Instructional Coach

[OatsAndHall]

I'm a teacher and one of my colleagues was recently "promoted" to the position of an "instructional coach". This position is pseudo-management where she makes "suggestions" with regard to our performance in the classroom.  Now, this colleague has never been well received by myself or other staff members for a variety of reasons but we've never been forced to interact with her. However, she's basically being forced upon us by the powers-that-be with this newly created position. I have a good relationship with our building principal and we had a frank conversation about it. He told me that she had a contractual obligation to visit each teacher once and he had instructed her to only visit my room that one time. I'm an experienced teacher, I do my job and he doesn't even feel the need to visit my room more than once or twice per year.

However, her and I had a disagreement over classroom management policies during a recent in-service meeting. Long story short, I'm a dictator in my room that demands an orderly, quiet learning environment while she's more "relaxed".  She stated that she would need to visit me room a few times to "get a better feel for how I do things." I quite bluntly told her that I knew she was obligated to come in ONCE and I didn't want her in my room after that. She didn't take that well and it was the end of the conversation.

I've always done my best to avoid bringing drama to administration and I'm trying to avoid it in this situation. But, he is the only one who can keep her out of my classroom so I really have one of two options here; go back to him and ask him to keep her away which stirs up garbage. Or, let the drama ensue when she tries to impose herself on me.

Thoughts?

 

(FYI, if she were qualified to give me advice, I'd gladly take it. But she's not and I won't.)

[FMW]

Do you think there's a chance she will leave you alone, or do you think she's determined to come back?

I would wait to see if there is a need before bringing it to the principal again.  If she comes back, she will be violating his instruction to visit only once and you will be in a stronger position to ask for his involvement.

[OatsAndHall]

No...  Given her personality, she's now taken this as a challenge to whatever perceived authority she thinks she has. She take positions of "authority" that no one else does (she's also our union president) for this very reason. She'll never get hired as an actual administrator in the building so she takes on jobs where she thinks she can lord over people. Over the years, she's alienated the staff because of it and, for whatever reason, this has just driven her to keep playing "boss".

I wondered if this wasn't going to be an issue when she was hired as instructional coach as there's no love lost between her and I. She was taking the union down a bad path with regards to contract negotiations last year as I've been a union president and a contract negotiator. We locked horns over what she was doing, the majority of the union agreed with me and it left a bad taste in her mouth.

Edited October 29, 2021 by OatsAndHall

[Blind-Sided]

unfortunately... teaching IS politics. Not to mention... if she has any power over you... then why make an enemy? 

I've know a bunch of teachers who have felt they were a "Dictator" in their room... and that's a bad attitude to have.  As early as me being in 6th grade... I stood up against teachers who felt that way.  I had several teachers who have said... "The bell doesn't dismiss you, I do!"  Well... I would walk out as soon as the bell rang.  (I tell my oldest kid, in HS, to do the same)  But I do agree that a school should be a little on the "Sterile" side.  (Orderly, quite, and structured)  The few classes I had that were more "Free-Form"... I got very little out of.   But then again... it all depends on what grade we are talking about.  Obviously, a collage level teaching style is going to be different than a 4th grade teaching style. 

Anyway... going back to the "Politics" side of things... you may have to compromise, or figure out a way to get her removed. Just because she has a contract, doesn't mean she can't be removed from her position.  I personally had 2 teachers fired who were not effective teachers.  Well... one was useless, and the other was a total "Dictator." 

With all that said... if you can't find a way to get along with this person... you may just need to find a new school to teach at. You may be able to move within the district and not lose any benefits you may have earned. 

I'm very sorry you have been put into this position, and I know it's not going to be easy to deal with. 

[elaine567]

She has been promoted over you and you don't like it.
Big personality clash.
BUT
As she has been employed to identify problems and she has found a problem in your classroom, I doubt you are in a position to dictate how often she visits.
I doubt the contractual arrangement regarding visits means once and only once. I guess it is put in place to make sure no-one gets missed out.

You need to get over it, because being argumentative, not being a team player, or being resistant to being managed, is not a good look in today's world.

[OatsAndHall]

6 minutes ago, elaine567 said:

She has been promoted over you and you don't like it.
Big personality clash.
BUT
As she has been employed to identify problems and she has found a problem in your classroom, I doubt you are in a position to dictate how often she visits.
I doubt the contractual arrangement regarding visits means once and only once. I guess it is put in place to make sure no-one gets missed out.

You need to get over it, because being argumentative, not being a team player, or being resistant to being managed, is not a good look in today's world.

6 minutes ago, elaine567 said:

She has been promoted over you and you don't like it.
Big personality clash.
BUT
As she has been employed to identify problems and she has found a problem in your classroom, I doubt you are in a position to dictate how often she visits.
I doubt the contractual arrangement regarding visits means once and only once. I guess it is put in place to make sure no-one gets missed out.

