Thursday's inservice is now a memory. As predicted, it came and went in a flash! Was it a success? Was an idea conveyed? Hmmmm...
Remarks so far vary from "It was the best inservice yet!" to "I hate this F@$%^ Sh@#!" There was laughter and cheers, anger and jeers!
So, what do I take away from this?
Change is hard on all people! The feelings that it creates range from anxiety to frustration to anger! Yet, we ask kids to change all the time - every class period, every year! Always expecting them to "deal with it!" One teacher was heard saying "In the beginning, when I realized that I did not see one person from my school, I was pissed but now I think that I will teach differently understanding how hard it is for kids to come into my room not knowing anyone!"
It's also funny to see how people of like minds find each other quickly! There in the back row of the session on Motivation sat the frustrated/angry "kids" sometimes with arms crossed, sometimes rubbing their eyes with a vengence! Always not participating, needing to be drawn in sometimes successfully and some times not!
Then there were those who hung out by the doors until there was a chance to escape. As soon as people were busy, not paying attention, they would disappear! In the end, about 25% of the original group had disappeared from the final session! They weren't there to hear the district direction for the year nor were they there to hear and see the remaining group sing and cheer on their peers who had the courage to perform on stage! They missed the celebration!
It is the same with kids! Something happens that makes people "drop out". They don't feel they belong. They don't want to belong! They reject efforts to encourage participation!
Last year, John Perricone spoke about how "we teach who we are!" If there are teachers among us who reject participation are they then not teaching that to the kids?
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