we share and learn from one another. I would also like trainings more related to my teaching field. That is usually hit or miss. The main point I tried to make with this post is that something isn’t working. Learning from one another is extremely valuable and I would love to see more of that.
I’ve been in the school business for a VERY LONG TIME. I’ve been on both the receiving and sending end of whatever you want to call staff development or professional development or Professional Learning Communities… see, I pay attention and even learn the new terms. But I’m just like you, I don’t want to sit for hours on my end and have the same old same old said and said again and again! Tell me what I need and move on. I love you for what you do.
How about skipping the time you spent preparing for the inservice, and just get us an accurate class schedule and class lists sometime before the morning of the first day of school? Also, meet somewhere outside so we can watch summer recede into fluorescent lights more gradually. Free food and an open bar would probably sweeten the deal, too.
Amen
I really wish administration would treat the teachers like their students. As teachers, we are expected to know our students and their needs. We are expected to plan accordingly and provide reteaching or enrichment as needed based on data. Yet year after year, I attend whole group training that barely even begins to address my needs. Even if there are break out groups, it’s rarely based on actual data on teacher needs. Usually it’s just a mish mash of different workshops teachers have attended and have to ‘bring back’. Administrators should be required to know their quartiles and their teachers at an introductory level and plan trainings accordingly. Believe it or not, even among adult groups, there’s a lower quartile with specific needs as well as an enrichment group with VASTLY different needs. Don’t treat us all the same!
I got a good laugh and a good scare out of this. You see, I’ve been hired to do the first day’s inservice for a local school and while planning I have actually struggled with the question of: How do I avoid doing all these things? Unfortunately its virtually impossible to avoid them all. I guess I’ll just be prepared for rolling eyeballs – I’m very familiar with those. I have also been the victim of incessant chatter on the part of my participants – WHILE I’M TALKING! I’m not buying anyone binders because I know what they’ll do with them. I have to read my powerpoint, otherwise I’ll forget what I was going to say because everyone is rolling their eyeballs or chatting with one another about where to go for lunch and making me VERY nervous! At some point I have to trust that teachers are professionals and if they actually listen for a minute or two they might learn something. I wish I could raise their pay and turn every one of their students into brilliant, perfect angels, but I can’t. From someone who has been on both sides of this situation: Laugh and I’ll laugh with you, be the professional I know you are and we’ll get along fine.
Good luck! You’ll do great!
If people are talking WHILE YOU’RE TALKING, it means they are bored to death and you have been talking too long. If you are reading a PowerPoint to them, that is why they are bored to death. When administration does our walk throughs, we are graded on student engagement. We are expected to have all of our students paying attention and actively engaged in every lesson. If they aren’t paying attention, if even one person is talking, etc, we are marked down. I try my best to give speakers my full attention, but often it is almost impossible because they drone on and on. Typical: “We’ll break at 12:00 for lunch, but you have to be back here by 12:45” and even though we are all staring at the clock, the speaker blabs on past 12:05, 12:10… Really? If I ever speak, I always give lots of break time, end a little early, etc.
I’m in the same position. I’ve been asked to present on PLN’s. The admins. vision is for them to develop an online PLN, while I would settle for them to connect with other teachers on their sites/district, and begin reading some blogs as part of their prof. learning. I’m the Tech. Coordinator for our district and have 8 years of K-8 teaching experience (recent). I love connecting with teachers and I’m active on Twitter, Google+, etc. Last spring, I did an extensive Tech. Survey and found most wanted PERSONALIZED professional learning, which I love doing, to balance the “Event-style” learning for Common Core, etc. It’s relevant and sustainable, in contrast to what I call the “Spray and pray” methods of PD – the “Event” style learning events that have no mechanism for process learning (shared learning over time with other educators – face to face and online). I’m working on a template to assist them in developing a professional learning plan to help them take ownership of their learning needs, and let admin. know what is most meaningful for them. If someone hasa something like that I can share, I’d love to see it 🙂
I will do some jigsaw activities, plus hands-on professional learning that are “initiative” proof and teachers can OWN. I’m hoping to keep it crisp and quick, and let them be in charge of several aspects of the process. I have personal connections with many of the teachers, so I’m hoping they will cut me some slack as I speak about my own journey of learning and share some things that have been helpful for me as a connected learner, and just mostly be an encouragement and not leave with them feeling like I’m putting them down. My job is to serve and equip and encourage.
This is a very funny post and it is totally true.
This is awesome. Completely wonderful.
