So. I have to blog for one of my classes. I was feeling a bit down because I had to tutor a kid today who is a smart kid. He is a hyper little shit, but just a good kid. 7th grade, probably functioning in the middle of the 4th grade, academically. This sort of thing breaks my heart and makes me want to choke slam the parents.
So I was drinking a lot, as I worry for this poor kid and how his life is likely to turn out when I remember. "Oh Shit, my weekly blog for English!" So this is what they got:
With regards to teachers and teaching, I feel like there is a missing dimension. I mean there are always so many facets to all arguments these days. I miss when I was a blind idealist. sigh.
Tucker (Catlin Tucker, author of many English methods books/blogs) is calling out teachers to be engaged. That is awesome! She is uber-engaged and has a great mind, great co-workers, great books, great support system, and a great administration. A great what? A great administration? Who gives 2 shits about administrators, this is all about the kids, right? Wrong. Okay, well not wrong, but certainly school administrators are a factor that bears noting in any discussion regarding teacher disengagement/burnout/hari kari.
Most of the people in this class are not yet teachers, and many of you are (waaaaay...way way... way way way) younger than I am. I am unsure what experience you have had with school administration, but I am telling you, it will make or break you. My little brother pissed off his principal (not pal, after all as it turned out) in the 3rd grade and was put in, "the problem track." This was in the late '70s. He never broke out. My parents had to send him to private school in order for him to not get the, "send him to shop" recommendations from his counselors. It was evil. He was smart and was pigeonholed his whole career in public school. I hope the "track" system for channeling students into different learning tracks based on the whims of one person is gone forever.
I have seen other schools with sub par administrators as well. If you have an admin who is either a jerk or is him/herself disengaged you can find yourself in a position where burnout/disengagement has a much higher probability.
Another factor that can destroy a teacher is personality type. There are people who are able to focus on the job, do that job, then go home. These people are relatively rare. Many people worry and have stress. This will affect one by degrees. Worrying about students is normal. Co-workers, still normal. All the problems that happen in a school, from the janitor to the principal's sick bassett hound: you may need to medicate.
If I were the teacher of the young man I tutored today (2/3 of the way through 7th grade and cannot do long division of 4325/3) I would approach the parents and discuss study habits. Many years gone are the days when the RIGHT conversation could take place:
Me: You child is so smart, I care about him. He is a joy to all those around him. He needs to stop playing ball until he can do BASIC F*****G MATH.
Parent: You can't talk to me that way.
Me: I wouldn't have to if your kid could do BASIC F*****G MATH. He learns it so fast it would only take about 3 months of tutoring to get him all caught up. I will stay after and help him. (which is a testament to how awesome this kid is. I F'ing hate math)
Parent: Ok.
Those conversations just cannot happen now. You will get suspended, maybe sued.
Now of course no one really has those kinds of talks anymore. The few conversations that do take place are much more toned down. But you need to be careful. I advise doing all communications in writing to cover your ass. But in writing you run the greater risk of being misunderstood. You also have to watch out who the admins are looking out for in your school. Often times, they will side with the parent over the teacher in a disagreement. And again, many parents sue.
I will let you in on a secret. You know why you REALLY pay those teacher union dues? It is because members of the union are represented by union lawyers in the event of a law suit. That is right. Your future union dues are basically malpractice insurance.
Anyway, I just wanted to point out that in addition to stats and whatnot, it is important to evaluate all the reasons teachers become disengaged. They don't just wake up one day and decide to stop trying. They usually are trying and the system fails them, or they cannot adapt to the system.
So I was drinking a lot, as I worry for this poor kid and how his life is likely to turn out when I remember. "Oh Shit, my weekly blog for English!" So this is what they got:
With regards to teachers and teaching, I feel like there is a missing dimension. I mean there are always so many facets to all arguments these days. I miss when I was a blind idealist. sigh.
Tucker (Catlin Tucker, author of many English methods books/blogs) is calling out teachers to be engaged. That is awesome! She is uber-engaged and has a great mind, great co-workers, great books, great support system, and a great administration. A great what? A great administration? Who gives 2 shits about administrators, this is all about the kids, right? Wrong. Okay, well not wrong, but certainly school administrators are a factor that bears noting in any discussion regarding teacher disengagement/burnout/hari kari.
Most of the people in this class are not yet teachers, and many of you are (waaaaay...way way... way way way) younger than I am. I am unsure what experience you have had with school administration, but I am telling you, it will make or break you. My little brother pissed off his principal (not pal, after all as it turned out) in the 3rd grade and was put in, "the problem track." This was in the late '70s. He never broke out. My parents had to send him to private school in order for him to not get the, "send him to shop" recommendations from his counselors. It was evil. He was smart and was pigeonholed his whole career in public school. I hope the "track" system for channeling students into different learning tracks based on the whims of one person is gone forever.
I have seen other schools with sub par administrators as well. If you have an admin who is either a jerk or is him/herself disengaged you can find yourself in a position where burnout/disengagement has a much higher probability.
Another factor that can destroy a teacher is personality type. There are people who are able to focus on the job, do that job, then go home. These people are relatively rare. Many people worry and have stress. This will affect one by degrees. Worrying about students is normal. Co-workers, still normal. All the problems that happen in a school, from the janitor to the principal's sick bassett hound: you may need to medicate.
If I were the teacher of the young man I tutored today (2/3 of the way through 7th grade and cannot do long division of 4325/3) I would approach the parents and discuss study habits. Many years gone are the days when the RIGHT conversation could take place:
Me: You child is so smart, I care about him. He is a joy to all those around him. He needs to stop playing ball until he can do BASIC F*****G MATH.
Parent: You can't talk to me that way.
Me: I wouldn't have to if your kid could do BASIC F*****G MATH. He learns it so fast it would only take about 3 months of tutoring to get him all caught up. I will stay after and help him. (which is a testament to how awesome this kid is. I F'ing hate math)
Parent: Ok.
Those conversations just cannot happen now. You will get suspended, maybe sued.
Now of course no one really has those kinds of talks anymore. The few conversations that do take place are much more toned down. But you need to be careful. I advise doing all communications in writing to cover your ass. But in writing you run the greater risk of being misunderstood. You also have to watch out who the admins are looking out for in your school. Often times, they will side with the parent over the teacher in a disagreement. And again, many parents sue.
I will let you in on a secret. You know why you REALLY pay those teacher union dues? It is because members of the union are represented by union lawyers in the event of a law suit. That is right. Your future union dues are basically malpractice insurance.
Anyway, I just wanted to point out that in addition to stats and whatnot, it is important to evaluate all the reasons teachers become disengaged. They don't just wake up one day and decide to stop trying. They usually are trying and the system fails them, or they cannot adapt to the system.