TeachedUp Comics: Get on the Bus!

From Collection 1 - Year One, "The Rookie"

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teachers make fun of what is meant to be a motivational speech by school leadership

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Oh my goodness, this is a classic...

Here's what I originally shared on LinkedIn:
I will never forget this 1 speech.

It was my first year teaching, and it was in the 2 days of prep time (effectively 2 half-days, due to #professionaldevelopment activities) we #teachers had before the school year started.

I had just freshly turned 22, and was surrounded by people I was innately looking up to (they were, all of them, my senior in the #scienceeducation profession - since I was "the new guy", and I was looking to them for guidance on how to navigate #k12schools).

We all sat in the very back of the theatre, nearest the exit, and there was a LOT of heckling (quietly, of course - flying under the radar is another skill of which new teachers are totally unaware). I also will never forget when the three most senior of the science teacher team got up and left after they were "done" with the message.

I discovered later that there are a lot of reasons for why this type of approach to professional development (and the resulting reaction to administrators and the lack of buy-in on the part of many educators) perpetuates. What has your experience been?

This was my very first exposure to the "us vs. them" relationship between administrators and educators.
Now look, you can tackle the "us. vs them" relationship, but it takes work to BUILD that relationship. At the center is trust (built through communication and time - not just given away). Admins may be owed respect (open to debate, I suppose), but they're NOT owed trust. That's 100% earned.