So, many of the teachers at my school had to go to this two day training. As it happens, many of the trainings one has to attend in education, are irrelevant and meaningless, but the principal makes you go because it makes it look as though “we’re doing whatever we can to raise test scores.”
Meanwhile, I have to be out of my classroom for two days and my students miss me and don’t learn as much. (There’s irony here—I’m in a training to be a better teacher—when maybe my students would be better off if I were teaching them.)
This training was particularly horrible—it’s supposed to be made to help English Language Learners. But it was designed for primary children–not upper grade children and most of the activities are inappropriate for older kids. Plus the philosophy is this: “There are no books on ______ topic at your student’s reading level? Well, that’s ok—just write your own!”
And, of course they don’t want to hear a dissenting opinion. If you as a teacher question their program, the attitude is: “You must not really care about your students if you don’t want to spend hours and hours reinventing the wheel”
I had my cell phone on my table–set on meeting…It beeped and I checked. My brother Gary was calling from Ohio. My mom has been having problems with dementia lately. So I ran out of the room as fast as I can and returned his call. It wasn’t about our parents. My brother’s wife, Sharon died suddenly at age 47. She had health problems for many years—diabetes, kidney problems, eye problems, etc. But there hadn’t been any flare-ups lately. Gary and Sharon had been married for almost 20 years and were completely devoted to each other. My heart is breaking for my brother.
So, now I’m not at the training…it’s still going on but I got permission to leave.
So, there it is, not really mundane and pointless to me, but it’s funny how your day can start out one way and then, make a complete U-turn.