Follow the trials and tribulations of a teacher who, after 20 years of teaching gets her first unsatisfactory observation, followed by a U-rating for the year. From a Leadership Academy principal - naturally.
Administrators count on teachers bowing their heads and hiding in shame. And of course the UFT says SHHHHH! File a grievance. Quietly. Don't make a political fight out of it. Shhhhhhhh!!
But this teacher won't go meekly.
"Somewhere else in Bloomberg's New York City Department of Education there is another teacher who has received or is about to receive a negative letter and is heading for an unsatisfactory rating at the end of this year just like I am. But no one will ever hear of it, because it all takes place behind closed doors and in secrecy. As soon as a teacher gets one of these letters, she feels ashamed. She wants to hide it from everyone. She quietly endures one letter after another--until one day she just disappears. "Whatever happened to good old Mary?" People shrug their shoulders and quickly change the subject. "This won't happen to me. I am going to make this a very public shaming, shunning, or what-ever-you-want-to-call-it. This isn't going to happen in some little dark corner of Bloomberg-land. So, if you want to see the step by step destruction of a very long, and, I think, very proud teaching career, then come for visit."
http://untamedteacher.blogspot.com/
Your lessons sound terrific. Very creative. Get a mini tape recorder and record your lesson surreptiously when observed.
ReplyDeletehumm it sound like my story.
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone.