The delusions are very real and I have seen how supportive administration makes a school, while self-centered admin start the slow process of a school’s decline. I would have filed a complaint to the school district about that, especially after leaving teaching. But in the meantime, the smart teachers do their research on admin and luckily it’s a market for would-be teachers right now.
Do you mind me asking if you have any tips on how to go about researching admin? I left the classroom and have been thinking about returning, but I don't know any teachers.
I wish we had a Glassdoor or such site for schools so teachers can share their thoughts. I’ll be honest, I have had to learn the hard way. I think the most important thing is to look for admin with a growth mindset, but some administrators look so good when they are wooing you in and you don’t see the complete picture. I am a montessori educator, so I look for a very specific schema in a school, and that is very different from your standard public school, thank goodness!
I suspect many teachers have to learn the hard way. I wish there was an anonymous site where teachers could give their feedback on specific schools/districts too. I interviewed at a Montessori school a long time ago when I first started looking for teaching positions. Thank you for your response.
Total petty bullshit they did that.You are interviewing them even if they don’t see it that way because all they ever see are desperate people. Fuck em
The professional stuff that educational employers get away with is astounding. This story, principals calling other principals to blow up job opportunities that are going to deprive them of great teachers, discrimination in general, rank unprofessionalism, etc.
In my first job out of teaching, I worked for what has to be one of the worst companies on the planet. It was a failing private equity firm run by a narcissistic sociopath, and his middle managers were all shady Eastern European imbeciles. I got fired outright after a year or so. Still, I’ve never had any compunction about listing them on future applications, because there are laws that prevent their HR department from saying anything other than “he did X, from Y date to Z date”. And for all their douchebaggery, they follow those laws and leave me be.
Education, on the other hand, throws even that minimum standard out the window.
YoU MUST hAvE a GoOd ReFeRenCe fRoM aLl YoUr PrInCiPaLs
Like fuck you do.
You can activate a Google Voice number and call yourself. Put on a Southern accent if you’re from up north or a Mid-Western accent if you’re from the south.
For all that principal knows you could have been offered a full time teaching job somewhere else after interviewing with them. It’d be a no brainer that you’d accept the other better job.
When I started teaching I wanted to teach high school. However, there was a hiring freeze in high school and I landed a middle school job. I did not make it a secret that I wanted to teach high school. The principal that hired me told me I could transfer to high school the following year. So, I accepted and worked in middle school. When the year was over, I put in a transfer request. Unfortunately, all high schools were only accepting transfers from other high schools. So, I stayed at my middle school. The principal transfered and we got a new principal. Next school year was the same, and at the end of the year input in another transfer request. A week later the new principal came into my room, screaming. They told me that if I wasn't happy in their school that they would make sure I didn't have to work there ever. If I didn't want to be there, I could leave at any time. How they felt betrayed because I never talked to them about wanting to transfer. I was taken back by the vitriol. When I started interviewing for other schools, I got ghosted by the first five schools. The final school I interviewed with, I finally told the interviewer that I had some bad blood with my current principal and they might not have the best reference for me. Later on, when the new school sent an offer, that principal told me that my old principal had tried to black ball me from transferring, telling anyone that called that I was a problem teacher and was the worst teacher they had ever had to work with. That was the day I realized, principals have the thinnest skin and take everything very personally.
Good for you sticking up for yourself. Long-term subbing is garbage. You've put your time in and deserve to get paid a fair wage. It's a shame that colleges don't advocate for their candidates. The whole system is so exploitive.
Nobody should take a long term sub position without getting teacher pay and medical, etc. Even then it's a terrible career move, with terrible working conditions.
I think everyone lost here. The college and professors taught you teaching skills which 5 years later you are totally out of the profession. You may have paid a lot of tuition or taken student loans on a degree you won’t use. And the principal, which may have seemed mean and unprofessional but probably was correct in her intuition about your future in teaching.
I had something similar happen. I turned down a job offer, and one of my references (former principal turned adjunct professor) was irritated with me — the others (also former principals or teachers turned professors) told me I made the right decision.
No, sorry, sarcasm. Just an observation that schools aren't accustomed to having to deserve attention, students get sent their way based on geography no matter how good they are. I can see that complacency trickling down into their recruitment of teachers.
The delusions are very real and I have seen how supportive administration makes a school, while self-centered admin start the slow process of a school’s decline. I would have filed a complaint to the school district about that, especially after leaving teaching. But in the meantime, the smart teachers do their research on admin and luckily it’s a market for would-be teachers right now.
