This post is part 2 of a short series.
By the second year money was flowing like water. New materials flowed into classrooms, new computers were purchased for almost everyone, avenues of communication between school and parents were opened, teacher salaries increased, students were allowed more freedom.
Life seemed great. But that was an illusion. The principal was trying to buy good will for what was to come.
The cracks showed up in the third year. The principal started playing favorites among the faculty. The weakest, most compliant teachers became his inner circle. His pets were given leadership responsibilities, raises, extra classroom resources. His enemies were ignored, neglected and given nothing (not even what the rank-and-file got). While nearly everyone else got a smartboard and new white boards, the art teacher continued to struggle making do with a chalkboard in her classroom.
The principal started hiring new administrators. Half of the very small
teacher's lounge was converted into office space. Now only a third of
the faculty could be in that room at any one time. Most teacher
salaries were frozen, but administrator salaries (including the principal's) continued to increase at a double digit rate. The principal started making penny wise, pound foolish requests of the faculty. Turn off the lights when you leave the room, don't set your classroom thermostat about 72 degrees. I got an idiotic lecture about heat rising because I left a door open while hauling 200 pounds of musical equipment from the multi-purpose room to the library. The principal ignores the fact I had my hands full during the process and had no way to open or shut the damn door. (No, he did not offer to help me, a very small woman, finish moving the equipment once I explained what is going on.)
Bigger, more substantial changes started to occur. Those avenues of parental communication came back to bite the faculty in the butt. Instead of listening to the faculty and their collective expertise, the principal listened more and more to selfish parent demands. Teachers were no longer allowed to discipline students. If a student was disrupting class, teachers were "encouraged" to send him to the office where nothing happened. Teachers could no longer require work to be finished before a student could go to recess or lunch. Homework requirement were loosened to the point of being non-existent. Teachers were reprimanded for requiring students to follow directions or for criticizing students about their poor quality work.
When teachers were critical of the administration, they are ignored or reprimanded. When teachers not in the principal's inner circle make requests, they were "accidentally" forgotten. I never got a response from the principal to any of my emails. When I stopped him in the hall once, and requested a conversation, the answer was, "No." The art teacher got pregnant and immediately requested a long-term, art substitute for when she needed to go on maternity leave. The principal "forgot" to find someone until three weeks before the art teacher left to have her baby. Naturally, he couldn't find anyone capable of teaching art in that short length of time, so a general sub was used, and the kids' art class for the remainder of the year was a disaster. I started getting physically injured from having to move musical instruments and equipment between teaching locations. (I had no classroom of my own.) My pleas for assistance and a minimization of my teaching locations were ignored completed. As in, I got no response whatsoever.
Direct communication between teachers and parents was all but outlawed. The administration had approve of, or at least be a part of, all messages sent to parents. There were new policies requiring teachers stay later each afternoon and come earlier each morning. Faculty meeting were held whether they were needed or not. The schedule was changed radically, without input from anyone but the principal's inner circle of pets, eliminating a prep period and assigning everyone extra duties.
The end of the third year is when the exodus started. Experienced teachers, great teachers, teachers who cared about quality education started leaving en masse. By June, 25% of the faculty had announced they were not returning in the fall.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Friday, October 18, 2013
Why do administrators matter?
You may have noticed, dear reader, that I spend an inordinate amount of time complaining about administrators. Maybe I'm obsessed. Maybe I'm reacting to a string of horrible experiences brought about a series of incompetent principals. Or maybe it's because...
As your grandmother told you, "A fish rots from the head."
She's right, I've seen it myself.
I have born witness to the destruction of a perfectly fine school. The process is reminiscent of the Fall of Rome. Rome continued to exist after it fell apart, but it was a shadow of its former, glorious self. The same can be said for the school I was at. It still exists, but word on the street is, "It isn't what it once was."
The downward spiral started when a new principal was hired. The school was (and still is) obscure and poor (for a private school), so we did not have much choice in candidates. The man we chose, after a two day interview process, seemed to meet most of the criteria the board, the faculty, and the parents. But as everyone learned later, you don't get to know someone in a two day interview. All you get to know the person's carefully crafted public image. The one that is desperate to please all the stakeholders and land the six-figure job. The fish is still fresh.
And it stays like that for awhile longer. The new principal was afraid, mostly of screwing up. For the first year, everything was fine. The school hummed away on the fumes of the previous principal's competence. By the second year, though things started to change. Small things, seemingly trivial. A policy here, a new rule there. Sure the new policies and rules made the faculty's job harder, but it didn't really matter. The new principal was spending money like water on salaries (not just his own), and benefits, and classroom equipment, and other perks.
