Meetings are a real pain in the....

 
Meetings use to be a part of my life. There seemed to be a meeting everyday about some new problem, task or initiative. In education this is generally not the case. We have a meeting every week, but it is an hour or so compared to about an hour a day. There is always an exception to a rule though, and the first week is our exception. To put it plainly meetings are a real pain in the butt.

 This week we spent going to meetings. We had to sit and listen to stuff for roughly 6 or 7 hours during the day. Brutal, is a good way to describe it. Now this is not the fault of the administration. The state shoulders most of this blame. By the time I am finished with these meetings I never want to sit down again. In fact, sitting here writing this, I am ready to stand up.

  The really hard part is trying to pay attention. Most of the presentations that you attend are about as dry as you can get, and are slowed down as much as possible. These include but are not limited to spotting abuse, what initiatives the administration or the state has put into place. We sit there as things are laid out as simple as possible for us. It becomes harder and harder to listen as the day goes on. It reminds me of the old apple commercial that was done in the 80’s with everyone sitting there watching the screen. You pray for the person to come through and destroy the screen to liberate you from the training.

  I am done now with the training, and to be honest had to give a few of those boring lectures myself this week. It is really hard to balance the need to inform with the need to entertain. I am not completely sure why we have to go through these trainings each week. One of my theories is that the reason that they send us through these trials is to separate the week from the strong. The other is one that says that they cannot trust us to stay at work all week without filling our time up. What do you think?

Next week, school begins again. I will return next week for my first blog of the new school year. The anxiety is beginning to mount in me as the day draws nearer.

Until next week,

“When I give a lecture, I accept that people look at their watches, but what I do not tolerate is when they look at it and raise it to their ear to find out if it stopped.”

 Marcel Achard quotes (French Playwright, 1899-1974)