In my experiences, you will have difficult administrators no matter where you go. I feel that way about my current school - There's one admin who's crazy about curriculum stuff that you mentioned - but I like my colleagues and students so that's why I've stayed here as long as I have. Do what you think will make you happiest!
I was a student teacher at Read Elementary in Bridgeport a L-O-N-G time ago.
I totally disagree. I teach my students to do what they say they are going to do. No one can honor every commitment, but everyone should feel badly when they fall short.
Great advice.
Congratulations! I definitely would take the interview up until the time you have accepted a written offer. But, that’s great news given the financial health of your current employer.
You were worried that asking for your current salary would be a deal breaker?
100%. In my district, admin expects all teachers to make daily, detailed lesson plans, teach, grade, and assign detentions, referrals etc and then track to make sure they get served. Super unrealistic expectations for the amount of students we all have and limited amount of prep time. Will be searching for a new district for next year.
I 100% agree. I’m so thankful to teach in a school that doesn’t require daily lesson plans. So much of what I do breathes from what I observe and react to it. Teaching is a living, breathing job and having a scope and sequence of what you’re doing in a unit and throughout a school year is paramount, but the day-to-day part of it is like water.
I totally agree. My district has a high turnover rate as well. And the district wonders why they have trouble hiring and retaining people...
I quit my last school because of lesson plans. Ordinarily, I do whatever is asked of me, but in this case I refused because I have a rule against doing stupid crap. The school instituted a new math program which we were required to teach with fdelity, no improvising, no skipping topics, and no supplementing. The lessons came with pre-done lesson plans. During a meeting a new assistant principal told the math teachers we had to write special lesson plans in a format that she wanted. Her rationale was that even though we were provided with lesson plans that matched our content and curriculum, she did not want the other teachers to be upset that we did not have to use her format as they did. I refused and it became an issue. Another math teacher offered to write them for me if I agreed to stay. She stated that the first one she wrote took three hours, but she was able to get it down to an hour once she got the hang of it. During our first meeting the administrator condescendingly remarked about how I had succumbed to her wishes even after my original complaint, basically suggesting that I was all talk. I explained I absolutely did not, and that the other teacher wrote my lesson plans for me because she really wanted me to stay. Within a week I left the school, and they were never able to find a certified math teacher to fill my position. In that case I wouldn’t question who won, but I surely know who lost.
I worked at a school in an urban center in North Carolina. We averaged 36 major referrals per day, I know the number because I was on the committee that handled discipline and my role was to keep track of infractions. That is an average of 36 major referrals, per day, for the year. To put that in perspective, my last school did not have 36 major referrals in the two years I was there. The funny thing is I had one office referral in two years. The procedure was that if you were having a classroom disruption you buzz the office and an administrator would come. The eighth grade principal stated, “The day that you buzz the office, we are sending in a SWAT team. “At a previous school I had a 12 year stretch without missing a school day or writing up a student. However, I personally was in trouble almost daily doing things that if I posted on here, most other teachers wouldn’t believe to be true.
