My school is in danger of becoming a level 1 and has taken what they deem to be the “appropriate action” of hiring a consultant to bring us up to a level 5. It is complete crap. The first time the consultant spoke to the teachers – sometime in September – she emphasized the importance of education and how essential a complete understanding was. Only, she clearly annunciated it as e-sensUal. At the time I just listened and silently chuckled to myself. I know its silly to judge someone based on a grammatical error… but still, it was pretty damn funny to listen to a woman who is giving a speech about the e-senuals of education.
As the year went on, she became less and less funny. She rarely came to the school – maybe once every couple of months – and when she did visit us, it was to sit in the cafeteria and conference with us during our planning periods. She has never seen me teach, and yet every time I conference with her, she has some idea of what I’m going through and how I can improve my strategy.
After we gave a practice MCT at the end of the third nine weeks, our brilliant consultant decided that our math scores were not impressive enough and she concluded that the only way to improve them was to begin writing our lesson plans for us – weekly lessons for EVERY SINGLE TEACHER. Of course, her idea of writing a weekly lesson plan was less than par. She gave everyone a list of benchmarks to teach on certain days. Every Monday I am supposed to teach the same six (that’s right, SIX) benchmarks. Then, the next day, I move on to another SIX benchmarks. It was a complete change in consistency for my kids, a bitch of a time planning how to fit so many benchmarks into one week – and, she took my textbooks away.
Today was my breaking point, though. She came in to the school and watched our assembly. – As a side note, I have two assemblies in a row this week: A fashion show and an award show. This means that the hours that can be devoted to the students’ learning are, instead, granted to them as time to dress up and walk-it-out. – After watching the show, she had her colleagues go around to observe and evaluate each teacher. The last period of the day I teach a seventh grade science class. My observer came in and watched my students and me discuss and solve measurement problems. My kids were AWESOME!!! They were yelling out answers, correcting each other, racing to be the first one with the solution. Someone even asked me to give them a high-five (a happy first for me). I was psyched at the end of the day and expected nothing but pleasant and constructive criticisms.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get any comments on my teaching or the lesson. All the lady was concerned about was the layout of my classroom (I teach in a computer lab and the desks must be arranged such that most of the students are facing the wall.). I have been working in this classroom for the entire school year, and while I understand what a shitty situation it is to teach in there, I have adapted quite nicely. Regardless, she spoke with the consultant and my principal and they have decided to move me from my room into some unknown area. Either I will end up a drifter, going from class to class each period, or I will have to switch classes with the ancient and sweet inclusion teacher who has practically made a home out of her tiny room. If she gets moved out, I will feel so guilty, and whatever shred of respect I had left for this consultant will certainly disappear.