Remind Me of This

There are times now and then when I have to attend meetings or training sessions with other teachers in the district. Even though I'm a long-term sub, there are some things I need to learn in order to do my job. It will look good on my resume too, right?

Anyway, I had to attend a meeting last week and toward the end of the meeting, it got to be a huge complaining session. I understand that the people were feeling overwhelmed with some new information, and it meant some change was coming to their jobs. But it went on. And on. And on. Different people each saying the same thing the previous person said in another way. I wanted to stand up and scream, "Don't worry about it! You've gone through things like this before! Be thankful you have a job and you are working!"

When I worked for Einstein's, my co-workers and I joked about all the changes that we went through on a regular basis. "Flavors of the day, week, or month," as we used to call the most pressing issue at the time. I learned to be flexible. I learned that if I didn't like something, it would eventually change. I learned to be thankful for the job I had.

Teachers are pretty flexible people too. You have to be. In a matter of minutes, a well-planned lesson could be chucked out the window because it wasn't working. Or a student throws up. Or decides that macaroni should be stuck in ears and noses. Or the whole class has a glazed-over look on their faces. Plan B, C, D, or E will have to do. So is it that some teachers feel they're flexible enough in the classroom, that they don't need to be out of the classroom?

Today I went to another training session where we had to import student's names into a computer program. It didn't take long for the complaining to begin. "Why do we have to import this information?...Can't I.T. just do that?...This is SO tedious!...This is ridiculous!" I felt terrible for the instructor. Here she was, trying to teach us how to do this program, and all she got were complaints. I tried to be as nice to her as I could. I know first-hand how stressful it is to lead large training groups. There are always a few that spoil the mood.

As I sit through these complaint sessions, I tell myself that if I ever get like that, I need to get out of the profession. So remind me of that, please. Aside from some little complaints here and there, I need to remember to be flexible. And wait for the next flavor to come along. Mmmm, chocolate?