Ohhhhh Myyyyy Worrrrrd! This is soooo TRUE it’s scarey!!!! I love Wendystuck’s reply…and everyone’s! I may be subbing now but I see what every teacher I sub for goes through and hear how they feel, which echos how I felt when teaching full time. I also have to keep up with “the latest” in order to do a good job for the teachers I temporarily replace, which requires…you guessed it…INSERVICE! Ha! I’m only as good as the last teacher I subbed for.
Come be a follower,
Confusion everywhere,
Sell your soul for a test,
Sanity…. say goodbye~
#1 reminds me of the year I was pregnant with my daughter. I was 1 week from my due date and the new guy in charge of staff development came over from admin for a meeting after school. I finished standing on dismissal duty and waddled into the library. The staff devo director stopped me and asked where my EMPTY Directions of Learning binder was. When I said it was in my room, he sent me to get it, “You’ve got to have you DOL binder!” I waddled all the way down to the opposite end of the building and back to get the binder. FINALLY, I sit down about the time he begins. “Hi, I’m ‘John Smith’ and I am the new director of staff development for the district. I just wanted to come by and tell you that this is a notebook. You can put your notes in it.” Yes folks, that was all he had to say. He didn’t even give us notes to but in the stupid thing! Then, I had to waddle all the way to the opposite end of the building to put the stupid, empty notebook away before coming back passed the library again on the way to my car. I remember wondering if he thought we were all unsure of what to do with a notebook and he felt like he should clear that up for us so there was no confusion.
For all the admins trolling for ideas on inservice training: The best training I ever received was conducted by two veteran educators in my content area who compiled 101 Tips, Tricks, and Techniques that worked in their classrooms. They shared handouts, lesson plans, content and technology links, ways to seamlessly implement Common Core, classroom management strategies, and even organizational and decorating tips in an informal, small-group session with plenty of time allowed for Q&A and sharing of our own best practices. They did not waste time with any of the cutesy Think-Pair-Share nonsense or the trendy “research-based” techniques that only work in theory; instead, they gave us real-world, practical, tried-and-true techniques that we could walk away with and immediately use in our classrooms. We were absolutely engaged and none of us wanted the session to end. If my school/system offered that kind of useful training, I’d rush to be first in line for preplanning.
They can also check out my recent post called ‘Get on the bus’.
I was a classroom teacher for 30 years and an administrator for 10. My favorite thing to do as an administrator was workshops. We played games that could be used in the classroom in all different subject areas, and we did cooperative activities such as the jigsaw to learn new material. Inservicen is almost always boring if it is not applicable to your subject area (secondary teachers), so grouping teachers by subject area and teaching specific techniques geared toward that subject, especially when taught by teachers themselves, is much more fun and useful than receiving a notebook full of transparencies or slides from a power point that have been read to you by someone while you fantasize about lunch. If you want teachers to enjoy their inservice activites, let them help plan them and participate in them in ways that help them do a better job in class or at least keep them from being bored and feeling that their time is being wasted! Been there, felt that! Good luck in the new school year from a retired teacher who loved kids!
Gail, you are amazing. THIS is what we should be doing — useful things that actually utilize some learning strategies. Not, I repeat NOT, doing what any administrator would chastise us for — completely ignoring the differing needs of our audience.
Thanks for sharing! Sounds like fun!
I am laughing so hard the tears are flowing and my 10 month old grandson is looking at me in confusion! So many true observations…I feel your pain when it comes to professional development!
You must have worked in my school.
This made me smile. No more power point reading aloud.
Sometimes I sit and think if these people (admin) ever taught.
Hooray for teachers! This started out as a hilarious editorial and now has evolved into constructive suggestions. That’s how we roll!
Inservice/PD/workshop days (what’s in a name?) at our school are likewise dreaded events. I’ve always liked the breakout session approach of the type used at conferences, 4-5 tables with different topics for teachers to choose the topic they want/need to improve. It’s more difficult with small numbers of people but that should also allow for more in depth discussions. The most productive part of every education conference I’ve ever been to has been the small group discussions and networking with fellow teachers that occurs beyond the formal presentations.
