I went to a workshop today. It was to teach me how to administer a fairly new test for ELL's. It was not just your typical boring time waster. It was important information that included how to actually administer and score the test. I had a pair of teachers behind me chatting up a storm during the presentation given by district personnel. The first thing I did was turn around and just look at them. The second time, after they didn't stop, I just turned around and said, "Would you please mind not talking so that I can hear the presenter?" They got quiet. Later on, they began to talk again, so I got up and moved myself to another seat. How can people who call themselves professionals act that way (talking, talking, talking, and nothing about the workshop)? Why did they even bother to come? Perhaps they could have sat at the back of the auditorium or taken it outside.
Ugh! Aren't some people incredibly rude?!! I have been attending literacy coach trainings and there is honestly one whole table of teachers that sit their with their laptops open, very obviously checking their e-mails, surfing the net, etc. Some people really have a lot of nerve. I'm sorry that you had to get up and move, but good for you for doing so.
And if they are like some folks I've encountered, they'll complain to anyone who'll listen that they were never taught how to implement the test and that it isn't fair that they're expected to do it with "no" training. They will say this with a completely straight face and no awareness of the irony at all.
The last one I went to, I came across a lady that stunned me. It was through BER, and it was a math problem solving workshop. We were chatting about why we came, and she said that she only came because she doesn't like school on Mondays because she doesn't have a long enough prep, so she always looked for "these things" on a Monday and signed up for any she could find regardless of the topic.
Then, she left AT THE BREAK! She didn't even wait until lunch. What a waste.
Sub planning alone makes me never want to be gone. I can't imagine getting ready for a sub just to go to a workshop I didn't care about just so that I didn't have to be in school! What on Earth?!!! People are so beyond my understanding sometimes. Also, it must be nice to just have that opportunity to just go to random workshops. I thought we were lucky enough to be given two professional days per year. I have to be really particular about what I choose because something better just might be around the corner! As it is, I am going to have to use a personal day to go to The Daily Five workshop in a month.
I just can't imagine wanting to go to a workshop just to skip a day without a long enough prep! How silly.
Actually, your mentioning that she left early was another gripe of mine to my husband when I got home. We had a contracted time of 8:30-3:30 to receive the workshop credit, but a lot of teachers left well before 3:30! I stayed until we were officially dismissed, because the presenters saved the kindergarten portion of the test for talking about last and that is the test with the most materials and most practice needed to administer. So, my friends who left early will be wondering how to give the kindergarten test! Guess I won't be around to help them out!