What's Wrong With a Little Professionalism?

Why are teachers so often the worst students? My school is grouped with a few other small schools for assistance from our AUSSIE consultants, including Monday meetings. While I and the other teachers from my school do our best to engage in the activities and discussions planned for us, most of the teachers from other schools actively resist participation. I was excited to find myself grouped with four other science teachers today, but by the end of the 40 minute meeting, two had walked out, one was doing payroll paperwork, and another had said only one sentence the whole time. Only one other teacher in my group made any effort to engage in the activity, which was to look at science texts and examine the language elements that make them difficult for students to read. Science texts are full of dense, fact-packed prose, scary new vocabulary, and allusions to graphs and tables which the students may not know how to interpret. It should have been easy to look at a few examples and discuss ways to help students negotiate reading about science. Nevertheless, we had zero participation. It drives me up the wall.

No, the activity was not fabulous nor the best use of our time. However, teachers certainly know that you get more out of a lesson by engaging in it, that it goes faster when you participate, and that it is downright disrespectful to refuse to participate: we tell our students these things all the time! This kind of behavior gives all teachers a bad name. If we want to be respected - and paid - as educated professionals, we have to act like educated professionals. Even when that means making the most of a so-so professional development presentation.