Today I attended my new-hire orientation for my county. It
was from 7:45am until about 10:45am. If you know me (and I believe most of you do) you know I have an opinion on just
about everything…
I have been waiting for this day for almost a month (see this post
for the beginning of the obsession!). I even went in to grab my orientation
packet and figure out insurance and everything as early as I could.
Then, when my alarm went off at 6am this morning, I realized
that I felt like I was going off to my first day of school (or teacher work
week) already! I was ready to learn about teacher policies, special teacher perks,
super important teacher stuff (maybe a
special secret handshake?)…
Well. That’s not what happened.
I did learn quite a bit, but not the type of stuff that I
found completely necessary to spend time on.
Number 1: I learned that those terrible sexual harassment videos
still exist in the adult world.
When I was a kid/mini adult/student, I understood that these
videos were necessary because some people still weren’t mature enough to see
that some of the things they said or joked about were, in fact, offensive. Most
women have seen or dealt with sexual harassment first-hand (I’m sure most men,
too!). This is a topic that has been covered over and over again. These goofy
videos aren’t helping anyone if they only portray the overly sexualized (and overly acted out) interactions. Much
of the sexual harassment won’t look like that. In my experience, it will be a
small comment here… A small touch there...
Long story short, I think these videos need to be updated.
They need to have potential to be taken seriously. If a group of mostly mature
adults can’t get through the video without side-eyeing or busting out in
laughter at these situations, then why use it?
This is a serious issue
and I don’t want to sound like I’m taking it lightly, but it was a waste of my
time. Give me a module to complete instead.
Number 2: I learned that the county policies are on us to
read and understand.
While I have no problem reading through the policies by
myself (I already had anyway), the fact that the HR lady touched on them for
less than 30 seconds makes me wonder how seriously they take them. I want to
know (as a goody-two-shoes) what I can do and what I can’t. I want to know what
policies cause the most discipline issues. Also, isn’t this the biggest part of
HR anyway?
Number 3: I learned that I’m going to have to figure out how
to prep for the school year without much to go on.
As an “orientation” session for new teachers, I expected
there to be more of a “what to expect in your new job” vibe. Now I know that
there were teachers in the room that had taught before in other counties. That’s
cool. But not every county has the same rules and they don’t have the same
issues. I want to know how my county differs from others in expectations. I
want to know what I’m expected to do between now and meeting with my faculty. I
want to know about professional development opportunities that I can get a jump
start on. I
Number 4: I learned that teachers still do not know how to
dress.
Please for the love of all that is good, go and check out Monogrammed
Midwesterner’s blog post on how to dress for business casual events. She
says some great things about what to wear and what not to wear. I stressed
about it. I wanted to look professional but still young and fresh because we
were also taking our badge pictures (and
I’m positive that my hair did not cooperate. Cross your fingers for me!). I
think I ended up making a good choice with my attempt at a Pinterest outfit!
But I saw multiple girls wearing jeans. I saw one girl in
jeans and flip flops. I saw one girl in a halter dress.
I just do not understand.
Things that are not okay:
* flip flops
* anything you could wear to a club
* spaghetti strap tops
* too tight bottoms
* too short bottoms
* something you could do yard work in
* hot fluorescent pink lipstick
It was like I was watching a teacher version of People of
Wal*Mart.
It is not that hard to be comfortable and also look nice.
I don’t know what else to say about that.
Have any of you seen some questionable outfits from teachers
or even substitutes?!
Leave it in the comments!
Zilla
Thanks for the article, its really very useful.
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