Professional Development Woes

There were no classes today. Instead, we had to attend an insufferable professional development day with all the other staff. There were a couple of amusing moments but overall it was tedious and mostly unhelpful, some of it being entirely irrelevant to the profession ("Keynote speech: Customer Service Essentials"?! We're teachers; we have students, not customers!). Behold the fruit of the thinking processes of bureaucrats who haven't stepped into a classroom in years.

Still, rather than complaining (at least in a normal way), I decided during the course of one of these PD sessions to translate my frustration into verse. Below is the result.

Vicarious embarrassment is rife

As corporate drones attempt to motivate,

Instilling in us useful skills for life,

Suggesting that we all participate

With stupid cheers and endless pair-groupwork:

"We-all-learn! Now repeat it after me!"

Nervously, we wonder where this jerk

Has happened to misplace his dignity.

He seems to be (I think) professional

Yet talks to us like we are ten-year-olds:

"This OpenSourceWare's educational

System will assist your teaching goals.

Now turn and ask your partner how they feel

About these diverse possibilities."

Fast falls now from my brain all trace of zeal

In face of these weird incongruities.