The video below is not a parody. It shows Chicago Public School teachers in a professional development session that will make you understand why teachers are going out of their minds and to what extent administrators have infantilized teachers...The video is hard to watch.
Repeat after me: We are all...college educated...and do not...need to be treated...like idiots...just because someone else...is being paid a ridiculous amount of money...to treat us so.
The best part of that video is that it's a vocabulary in-service, yet none of the terms are defined ... or, for that matter, go together in any way to form any sort of coherent thought ... but I'm sure that repeating it back, in cut up sentences, ingrains the ... um... well something I guess. And you know that's an elemtary classroom, because everyone's playing along, and no one's mocking it. (Except arguable, the person taking the video) I would LOVE to see the rest ...
ReplyDeleteThe method with which this is being done has NOTHING to do with treating teachers as idiots. It also has nothing to do with coherent CONSCIOUS thought. The METHOD has nothing to do with EDUCATION. Though even the person giving the presentation may not have realized it, the method of presentation used here has EVERYTHING to do with TRAINING and with the use of the subconscious mind; therefore, MIND CONTROL.
ReplyDeleteI have been a public HS teacher for 13 years, and I can not recall ONE "professional development" session that was actually worth my time. I can think of MANY that were a COMPLETE waste of time!
ReplyDeleteTo me, even more disturbing that the way these teachers were being treated is the way the accepted it. If I had ben there I would have considered it my sacred duty to make that presenter's day her worst nightmare.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... maybe that's why the administration was so happy when I retired.
Oh My Freaking Gosh. That is the polar opposite of Professional Development. Mind numbing, totalitarian brain washing. If that ever happened in one of my training sessions, I would walk out the door.
ReplyDeleteJerry, what would you have them do? Mount a revolution and throw off the shackles of the public education system? That's not going to happen.
ReplyDeleteAs I've written repeatedly, to deafening silence, the public education system is inherently indifferent to teaching skill so professional development classes needn't develop anyone professionally. They're window dressing to give the appearance that teaching skill's valued. This little clip provides some evidence in support of that thesis.
Allen - What should they have done? Refuse to play the game. Would it be disrespectful to the presenter to basically ignore her? Yeah - but no more than she had already been to them.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was at it I'd probably toss out a few questions. "Would you suggest we use this teaching style in our classrooms? Even high school?" How much are you being paid for today?" "Have you every taught anyone older than 6 before?" "Do you think all teachers are mentally defective or just us?" Asking her "Which North Korean school did you graduate from?" might be a touch over the line.
Allen, I'm going to delight you: this sort of crap is done solely because of the unions, and the handful of administrators whose job is to spend a whole year on salary to plan these things. The unions proposed, in our state, anyway adding days, fully paid, to promote 'teacher training' ... which sounds good, and actually might be ... in theory. But, while this might be a truly shameful extreme ... they're all pretty close. They all start with an icebreaker, (what color jelly bean are you? what does that say about you? (why is this relevant is not addressed.)) then, the ubiquitous power point presentation which involves showing a slide and then reading it toys. Then, we 'break out' into groups (I thought one usually broke out only into some sort of rash ... but we're teachers. We can't be expected to use vocabulary properly) Once broken out, we write stuff we don't have any of interest in on butcher paper. After a lunch break that is probably double the length of a normal day, followed by a wait of around 15 minutes while we wait for the people who couldn't even make it back on time ... we share our butcher paper results, which will be forgotten before they are read entirely, pat ourselves on the back, and leave early ... errr..."Work in our rooms to implement this wonderful new strategy" I didn't know a single teacher who wasn't a union rep) who wouldn't have that day to spend with his or her students, instead ... and yes, it's an issue that i brought up as a rep myself. I'd say ... give those days back to student learning ... but allow for REALLY good programs (I've had 2 good ones in 17 years) to take a day ...
ReplyDeleteIn college I briefly entertained the idea of becoming a teacher. I knew there was a reason that the thought of going into education made my hair stand on end ... and it wasn't the students.
ReplyDeleteMaxutils - My favorite was the time we broke up into "disgusting groups" then had to go around the circle (It isn't a real disgusting group if the seats aren't in a circle.) and tell the others something "personal" about us. After learning waaaaay too much about one woman's relationship with her husband, it was my turn. I simply said "I'm bored."
ReplyDeleteOne of the members of the group was an elementary principal. She proceeded to rant about my lack of professionalism. My failure to cower in the face of her tirade made her even angrier. I was afraid we were going to have to call 911 for the poor woman.
If nothing else it provided further evidence that elementary and secondary teachers really are different species.
Jerry ... you can't be serious. Disgusting groups? That may set a new nadir. When we did the "What color jelly bean are you?" one (I'm serious ...we actually did that), the bowls of jelly beans were placed on different tables all around the library, and we were to choose which table at which to sit; clearly this was designed to reveal our personality, or some BS like that. When some people to ask why we chose the table we did, they unfortunately called on me ... My answer was "It was the table closest to where I was standing."
ReplyDeleteThe state of Texas added three more "Professional Learning" Days to our calendar. Two of them we were find resources (and pay) for classes on our own. These were supposedly scheduled to take the place of the first two days of Thanksgiving week. I had to seek an art teacher in another district, whose school wasn't having their own "Professional Learning" Day to observe. Then, after writing a three page report, I didn't get credit because the person in charge of our department didn't file the correct paperwork. Her fault, my problem. We recently had a "Professional Learning" Day wherein the same cafeteria style presentations on using Twitter, Edmodo, etc were discussed. What's funny is that at the last faculty meeting our principal was going over the upcoming calendar and noticed that there's yet ANOTHER "Professional Learning" Day of which he had been unaware. He said "I don't know what we'll be doing, but we'll be doing something." On my own I have found online webinars that were much more applicable to my classes as an art teacher. I'm sure there are similar offerings for other disciplines. I am at the point of just saying let me find my own sources because if I have to listen to another rehash of "Let's discuss the vertical curriculum" I will throw up. (That, along with "Share Your Best Lesson Plan" are the two go to topics for In-Service, God help us.)
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