I'm Angry

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Boiling anger woke me up at about 2:30 A.M. this morning. It was a dream about a real incident that got me heated. Yesterday I was co-subbing with a teacher who's been there a while, and one of her students went to the bathroom. Classes are 85 mins long. The principal stuck her head in the door shortly after, guiding that student back into the classroom and said "I don't know why this student was going to the bathroom. Students are only supposed to use the bathroom 10-15 mins before the end of class." She said this in front of all the students and the teacher didn't hear her. The principal repeated herself with the same nasty tone, louder, and the teacher said "Okay." When she left, the students burst out laughing, and the teacher looked like she was on the verge of tears: "See what I have to put up with?"

I wish I'd been quicker on my feet with the response "Yeah class she's right. If you need to pee, you'd better pee your pants." I'm just a substitute teacher and that principal doesn't sign my paychecks. 

I get that there are rules, but the principal could've voiced this to the teacher in private rather than undermine her authority in the classroom. 

But that principal appears to be on a power trip. I was sitting there guarding the bathroom (yes, this is a real job where I sit by the bathroom to make sure the students don't bring weed into the bathroom) and that same principal asked me if I was making sure the students were behaving. Her tone assumed I was not, and by the time I said "yes" she had turned around to keep walking. Then I swear to god the assistant principal came up to me about 5 mins later and said "aren't you supposed to be in a classroom right now?" And I had to explain why I was there.

The assumption that I'm not doing my job really bothered me, and I see why people quit teaching if they're constantly dealing with admins like this. It's insane. Teachers get into this profession because they love working with the youth. They have big dreams of helping students explore interesting subjects. They sacrifice the ability to make a decent living. And then they work their asses off. That teacher from the first incident confided that she often stays up til 3 A.M. grading papers. That's far more work than most people making $200K a year have to do. And yet the admin looks for flaws in her teaching method, micromanages, and generally takes all the joy that could be had out of the job. 

Real talk though? If this school offers me a job I might take it. The bar is so low for me at this point.

Location: Houston, TX, USA

Comments

  1. Barry ReitmanNovember 10, 2022 at 4:40 PM

    Factor in my age if you want (real old) but in my day you didn't undermined those under you, and you didn't make even a college student have a class longer than 50 minutes.

    ReplyDelete

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