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 Forcing
Good Teachers to Fade to Black
Nancy Salvato
July 7, 2004 |
Well, it’s that time of year again; the
anxiety has begun to eat away at the pit of my stomach as I find myself
worrying about whether or not I’ll be hired to teach this fall. This time
I’ve taken a different tact in that I’m also applying for jobs outside of
the classroom. I’ve chosen to do this because, admittedly, I feel less than
enthusiastic about my chosen profession.
Wherever I am hired, I’ll fill a role at a new school where I will have to
jump through hoops to prove that I am excited about the opportunity I’ve
been given. I will have to speak guardedly so not to reveal my true
conservative nature (which is politically incorrect in the liberal environs
of education). I’ll have to sit through faculty or team meetings wondering
how anything being discussed is remotely relevant to the main purpose for
which I’m there; the students and the curriculum(s) that I’m teaching.
I’ll finally get comfortable in my job and my surroundings; when one
administrative change or complaint from an unsatisfied parent who thinks I
didn’t meet her child’s needs, might result in losing the support of my
supervisors; who given the choice will prefer someone less controversial,
less passionate in his/her convictions about what should or shouldn’t take
place in the classroom.
The unease that wears away at me is not from fear about doing an inadequate
job, it stems from the knowledge that wherever I end up, I’ll be signing a
teaching contract that is good for only one year and doesn’t have to be
renewed. Until tenured, the reason for non renewal doesn’t have to be given.
Being offered a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year contract is basically at the whim of
whoever is in charge one, two, or three years from my date of hire.
What kind of teacher am I? I work through lunch. I can be incredibly
organized. Sometimes I have lessons planned not just one day in advance, not
even one week in advance, but months’ ahead of schedule. This doesn’t mean I
won’t amend or change them. I’ll change a lesson from one class to the next
when it didn’t work the way I expected it would. To an evaluator, it might
seem that I was flying by the seat of my pants; however, I feel it’s a
better option to experiment midstream than to forge ahead with something
that has proven not to work.
I figure out ways to assess my students so that my rubrics give honest
evaluations of what they are capable of doing, given that they’ve done the
required work. As a veteran, I have learned to avoid being overburdened by
paperwork so that I can actually have a life in my off hours and don’t spend
all of my waking moments preparing for lessons or grading papers. Experience
has bred efficiency. Because I don’t leave at 5:30 every night doesn’t mean
I don’t do my job. I’ve just figured out that I can get most work done at
home while I throw in a load of laundry or prepare a square meal where the
main ingredient isn’t grease from a burger and fries. I return papers to the
kids in a timely manner because I can use them to indicate if a concept
needs to be presented or practiced again.
Finally, I am a person who models that if I am given respect that I will
grant respect. If I’m, or any other students in the classroom are
disrespected in ways that disrupt the learning which should be taking place,
then the policy I want to see supported is to remove the instigator from the
class. This allows the others to benefit from the instructional process.
It’s unacceptable to spend an inordinate amount of class time filling out
paperwork documenting, what usually ends up as chronic misbehavior, or
attempting private or public conversations with the student who caused the
disruption, and leaving the rest of the class to fend for themselves.
On the news you hear about bad teachers; ones who molest or have sex with
underage children. You hear about teachers who aren’t qualified to teach the
subjects in which they’re charged. You hear about teachers who are burned
out, but are too difficult to fire. You even hear about the teachers who
inflate grades, allegedly because they are too lazy to teach their students.
What you don’t hear about are good teachers that quietly fade to black.
These teachers never make it to tenure even though they are honest and
hardworking and care about their students. These teachers believe in their
mission; to teach the educational objectives and goals of their classes, and
adequately prepare the students for their advancement up one grade level.
Yet these teachers are criticized for failing students who don’t perform and
told the reason is they’re not meeting all their students’ needs. These
teachers are chastised as being poor classroom managers because they won’t
put up with any disrespect. These teachers are goaded into lowering their
standards or being dismissed. Good teachers can’t continue in their chosen
profession when they learn their contracts won’t be renewed and they’re
forced into tendering their resignations.
I’m dumbfounded when I hear of teacher shortages or when I see teachers
being led down the street in handcuffs. I have to shake my head when I meet
a colleague who announces, first; that he or she is a coach, then reveals
the subject he or she teaches is History. I remind myself, I’m a good
teacher. Then I take stock of my situation and am left wondering, "How come
it’s so difficult for good teachers, teachers who do their work; who put in
the time… how come it’s so difficult for teachers who want to teach, to keep
their jobs?”
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