The Lunch Room...
I have noticed that the lunch room can be a dangerous place. Teachers of all ages frequent the lunch room. I have heard many teachers voice their opinions about the administration and about the student body. The comments are not always positive and, I feel that, some of the comments are just shocking to hear from teachers. Some teachers are very negative and can really change the tone of the lunch room environment.
In my school there are not many places a teacher can go to relax and enjoy his/her lunch;. The lunch room is one of the only sanctuary there is in this building . I don't want to be rude and not participate in conversation with my coworkers, but what does one say when teachers bad mouth each other and students? Trust me, I have tried to ignore the comments and go about my business, but sometimes the person right next to me is looking to me for a response. I usually try to humor the person by nodding and then going about my business. How does one navigate the minefield that is the lunch room?
I know everyone is not as lucky as I am, but I have my own classroom so I just stay in there. I stay away from our teachers room because just like you said they are very very negative and always bad mouth. When I did go down there, I just kept to myself and talked with the people that I wanted to associate with. You can nod and go about your business like you have been doing, but you don't need to open up your mouth and agree. You are able to have your own opinion and I think some of these teachers don't realize they should keep some things to themselves.
ReplyDeleteI usually stay in the department office to have lunch. However, sometimes there are teachers in there that can be negative about a student or something that is going on at the school. I really try not to respond to the negativity. Teachers need to vent just like anyone else at any job and I think they do this in the lunch room because they feel comfortable there. When I do go into the lunchroom and a teacher is being negative I usually just listen and keep my opinions to myself. We are the “new kids” and I would never want to get in an disagreement with a teacher about something they said.
ReplyDeleteChristina, I have also encountered this problem quite often. When my cooperating teacher and her associates comment about students and/or other teachers, I usually do not say anything. I just listen in. When they make comments about students or teachers and look at me for a response, I always try to give a neutral answer. For example: One of the teachers points out to me about how lazy and "weird" a certain student is. I say, "Really, you think so? He writes really well though. He's a bright kid when he applies himself." That is as far as I would take my comment. I know that I am under the microscope, and everything I say will come back to haunt me later on. The last thing I want to do is burn any bridges with anyone. I think the teachers have figured out by now that I won't engage in such conversations nor will i give any negative out put.
ReplyDeleteI also am very lucky because I have the key to the football office so I go in there every day and eat lunch with another co-worker who I am very friendly with, but I also agree with Deb, every body needs a chance to vent. I try not to get involved in those types of conversations because I do not know all of these people well and whatever problems they have is really none of my business.
ReplyDeleteI am in the same position as you. There is one person that many of the faculty dislike and when they are talking about that person, I stay quiet and neutral. Sometimes it gets harder when I've been asked directly how I feel about someone or if I agree with that person's actions (when everyone else disagrees). I usually just act like I don't know what's going on or give answers like "Oh wow". I feel that it puts me in a tough position because I would like to be seen as part of the faculty and at times I get the impression that in order to be part of that team, you need to agree with their beliefs or at least participate in conversation. This is harder said then done with conversation almost always revolves around complaining about students and faculty.
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I am lucky enough to have my own room also, so most of the time I just eat lunch in there. However, I do here teachers speaking negatively of other teachers and students at times. Like someone said, we are the new kids at school, and I don't want to create tension between myself and other faculty members. I mostly try to ignore the conversation when it's negative, but when my opinion is specifically requested I try to keep my comments neutral. After you do this for a while, teachers will stop trying to ask your opinion on these types of negative conversations. I know it's important to be a part of the staff at the school, but I feel there can be other positive ways to become part of the community.
ReplyDeleteI have a similar issue. Although the gossip is not out of control it is still there. I must admit though, I have gained a great deal of positive empowerment from the teaching room. The most notable instances occur when teachers discuss ways that problem students in their classes have been doing better and how they have gotten those students to put a great deal of effort into their work. It has also served helpful seeing as I am able to ask teachers of other subject matters if they have covered a certain topic so I can be prepared with what the students know and do not know. This is especially helpful between myself and the history teacher seeing and LA and History coincide many times throughout a lesson or unit. My best advice is use the teacher's room to your advantage and block out the negativity.
ReplyDeleteWhere I am student teaching, I have not found the lunch room to be a bad place. Maybe it is just the group of teachers I have lunch with, but they made one big table where everyone sits together and if there is no room they make room. If someone is missing they realize it, and it is always asked out of concern if someone knows if the person is out today or are they just doing work in their room, and so on. They are very much into community and actually the whole building calls themselves the Macopin Family instead of staff. Even the memos that go out are addressed to the Macopin Family. When the teachers do talk about students it is normally for the benefit of that student and trying to come up with ways to reach the student such as if something happened in 1st period, because that may explain his behavior in my period 3 class or so on. If a negative remark comes out, I have always either just responded with a "oh" kind of remark or add in one of the students positive qualities. One of the first things the teachers told me when I started student teaching was that your lunch period is very important because it could get you out of your classroom and be a great way to talk with other teachers, come up with new ideas, and gives you a break during the day. I feel very fortunate of where I am student teaching, and hope I can find a place to work that the lunch room is like this, because hearing the experiences of a lot of the people in our class it makes me nervous.
ReplyDeleteI think you have discovered a very interesting way to deicide if you want to work at the school where you are student teaching. If the teachers spend their lunch time making negative comments about other teachers, students, and administrators then this is probably not a place that you want to work.
ReplyDeleteI hope we all are able to find places where the faculty and staff care about each other, form friendships, and work together to make their school the best it possibly can be. I know that's reaching pretty high, but if you want to really love what you're doing, then it also helps to like the environment that you are doing it in. Don't settle.
But - if you do end up teaching in a school with a negative climate, isolate yourself from it as much as possible and be determined to change things for the better whenever you can.
The lunchroom has been an eye-opening experience for me. If anything, it has shown me what I do not want to become as a teacher. I agree with Cindy. I hope we all find places where the faculty and staff care about each other and the school. Students pick up on a teacher's unhappiness. The negative teachers made themselves pretty obvious during my first week of student teaching. I'm sure this will also happen during the first week of the school year, so we'll know who to avoid. I think no matter where we teach, we will always run into negative teachers. But in the midst of negativity, remember what Ghandi said. "Be the change you want to see in the world."
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