The day could start with small groups coming up with ideas for topics then coming together for general discussion. Save the final vote for later in the day to provide more time for everyone to consider the ideas, especially during lunch when folks can discuss things with their friends and perhaps refine the topics. Admins could guide or limit the topics if there were certain ones they felt must be covered (maybe something they learned at admin training over the summer!) Administrative issues could be presented in the meantime: changes in attendance procedures, lunch tickets, new parking- you know the stuff. Once topics are determined and teachers select a group they can meet before dismissal to determine a plan for research. Everyone has something to bring back the following day (admins can bring their info, too!) The group meets again to share info and determine the most useful parts to share with the whole faculty. The whole process could be completed in one day if necessary but I’m a big believer in letting our brains work on things while we sleep. I’d like it even better to have a ‘work in your classroom day’ in between to give more time for thought and two nights to sleep on it! That might be stretching it since teachers also don’t take kindly to losing another day of their summer.
Agreed! Sometimes we are afraid to acknowledge that something isn’t working for fear of being labeled as not a team player (I’ve received those emails in the past 2 days). The whole point is: Professional Development is supposed to be relevant to teachers and HELP them do a better job. I’ve been to maybe 4 workshops that have done this. We all love learning, but we want it to be applicable.
I just finished my second year of teaching and one thing I have never seen covered in any training I’ve had (not even my Masters in Teaching degree) is how to efficiently track student progress. The closest thing to data tracking I’ve been exposed to is the pre-test/post-test. Yet, at the end of the last school year, the principal asked for our data tracking student development. If it’s something the administration wants me to do, I would be happy to do it, but first, teach me how to do it in a manner that doesn’t devour my limited time for planning.
Wow! Frustrating!
As a student in college looking back on my years of public schooling, I can honestly say that a lot of these “don’ts” are used very often by a large number of teachers. In my high school year advanced classes I had much better teachers who didn’t use these, but in lower/general classes, so many teachers read from Powerpoints, handed out copies of paper(usually gotten from somewhere else and not the teacher’s originally), and had students get in groups to discuss(when there wasn’t much to actually discuss about the subject). I loved school, but the classes like this were ridiculously boring and I really didn’t learn as much from them.
I just found it very interesting to see that a lot of teachers seem to agree with these things about their sessions, but from my personal experience, there have been a lot of teachers using the same methods that the author of this article despises. Now, I’m not saying that all teachers are hypocrites and do this, because I know there are a good number that don’t(like my advanced classes teachers), but I do want people to realize that many teachers do use these methods.
For well said. Just as this type of training is ineffective for us, it would do well for us to remember that the same can be said of its effectiveness for our students. Thanks!
Teachers would like to be heard, but when we say what we think, we’re told that we have a bad attitude, or that we’re not a team player. How about making us part of the team?
Thankfully, educators at our district are presenters quite often. Everything is changing this year, and required. However, those presenting went with it last year, and are presenting what they learned and know. Another reason, it does save money, as we are a property-poor district. Our curriculum superintendent feels that when you have so many good educators in-house, why look elsewhere? Yes, we have outside presenters, but I find our in-district personnel know our needs and address those concerns. I am very thankful for that. I have presented myself on occasion over the years.
Consider this. As trained educators we already have so much knowledge and experience amongst ourselves. Use it. In short bursts so that the perspective changes often. Regular opportunities to meet and discuss issues in professional learning communities is one of the most useful trainings available. I write this at 5 am before I head off in the car for two hours driving to another T&D session on mentoring.
I think my biggest problem with teacher in-services of any sort is that with all the talk of individualizing instruction and project-based learning, etc., I rarely see any of this actually implemented! Everyone is thrown into the same mix, no matter their current knowledge set. I am a newer teacher, which means I have no problem reviewing some rules that might be different for me, etc. However, if you try to stick me for a chair for an hour to try to tech me to use Gmail, I WILL be rolling my eyes for AT LEAST 45 minutes of that. Seriously?! Seriously?! And, as stated above, I can skim info far faster than you can present it. Give me 5 minutes to look over your 45-min presentation, we can ask some questions at the end, or even do an activity with it and wham, we’re done in 20 minutes. Yay!
This really make me want to go back to teaching!! OMG!
My biggest observation lately has been, “Do they teach students the way they teach us?” If yes, they need to find another career. Administration would have all of our heads on a platter if we taught our children the way they do inservice. Just give me the bottom line and let me work in my room!!
We expect teachers to differentiate for students but it is rare that this happens in professional development, especially beginning the year.
S’funny, these same things, for the most part, are also used in the corporate world when we have team-builders or training unrelated to our jobs. All the while our jobs are measured with all sorts of metrics that have precious little to do with our actual jobs. I blame Six Sigma.
