Klarinet Archive - Posting 001234.txt from 1997/10

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: what I have to teach
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 1997 14:07:31 -0500

It is a last resort option before completely giving up. And I do not
recommend it to anyone who is in their first couple of years of teaching.
Ed's comments are definitely worth heeding.

Roger Garrett

On Mon, 27 Oct 1997, Edwin V. Lacy wrote:

> On Sun, 26 Oct 1997, Roger Garrett wrote:
>
> > ....go over the administrator's head.....I did it when I had to.....at
> > both the Middle School level and, most recently, at the college level.
>
> I would like to give a word of warning to all young people who may be
> about to begin a career in teaching: There are certainly an abundance of
> incompetent administrators out there, and often they control our lives to
> an inordinate degree. However, I would recommend being very cautious
> about choosing this course of action. You might or might not solve a
> problem by adopting this method, but you might also find yourself without
> a job very soon. So, the bottom line is, you would need to decide whether
> you can do the most for yourself and your students while teaching in a
> situation which is unsatisfactory in some way or ways, or not teaching at
> all.
>
> A good rule from the world of business is, "Find out who your boss is, and
> make him look good." If you didn't hire the administrator, you aren't in
> a position to fire him, either.
>
> As an alternative, I recommend that whenever possible, you try NOT to set
> up an adversarial relationship with your administrators. Rather, attempt
> to have as good a working relationship as possible with everyone with whom
> you work, be firm and insistent in standing up for your students and your
> beliefs, but if you do not prevail on a particular issue, don't take that
> too personally. Do the best job you can with the resources available to
> you. This does not constitute "giving in," it is simply being smart.
>
> I taught in the public schools for six years (two different jobs), and
> never had an administrator that I thought was worth one tenth of what the
> better teachers was paid. I found it very frustrating to have to try to
> do such a hard job as teaching music in a school setting with no support
> from administrators who knew nothing about what I was trying to teach and
> cared even less. However, I now believe I would have been more successful
> at dealing with this situation if someone had given me the advice I
> advocate above.
>
> Ed Lacy
> *****************************************************************
> Dr. Edwin Lacy University of Evansville
> Professor of Music 1800 Lincoln Avenue
> Evansville, IN 47722
> el2@-----.edu (812)479-2754
> *****************************************************************
>
>
>