Getting in trouble at work

[Isabelle]

Well, long story, but my bosses are going to have another meeting with me tomorrow, as a follow-up to the one they had back in the spring where they pretty much ripped me a new one. I've been working there for 3 years and haven't been in trouble until now. I'm in a teaching position, and apparently most of my students like me, but a few of the upper-level students (whose opinions count the most) decided they didn't like anything about me or my teaching. It's a small campus, and they've become buddies with the bosses. Apparently they all talk about me and I have no idea what they even say.

 

I've tried to do my job impeccably well ever since the last meeting, but I know there were still complaints. (usually like "we didn't learn anything", which I can prove is not true, and one grading policy dispute... which I think I'm right about, but there are always two ways you can look at everything.) They always go to my boss first before approaching me.

 

Because of my contract, I doubt the bosses will do anything about my employment status right now, but I'm sure they'll say some nasty things. It's going to hurt and I'm trying to see if anyone knows how to psychologically prepare for this kind of thing. (I've gotten some really nice compliments on my teaching from the summer batch of students, btw. Of course, these individuals' opinions aren't the ones that count to the management.) I was just depressed and crying for a long time after the last meeting.

 

Why is it so hard? I've done very little actually wrong, and nothing recently, and I know that. But I still really do not look forward to going in there. They can accuse me of not being confrontational or proactive enough about certain situations, and they may be right, but everything is already too much of a mess here. What I'll probably do is tell them I'm leaving after one more year (it's true), so they will shut up. Some people don't think I should give up like that, or box myself into a corner, but these people aren't worth it. How do you numb yourself so you're feeling strong or don't care when you go in there to get yelled at?

[Mz. Pixie]

Isabelle,

 

This is hard. My fiance' is a teacher and he got complained on last year by one class. It made it a little hard on him. He has always been a good teacher but he tries to be laid back too in ways. I think these two students didn't like him because he didn't take any flack off of them and made them respect him. Of course they had to take it out on him in another way. After the complaints he made his classes listen to lectures. The exams would come from the lecture only so they had to listen and take notes. He didn't joke around or anything, just lecture. After a couple of them failed exams because they weren't doing what they were suposed to, they approached him and apologized. He still didn't stop what he was doing- and he has made his point. I doubt he will have to lecture like that next year!

 

The thing is, in any job you are going to have people backstab you and do things to you that are horrible. That is the way of the business world usually. You just have to not take your value from what people say and toughen up a bit when it's not true. With your contract you probably won't get fired ( you are fortunate in that regard) they just want to beat up on you a bit. Hang in there!

[curiousnycgirl]

All I can say is that "THIS IS POOH!!"

 

In corporate America we do NOT allow less qualified people to determine the quality of what we deliver. I would approach the upcoming meeting in a totally different manner.

 

I would ask them for developmental guidance. If there are flaws in your teaching style, then perhaps they can give you pointers? Perhaps they can observe you during several classes - at the various grade levels - and then write up a development plan. THAT is how corporate America works - at least MY corporate America.

 

Secondly I would NOT tell them you are leaving in a year - that is your business and your business only - what if your plans change? Then you will be SOL without a job.

 

Sorry to come across so strongly - but stuff like this drives me nuts. Managers need to understand THEIR responsibility as managers - sounds like yours are falling short.

[shygurl]

Wow, I'm really sorry you're having to go through this, my heart goes out to you. Where I come from, teachers belong to a Teacher's Association (sort of like a Union) - and if you're being mistreated by an employer or wrongly accused, you can report it to the association - they'll get involved on your behalf, you can have access to their lawyers, etc. Do you have anything like that where you live?

 

If they are going to chew you out, they damn well need to have properly documented incidents of where you've apparently gone wrong.........not just vague crap like "some students claim.........." which really is nothing more than heresay and come on, let's face it, disgruntled students that develop a dislike for a teacher can make up all kinds of crap.

 

Do you have any fellow teachers/colleagues who could go to bat for you?

 

If they have continued complaints, tell them you want them in writing - I'd be curious to know if your past meeting involved them having the issues written out and presented to you?

 

I think it's terrible that you have to worry like this and contend with superiors that "rip you a new one." That's very unprofessional and surely not the way managers should go about trying to help an employee make improvements.....it does nothing for an employee's sense of confidence, either.

 

HEY!! I see from your profile that you're in TX. I did a brief search online and I see there IS a Texas State Teachers Association.........this is awesome! Did you know about this? I went to their main website http://www.tsta.org and clicked on the link "Legal" and it took me to this page............there's a helpline you can call if you need help with your rights and such:

 

"Help Center

Our Help Center is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CT every school day--8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the summer--to serve you. Call 877-ASK-TSTA (877-275-8782) toll free; experts are standing by to answer your questions, legal or otherwise. These folks have extensive training and experience on matters involving your rights and responsibilities as a school employee. If there's something they can't handle, they have immediate access to the attorneys. (Please note that the Help Center isn't just for legal matters--it's your first point of contact for any question about education or the association.)

 

Seems they're closed now but maybe you could call first thing in the morning?

 

I don't know if you have to be a "member" of this association or not...but you could ask. Might be something you should join, if you're not already a member.

[Lilyann]

I myself am a teacher. If you are not involved an a teacher's association you need to pay the dues and join asap. My association backs me up a couple of million dollars if I were to get in a law suet. If you are already involved with a association, I would talk to a representative about how you are being treated. I too have gone through something similar to this. It is unfair, but over the past few years teachers have lost ther "voice" when it comes to their students. It all depends on the school that you work for and how much pull the students have there. How many years have you been teaching total? If you do not mind me asking, how old are you? It is difficult not to take it personally when someone tells you that you are doing something wrong. It is even more difficult, when you thought that you were doing everything 100%. If they think that you are doing something wrong, they should have told you what it is. Please keep me informed.