You need to get over it, because being argumentative, not being a team player, or being resistant to being managed, is not a good look in 

There's no issue in my room. She doesn't like my classroom management style because it makes her and other teachers look bad. I handle everything in house; I give kids lunch detention in my room versus kicking them out the way the rest of them do. They will kick kids out over minor problems which results in a loss of education time for them. None of them are required to run a lunch detention the way I do but they've been called out for the kids losing instructional time when they're booted. At the end of the day,  I do things my way and the bosses love it. They do things their way and they get called to task because it's poor management.

That position was open to anyone; she was only one that applied. When it was first posted,  the administration encouraged me to take it but I declined. In fact, our principal position will be open in two years and the school board offered to pay for my administrative degree (to the tune of $50k) if I was willing to take it. I have absolute no desire to be responsible for other teachers.  I teach because I enjoy working with kids and I get to choose how much I play with others. 

The instructional coach position is nothing more than a CYA for the administration. We have some extremely ineffective teachers in the building and they needed to show that they're trying to address it. They want to have this in place before they start firing people.. I'm not one of those teachers hence why the administration told her to leave me alone. Her attention is needed elsewhere and they've made that clear to her. 

I knew her taking this position was going to be problematic due to our disagreement over contract negotiations. Her and a group of teachers wanted to ask for more paid days off during negotiations. We already get twelve on top of the rest of teacher holidays. We don't need anymore days off and asking for it will just make it harder to actually get a raise. I went to a union meeting when I heard about this, duked it out with her over it and won. The union voted against it and that royally pissed her off. 

This is personal from her end, not from mine. I want to be left alone to do my job. And, I'm not the only staff member in the building that has an issue with her; I'm just happen to be on top of her list as I had the audacity to question her authority as union president.

 

[OatsAndHall]

3 hours ago, Blind-Sided said:

unfortunately... teaching IS politics. Not to mention... if she has any power over you... then why make an enemy? 

I've know a bunch of teachers who have felt they were a "Dictator" in their room... and that's a bad attitude to have.  As early as me being in 6th grade... I stood up against teachers who felt that way.  I had several teachers who have said... "The bell doesn't dismiss you, I do!"  Well... I would walk out as soon as the bell rang.  (I tell my oldest kid, in HS, to do the same)  But I do agree that a school should be a little on the "Sterile" side.  (Orderly, quite, and structured)  The few classes I had that were more "Free-Form"... I got very little out of.   But then again... it all depends on what grade we are talking about.  Obviously, a collage level teaching style is going to be different than a 4th grade teaching style. 

Anyway... going back to the "Politics" side of things... you may have to compromise, or figure out a way to get her removed. Just because she has a contract, doesn't mean she can't be removed from her position.  I personally had 2 teachers fired who were not effective teachers.  Well... one was useless, and the other was a total "Dictator." 

With all that said... if you can't find a way to get along with this person... you may just need to find a new school to teach at. You may be able to move within the district and not lose any benefits you may have earned. 

I'm very sorry you have been put into this position, and I know it's not going to be easy to deal with. 

It's cute when a parent thinks they got a teacher "removed their position". They didn't; the teacher was doing a poor job and would've been let go regardless of the parent complaint.

I get a parent every couple of years who makes it their mission to get me canned. The outcome is always the same; their kid is removed from my class, I get yet another glowing evaluation, I'm rehired and I never have to deal with that parent again. One mother was even banned from speaking at board meetings and had to submit everything in writing. All because all she wanted to do was whine about me.

Why? Because I do my job and I do it well.

[Blind-Sided]

10 hours ago, OatsAndHall said:

It's cute when a parent thinks they got a teacher "removed their position". They didn't; the teacher was doing a poor job and would've been let go regardless of the parent complaint.

................

[ ] 

I happened to be in college (a student not a parent) and I sat on the committee to have the ineffective teacher fired... BECAUE I TOUGHT ONE OF HIS LAB CLASSES for him... because I had more experience, and he was an idiot. (The department chair backed me.)  I was also asked back to help hire the new professor, after my graduation by the department chair, and the academic dean.  In doing this... me, and 2 other department majors also rewrote the superfluous curriculum for being a physics major as we were able to point out learning Fortran and/or Cobol was archaic. 

The second teacher shot himself in the foot... so to speak. It was a Philo class, and he was giving me bad grades because he didn't like my handwriting.  He was finally stupid enough to put in red ink.... "You will never pass my class with writing like this".  Since it wasn't an English/grammar class... I took it directly to the dean.  It was the proof she needed to have him removed. (I wasn't the first student to complain about him)

FYI... 2 different schools, and I pride myself in doing this. 

