demoralized in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pp, MCPS has 208 schools. You are lucky to have had good experiences. I personally know a teacher whose coworkers ganged up against her and told the principal her level of foreign language proficiency was not adequate to teach immersion. Since she also taught the foreign language at the embassy, she was able to get a letter from the cultural attaché Advocating about her merits. Then parents started receiving cold calls urging them to complain about the teacher. It backfired when the parents complained about the calls being unprofessional. Surely you can’t blame the teacher in this case.

What caused this animosity toward the teacher? At the root, why single HER out?

Not entirely sure but I think she was being asked to do a lot of extra work for other teachers. At first she complied but after a year she stopped. She was also the only non American who was certified while the rest were on a 5-year emergency certification. Ironically those complaining about her knowledge of the target language were not native speakers of the language. She was also popular with the parents. She left obviously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That MCPS treats teachers as widgets that can move from one classroom to another, or moving classrooms every period and keeping their materials on a cart all day, or moving schools every year doesn't help. A teacher is not a desk or a computer that transfers as easily. There are new systems and politics at every school, and is not good for anyone.

Outside of HS, most teachers don’t float.

Talk to your EFR if you think floating is not done equitably at your school or it has a disproportionate impact on you. I was exempted from floating because I teach two preps and can’t cart everything around. Maybe there is a solution for you.

It's not just the floating. It's the involuntary transfer process. It's disruptive all around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That MCPS treats teachers as widgets that can move from one classroom to another, or moving classrooms every period and keeping their materials on a cart all day, or moving schools every year doesn't help. A teacher is not a desk or a computer that transfers as easily. There are new systems and politics at every school, and is not good for anyone.

Outside of HS, most teachers don’t float.

Talk to your EFR if you think floating is not done equitably at your school or it has a disproportionate impact on you. I was exempted from floating because I teach two preps and can’t cart everything around. Maybe there is a solution for you.

It's not just the floating. It's the involuntary transfer process. It's disruptive all around.

I’ve known people who were involuntarily transferred twice in a row, but if you are eligible to be transferred, you have enough seniority that it is extremely unlikely to happen a third time. How many times in a row have you been moved?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pp, MCPS has 208 schools. You are lucky to have had good experiences. I personally know a teacher whose coworkers ganged up against her and told the principal her level of foreign language proficiency was not adequate to teach immersion. Since she also taught the foreign language at the embassy, she was able to get a letter from the cultural attaché Advocating about her merits. Then parents started receiving cold calls urging them to complain about the teacher. It backfired when the parents complained about the calls being unprofessional. Surely you can’t blame the teacher in this case.

What caused this animosity toward the teacher? At the root, why single HER out?

Not entirely sure but I think she was being asked to do a lot of extra work for other teachers. At first she complied but after a year she stopped. She was also the only non American who was certified while the rest were on a 5-year emergency certification. Ironically those complaining about her knowledge of the target language were not native speakers of the language. She was also popular with the parents. She left obviously.

Doesn’t sound like MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Not the pp but emergency certification is given to immersion or critical language teachers upon being hired. The person must take coursework and pass both Praxis tests ( general and praxis II) by a certain deadline in order to continue working for MCPS.

[Anonymous]

All o f this sounds exactly like mcps. They ganged up on me because one of their friends wanted my job as a teacher. They made my life hell, framedy teaching as crap even though I just got a masters, and ousted me with a for show union meeting which was more threats by the union not to take action in this hostile environment. When I discussed this ridiculousness with mcea they let me know that they retain lawyers that will out lawyer mine if I decide to squeal. Very intimidating. Guess what our dues give them the power to fight us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That MCPS treats teachers as widgets that can move from one classroom to another, or moving classrooms every period and keeping their materials on a cart all day, or moving schools every year doesn't help. A teacher is not a desk or a computer that transfers as easily. There are new systems and politics at every school, and is not good for anyone.

Outside of HS, most teachers don’t float.

Talk to your EFR if you think floating is not done equitably at your school or it has a disproportionate impact on you. I was exempted from floating because I teach two preps and can’t cart everything around. Maybe there is a solution for you.

It's not just the floating. It's the involuntary transfer process. It's disruptive all around.

I’ve known people who were involuntarily transferred twice in a row, but if you are eligible to be transferred, you have enough seniority that it is extremely unlikely to happen a third time. How many times in a row have you been moved?

