Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Why Bullied Teachers Need to Join BATS- One Teachers Account




I have been teaching full-time since 1999 and was a substitute teacher for about 8 years before that.  I loved being in the classroom!  I still love being with my students, but I am currently in counseling because of stress at my school.  I know of at least 3 other teachers that are also in counseling.  I moved school districts about 6 years ago to be able to shorten my commute to work.  My principal has berated me in front of colleagues, given me less than stellar evals, and if I offer suggestions, he ignores them, but if someone else says the same thing, he will act on it.  I have been moved to a different grade level this year, even though I really didn't want to.  There is much more of the bullying, but let's just say that it stems from the fact that I refuse to be blamed for the lower tests scores of my students, most of whom are ELL's and are still learning the basics of our language.
I am almost finished with my Med in Reading.  Why did I go back?  Because when the bullying began, I thought "Well, maybe I'm not cutting edge anymore."  What I found out was that not only am I cutting edge with my instruction, but there's research to back it up.  So in addition to the bullying about scores, I get bullied because I'm an older teacher (I started teaching after my children were in school.)
Last, I am so glad to be a part of BATs because I now know;
1)  I'm not the only teacher being bullied
2)  Other teachers believe, as I do, that students are NOT widgets
3)  That change IS coming, and I just need to hang in there
4)  BATs help each other out - one of the book recommendations on a thread was Breaking the Silence; Overcoming the Problem of Principal Mistreatment of Teachers by Blase and Blase.  The timing for the recommendation was perfect!  I feel better prepared to face my principal this year

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