Teacher Attributes

[twoteachers]

Since I'm still pretty green to IE, but not to teaching, I have come into a bit of a philosophical quandary. I have all the pedagogy and classroom management down to a science, but it seems I'm not warm and fuzzy enough for the parents at my school. My principal called me in and basically said it could be a potential deal breaker down the line if I don't fix it. Is that aspect really more important to these people than teacher quality? How do I go about basically changing who I am to fix this? What are your thoughts? I'm not good at playing games of this nature.

[MedellinHeel]

What a joke. I have heard of that in ESL Language Schools but not in professional teaching.

You might want to start putting together a contingency plan.

[joanveronica]

Did the principal give you specific examples of problematic behavior you need to change? How are you defining "warm and fuzzy"?

[twoteachers]

He said that the "perception" people have of me is that I'm too strict and not connecting with my kids enough. It's hard for me to be objective since I greet smiles in the morning, and say goodbye to smiles in the afternoon. I feel like I got punched in the gut with this.

[wrldtrvlr123]

LOL. You have to love admin who pull "stuff" like this.

My wife had a similar gut punch incident at an int'l school in China. It wasn't about being warm and fuzzy but the same type of nebulous negative feedback that leaves you feeling very vulnerable and insecure. In her case it was, "Are you happy here? You seem very negative sometimes. I don't see you smiling in the hallways."

One of her other teaching partners got the call into the office and was told that several parents had complained about something. She refused to tell her which parents and again very nebulous in what they were unhappy about.

I sometimes wonder if these types of meetings are done just to keep teachers feeling insecure so that they have to work harder, stay on their toes and not get complacent.

On the other hand, if your issue was based on actual complaints/comments it would have been really helpful to have more specific information. Was it from a parent? Was it based on something they saw or that their child came home and said?
Was all of this based on just some random offhand comment from just one parent or fellow teacher?

I don't have any great advice about how to change who you are because who you are because you don't need changing. You may need to change some perceptions however (e.g. admin, whomever made the comment etc).

I don't know your grade level/subject (I'm guessing elementary) but you could do a few things to make a more positive impression on "them". You could invite parents (and admin) in for some type of event in class related to a unit/project you are working on that would showcase some of the cool and exciting things you are doing/students are learning about in class and your positive relationship with your students. You could come up with more positive types of rewards/acknowledgements of student achievement and ways to celebrate them (e.g. student of the week, best time on 100 math facts, best essay, author of the week etc).

You could give the students input into picking a specific aspect of something you are going to study and get them super excited about it, depending on your subject/grade level of course (e.g. virtual field trip, dressing up like book characters/historical characters, making food related to a unit, amazing and cool science experiments etc). With one of my classes we were reading about castles and learning about mechanical energy and they wanted to make siege engines, so we all built catapults, trebuchets etc out of pencils, rubber bands, dowels etc. Their assessment was to assault a castle we made out of toilet paper rolls and be able to knock something down.

Just a few ideas that may or may not be useful in your situation. Hang in there. Don't over-react but do realize that int'l school teaching can be about perception and there is a different dynamic at work depending on the parents/admin/other teachers etc. You don't need to change who you are (which is probably a great person and a wonderful teacher) just the minds a few people.

[buffalofan]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you are working at a school in Asia with a large percentage of local national students. For many of these schools its all about trotting out a western face to pull in tuition money. The better schools don't play these games and will evaluate you on the quality of your teaching (imagine that...)

Just finish out your contract and move on to something better.

[twoteachers]

I am at a second tier school in Asia, but we have quite a large international population. Very few locals. I know part of the problem exists because I'm a natural fit in middle school, but am currently in a third grade class. Thanks so much for the tips. I will make a point of finding out some strategies to get these parents on my side. My principal said he'd share their names, so at least I can hit a target audience. I will also be on the lookout for middle school openings next year.

[ffmary]

This is a classic case of an admin who is insecure who takes it out on faculty. Sadly, this exists well beyond Asia. Just because someone is your boss does not mean that he or she has any magic insight into social skills. If anything, I have found that many admins are actually horrible communicators compared to teachers. Start working on that resume.

