18th Jan 2008
at what point is bitching effective…
and at what point is it just ducking the issues? I’m at a faculty workshop and learning a lot — and finding it very useful. But, like any group, there are schisms in beliefs — some people swear something, and others swear the complete opposite. And some just bitch that there are problems at all.
A wise woman told me as a teacher to avoid the lounge at the school where I taught; it was permeated with negativity, a natural place for people to congregate and complain about the world without doing too much about it. Every profession has people who bitch. But at some point, you have to stop complaining (myself included) and decide either to act or to ignore.
Just a thought.
Faculty room avoidance…good idea. I like the idea of being social and talking with my co-workers….but every time I step into the faculty room [which isnt too often], all people do are talk about students and complain. As teachers, we need some time during the day when “the kids” are not the topic of the conversation.