Does the lunch table make a social life? I have been watching the faculty lunch table for the past few months and I realize that in many respects, we aren't terribly different from the students just in the other room. However, there is one major difference that tends to stand out; where students continue to socialize with peers outside of lunch, teachers tend to enter that autonomous world of the classroom.
Isolation can be one of the difficult parts to the profession of teaching. There isn't typically a co-worker around most of the day and your responsible to keep track of all the student behaviors while covering course material. Hundreds of decisions per hour and few/no people looking over your shoulder, except in the rare cases of an administrator popping in for an eval or a fellow teacher looking for that lost book. Does this isolation take a toll on teachers? I think it does, but it affects teachers in different ways depending on their personality.
For the extroverted teacher, it doesn't matter much if there is a peer in the room or not; just as long as there are people nearby to talk to. Typically, I imagine this type as the teacher who is very conversational with students and talks about all sorts of topics while class is in session. This teacher is energized by contact and probably doesn't feel any loss in quality of contact.
The introverted teacher is more susceptible to isolation for several reasons, the first being quality of contact. Spending multiple periods with boisterous classes is draining and doesn't allow for quiet time to recharge. Spending a bit of time with a small group of peers can be invigorating as problems/stresses can be identified and discussed. The second problem relates to the introverted tendency to stay within one's mind. Being in an isolated environment amplifies this tendency to the point where it almost seems as if the teacher has to completely different personalities. This is a bit of a generalization, as many teachers hold different demeanors depending on the audience, but I think the degree to which the separation occurs is something to consider.
If the readers haven't realized yet, I tend to be in the introverted camp in terms of personality.so my observations on extroverted personalities could be completely wrong, but I feel a certain degree of accuracy is possible with introverted observations. However, enough of that tangent.
Why am I talking about personalities when the article originally was concerned about the lunchroom table and socialization amongst faculty? I think it is important to address such details when trying to cover an issue that doesn't get addressed much in society; the need for quality contact in professional settings. In business, it can be seen constantly, the proliferation of activities, clubs, socials, and training events that bring workers into contact with one another to improve quality. However, in education the only such resource is the 'professional development' day. What a poor substitute for a profession that should be communicating more, since that is what we are in the business of in the first place.
So what can possibly be done about such a lack of quality contact amongst the faculty? When I spent time in New Zealand, I think I saw a snapshot of the possible opportunities that are being passed on.
While spending time in New Zealand, I was amazed that the faculty grouped together after work. Some went bar hopping, some had get togethers at home, or we would even stay at the school on the end of a Friday just to have a few drinks and some snacks while talking about the week or anything interesting going on. Imagine trying to suggest that in a school in the US, parents would freak.
I think part of it is a cultural thing, here teachers are seen as non-human in the sense that they are held to standards that not even the society itself holds and then are treated like they have no idea how their profession works by people who did not spend four or more years studying the craft. In New Zealand, I saw teachers who were respected for the job they did and the parents backed up the school when some sort of conflict arose. There wasn't any fear on the part of the teachers because they knew they were in an environment where it was ok to be themselves instead of a pseudo-personality constantly on the lookout for liability.