The Sun. 3/4/13 NY Times “Review” section featured a courageous piece by a NY teacher on the destructive vagaries of teacher evaluation as it’s often done. Read it at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/opinion/sunday/confessions-of-a-bad-teacher.html?_r=1&hp .
I don’t consider the letter perfect. If I were writing it, I wouldn’t dwell on how some kids just don’t want to learn. The best teachers I’ve seen find ways to get to most of the resistant kids, too. And I’d concede that there are some neglectful or negative teachers as well — but that it’s crazy to make the job so difficult for good teachers in order to go after the minority uncaring ones.
However, we’ve got to help more teachers see how they can speak out thoughtfully like this, without jeopardizing their jobs (I bet he checked with his principal before submitting this piece to the Times!).
–Steve Z
William Johnson, the “bad” teacher, expounded on some of that classification:
“When I had administrators breathing down my neck, the students became a secondary concern. I simply did whatever my assistant principal asked me to do, even when I thought his ideas were crazy. In all honesty, my teaching probably became close to incoherent.” The issue here appears to be one of administrative power rather than leadership and collaboration with a teacher and certainly others to help them achieve their best teaching. Conflicting advise has this teacher’s head spinning.
Another point that struck me is that Johnson pointed out that the kids will “call him out” on his energy, his teaching game, or his physical appearance. Yes, they do!
Suzy, you are my faithful responder! Now read the one I e-mailed to the team today.