Chalk one up for the ESL teacher!
I've often wondered why some APs obsess about minutiae such as homework assignments written on the board at the beginning of class. I mean, what difference does it make? Couldn't one argue that if students know ahead of time that they are going to have homework, they will pay more attention?
:: applause::
Thanks, I needed that story.
A fairy tale with a happy ending!
The AP is so typical of the power driven sort. All too many of them around and one of the reasons administrators should not be given unchecked power. The UFT in strong chapters served to reign them in to some extent. But with the demise of the union at the chapter level in so many schools and no help from the central union which is preoccupied with positioning Weingarten's future career, there is a need for some other force to check them. What that is I do not know - maybe some kind of independent board of directors for the schools.
Every time I read a story like this I get down on my knees and thank the good Lord that I've never worked in a such a district or building. At least our AP's and Principal work as a team - if that were the case here, Miss Prissy AP would have known that the homework was supposed to be on the board.
Which brings me to another point....our middle school uses a lot of AVID strategies with our kids and that includes filling out their agenda every day with "classwork" and "homework" information. Most of us have this written on the board and the kids fill it out in the first 5 minutes of class. Apparently this AP has never heard of AVID.
I've had someone ask what AVID stands for - it's Advancement Via Individual Determination and is a program in a lot of schools, especially high schools, where they take middle of the road students and work with them on skills (a lot of them organizational) to bring their grades up and get them to become more high achieving. It is used in a lot of Department of Defense Schools, and I know is also really big in San Diego schools. Google it and you'll find a lot of information on it.
Finally some great summer reading material. God Bless that principal.
This year my region did a bang up job with summer school. So many teachers were at the UFT office filing grievances because they weren't called.
Principals this year made the picks, but instead of going through Human Resources, they notified the teachers directly causing a lot of friction at many schools due to seniority and retention issues.
Many with retention were not called til the last week of school.
Gotta love it!
Am I the only one who thinks that throwing the report in the trash is childish?
It's a cute line for the sake of the story, but it's a ridiculous response. Even if the teacher is being hassled, there's no reason to behave like that.
Remember - at no point in this story did the teacher go to his boss and ask why. Not to boss #1, who wanted homework at the beginning of the period; not to boss #2, who demanded it at the end. Thankfully for Mr. Sandoval, the principal intervened at the end and took the burden off his shoulders.
It is no wonder that Mr. Sandoval wasn't used to good summer school experiences. In teaching - and any other profession - you can't depend passively on your superiors. Interact with them, engage in dialog and problem solving. You'll find that situations like this stop happening.
To be fair, the last line was simply a play on words off the ending of A Tale of Two Cities. I honestly have no idea how Mr. Sandoval's other summer school experiences may have been.
Noticed and noted - it still fits well with Mr. Sandoval's reactionary behavior.
This AP doesn't sound reasonable to me. Maybe the principal knew that. He couldn't have liked her homework policy either.
"But with the demise of the union at the chapter level in so many schools and no help from the central union which is preoccupied with positioning Weingarten's future career, there is a need for some other force to check them. What that is I do not know - maybe some kind of independent board of directors for the schools."
Okay, what I don't get, and maybe some of you do get, is why the hell the UFT is going around unionizing new people (i.e. the child care workers) when what we have is so inept that we are losing teachers by the truck load every year. Can someone explain to me how they financed that campaign, but my district rep. takes 4 days to answer urgent phone calls and emails? Don't get me wrong...I am glad to see more union workers, but at what expences?
Funny how 2 people can read the same post and find childish behavior in a different person. In my opinion, the AP was childish. Her actions were inappropriate and unprofessional.
I do agree that most teachers would have reported the incident to the principal. However, it is sad to say that there are many administrators who are just as childish working in schools today.
For the record, all observations must be signed by the teacher and so the observation would have been retrieved. The teacher acted out of desperation and did so in private (She, on the other hand, was peeking).
"Okay, what I don't get, and maybe some of you do get, is why the hell the UFT is going around unionizing new people (i.e. the child care workers) when what we have is so inept that we are losing teachers by the truck load every year."
