One Word Explained

Actually, most of the day was not as bad as I expected.   (Notice, I didn't say it was good although I did learn a something about the online program we have been using and we were introduced to a pretty cool site where, if I had the time, I would create a class web page.)  But the last session, the one on PSAT training....

I'm not going to say the presenter wasn't interesting, because she was and she did know her stuff.  But sitting through an hour presentation on something totally irrelevant to what I teach was deadly.  It would be nice if I  had a week or so to prepare my students for the SAT, but I don't have that time luxury.  We are constantly told to make our lessons relevant to the real world.  This one part of staff development is completely irrelevant to mine.

We spent the day going from workshop to workshop.  No more than one hour was spent in each session.  I would have preferred spending time developing my expertise in one of these areas.  In the business world, days are devoted to training on new software projects.  It is only this way that the people who use them become proficient.  I was told that most people have a short attention span and the best use of the time is exposure with an option to explore more at a later time.  I am sure this is not what was meant, but I took it as being told to spend my after school time learning this.  What would most people prefer?  If most disagree, I will happily eat humble pie.