Last academic year, I was working in a private school that I'd been with for four years. I was reasonably happy, but was getting no raises and in fact, due to restructuring the classes, they wanted to reduce my class load (and of course my salary).
I started hunting for a new job. I had four different offers. I kept hemming and hawing between the two top offers. One was with a school I'd taught at once a week and the principal really liked me a lot and wanted me a lot for a full time job. But he was offering less money than this other school that was trying to woo me.
I took the job with the other school, but at orientation, I saw they had clearly misrepresented what the school and administration was like (anyone who has never taught will be scratching their heads at this, but different schools are very different in the experience their teachers have in them.).
I tend to work best when I'm left to be independent with a set of goals. Just tell me what has to be accomplished. Offer advice occasionally, but otherwise, get out of my way and let me do my job. Other teachers love to have a principal who looks everything over and constantly gets deeply involved in their work.
I thought this school I'd accepted with was the kind I'd be comfortable with, but I saw very clearly from that first day at orientation that I'd made a tremendous mistake. I'm not going to go into all the details here, but trust me, I knew what was going on. I had two days until school started and I frantically called around.
The other school that I'd worked for in the past still wanted me and so I said, you know what, I know I made a mistake accepting this offer. I want to work with you instead. They took me on. I even worked for one day, but then the principal of
the school I'd originally signed with called me and was furious. I should never have even bothered to answer the phone when she called me, but I was trying to do the right thing and explain why I felt this was a mistake. She threatened to sue me if I didn't work for her this year. I kept telling her this was a mistake. I'm not the kind of teacher who would be a good choice there, but she forced me to work for her.
Well, I made the best of it.
In spite of her constant intrusions into the way she wanted my class to be run, I made the best of it, even defying her at one point because my students were begging and pleading with me about it (this was regarding how I gave notes to the kids. I wanted to put it on the board. She insisted they had to take notes purely from oral lectures. I've taught in high schools and even in high school, they put notes on the board. I understood her reasoning and I did try it her way, but after a week, I saw it was a disaster. I even tried to teach them how to take oral notes, but honestly, it's something that even college kids have trouble with. Twelve year olds just aren't sophisticated enough to know what to write down and what not to write down from a lecture. She absolutely patently refused to listen to reason and forced me to keep doing it her way. I had parents screaming at me during open school night because of it and I finally defied her and just put the notes on the board, to the relief of my students).
My 8th grade students by and large do hate me, but my 7th grade kids seem to mostly like me now. Things have been hard, but the majority of them do want me back for next year. Not that any of it matters to this woman.
The year is almost up and she's decided it's time for me to move on. She admitted that she only forced me to take the job because she was desperate. Trouble is, when I took this job, I had four offers based on a solid four year teaching career. Now I'm looking for a new job after leaving after only one year. It's ten times harder to find something now because of her actions.
I'm just livid at this woman. And what can I do about it? Jack. That's what.
Well, actually, I did write a story from it (I'll put it in SYW soon), but I'm still so upset and now I don't know what, if anything, I'll find.
OK, finished venting.
Oh, and I know this has very little to do with writing. Sorry if it's not the most appropriate thing to post here. Mods, if you feel the need to delete or move the thread, just let me know.
Eric
I started hunting for a new job. I had four different offers. I kept hemming and hawing between the two top offers. One was with a school I'd taught at once a week and the principal really liked me a lot and wanted me a lot for a full time job. But he was offering less money than this other school that was trying to woo me.
I took the job with the other school, but at orientation, I saw they had clearly misrepresented what the school and administration was like (anyone who has never taught will be scratching their heads at this, but different schools are very different in the experience their teachers have in them.).
I tend to work best when I'm left to be independent with a set of goals. Just tell me what has to be accomplished. Offer advice occasionally, but otherwise, get out of my way and let me do my job. Other teachers love to have a principal who looks everything over and constantly gets deeply involved in their work.
I thought this school I'd accepted with was the kind I'd be comfortable with, but I saw very clearly from that first day at orientation that I'd made a tremendous mistake. I'm not going to go into all the details here, but trust me, I knew what was going on. I had two days until school started and I frantically called around.
The other school that I'd worked for in the past still wanted me and so I said, you know what, I know I made a mistake accepting this offer. I want to work with you instead. They took me on. I even worked for one day, but then the principal of
the school I'd originally signed with called me and was furious. I should never have even bothered to answer the phone when she called me, but I was trying to do the right thing and explain why I felt this was a mistake. She threatened to sue me if I didn't work for her this year. I kept telling her this was a mistake. I'm not the kind of teacher who would be a good choice there, but she forced me to work for her.
Well, I made the best of it.
In spite of her constant intrusions into the way she wanted my class to be run, I made the best of it, even defying her at one point because my students were begging and pleading with me about it (this was regarding how I gave notes to the kids. I wanted to put it on the board. She insisted they had to take notes purely from oral lectures. I've taught in high schools and even in high school, they put notes on the board. I understood her reasoning and I did try it her way, but after a week, I saw it was a disaster. I even tried to teach them how to take oral notes, but honestly, it's something that even college kids have trouble with. Twelve year olds just aren't sophisticated enough to know what to write down and what not to write down from a lecture. She absolutely patently refused to listen to reason and forced me to keep doing it her way. I had parents screaming at me during open school night because of it and I finally defied her and just put the notes on the board, to the relief of my students).
My 8th grade students by and large do hate me, but my 7th grade kids seem to mostly like me now. Things have been hard, but the majority of them do want me back for next year. Not that any of it matters to this woman.
The year is almost up and she's decided it's time for me to move on. She admitted that she only forced me to take the job because she was desperate. Trouble is, when I took this job, I had four offers based on a solid four year teaching career. Now I'm looking for a new job after leaving after only one year. It's ten times harder to find something now because of her actions.
I'm just livid at this woman. And what can I do about it? Jack. That's what.
Well, actually, I did write a story from it (I'll put it in SYW soon), but I'm still so upset and now I don't know what, if anything, I'll find.
OK, finished venting.
Oh, and I know this has very little to do with writing. Sorry if it's not the most appropriate thing to post here. Mods, if you feel the need to delete or move the thread, just let me know.
Eric
That's always how I evaluate my painful life experiences.