The UFT leadership has given up on being a union that represents working teachers. The ultimate result will be 30,000 child care UFT members who will be beholden to Unity and a further dilution of the working teacher members of the UFT. Do the math: over 50,000 retirees plus the new workers plus the non-teaching functional chapters, which are even easier for Unity to dominate and even if teachers were to turn against Unity they will soon be a minority.
I really liked that story. Ha.
Schoolgal,
I agree wholeheartedly - the AP was childish and unprofessional. The teacher didn't take the higher or more productive road, though.
It does make a lovely, uplifting story--a nice underdog wins! In my own experiences, I'd say the eval would have been lost under a hopeless stack of memos and paperwork that comes from admin, and at the end of the day it could not be found to discard anyway. Do admins get paid extra to work so hard in the summer? That one must have been a newbie who was trying to climb the ladder.
Love it!
Anyone who delves into the details is just like the AP.
Another way of looking at this story is that the principal is acting only out of expediency, not principle. After all, the story tells us that he really needs the ESL teacher. Would he have defended the teacher in a less crucial situation?
As I have never had an administrator of any kind who knew his/her ass from a hole in the ground, I can only smile and appreciate this story in which the good guy won, for a change.
Oh bless your heart Mathew K. Tabor. While it's great that you're so idealistic ("Interact with them, engage in dialog and problem solving. You'll find that situations like this stop happening"). However, you are either new to the profession or you've been blessed/lucky/fortunate/privileged/whatever to never have had a pure a$%hole of an administrator. Count yourself among the few.
After a long/rough day no one wants to deal with a nitpicky administrator making a big deal of such small or trivial matters when most of our schools and districts have "much bigger fish to fry." I understand why Mr. Sandoval did what he did. Sometimes you just get frustrated!
I'm with Mamacita, Schoolgal and Happychyk
Thanks for the story NYC Educator! Ahh, one can dream........
This has nothing to do with idealism - taking an active role in the situation is purely practical. How a teacher [or any subordinate] can seethe, whine and stew over a conflict - justified or not - fail to initiate action and then expect a resolution they're happy with is beyond me.
Had Mr. Sandoval a stiffer upper lip leading up to this situation, he wouldn't have been overwhelmed by frustration, thrown his hands up and blamed his woes on an ineffective boss.
I don't think Matthew that you ever worked for the NYC Board of Ed. If you did, you would realize how useless talking to some administrators can be.
"How a teacher [or any subordinate] can seethe, whine and stew over a conflict - justified or not - fail to initiate action and then expect a resolution they're happy with is beyond me."
There are no supporting details to justify the above statement.
First we learn how she admonished him in front of his class.
"Miss AP, entered his classroom, and said, "Mr. Sandoval, you cannot put the homework up until the very end of the class. If you put it up this early, the kids will spend class time doing homework. That's absolutely unacceptable." She walked up to the board and erased the homework assignment."
Then her body language conveys an act of aggression.
"She entered his class the following day, giving him sour looks and furiously scribbling for an hour."
And, when she should be engaging in professional dialogue such as walking in calmly and setting up an appointment to discuss the observation, she continues to exhibit unprofessional behavior.
"The day after that, she came into his classroom at the end of the day, dropped an envelope on his desk, and walked out."
On top of that she does something extremely childish.
His AP had been peeking.
Finally, she tries to violate his contractual rights by keeping him after working hours.
She retrieved the document, and said, "I'm going to read it to you."
After admonishing him in front of his students,the post clearly states the following:
"Mr. Sandoval was disappointed she chose to lecture him in front of his students." And when he spoke to her, he did it in a polite manner.
Notice that the story never once states that Mr Sandoval seethed, whined or stewed. However, she was probably the one who was seething because, most likely, that was not the reaction she was hoping for when she was "peeking."
No teacher would ever try to engage in a dialogue with someone who is not a class act.
And thank you for labeling teachers as "subordinates". In successful schools, teachers work with the administration, not for them.
Matthew, as a matter of curiosity, what is your background in Education?
First, I agree completely that the administrator was in the wrong. There is no doubt that the admin was unprofessional, obnoxious and handled the problem poorly. As we both know, there are far better ways for an admin to get his message across than brow-beating a teacher over details. The e-rabble was eager - and rightly so - to treat the admin like a pinata in the comments. I wanted to point out that the teacher didn't do much to help resolve this bizarre, unnecessary conflict.
