Youngest and the Leader

I had an awful work experience yesterday. It deals with something that is more common in today's workplace. I am currently one of the youngest teachers on my campus, and am serving as the grade level chair for fourth grade. It is my job to be the liason between the administration and my grade level. I am also in charge of leading meetings and other various tasks for my grade level.

The first Friday of every month, we have a minimum day so that the grade level can plan together. My grade level consists of two teachers in their fifties, a teacher in his thirties and another young teacher that is about my age. Two of the teachers are new to our grade level so they are still getting acqainted with the procedures.

Yesterday was our first planning day. On our agenda, I had planned on discussing the curriculum, where will we be by October break, homework for the next few weeks, and discussing a great art project for our next story. Little did I know, everyone else had another agenda.

One of the main topics that I have been hesitant to discuss was field trips. Our team is very divided and we had a heated discussion last year, and did not want to waste a whole planning day going in circles like the first time we discussed it. On my own time, I had been looking into something that would be in the best interest of the children, as well as, work out for other teachers. Before I go into that discussion, I would like to tell you why field trips are a big deal for our group.

First of all, we have two older teachers who don't want to deal with all of the makings of an involved, fun, yet educational trip. They would rather take the easy way out. These two teachers do not want the responsibility of giving kids more freedom. They want them to be in a controlled environment. Also, one of the teachers has high anxiety about the freeways and buses and does not want to travel long distances for field trips.

So taking all of this into consideration, and our funds, I really took extra time to accommodate everybody's needs, including taking the Metrolink instead of a bus. One of the reasons I worked so hard to find a great field trip, is because the memories that I had of field trips from when I was a student in school were exciting and memorable. These field trips were the interactive ones. I can honestly tell you that I really don't remember a whole lot about the museum ones. Thus, I wanted something that my kids would truly remember and applied to the curriculum in the school.

One option that the kids would love is going to California Adventure (Disney) This would be a great field trip because the it ties directly to the standards and California history. Unfortunately it was too expensive for our budget. I had been looking into Knott's Berry Farm because they had a CA exhibit where the kids would explore the Wild West and learn about Gold Country and even pan for gold. I was looking into taking the train down and doing this, because it was more cost effective than California Adventure.

Okay, back to school and our meeting. Early yesterday morning---before the first bell rang---I went to my mailbox and carried a huge stack of papers that were being sent home. Within that stack was a field trip flyer. One of my fourth grade teammates stopped me, and dug through my pile to emphasize that we should go see this play at the local playhouse. I found it quite rude, especially when she dug through my stuff and knew that field trips were a sensative issue. I let it go and the school day went smoothly until planning time.

Like I had said, I purposefully did not put field trips on the agenda because we did not need to have another argument at this point in time. Low and behold the two "older teachers" bring this paper to the meeting and and make it a point to address that this would be a great field trip to go on. I said yes, but we should not rush into any decsions yet, there are some cool ideas that I have been looking into. One of the other teachers said well yeah...seeing the play is easy the kids are controlled and we would not ahve to worry about it. I then proceeded to say that this fourth grade class went on the "same" field trip in second grade and could benefit from a different experience. The two older ones kept on joking around and would not let me speak. They could not get off of the subject. One of them said yes okay so we are doing it, not really giving anybody else a chance to speak. Numerous times, I tried to redirect it, but the "older ones" kept making jokes and thinking it was funny, at one time they said, "we are going to drive Jessica to quit." I then tried to say that another teacher and I were discussing what else could be done. They got riled up and continued to throw in jokes. Once I was able to say that we could have a field trip at school they felt releived.

Once I tried to say that we need to think about the kids, and not what is just conveinient for us. I then told them about the times that I went away on "week long" field trips when I was in elementary school. Their response was we don't do that here. And then I proceeded to tell them, that actually things might be chaning and administration has given a possible option for overnight field trips to the state capital and/or DC. I caught them off guard.

Finally after all of this the thirty year old said, we'll just do this for this year and really work hard on planning the other field trips for the future.

What does all of this say? That people may feel threatened about someone much younger than them---especially when one was my BTSA support provider. I am looking forward to learning more about leading a team, especially making someone that is younger than you, be more respected as a leader.