This also reminds me of one of the many reasons I never finished my student teaching…
Exactly! Check the Dilbert comic strip. I’m amazed at how many of the topics can be applied to schools and education: boring, ineffective meetings, meetings on things that could be in an email, jargon, supervisors telling you how to do your job when they spent little or no time in the position, and most of the things above (like reading powerpoints, etc)
One year my principal, bless her heart, had us spend an hour listening to some book on CD. It was a book on teaching strategies and it came with that glorious CD of it being read, word for word. We didn’t have a copy of the book. Just listening, in uncomfortable chairs, no tables to lay head down. It was during this hour that many of us developed intestinal issues and had to excuse ourselves to the bathroom. Because we do love our principal, we did strongly suggest to her never to make us do that again. That could have been an hour spent in my classroom preparing for the new year. And no one remembers the name of the book.
On another note, I swear if I have to attend one more in service instructing me on how to do running records or use dot cards in the classroom, I am going to totally lose it on someone.
Over twenty years of teaching, I have gone to a few inservices that were of value in some way. One was for training for the new grading and attendance system we would be using, and that was both important and a good use of time. Another was as someone else mentioned, veteran teachers who shared tips and tricks. Experiences from the field, from very capable and effective teachers. Everything else was forgettable at the best, boring, irritating, and even demeaning at the worst. I once had a principal who started our year with our first inservice by going over the test scores of our high school from the year before, pointing out all of the flaws, failures, and THEN he became very accusing as he stated: “Do not EVER let the color of a student’s skin make you think he can’t learn, or change the way you teach him. We are going to be looking very carefully at failures this year, so all of your students must achieve! If we see more of your black kids with failing grades in comparison to your white students, you can bet that you will be put on notice.” Our black students (boys especially) were lagging in math and English, and I’m sure he was catching the wrath from the superintendent. But I have never been more insulted in my life. How dare he assume that any of us would look at a kid and decide that they weren’t teachable. I wanted to storm out, I was so mad. It just so happened that that particular grade level had math and English problems throughout… not just the black male students. They happened to have been labeled “the bad class” by their previous middle school and elementary teachers, because they had had a lot of discipline issues and poor grades throughout their school years. But we frequently would hear things like that in high school, from previous teachers, (“Oh, just you wait until you get THIS year’s 8th graders!” ) and then find that the kids were finally maturing and giving up some of their rowdy ways. MIddle school teachers would be astonished that “x,y, z” kids had done okay or even well, and weren’t being sent to the office very day. It just felt so demoralizing for him to lecture us as if we were biased, uninterested teachers. And it made me doubly mad because some of my absolute highest achievers every year were black, or Hispanic… so it just made him look like an idiot. However, I think a lot of principals are driven to idiocy by the everloving focus on those numbers, numbers, numbers and all of the breakdowns by male/ female, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, Hawaiian, etc. Fix it! Fix it! And fix it NOW!
As far as the team things and the games… some of them are fun, but mostly
pointless.Really, if I wanted to learn about how much I have in common with my colleagues by being grouped into “how many have traveled outside the U.S.?” and then run to another group for “How many have family in the military?” I would talk to them. Which we do when we ever get a chance! Some of my most regrets at the end of the school year are always how little time I got to spend just talking with my fellow teachers. But back to the games, it’s so much better than listening to someone drone on endlessly, boring us to tears.
Another embarrassing and unnecessary comment from an inservice leader was when he deliberately pointed out a teacher n the back and told him to put his newspaper away. He was treating us like kids. If we want to multi task and grade papers while in some inservice that has been recycled, reworded, and relabeled as the newest, greatest most whiz bang thing ever, we are professionals and should not be told how to manage our attention or lack thereof. I don’t insult my own high school kids that way. If they can get my work done in Spanish, while doing a math assignment simultaneously, more power to them. We all know some kids work faster than others. Why should the fast ones sit and twiddle their thumbs, or do things to irritate us, while we all wait for the slower ones to catch up? Doesn’t make sense to me in my own classroom, and sure doesn’t make sense in and inservice. Some of my brightest and best students would whip out a book the minute they finished an assignment, waiting for my next direction. That’s why I read the whole Bella and Edward vampire books; I just had to see why half my girls were so engrossed. The boys couldn’t figure it out either, but they wouldn’t read the books.
