First day back to my teaching job, looking at two weeks of “professional development” full of ice breakers, role playing, and god knows what else….I’m not thrilled to say the least. So we’re creating our “community agreements” and “operational principles” (please tell me someone knows the difference between the two because none of us did). We’re discussing things like boundaries in regards to communication outside work hours and the high burnout rate in the teaching field. Boss starts to go off about how much of a family we are and that we should treat each other like family. He’s been using that phrasing all day at that point and I got frustrated and blurrted out, “but we’re not family, we’re coworkers.” Guys, it’s like I told a room full of kindergartners that Santa wasn’t real… People were HURT! I quickly said that I love and respect the people I work with but I think it’s unhealthy to relate our obligations to our families with our jobs. PLUS with a bunch of new teachers straight out of college working with us, I think it sets them up for a quick burnout and issues with personal boundaries at work. What do ya’ll think?