The term "subordinate" isn't negative. In a public school system, a teacher is subordinate to the administrator. That's reality, not a value judgment.
A good administrator encourages professional development, mentors and guides teachers, etc. He leads his teachers. Just because he is the leader and they follow doesn't mean that he doesn't work with them or that he shows them anything but the fullest respect. Just because the teachers are subordinates doesn't mean that they should be treated as lesser or as pawns in a power struggle.
The statement that "No teacher would ever try to engage in dialogue with someone who is not a class act" is outrageously unrealistic. Many times you have to whether you want to or not, and as a civil servant you're obligated to make the best of even the very worst situations. Teacher or admin, dealing with situations like these in a proactive way is an important quality of a professional.
I invite you to visit my site frequently, Schoolgal. I imagine that you'll disagree with much of my content, but that's why we do this - offering different approaches to solve common problems is the greatest bit of equity in the blogosphere.
i notice you did not answer Schoolgals question about where (or if) you fall in the educational spectrum? Was that deliberate or did you miss that part of her comment?
Matthew,
You were the one who used the words "seethe, whine, etc", and even though proven wrong, you still find fault (as with your original comment) with this teacher. Perhaps had you started your original comment as you did your second,
First, an experienced employee does not go running to the boss until we have more than one incident to report.
It wasn't until the end of the third day that tge AP shown consistent behavior that she was just more than unprofessional, but also crazed.
You even took exception to the last line of the post which most educators knew was an obvious play on words from Dickens.
I did check out your site, including your background, but could not find that information.
Now 3 people have asked you about it on this blog. Would you kindly respond?
It seems to me, even as mere a non-educator, that Mr. Tabor's educational background has no real bearing on this discussion, as the issue at hand is one of professionalism not educational theory or experience.
Both parties in this case acted in a manner unbecoming of their profession. It was professionally inappropriate for the administrator to chastise the teacher in front of his students and antagonize him during her observation of his class. Likewise it was equally inappropriate for the teacher to (his true motives unknown) dismiss her evaluation as invaluable and cavalierly throw it in the trash can.
This scenario is not unique to education--businesses, law firms, and hospitals are replete with similar examples of blatantly unprofessional conduct between supervisors and their employees. What the discussion should be is "What can we learn from this situation?" rather than using this story as a "Rudy" moment, worthy of patterning your own behavior after.
Perhaps in the urban education setting the natural reaction is to simply put your head down and keep plugging, in keeping with the "another cog in the vast machine" mentality. But, this entire situation could've been averted by a simple thirty second meeting with the principal to clarify what the policy on how to assign homework is. Since he instead chose to carry on allowing the problem to grow, stewing over the administrators seemingly unfair treatment of him, and then getting caught when he throws her comments in the garbage, it should be fully expected that he be hauled in front of the boss and admonished for his lack of professional courtesy. (Luckily for him, the situation worked out in his favor).
So instead of demanding Mr. Tabor's credentials as an educator (which hardly seem to matter) perhaps that time would be better served evaluating our own record of holding ourselves to the tenets of professional conduct.
Read the post again. The teacher never stewed but was "disappointed".
And, in a professional manner, followed the homework policy. And, he was not annoyed with the policy as much as her behavior.
Tossing is not stewing or whinning, but a reaction in a "moment in time". Any person in the education field would know that the observation would have been retrieved by the teacher and acted on accordingly. The AP did not give him a chance to respond to the observation which is to have a scheduled post conference rather than corner him at the end of the school day. An educator would know that too.
It was none of her business that he tossed it in the first place. Had he tossed it in front of her, then I would agree with both you and Matthew.
Matthew has every right to write a blog on Education, but one usually reads the author's creditials in magazines, newspapers and journals. Why not blogs?
JD MD has an excellent grasp on this situation - it is an issue of professional courtesy that is wholly divorced from the field of education.
I didn't talk much about myself or answer the personal questions directly because it is a bit of a faux pas to hijack a thread, even when prompted, on another's site. I read NYCeducator daily and have too much respect for the site to talk about myself in detail. I suggested with subtlety that Schoolgal [and others, like "anonymous"] check my site. How you went to my site and missed anything about my role in the field of education is beyond me.