With that being said, however, I will say that it annoys me when teachers start
chatting it up while the speaker is doing his thing. For shame. We want our kids to be quiet and listen to us, and we all know how unnerving it is when they just blatantly keep on yakking. So please, be professional and do not do this to the speaker.I I have seen teachers asked to stop talking during presentations and do you think it embarrasses them? No, that type most often feels entitled to talk when they want and they are insulted by being asked to be quiet. Very brassy / sassy. You could doodle, and write notes to each other instead. Some of my best artwork has been done during grating and draining inservices. We spent a lot of creative moments making fun of things very quietly on paper. At least we weren’t doing what the P.E. teachers at our school did at most humdrum faculty meetings and inservices. The coaches would sit in a group at the back, and eventually they would zing a few of us with a flipped, rolled up piece of paper. You would never know it came from them. When we turned around we faced “see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil” straight faces. But it was hilarious to see one of our anal, by the book teachers have a little paper ball hit the paper in front of them.
As far as teachers who leave the field to go into administration: it just seems that most eventually crater to the dark side. Very few actually help buck the system and really remember what it was like to be in the trenches. Most start speaking “administrationese,” that bland, one size fits all language that drives us all nuts. A perfect example is when my own children’s middle school, and all middle schools in the district, did away with honors classes. They would no longer group kids but would lump them all together, because, as they said: “If the little sparrows never fly with the eagles, they can never learn how to fly like an eagle.” Really? Eagles eat sparrows. Those poor kids lumped in with the honors kids get eaten for lunch nearly every day. They don’t learn from the eagles, they resent the eagles and start sinking into the floor little by little. Terrible idea. But that’s the same phrase you would hear from every administrator. They had been trained, no, pushed into speaking that language so that we consistently heard the same answer from all of them, across the district. So frustrating!
Thank you for this!!! I’ve only been teaching for nine years and I started feeling like this about 6 years ago! You have described EXACTLY what happens when the teachers in my building are forced to sit through yet another meaningless workshop! Thanks for saying what we all are really thinking and feeling! 🙂
Very interesting post. While what you have posted does not imply lazy or unprofessional, I do think “jaded” may apply. That my initial perception. Why is it that you needed to start with that disclaimer in the first place??
I leave you with a challenge.
Instead of telling us what NOT to do, how about giving us some insight into what inspires you, brings you to your feet, challenges you with new ideas? Better yet, tell us how your attitude toward your work can be enhanced and passed on to the students in your classroom. Learning is a social experience for most people– although there are a few who just want to go off to their little cubby holes, plan lectures and lessons, or work on their online content and then go home– never to interact, share or collaborate with others. That being said, I will reiterate, learning is social, so in what ways can as educators make our PD experiences real, better and will result in sustainable results.
My attitude toward my work has no relation to my attitude toward In-service. I LOVE my job and my students. I just don’t like being given something year after year that’s not applicable and is the exact same thing, down to the handouts. I had to add a disclaimer to my post because I received a very, very ugly email calling me names I can’t reprint here. It obviously came from someone who was trolling and wanted to start drama. Additionally, I had comments sent to people who posted on my blog that called them names and were not in the spirit of discussing opinions, ideas, etc. I did not approve the comments and chose to add the disclaimer to let people know (who obviously need things spelled out for them) that name calling would not be tolerated and that the blog was meant to poke humor at what we do yearly. I agree that learning is a social experience. My experiences, however, are that some Districts do not appreciate you sharing your thoughts and ideas, thus, this blog.
I agree. I hate it when someone criticizes others without offering positive solutions. But even more when someone complains about being told what NOT to do while telling another what NOT to do!
Earlier this summer, my sister was telling us about getting ready for her upcoming staff retreat that includes painting, Zumba, and catering. I said that my staff meetings never included painting or Zumba or catering. She said, “That’s because I plan the meetings.” *Now* I know what my school needs for next year!
The only PD that has worked in our building is http://www.digitallearningtree.com We got to go to our rooms, pick a course that interested us, and go at our own pace. The courses were about integrating technology (the iPad one was awesome), preventing bullying behaviors, there even was one specifically for new teachers to help them keep their sanity during their first year! The courses were web-based, so we could even work on PD at home if we wanted to. Awesome!
I LOVE this and will probably distribute anonymously at my school. : )
Oh, my, I have laughed and laughed. I should send you a copy of my dissertation on “Principals Perceptions of Effective Elements of Professional Development.” I could have referenced this blog had it been a year ago. Thanks for the reminder on how teachers view things. And by the way, principals do the same thing in their PD!
And you know what else!? Preplanning is not the time for staff development! Even the greatest ideas in the universe fall on deaf ears when the brain between them is stressing about being ready for the first day of school!
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I give teacher in-services and this post was useful! Though I agree with a previous commentor who suggested the addition of what makes good teacher in-services. Thank you!