[wrldtrvlr123]

No problem. That does make a little more sense. There is different dynamic with a 3rd grade class than with middle school (or at least I can see parents of the 3rd graders expecting one).

I guess look on the bright side that your admin is letting you know about a perceived problem and providing you an opportunity to address it. I am sure that once you recover from the disconcerting reality of being told of a problem (that you don't see) you will be inspired to awe and amaze your critics (although it is a shame that you HAVE to prove yourself further to some parents).

Good luck and hang in there.

[PsyGuy]

Your likely more at a tier 3 IS. Yes it can and sounds like it is important to them. Parents in an IS have a lot of influence and power if not actual authority. They are the ones paying the bills, and customers generally get what they want. At such ISs its more important or just as important to be popular and well liked by parents as it is being successful in content/meds/peds. More so at the primary level where the curriculum almost exclusively is focused on reading/L1 language acquisition and where you are in a self contained class all day with the same students and the social dynamic is greatly isolated to one classroom and what goes on in that classroom.

You have essentially zero protections in IE, if an IS wants to get rid of you they likely can do so very easily (though it may be expensive for them, they certainly can do it) and they can dismiss you for such factors as "poor parent communication and impact" or "adverse/nonconstructive demeanor". They dont even need to give you a reason beyond "its just not working out".

I would advise you start exploring other opportunities that may be available to you, theres nothing you need to or have to change about you (unless you want to play the parent popularity game). I get the feeling you arent really happy with your IS, and its probably showing and this is leaderships way of telling you to increase your contact with parents, who have probably got the impression you either dont like them or dont like the IS/region/location.

Insecurity and vague deficiencies are just one of the few tools IE leadership has in motivating ITs, when the problem is lack of enthusiasm or decreased energy levels. ISs cant really do much, while their are ISs that fine ITs or make monetary benefits such as PD/leave opportunities based on approval (if your a "good" IT you gets approved, if not you dont). The only real option is dismissal, but that can come at a high cost, and its why many ISs and leadership in IE have to contend themselves with a mediocre IT. Usually mid year there arent a lot of available ITs who arent already under contract and the ones that are available are generally inexperienced, or under qualified. Those ITs cost almost the same in combined terms of salary and benefits, and at the cost of loss productivity and other institutional cost and losses. While there is a point that dismissal is not just warranted but beneficial, in many cases an IS will just accept a degree of poor fit and mediocrity, because they are unlikely to improve the overall environment, they may likely end up trading one problem in for another problem that may be worse.

[nikkor]

I understand how these situations can leave you feeling like you've been sideswiped. I would encourage you to not think of this as if your principal is asking you to change who you are.
Try to step back and as objectively as possible look at the situation as if feelings were not involved. It sounds like you are in a two vs on situation. You'll probably need to get an ally to join you, or work out a solution with the other two parties. I (on a good day) would go back to my principal and say that I've been thinking a lot about her comments and I find them interesting and I'd like to learn more about what's going on. Hopefully this would open up some transparent dialogue and armed with this info, you should be able to work towards a solution that is supported by your principal, thereby getting your principal invested in your success and back on your side.

[PsyGuy]

Ugh admin speak. If objectivity was the goal, than the admin/manager should have actually used come of those communication skills to be less vague and more precise. Why the treasure hunt, just tell the IT what you want them to do. That would be ACTUAL transparency, admins/managers dont do that though, when they can always obfuscate in the hopes the IT will just feel insecure enough and just start working harder and longer in the hopes of accidentally fixing or addressing the displeasing behavior.

Get an ally, you mean another IT or staff member whos going to become the admin/managers newest enemy for siding against them? Effective strategy in the sense that now youve given the admin/manager a new target, and hopefully they forget about you.

Why isnt your leadership team on the ITs side to begin with? They are SUPPOSED to be invested in their staffs success, why do they have to poked and prodded to do what they are supposed to be doing anyway, its called their job.

[twoteachers]

Thanks all!! After some research, and other items up my sleeve, I have narrowed it down to one particular parent that I will work on. Yes, the parents here do feel very entitled due to the high cost of tuition, and I think this particular mom is more interested in the social happiness of her child than the education. If that is what admin wants(since that's what parents want) I will be more than happy to oblige said request for a more laid back and relaxed atmosphere.