Also, my background - and yours, Schoolgal, JD MD, anonymous and others - is irrelevant to this discussion. An idea doesn't sink or swim on the merits of the writer's CV. And, if it does, the reader's priorities are skewed badly.
I do not want this discussion to devolve into name-calling, parsing of our CVs or suggestions about a lack of professional competence [side note: your claim that "most educators" would recognize the Dickens wordplay is utterly absurd].
If you want to have a discussion about ideas, I'm all for it. If you want to discuss whose Dad can beat up another Dad, you're engaging the wrong guy. Remember, educators: behave like professionals at all turns and you will be treated as such.
That Dickens quote is very famous. Your lack of experience is evident when you preach "behave like professionals at all turns and you will be treated as such." You really have no idea what goes on here.
I agree that such situations are not unique to education.
But I also think it's a waste of time trying to talk to some people (That's not unique to education either).
Sometimes, people who don't like kids become supervisors to "escape the classroom." These people are the worst teachers there are, and it's not surprising they're not good at supervision either.
They defy the Peter Principle by advancing from their levels of incompetence.
Had to put in my two cents on this one, I have no educational background, but I've enjoyed the site quietly for a while as the husband of an educator. Although he's been vilified all Mr. Tabor was saying that it seems silly for this teacher to have been so adversarial. He got one message from the top authority, the principal, and another from a secondary authority. Had he simply expressed to either one that their messages were explicit and mixed, wouldn't the situation have resolved itself? As an executive in my own field, I know if a subordinate trashed an evaluation I had worked on I would be furious. But given some of the comments on this thread, I guess that sort of discourtesy is commonplace!
just as i would not presume to know what happens or have experience in the field of medicine, law, or any other type of business, it seems to me that someone without a working knowledge/experience in the NYC public school system would most definately NOT be as able to understand the unique pressures that a job as an educator present. Besides, knowing the point of view someone comes from can enlighten a reader as to a possible bias, as Schoolgal talked about, if we can request it in other media, why not blogs? And James, I will tell you that speaking from personal experience, just telling the administrator that their message was "explicit or mixed" would not necessarily solved the conflict. Again, I cannot speak for your field of expertise, but I am sure not every business executive in private industry would react positively to a "subordinate" reacting to an evaluation by telling him/her it was "explicit or mixed". By the way, I AM an educator currently in the NYC Board of Education with six years experience.
I don't mean to be discourteous. I've never tossed a report. But I've felt like it a few times. That's why we like this character. There are a lot of stories about people who do what we wish we could. I think we can like wthe story without following the example. I also think if Mr. Tabor wants to lecture teachers, his CV is important.
Anonymous, just to answer your point, if one of my VPs gave a directive to a subordinate of theirs that was contrary to mine because they were unaware of mine, I would want to know about it and I would want to eliminate that conflict.
I have been teaching for over 30 years and while I have never tossed an observation, I have never received one that did not deserve to be tossed. Let me add, that I have never received a report that was less than satisfactory. The reports usually say nothing to help my teaching. They contain a whole lot of dribble designed to make the administrator writing it look good. Besides, in NYC, a teacher's evaluation is determined before the admin walks in the room. I know. I have been observed teaching what I consider awful lessons and the reports are always outstanding. And there are teachers that can do no right, no matter how good their lessons are.
Why is it that no one rereads this post to see that the teacher was disappointed with the APs action and not her directive?
The AP should have known the principal's policy. And I would love to have been "peeking" at her reaction to the principal backing up his teacher.
PS:
A consultant.
Pissedoffteacher:
"Let me add, that I have never received a report that was less than satisfactory. The reports usually say nothing to help my teaching."
I presume you mean that the "grades" the evaluator gave you have never been less than satisfactory? Blih. I *hate* getting useless feedback. *grin*
And, no, Mr. Sandoval maybe didn't do the Very Best Thing in regards to the situation as it developed, but alas, saints make for annoying protagonists. As a reflection on "how I tried to make the best of a bad situation and what happened as a result," maybe. As a narrative? No way! I like to read about people I can relate to - not Elsie Dinsmore.
classic!
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