Down to the wire
They always told me as a kid that I should respect age because years of experience amounted to added wisdom. Funny thing is, the older I get, the more I realize how much I am still learning. This past school year has been one eye-opener of a year...about human beings and how they function, about group politics and dynamics...and about recognizing when it's time for fight and when it's time for flight.
At the school where I have worked this past year, there is a major philosophical debate about the correct way to teach foreign languages. Some of the teachers latched fanatically onto a natural or "communicative" approach--and their opinion is that anyone who doesn't do it there way is simply wrong. THEY know how best to teach a language, THEY know better than you, and if you don't listen to them, then you're hurting the program and hurting the kids. The problem is, in the final analysis, their program doesn't work.
I had kids in their fourth year of study whose Spanish was so lousy that they couldn't fluently talk in the present tesne. They'd slap any old ending on their verbs, were clueless about grammatical concepts...it was truly pathetic. So where do politics come it? Well, the people who promote all this just happen to be the most influential people in the department. Somehow they've won the ear of the people who real are in the driver's seat (the assistant principal--who can't speak Spanish, for example)...and while they're busy congratulating themselves on what a wonderful program they have, the entire rest of the district loses more and more respect for them...but what do you do?
I have looked this whole situation over and decided that the best avenue for me is to bow out gracefully and "fly". Their own foolishness will make itself manifest as soon as there are no other teachers to scapegoat out...and I just don't have it in me to start WW III with these people. I'm not sure what the summer may bring...we may be looking at a major move. SOME things I have really enjoyed this year...MAN, they've got a good school! They really do run it well, and I will miss a lot of things about it. But I won't miss being railroaded and run over by people who don't know what they're doing and think they're gurus.
Troy
At the school where I have worked this past year, there is a major philosophical debate about the correct way to teach foreign languages. Some of the teachers latched fanatically onto a natural or "communicative" approach--and their opinion is that anyone who doesn't do it there way is simply wrong. THEY know how best to teach a language, THEY know better than you, and if you don't listen to them, then you're hurting the program and hurting the kids. The problem is, in the final analysis, their program doesn't work.
I had kids in their fourth year of study whose Spanish was so lousy that they couldn't fluently talk in the present tesne. They'd slap any old ending on their verbs, were clueless about grammatical concepts...it was truly pathetic. So where do politics come it? Well, the people who promote all this just happen to be the most influential people in the department. Somehow they've won the ear of the people who real are in the driver's seat (the assistant principal--who can't speak Spanish, for example)...and while they're busy congratulating themselves on what a wonderful program they have, the entire rest of the district loses more and more respect for them...but what do you do?
I have looked this whole situation over and decided that the best avenue for me is to bow out gracefully and "fly". Their own foolishness will make itself manifest as soon as there are no other teachers to scapegoat out...and I just don't have it in me to start WW III with these people. I'm not sure what the summer may bring...we may be looking at a major move. SOME things I have really enjoyed this year...MAN, they've got a good school! They really do run it well, and I will miss a lot of things about it. But I won't miss being railroaded and run over by people who don't know what they're doing and think they're gurus.
Troy
posted by Polar Bear T @ 12:25 AM
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