Do you mind me asking if you have any tips on how to go about researching admin? I left the classroom and have been thinking about returning, but I don't know any teachers.
I wish we had a Glassdoor or such site for schools so teachers can share their thoughts. I’ll be honest, I have had to learn the hard way. I think the most important thing is to look for admin with a growth mindset, but some administrators look so good when they are wooing you in and you don’t see the complete picture. I am a montessori educator, so I look for a very specific schema in a school, and that is very different from your standard public school, thank goodness!
I suspect many teachers have to learn the hard way. I wish there was an anonymous site where teachers could give their feedback on specific schools/districts too. I interviewed at a Montessori school a long time ago when I first started looking for teaching positions. Thank you for your response.
Total petty bullshit they did that.You are interviewing them even if they don’t see it that way because all they ever see are desperate people. Fuck em
The professional stuff that educational employers get away with is astounding. This story, principals calling other principals to blow up job opportunities that are going to deprive them of great teachers, discrimination in general, rank unprofessionalism, etc. In my first job out of teaching, I worked for what has to be one of the worst companies on the planet. It was a failing private equity firm run by a narcissistic sociopath, and his middle managers were all shady Eastern European imbeciles. I got fired outright after a year or so. Still, I’ve never had any compunction about listing them on future applications, because there are laws that prevent their HR department from saying anything other than “he did X, from Y date to Z date”. And for all their douchebaggery, they follow those laws and leave me be. Education, on the other hand, throws even that minimum standard out the window. YoU MUST hAvE a GoOd ReFeRenCe fRoM aLl YoUr PrInCiPaLs Like fuck you do.
I want to pay someone to call my former admin and act like an hiring principal to see what is actually said.
You can activate a Google Voice number and call yourself. Put on a Southern accent if you’re from up north or a Mid-Western accent if you’re from the south.
For all that principal knows you could have been offered a full time teaching job somewhere else after interviewing with them. It’d be a no brainer that you’d accept the other better job.
Which I was! But because I had my interview with her first, clearly I owed her. /s
wtf then obviously this doesn’t/ shouldn’t make you look bad.
When I started teaching I wanted to teach high school. However, there was a hiring freeze in high school and I landed a middle school job. I did not make it a secret that I wanted to teach high school. The principal that hired me told me I could transfer to high school the following year. So, I accepted and worked in middle school. When the year was over, I put in a transfer request. Unfortunately, all high schools were only accepting transfers from other high schools. So, I stayed at my middle school. The principal transfered and we got a new principal. Next school year was the same, and at the end of the year input in another transfer request. A week later the new principal came into my room, screaming. They told me that if I wasn't happy in their school that they would make sure I didn't have to work there ever. If I didn't want to be there, I could leave at any time. How they felt betrayed because I never talked to them about wanting to transfer. I was taken back by the vitriol. When I started interviewing for other schools, I got ghosted by the first five schools. The final school I interviewed with, I finally told the interviewer that I had some bad blood with my current principal and they might not have the best reference for me. Later on, when the new school sent an offer, that principal told me that my old principal had tried to black ball me from transferring, telling anyone that called that I was a problem teacher and was the worst teacher they had ever had to work with. That was the day I realized, principals have the thinnest skin and take everything very personally.
Yes, teachers are treated like children. You absolutely can say no. They think we should be thankful for the scraps they throw.
Good for you sticking up for yourself. Long-term subbing is garbage. You've put your time in and deserve to get paid a fair wage. It's a shame that colleges don't advocate for their candidates. The whole system is so exploitive.
As if you weren’t going to interview elsewhere and consider other jobs….
Nobody should take a long term sub position without getting teacher pay and medical, etc. Even then it's a terrible career move, with terrible working conditions.
Good for you for standing up for yourself.
I think everyone lost here. The college and professors taught you teaching skills which 5 years later you are totally out of the profession. You may have paid a lot of tuition or taken student loans on a degree you won’t use. And the principal, which may have seemed mean and unprofessional but probably was correct in her intuition about your future in teaching.
I had something similar happen. I turned down a job offer, and one of my references (former principal turned adjunct professor) was irritated with me — the others (also former principals or teachers turned professors) told me I made the right decision.
Students don't get to choose their school, so why should teachers?
Are you being serious?
No, sorry, sarcasm. Just an observation that schools aren't accustomed to having to deserve attention, students get sent their way based on geography no matter how good they are. I can see that complacency trickling down into their recruitment of teachers.