So...long story short my field mentor is "on review" at her school this year. She received extremely low scores (both on student TCAP scores and on her observations) last year, so she is on an improvement plan for this year that requires her to meet weekly with the academic dean, turn in all of her lesson plans ahead of time and be observed more frequently. Last week she had another observation by the principal and did extremely poorly. She is worried she'll be fired and not be able to transfer to another school because her scores are below the necessary for transferring. Now she (and other teachers who have come in to console her) has expressed an inordinate amount of negativity about the teaching profession, about her administration, etc. First of all, I feel extremely uncomfortable because (1) it's not my place to say anything negative about her or the school or administration but she talks to me about it frequently and (2) I am going in to the teaching profession for the first time next year!! I like her being honest about the good and bad sides of teaching, but I feel uncomfortable almost daily by her very negative attitude about individual students, her principal, the whole MNPS system, etc.
Have any of you all experienced the same negativity from your field mentor or other teachers at your school? How do you deal?
Mary-Lloyd, I completely understand your struggle dealing with negativity. I feel like the entire 6th grade team at our school had a very negative outlook for this school year. They complain about the students and administration a lot, and many teachers feel like they are failing at their jobs because of the amount of negative feedback they receive during observations/evaluations. I understand the importance of constructive feedback and pointing out places for growth, but these teachers don’t seem to hear about the good aspects of their lessons. I know that when I receive feedback I want to hear about what I could have done differently to make it better, but it’s just as important, if not more important, to also hear about the strengths of my lesson.
ReplyDeleteI understand that the negativity is hard to deal with, especially since this a life/career decision we are currently making. One thing I’ve been trying to focus on is our class and university mentors because they are a lot more positive. Also, after talking to other student teachers in other grade levels at the school, the other grades don’t seem to have the same negative outlook. So while these teachers are having a hard year with the students, it doesn’t seem to be a permanent state.
Girl, I feel ya!!
ReplyDeleteI consistently look around and think, 'Are any teachers HAPPY teachers? Does it exist to be a happy teacher?' I have been really discouraged this year observing all of my teachers and the way they either a) work constantly or 2) are getting terrible feedback from their schools/administrations/etc. 3) both. It's so hard for me to stay positive and be excited about going into teaching next year when I look around my schools and I see professionals who are stressed, negative, and overwhelmed. It's hard this year, and I think it will be equally as hard next year when these are not just our mentors, but instead our co-workers.
One of the ways that's helped me is by focusing on the positive parts of every day and thinking about one or two things that I want to accomplish that day. This is silly, but as I'm walking into school each day, I pick two things that I can do that day that are a challenge but also within reach. Whenever my teacher starts to get negative or drama starts to ramp up in my teaching team, I just focus on those things and what I can do to make those things happen. It's not much, but it does help me focus on me and be a little more compassionate when my teachers complain, instead of being dragged under by their negativity.