What no one realized at the time was that the principal was trying to buy his employees' loyalty. Rigor mortis was starting to set in.
To be continued....
As your grandmother told you, "A fish rots from the head."
She's right, I've seen it myself.
I have born witness to the destruction of a perfectly fine school. The process is reminiscent of the Fall of Rome. Rome continued to exist after it fell apart, but it was a shadow of its former, glorious self. The same can be said for the school I was at. It still exists, but word on the street is, "It isn't what it once was."
The downward spiral started when a new principal was hired. The school was (and still is) obscure and poor (for a private school), so we did not have much choice in candidates. The man we chose, after a two day interview process, seemed to meet most of the criteria the board, the faculty, and the parents. But as everyone learned later, you don't get to know someone in a two day interview. All you get to know the person's carefully crafted public image. The one that is desperate to please all the stakeholders and land the six-figure job. The fish is still fresh.
And it stays like that for awhile longer. The new principal was afraid, mostly of screwing up. For the first year, everything was fine. The school hummed away on the fumes of the previous principal's competence. By the second year, though things started to change. Small things, seemingly trivial. A policy here, a new rule there. Sure the new policies and rules made the faculty's job harder, but it didn't really matter. The new principal was spending money like water on salaries (not just his own), and benefits, and classroom equipment, and other perks.
What no one realized at the time was that the principal was trying to buy his employees' loyalty. Rigor mortis was starting to set in.
To be continued....
Friday, October 11, 2013
Extra Credit Bonus: Would You Like Some Cheese to Go with That?
There are days when I understand teacher bashing; I really do. Take yesterday for instance.
Last night, I remembered to turn on my phone. It had been off for 36 hours. (Yes, this happens to me rather a lot.) There are three messages on it from a fellow itinerant music teacher. Can I possibly switch some classes with her? She claims it'll be an easy switch; we are at the same school on the same day.
Turns out this teacher is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. She read the schedule wrong and we are at the same school on different days. (Okay, what should I expect from a person who leaves a voicemail message and then forgets to hang up the phone?) But still she seems desperate to switch.
Why? Because she wants to teach second and third grade exclusively and have only two classes to prepare. Seriously?! You selfish little *bleep*!! You want to rearrange everyone else's life just so you don't have to work as hard. And you're trying to convince the person with 14 different classes to prep to accommodate your lazy ass!
No, I think not honey. Too bad you only have one section of 5th grade. I'm in the same boat, and you don't hear me whining. Get the work done and stop trying to weasel your way out of it. (She was obviously going to attempt the same routine with another teacher who also works at the same school on a different day than her.) All the teachers I've ever known, elementary and secondary, have at least five different preps. And they meet with their classes every single day, not just once a week like we do.
Good grief! If this were the only instance of crybaby teacher moaning, I'd shrug it off. Sad it's not. Far, far from it.
Last night, I remembered to turn on my phone. It had been off for 36 hours. (Yes, this happens to me rather a lot.) There are three messages on it from a fellow itinerant music teacher. Can I possibly switch some classes with her? She claims it'll be an easy switch; we are at the same school on the same day.
Turns out this teacher is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. She read the schedule wrong and we are at the same school on different days. (Okay, what should I expect from a person who leaves a voicemail message and then forgets to hang up the phone?) But still she seems desperate to switch.
Why? Because she wants to teach second and third grade exclusively and have only two classes to prepare. Seriously?! You selfish little *bleep*!! You want to rearrange everyone else's life just so you don't have to work as hard. And you're trying to convince the person with 14 different classes to prep to accommodate your lazy ass!
No, I think not honey. Too bad you only have one section of 5th grade. I'm in the same boat, and you don't hear me whining. Get the work done and stop trying to weasel your way out of it. (She was obviously going to attempt the same routine with another teacher who also works at the same school on a different day than her.) All the teachers I've ever known, elementary and secondary, have at least five different preps. And they meet with their classes every single day, not just once a week like we do.
Good grief! If this were the only instance of crybaby teacher moaning, I'd shrug it off. Sad it's not. Far, far from it.
When I Come to Power - Administrators
Administrator - a person who wants to make a lot of money, does not have any marketable knowledge or skills, and hates teaching.
Every administrator I have ever worked for has spent less than 10 years teaching in a classroom. One of them had precisely 0 hours of teaching experience before assuming control of a school. The average seems to be about three years.
