Several weeks ago, trying to motivate her students, Ms Harassed devised a bingo game. She spent hours preparing boards and questions that were directly related to the topic she was reviewing. She had her acetates in place and had even brought in candy to award to the winners. Things were going great and she was very pleased when her supervisor stopped by for an unannounced observation. She was sure he would finally say something good. Unfortunately, things did not go as she expected. She forgot to write the word bingo in her lesson plan.
Ms Harassed learned from her mistake and never left the word bingo out of her lesson again. She felt she was on her way to becoming the type of teacher her supervisor wanted her to be.
When Ms Harassed was a young teacher, she was taught that a good motivation at the beginning of a lesson was the way to get kids involved and motivated. She wracked her brain for an interesting way to introduce perimeter and came up with the idea of handing out rulers and candy bars of various sizes and letting the kids measure the perimeters. Once again, the kids were excited. Once again, in the middle of the activity her supervisor appeared on the scene. Ms Harassed was sure she had covered all her bases as this activity was clearly listed in her plan.She was not worried whens he said he wanted to see her in his office immediately after class with her lesson plan. "Ms Harassed", he began "I see you remembered to include this activity in your plan. However, your plan mentions Hershey Bars and you used Nestles Chocolate. I am very disappointed in you. You have learned nothing since our last conversation." Ms Harassed explained that the supermarket was out of Hershey and she had already written the plan. "Ms Harassed, that is not an excuse. You should be better prepared. I am going to have to put a letter in your file for this breach. You must follow your lesson plan to the letter."
Ms Harassed looked at her supervisor, and with head held high, she said, "Fine", put a candy bar in her mouth, turned and left. She realized she would never be right in his eyes and decided to stop trying. She knew she was doing a good job with her students and in her heart and in her head, that was all that really mattered.
(This story is a fictionalized account of what could have happened.)
3 comments:
This story may be fiction, but this type of situation has occurred in many schools.
Here is an alternate end to a story, harassed teacher realized the situation would not improve and searched for a school that would accept her for exceptional teaching qualities. New administrators say former Ms Harassed has a 'gift' and a 'skill' and to never give up on it.
Ms. Harrassed is my hero!
... Then she brushed off her resume and went to find a job in another field, where she could at least have the time and money to go out for drinks with co-workers to bitch the boss.
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