 

Lilyann

[Isabelle]

Thanks for the support, everyone. It helps. I'm just trying to build myself up and make myself feel like I'm not a total failure. I'm at the college level, so you don't quite have the same support structure you would in k-12, but they're pretty legalistic and I don't think they'll try to get around the guidelines in the faculty manual. They actually have to give me two more years, but I don't feel like sticking around for the second one. I just feel like I've been excluded from the "loop" lately. My reaction to that is usually to be shy and scared and just do my job and try to avoid any unnecessary confrontation. I know that's not good, but I'm not so attached to this job that I'll do anything to get back on their good side. I feel like they've already given up on me.

 

It will be interesting to see what they come up with this time. I just get a bad vibe. The first time, there were some legitimate reasons for complaints (I had been late to class a few times, occasionally disorganized even though I was trying to teach that particular one like a seminar class... OK, wrong approach, but at the time I didn't know... and seemed a little stressed in February due to extenuating circumstances, but it's not like I went totally psycho or anything). I've tried to remain beyond reproach since then, and they should realize that from the times they observed my class. I was on time, I was teaching and organized, and they were learning. The problem is that this is a small and extremely hostile group of students. It's all coming from about 3 students, at least two of whom used to like me but changed their mind. They have spread false stories about feeling like they can't talk to me (why?) or not being able to get in contact with me (totally not true... they emailed me and called me all the time around exam time, and I responded).

 

That's what worries me the most... if someone made up something and used it against me. It wouldn't be true, but these people kiss the bosses' butts so much that the bosses will believe them. I teach lots of other classes and most of them are fine - I've got one right now this summer - but apparently their opinions don't matter as much. The hostile students were dead set on not liking anything I said. I just tried to be inoffensive and polite and do everything as well as I could. They don't respect me.

 

I have, to tell the truth, given up on this job and this career, at least in terms of tenure track teaching at a university. But I'm trying to do a good job while I'm here. I'm not upset for my job, believe it or not. I've been in the science field and, to tell the truth, if I never did or saw science again I would not even miss it. I may pursue my true interests in music, if I can find a way to do so, or at least try to find a job in science where they don't do things to me like make me teach 6 college classes at once. (in 5 different subjects, including some I'd never taught before, which were inconveniently all scheduled next to each other) Despite the burnout, though, my students this summer really like the job I'm doing. Go figure.

 

And you're probably right in that the bosses are bad managers. Their helpful feedback is few and far between. In my opinion, last time they skipped a necessary stage of "meet with the boss" and went straight to bringing the "big boss" (one level up) into the room, which I wasn't prepared for. They don't even know me very well, and don't have much of an answer when I ask why, if I'm such a bad teacher, this doesn't show up in all my other classes.

[Isabelle]

OK, here's what they did to me this time. At least the meeting was short. They chewed me out for "not making any effort to improve my teaching" over the second half of last semester. Keep in mind that I was teaching six classes, no two of which were the same thing, and some of which included labs. I was supposed to observe them teaching their classes - which I did - but apparently not enough. Well, they never told me exactly how often I was supposed to go. Most of their classes overlapped mine anyway, and when they didn't they were overlapping necessary rest or prep time for me, since I had so little of that to begin with. Finally, it wasn't "teaching techniques" that I really needed to work on... if it was, then all my evaluations would be bad, and not just certain classes. It would have helped to see how people teach those particular subjects that I was having trouble with, but I would have had to go off campus and out of town to do that. I was concentrating instead on just getting through what I had to and making those classes as good as they could be.

 

But whatever. I think they just wanted an excuse. They told me pretty much to get out after this next year, which I didn't mind because I had been planning it that way for the last few months anyway. I'm already under contract for the upcoming year. They want me to teach at a community college, since I do the lower level courses well... and that part's fine, really, because that was what I was going to do if I chose to stay in science at all. (Who knows, I might try to find a way to pursue music and start all over. Not sure if it would be financially doable, and I feel like I have no right asking society to let me go back to school after it already supported me all the way through the doctorate, but it's tempting to look into it while I'm still young.) Anyway, all of that had already been decided in my mind anyway. My husband (troubled marriage, long story) took it harder than I did.

 

Got my student evaluations back; pretty much knew what they would look like. In terms of the actual comments, some of them aren't even strictly true, but I think they had just decided not to like me a while back and were finding anything they could. I give up. The bosses don't want to take the time to hear my side of it. These classes were not in my area of expertise anyway, and I had no time to prepare for them while teaching so many others. If anyone has ever had a ridiculous work load and then the boss blamed you for not being able to do all of it or do it well, even if no one in your position would have been able to... then you know what I'm talking about.

 

It still hurts when people are upset with me, and I feel like I could have done better. Towards the end, though, not sure what I could have done. I was not really trained to teach in some of those areas, and even if I tried to be super nice, then the students would turn it against me and claim I was just being passive-aggressive. Or make vague claims that I "didn't look like I wanted to be there". (well, maybe I didn't! but I didn't tell them that. I thought I did a lot considering that I'm shy and sensitive and being hated by a whole roomful of people is no fun.)

[moimeme]

I'm shy and sensitive and being hated by a whole roomful of people is no fun

 

And you became a teacher!