Teacher of the Month (nope, not me)
Something new at the old homestead. Each month now the administration chooses a "Teacher of the Month". They get a small gift certificate and appear on our Friday news show the students put together. This past Friday the students were watching the show which is mandatory viewing by all classes while I was waiting for it to be over so I could begin the day's lesson. The teacher chosen this month repeatedly jumped up and down and squealed loudly when the principal announced the teacher of the month. One of my students looked at me and said "Oh, you've got to be kidding!" I just kept my thoughts to myself and waited until the show finally ended so I could go back to what I was actually there to do, teach.
Labels: school, teacher, teacher of the month, teaching
4 Comments:
I don't like that kind of thing because it seems like the quieter types who don't go around tooting their own horns all the time (and sucking up to admin) don't get recognized. That could be discouraging, especially to newer teachers.
Having Montessori leanings, I prefer to skip certificates/ stars/ ticks etc altogether... and also crosses, detentions and other punishments of that ilk. Appropriate behaviour has intrinsic rewards, inappropriate behaviour its natural unpleasant consequences.
Hummm a gift certificate for the teachers, that's an interesting idea. Obviously it's a good thing to tell the teachers that they are appreciated, cause they are. Many teachers do a great job, and help a lot of people to get knowledge, which I value a lot.
Although this "Teacher of the month" certificate seems to be a bit... I don't know, competitive maybe? It feels like they rather focus on the quantity instead of the quality, if you know what I'm saying...
I have a bad taste in my mouth over Teachers of the Month (or year). In my district they choose people like one of my former colleagues, Carol. She spent about 100 hours a week at work, was always with students and her husband reared their own two kids while she was busy obsessing on school. I didn't find that healthy and there would be no way I could measure up to that. (nor would I want to!)
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