No one can master the art of teaching in a scant three years. No one. Many claim they have, but they are liars. How do I know? Science tells me, that's how. Science is proving that it takes 10, 000 hours of practice to master any craft be it golf, jazz saxophone, teaching, or underwater basket weaving.
Why should being a master teacher be important to administrators? Oh, I don't know...Maybe because administrators are supposed to manage their teachers!!! Manage, as in direct, govern, or supervise. If you do not know what is supposed to be going on, tell me how, on God's green earth, are you direct and run it? You have no freakin' clue what has to happen, how is should happen, when or why it should happen. You are - in a word - clueless.
Being clueless, generally wise speaking, is A Very Bad Thing (TM). So, when I come to power, becoming a school principal would be very easy. There would be only two requirements #1: Have at least 10 years of classroom teaching experience. #2: Have spent at least 10 years running a business with at least 3 employees. Why #2? Well, that's another post.
Every administrator I have ever worked for has spent less than 10 years teaching in a classroom. One of them had precisely 0 hours of teaching experience before assuming control of a school. The average seems to be about three years.
No one can master the art of teaching in a scant three years. No one. Many claim they have, but they are liars. How do I know? Science tells me, that's how. Science is proving that it takes 10, 000 hours of practice to master any craft be it golf, jazz saxophone, teaching, or underwater basket weaving.
Why should being a master teacher be important to administrators? Oh, I don't know...Maybe because administrators are supposed to manage their teachers!!! Manage, as in direct, govern, or supervise. If you do not know what is supposed to be going on, tell me how, on God's green earth, are you direct and run it? You have no freakin' clue what has to happen, how is should happen, when or why it should happen. You are - in a word - clueless.
Being clueless, generally wise speaking, is A Very Bad Thing (TM). So, when I come to power, becoming a school principal would be very easy. There would be only two requirements #1: Have at least 10 years of classroom teaching experience. #2: Have spent at least 10 years running a business with at least 3 employees. Why #2? Well, that's another post.
Friday, October 4, 2013
What's wrong with American Education - Reason #248593
Crappy Curriculum
There are amazing curricula out there, for every subject under the sun from Art to Zoology. Granted some of it is pricey, but lots of it is affordable, some is even (shudder) free. Why is it that American teachers insist on using sub-standard crap for lessons? Why are American teachers proud of the shit they use? Nobody else points to a steaming pile of poo, inhales loudly, and declares it to be a bed of roses. Yet American teachers do.
Are we really that anti-intellectual? Are we really that stupid?
There are experts and scientists in every field (yes, even music) who have done (and are continuing to do) the research and *know* the best way to teach their subject. How to break down the knowledge and skills. How to sequence it. How to tailor it to different types of student. They are shouting their findings from the rooftops. Some are writing books with easy-to-follow lessons. Others are giving workshops and attending conferences for teachers. Yet the biggest consumers of these amazing resources?
Homeschoolers, that's who.
Now homeschoolers do not have any special enlightenment. They work hard to find the right materials to suit their students, and they listen to the experts, not the publisher's sales rep with the flashiest swag. Can't we teachers climb off our high horses and learn something from these dedicated parents?
Oh yeah, right. Teachers don't get to choose curriculum. Administrators do.
*headdesk*
There are amazing curricula out there, for every subject under the sun from Art to Zoology. Granted some of it is pricey, but lots of it is affordable, some is even (shudder) free. Why is it that American teachers insist on using sub-standard crap for lessons? Why are American teachers proud of the shit they use? Nobody else points to a steaming pile of poo, inhales loudly, and declares it to be a bed of roses. Yet American teachers do.
Are we really that anti-intellectual? Are we really that stupid?
There are experts and scientists in every field (yes, even music) who have done (and are continuing to do) the research and *know* the best way to teach their subject. How to break down the knowledge and skills. How to sequence it. How to tailor it to different types of student. They are shouting their findings from the rooftops. Some are writing books with easy-to-follow lessons. Others are giving workshops and attending conferences for teachers. Yet the biggest consumers of these amazing resources?
Homeschoolers, that's who.
Now homeschoolers do not have any special enlightenment. They work hard to find the right materials to suit their students, and they listen to the experts, not the publisher's sales rep with the flashiest swag. Can't we teachers climb off our high horses and learn something from these dedicated parents?
Oh yeah, right. Teachers don't get to choose curriculum. Administrators do.
*headdesk*
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