Here is part of a comment I received today about an earlier post: I’ve been a teacher for 30 years because I like explaining science to kids. On the days with an attentive audience I really have a great time, other times it can be a soul-crushing experience. I have colleagues who are extremely unhappy, although they love people and they want to teach, but the profession (and the society from which it springs) has changed drastically. Mr. Teachbad wishes only to expand upon these excellent remarks. Read more [...]
Archive for the ‘Administrative Idiocy’ Category
Do you remember Raymond? (Raymond is much more fun than li’l blueblack.) This is the reader who is thinking about teaching, but has some missgivings and concerns. His first concern was about the general intellectual heft of teachers, which we discussed in Are Teachers Morons? Raymond’s next concern/questions are about the use of data and what teachers can be held accountable for: I think that urban education in its current form is a cosmic failure. The system seems to be overrun by ridiculous Read more [...]
I’m a line worker Education factory Waiting for the bell First, let me say that I love unions. If you are a migrant avocado picker, janitor, coal miner, office cleaner, or assembly line worker; you should get yourself into a union right away. And they will help you. Why do you need help? Because you possess no special skills or knowledge. You are easily replaceable. If you have issues or complaints, about anything, it’s not worth the boss’s time to try to make you happy. If you have extraordinary Read more [...]
“Improve your practice” You want to improve my what? I can’t stand that phrase Do I look like a doctor? Do you think you’re fooling me? I’m not sure when this started, but at some point being a teacher has become a “practice”. Now, what other professions come to mind when we hear the word “practice”? I’m thinking doctors and lawyers; the two most stereo-typically high pay, high prestige jobs on the planet. The good news for us is that we teachers now also have a practice. If not the high Read more [...]
We’re here, and then not Trotsky in Stalin’s scrap book Gone and forgotten I know that I bitch a lot. But, honestly, that’s why this blog exists in the first place. So I don’t consider that a valid criticism. However, in addition to bitching, I want to contribute suggestions for taking the bottom-feeding, low man on the totem pole, grunt work, KP duty, snipe hunting, pull my finger, 52 card pick-up, never in the room when a real decision is made reality of teachers and eliminating it or making it Read more [...]
It’s hard to take it Pretend. Go Along. Fake it. A half hour meeting About fire drill procedures We talked about this last week This actually happened. We had a whole staff meeting after school, maybe 150 people, about emergency procedures for this or that sort of emergency. That was the once-a-month all hands meeting for an hour after school. Fine. Talk about whatever you want. All I have to do is sit in a chair and I’m already in the building anyway. Plus there’s snacks. But then the next Read more [...]
You loved them so much Those darlings in your classroom So, VP, tell me Why teach for just three years? Destiny calls you to lead OK, the question from the last post was: What are these people good at? Why are almost all of the administrators in my school very young and have very little teaching experience? Isn’t that odd? Why would you select people who don’t have very much teaching experience to lead and supervise those who do? That’s a fair question, right? I mean, usually the boss is someone Read more [...]
Singular spirit Sadly sometimes is lost to Checking of boxes Technocracy: The government or control of society or industry by technical experts. (Oxford English Dictionary) I was recently at a mandatory, all-day professional development session….Do you feel me? We were all dreading it and mocking it mercilessly days before it had started. Well, I am here to report that it was outstanding. That’s right. I’ll say it again: It was outstanding. Now, the question you are asking yourself is, “Good Read more [...]
You’re really my boss? Honestly, how old are you? This is so crazy You must have something I don’t I sure hope I don’t catch it I have had a lot of bosses, department chairs and vice principals and such, who have been a good chunk younger than me. Now, I’m not so young, but we couldn’t really say I’m old either…OK…I’m in my REALLY late-30s. In the past five years, four out of six of my direct supervisors have been about 8-12 years younger than me and have had less teaching experience Read more [...]
Routines, rituals and procedures Predictability, norms and limits Teenagers crave these things Really, they do The Research tells us But I’m a grown up And I hate all that shit Plus I like to swear Sorry…I’m not sure the poem matches the sentiment today, and for that I apologize. But among the many memos that greeted us this morning, one noted that this, the beginning of a New Year, was an opportunity to reaffirm the norms of the school, our classrooms, procedures, rules, routines, etc, etc, Read more [...]
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