Briefly share any experiences you’ve had when you’ve had a part in introducing a new program or a new way to do things at your job site. Please share any triumphs or frustrations you’ve had trying to improve the system or when you’ve pioneered or piloted some outside the norm.
Five years ago I was apart of the conversion group known as the “Science GPS Dream Team”. This was a conglomerate made up of K-12 science teachers from throughout the county. The teachers were volunteers who were also recommended by their school administrators. Our task was to take the GPS (Georgia Professional Standards), unpack, review, revise and organize them in the best way possible to meet the needs of the state, county and most importantly our children’s needs. We started meeting for a week in the summer to break into groups by grade level and review the standards so that we could come up with a plan of action. With a great leader at the helm, we started on an exciting adventure. There was a lot of positive energy and knowledge shared. We again before school started and monthly during school to continue the process. When all was done, we each took the standards back to our respective schools and began training our departments on them, as was the role of the Science Contact. This is when the fight started! The acceptance at each school was varied. Lots of veteran teachers were not happy with being ‘told’ how to teach and what to teach. Other teachers were happy to see a standard way of teaching with a format that everyone was using. The problem was that even though it was a state and county mandate that we start using the unpacked standards, all administrators were supportive or cared enough to make the time or ensure that all science faculty attended training and carried out the recommendations in their classrooms. This caused a lot of friction between the faculty, added stress and increased frustration. A lot of teachers felt it was one more thing they had to do and others embraced the change. I addressed the challenges at my school by meeting with the administrators and getting support ( my vice principal was a former science teacher and great support), then developing a training program that worked for our school and addressed the concerns and challenges that our science faculty expressed (technology challenges, lack of time and understanding of curriculum, inexperience with more hands on lessons, etc) by creating folders for each grade level, training once person per level individually so they could help me train and support the others. All and all we had more buy in than resistance. That cannot be said for other schools as I learned when I transferred to a new school this year. Teachers were referring to the standards but no all were adhering to the guidelines.
Two summers ago, I took part in Social Justice Training. I would say that basically it is an anti-racism training, but that really do
esn’t do it justice. My training was a very intense 2 day overnight training. I was not paid to go, but was asked and accepted. The theory is that those staff members who have been trained will “mentor” other staff members, and try to encourage others to attend the 2 day training.
This past year, my principal brought in a group of teachers from a different district to facilitate a day of “Social Justice” with the thought that the two of us who had already been trained would be a part of the day.
It really didn’t go as expected. Instead of getting staff members fired up about the training and program, it did just the opposite. Even though we tried to explain to the trainers from the other district that we were the only people who had been through the actual training, they assumed that everyone had, and proceeded to insult and infuriate the rest of the staff. I spent the day trying to do damage control. I was really not very successful.
Comment: @Kim,
I know of the Social Justice Training to some extent as I have a friend who has facilitated and participated in them. Even though he was a trainer, he too, thought that the training was not as effective as it could have been. It is so unfortunate that the trainers were not open to listen and show that they were proficient in social justice, rather than forge ahead just to complete an agenda. Talk about being an oxymoron.
