Passing Time

During the passing time before second hour, Schultz and I went into the large group office that is shared by many Jefferson teachers, where we met a 10th grade English teacher. I think Schultz had to pick something up from her desk too, I'm not sure. Anyways, this 10th grade teacher said that Jefferson has a much healthier work environment than many other schools, including Kennedy. Schultz and this other teacher, whose name I think is Suzy agreed that this is because of the sense of community created by the large office room. It's like living in a suite with a bunch of friends compared to to working at a school like Kennedy, where the classroom setup makes life lonely and boring for teachers, like living in a single room. At Jefferson, all ten or so of the English Teaches eat lunch together, whereas Schultz told me that back in the Kennedy days, she would either eat alone or with one other teacher only.

It's interesting to learn this sort of social/political-type stuff, especially when I find that my beloved Kennedy High School was an unhealthy work environment because the friendships that I saw between my teachers is one of the things that first attracted me to teaching.