I have taught for a long time. I know what I am doing. I am open to new methods, new technology, new ideas, but I do not need an administrator repeatedly and without warning, throwing new things at me. We have a chief administrator that would change the color of the sky if he could do so. Change for improvement is great. Change for the sake of change (and the sake of career grandstanding) is not.
In the past year we have changed:
-The online gradebook
-Online attendance
-Method of purchasing supplies
-Vendors
-Attendance policies
-Grade policies
-Computer hardware (PC to Mac based)
When looking at a list of stressors, too much change in anyone's life is bad. Is it any wonder that we are seeing a Conga line out the door of retirees. What is more, younger teachers are actively seeking employment in other districts and other professions. You would think after seeing the Gallup polling data from teachers (God knows this administration love them some data) they would see the almost palpable frustration over how we have to deal with things on a daily basis. Just in feelgood actions of placing severely disabled kids into regular classrooms with no aid, no resources, no support at all, leaves teachers wondering about the validity of what we do. What good is it to create a curriculum when nobody is held to those standards. You can walk into any high school in my district and find different procedures in play. It makes no sense that we hold our kids in school A accountable for work that school B ignores.
I guess at some level my school administrative staff sees there's a problem. But their solution is to offer just more of the same. Now and for the rest of the year, we will be giving up one planning period a week to essentially vent. Knowing the people in charge and how they can sometimes not take criticism well, how much of a psychological relief will this be?
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