A new one

My principal tore me a great big new one today. A "I wouldn't expect to get a job here next year"-sized new one.

Her first observation with me happened last week, and we debriefed it today. She didn't seem at all impressed that I still tried hard to teach normally while suffering from sever laryngitis and could barely talk, and that I'd managed to restructure my lesson in a way that let students work more on their own with less explanation from me (a model which I like and want to try to develop more).

I can take criticism, and I know I've got a lot of room to improve as a teacher. I'm a rookie, I'm supposed to. But the whole thing really rubs me the wrong way.

For instance, she criticized the lesson because students didn't have a copy of the essay they were responding to in their assignment. Well... it was a listening exercise. Kind of exactly like they'll have on the state test in June. She said that we talked about the content of the essay more than the craft of writing. Good writing comes from good thinking. Period. Empty minds cannot produce writing that is worth anything. These kids don't have a lot that they want to say in writing.

The essay I read to them was by Rush Limbaugh, and had them so wound up that a few could barely stay in their seats because they had so much to say. I was also criticized because the kids didn't know who he was (and actually, she mispronounced his name so I think maybe she was feeling self-conscious because she didn't know who he was). Well... the state test will be chock full of authors these kids have never heard of. In any case, it didn't seem to be much of an issue for these kids.

Now here's the real kicker: I was criticized for a high failure rate, about 33%. I talked to other colleagues and verified that this isn't exceptional at this school. So higher grades equal job security, whether or not the kids have earned them.

All hope is not lost, there are opportunities to show my administrators that I'm not the teacher they think I am, but it'll be tough. We're in the 3rd quarter of the game and I'm down by at least two touchdowns.