I had a principal who HATED me! (HS level) He went out on medical leave shortly after he threatened to surplus me. I called my union rep into the meeting as backup - and as he accused me of badmouthing him to higher ups (MANY colleagues did that; I wasn't the only one.), I told him that he couldn't remove me b/c I had more years than anyone in my department. And our department grew that year b/c of enrollment. I had a stellar reputation - still do -but it gets more and more difficult to "keep on keeping on."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's designed to weed out teachers based on personality traits and favoritism.

Very well said!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All o f this sounds exactly like mcps. They ganged up on me because one of their friends wanted my job as a teacher. They made my life hell, framedy teaching as crap even though I just got a masters, and ousted me with a for show union meeting which was more threats by the union not to take action in this hostile environment. When I discussed this ridiculousness with mcea they let me know that they retain lawyers that will out lawyer mine if I decide to squeal. Very intimidating. Guess what our dues give them the power to fight us.

A master’s degree doesn’t mean you are a good teacher. We’ve had great teachers with just a BA and others with a masters that were horrible. Even the department head with the doctorate was mediocre at best.

[Anonymous]

One of the ideals of education is having a mindset that believes that people learn new things over the course of ones career. If people don't believe that they have no business in education. If you have glowing credentials and get involved with a job that has toxic corruption it is bad for education in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the ideals of education is having a mindset that believes that people learn new things over the course of ones career. If people don't believe that they have no business in education. If you have glowing credentials and get involved with a job that has toxic corruption it is bad for education in general.

The last sentence makes a different argument than your thesis statement. Please revise and resubmit.

[Anonymous]

Thesis statement? What is this, an essay?
It’s quite obvious previous pp is saying that even if someone has great credentials, a growth mindset has to be implemented in education. However doing so becomes very difficult or impossible when the school has a toxic environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's designed to weed out teachers based on personality traits and favoritism.

Very well said!

This is so unfair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That MCPS treats teachers as widgets that can move from one classroom to another, or moving classrooms every period and keeping their materials on a cart all day, or moving schools every year doesn't help. A teacher is not a desk or a computer that transfers as easily. There are new systems and politics at every school, and is not good for anyone.

Outside of HS, most teachers don’t float.

Talk to your EFR if you think floating is not done equitably at your school or it has a disproportionate impact on you. I was exempted from floating because I teach two preps and can’t cart everything around. Maybe there is a solution for you.

It's not just the floating. It's the involuntary transfer process. It's disruptive all around.

I’ve known people who were involuntarily transferred twice in a row, but if you are eligible to be transferred, you have enough seniority that it is extremely unlikely to happen a third time. How many times in a row have you been moved?

It happened only once, but when I was “last in” the following year, I worried I’d get moved if enrollment changed, which led me to feel less rooted in the community. I actually wasn’t moved that particular year, but I watched several colleagues go through it. Some were special educators and counselors who had been with their students for years and it was really upsetting to leave—for both them and the students and families they worked with. I later took a part time job in the county, which means I now get to worry about it every year, because part timers gets moved first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's designed to weed out teachers based on personality traits and favoritism.

I work with a teacher - about 15 years in - who is being TORTURED by admin. She is excellent in every way - organized, creative, fair but strict. There is one class - a group of kids who should have been separated - who mistreat her, each other and any staff members supporting kids with IEPs.

I won't get into details (and even if I did, I'd become too nervous and angry to describe her situation accurately), but I have told her that ANY of us could have inherited that class. ANY of us would be in her same situation.

But it's so much easier to blame the teacher.

If admin are instructional leaders, why don't THEY offer to take over the class to "show" how it's done? The staff developer has done nothing either. And SDTs are non-evaluative.

So . . . hypocrisy rules.

That’s a good question. At my school, neither the principal nor the SDT has ever taught academic content. They both were specials teachers. That’s great for them, but how does someone who has never taught math or literacy become the expert on evaluating a teacher teaching math or literacy? Our reading specialist is also “too busy” to meet with students but tells us what we “should” have time for. She’d understand the parameters we work under in regards to time if she had ever taken the time to put herself in our shoes. But they’re all “too busy” to actually be in classrooms and work with actual students. So, sure, their suggestions make sense on paper. Just like central office’s suggestions do—those people are also way too far removed from classrooms and children.

Which school?

Do you think this poster will say which school? I wouldn’t if I were that poster.