After thinking a bit....

I didn't have time to do this earlier.....

First of all, if the following constructive criticism is dismissed as negativity or not being a team player, then why am I writing this.....?  If a program can't take constructive criticism, how can it move forward?

My comments are specific to the showcase.....I felt it was a hurried affair, slapped together in a way that felt like it was something we had to do to show we did something as opposed to having the chance to really communicate about our findings.  Who had time to work on it?  Was that honestly a thing to expect me to produce?

It felt like a school science fair, not a professional endeavor.  When a group of people walk around with a sheet to fill out, the listening quotient plummets....the task is to fill out the sheet.

I WATCHED people do this, nodding, writing notes, moving on.  I also know I'm really GOOD at listening, and I was not engaged b/c it was such a superficial setting.  If I'm interested in something I want time to talk about it, and if it's something I did work at and would like to explain, I don't want people nodding and passively listening and being enthusiastic about how great I am.

I don't understand the purpose of the showcase other than some perverted means of proving (to whom?) that we did something.

"Look what I made in my PLC." 

I know that's sarcastic, but I really don't care.  This was kind of a slap to my professional face. 

In all honesty it feels like it was a sideways attempt to get people to stay in the building at meetings they were supposed to be in anyway.....put us on the spot to prove we did something.

If someone isn't going to a meeting, go talk to them about it, don't make me slap together a display that no one really thinks about.

I do stuff, all day, every day.  A lot of us do.  If I've done some interesting work, create a time when people who are curious about it can sit down and have an earnest discussion.  Content areas shouldn't be sidelined as a result.

And here's another aspect of this....I'm honest about how I feel, I think criticism is healthy, but I know I'm also comfortable being forthright where most people aren't.  There are a lot of teachers who won't say anything b/c they see the cheer-leading, and they think they have to be super positive or they'll get in trouble.  So while everyone is dutifully posting on the blog, I don't think anything useful is gained by reading what people think you want to hear.


And that's how I feel about the showcase.

We liked the chance to give some feedback on what to do with the abundance of information we received.  For beginning ESL students, we think the mini-interviews were a good idea.  We would like to learn more about Quizlet - but not enough time to experiment with all the new ideas.

At the end of a semester, when we are working to wrap up our classes, the showcase took up key time we could have used on our classroom work.  It felt too much like a science fair and not a professional level of engagement.  It appeared the showcase was for district to see what we have been discussing, but little time for staff to take away and implement.

If we were able to spend more time working on things that interested us, rather than showing what we find, the learning would be more practical.

We need more time to utilize the various strategies, implement them and see if they work.  We would like to include time to meet with our content PLCs again.  This time was very useful.

Carlson, McGinty, Postlewait, Simpson, and Simons