Now... you obviously took my comments completely wrong.  All I was trying to say was you shouldn't be so ridged, and if you have someone above you, who you don't like... sometimes you just have to play nice.

Still didn't get an answer on the grade level. 

I wish you peace in working with your new boss. 

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by a LoveShack.org Moderator
civility

[OatsAndHall]

10 hours ago, Blind-Sided said:

[ ] 

I happened to be in college (a student not a parent) and I sat on the committee to have the ineffective teacher fired... BECAUE I TOUGHT ONE OF HIS LAB CLASSES for him... because I had more experience, and he was an idiot. (The department chair backed me.)  I was also asked back to help hire the new professor, after my graduation by the department chair, and the academic dean.  In doing this... me, and 2 other department majors also rewrote the superfluous curriculum for being a physics major as we were able to point out learning Fortran and/or Cobol was archaic. 

The second teacher shot himself in the foot... so to speak. It was a Philo class, and he was giving me bad grades because he didn't like my handwriting.  He was finally stupid enough to put in red ink.... "You will never pass my class with writing like this".  Since it wasn't an English/grammar class... I took it directly to the dean.  It was the proof she needed to have him removed. (I wasn't the first student to complain about him)

FYI... 2 different schools, and I pride myself in doing this. 

Now... you obviously took my comments completely wrong.  All I was trying to say was you shouldn't be so ridged, and if you have someone above you, who you don't like... sometimes you just have to play nice.

Still didn't get an answer on the grade level. 

I wish you peace in working with your new boss. 

 

You talked about getting teachers fired on thread posted by a teacher and expected a different response? And what you're talking about is completely different from dealing with a teacher in public education. 

1. I'm not rigid, I'm a damn good classroom manager. How I handle my room (high school math) gets results; kids actually learn something. This shows in the grades they get on my class and on their ACTS. This can't be said for the majority of the teachers I work with. 

2. I have to play nice with the building principal and the superintendent. I certainly don't have to do so with an incompetent individual who fancies herself my boss. She's not and she isn't going to impose herself on me. 

3. Im more than happy to take advice from someone who's qualified. Our school psychologist is a wonderful woman who provides me with a mountain of insight on handling tough students. I actively seek her out when I'm getting when my approaches aren't working.

4. At the end of the day, I'm a tenured teacher and I'm good at my job. I just need to do my job and listen to those that I'm directly accountable to. Past that, I expect to show up,  do my job and be left to my own devices. 

Edited October 31, 2021 by OatsAndHall

[elaine567]

Whatever the ins and outs, the whys and wherefores, she has the position above you, and as such can call the shots, whether you like it or not...
 

[OatsAndHall]

23 minutes ago, elaine567 said:

Whatever the ins and outs, the whys and wherefores, she has the position above you, and as such can call the shots, whether you like it or not...
 

That's the point: she doesn't have a position above me. The job title is specific; "provide academic support to teachers in need". I'm not "in need". She's not considered administration; she just thinks she is. 

 

And,she's been told by an actual authority figure to show up in my room once and only once. That part of her contract is a formality to make sure she's doing something. 

Edited October 31, 2021 by OatsAndHall

[elaine567]

7 minutes ago, OatsAndHall said:

That part of her contract is a formality to make sure she's doing something. 

Of course but no-one is going to enforce the "once and only once" if she has found issues, which it seems like she has.
Maybe the higher management will dismiss her concerns, but maybe not...
You need to consider that.

[OatsAndHall]

23 hours ago, elaine567 said:

Of course but no-one is going to enforce the "once and only once" if she has found issues, which it seems like she has.
Maybe the higher management will dismiss her concerns, but maybe not...
You need to consider that.

 

Her "issue" is how I manage my classroom which certainly won't be shared by the administration; my last evaluation stated "exceptional control over the classroom" and "classroom management style establishes a model learning environment". Anything else she concocts will be dismissed as well. There's a reason the school board offered to pay for my administration degree to be building principal and it's the same reason why I could have her job right now if I wanted it.

At the end of the day, she'll hang herself if she tries to bother me. We have teachers in the building whose rooms are akin to "Lord of The Flies" and that is where her self-perceived expertise is needed. It won't bode well for her if she's popping into my room while the English teacher next door lets his kids play on their phones and make TikTok videos. Or the first year science teacher who is desperately trying gain control over her room but struggles daily

Those are just two good examples of why the position was created. Either to provide support to our teachers who are trying and failing or to get another set of eyes on awful teachers who need to be let go. Not to bug me because she thinks she can. When I brought this up with the building principal, he didn't act surprised. That tells me that she's probably already had a conversation with him about me and been slapped down.