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Dealing with a bitch of a teacher
manwiththemachinegun
METAL GEAR?!Registered User regular
METAL GEAR?!Registered User regular
Okay, so, I'm a substitute teacher looking for full time work. I did a 2nd grade class last week for a few days. I followed all instructions left from the teacher and got through both days fine. Now all of sudden the bitch wined to the Principal about how bad I apparently fucked up, and trying to get me banned from the school. I know it's bullshit for four reasons:
1: The class was 'a mess'.
I'm not sure what her standards were, but I had help from the kids picking up for the day. Nothing obvious left on the ground, chairs put in, looked like it did when I came in.
2: I didn't leave notes she requested about students.
This is especially bullshit, as I left a page of typed, detailed notes on her little munchkins on her laptop. You'd have to be blind to miss them. I can list off what I wrote without even thinking about it.
3: There was a rule broken about letting more than one child into the bathroom at once.
Again, she made no detailed note about how apparently this is a big fucking deal at this particular school (and I've worked on and off in 2nd grade classrooms for years). It's a shame and I feel bad about it, but no one said this was a ban worthy offense. I've had bigger screw ups at other schools with less of a reaction. And no, I've never even had a write up before. Just a, "you know you shouldn't have let those students go early, etc etc," sort of thing.
4: She forgot about three schedueling issues that became conflicts later on that other teachers had to help me with. When I showed them the sub plans she had left, they rolled their eyes and went, "Oh not again." Apparently this teacher forgets 'details' like this all the time. It's not my fault she can't plan her fucking day correctly.
I'm not worried about being 'banned' from this school since it's not even my primary age group. I am worried about this going on my record, and I have never heard of a sub being 'banned' from a school after one unsatisfactory report unless it was running naked through the school. It just makes no sense.
I have a meeting with the Principal later this week, anything in particular I need to do to cover my job viability?
1: The class was 'a mess'.
I'm not sure what her standards were, but I had help from the kids picking up for the day. Nothing obvious left on the ground, chairs put in, looked like it did when I came in.
2: I didn't leave notes she requested about students.
This is especially bullshit, as I left a page of typed, detailed notes on her little munchkins on her laptop. You'd have to be blind to miss them. I can list off what I wrote without even thinking about it.
3: There was a rule broken about letting more than one child into the bathroom at once.
Again, she made no detailed note about how apparently this is a big fucking deal at this particular school (and I've worked on and off in 2nd grade classrooms for years). It's a shame and I feel bad about it, but no one said this was a ban worthy offense. I've had bigger screw ups at other schools with less of a reaction. And no, I've never even had a write up before. Just a, "you know you shouldn't have let those students go early, etc etc," sort of thing.
4: She forgot about three schedueling issues that became conflicts later on that other teachers had to help me with. When I showed them the sub plans she had left, they rolled their eyes and went, "Oh not again." Apparently this teacher forgets 'details' like this all the time. It's not my fault she can't plan her fucking day correctly.
I'm not worried about being 'banned' from this school since it's not even my primary age group. I am worried about this going on my record, and I have never heard of a sub being 'banned' from a school after one unsatisfactory report unless it was running naked through the school. It just makes no sense.
I have a meeting with the Principal later this week, anything in particular I need to do to cover my job viability?
manwiththemachinegun on
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1. I suppose if you had a photo or something of the class, that would be best. Doubt you thought to take one, so this is pretty much he said / she said.
2. Can you get a copy of the note you left? Or remember where you left the document on the laptop? Or, probably best, get ahold of the laptop and bringit up yourself in the Recent Documents option. Even if she deleted it by accident you should be able to salvage it pretty easily.
3. You didn't know. You said you realize it was a mistake. So, fess up, tell the principal now that you have been informed, you won't do it again.
4. You still got a copy of the plan she left? Document the time and date when you spoke to the other teachers along with their names and suggest the principal can follow up with them individually to validate you were just following orders.
Again, documentation. Write out a timeline or something you can refer to during the meeting and suggest the principal follows up with all involved parties. Other than #3, I don't see how this is a huge issue.
Yeah so do not use the "c'mon, I've screwed up way worse than this in the past, and no one's really cared before!" argument in your meeting.
I'd aim for some combination of "communications problem" evidenced by the fact that she apparently didn't know where to find the notes you left her, and that she obviously couldn't say with absolute certainty what you did and didn't do while you were in the classroom because the whole reason behind you being there was that she couldn't be. You've never had a complaint of this nature from a teacher before, so you're a little befuddled where some of this is coming from.
She's basically accusing you of not being professional, so it is incumbent upon you to be the very picture of professionalism. That will be the main thing.
Good recap. Unfortunately I don't have much in the way of documentation. I do remember the students and their issues though. I don't plan on ripping her a new one, though I'm tempted, but she really should have come to me about the notes. Especially since other teachers have called me in the past, and I've bent over backwards to help with in regards to what was covered in class, issues with students etc.
Even if she never wanted me to sub for HER class again, trying to get me banned from a whole school is a total dickmove.
From the reaction of her peers to her schedule, I'm curious if she acts this way with all her substitutes. It has no bearing on how should conduct yourself in this meeting, of course, but it may be that the Principal has heard this litany of bullshit before and couldn't care less about disciplining you.
You should keep in mind from the eye rolling from her colleagues that her making a big stink of this will probably result in a lot of eye rolling from the administration. Also when I come back to my class at least, I know which kids were probably jerks. I know you probably had a rough day, my kids weren't in their routine, so any negative sub notes you leave should really just be things that require discipline action (and even then since I wasn't even there don't expect much more than maybe a teacher assigned DT).
Also the schedule stuff should have been mentioned to you but you're going to see more and more interruptions you might as well just do what you can and move on.
Bottom line, I wouldn't try to "go to war" so to speak to defend yourself. Write a letter to the teacher and the administrator that says how much you enjoyed being in the building and you look forward to future opportunities.
Sounds like you've gotten good advice on how to handle it, but in the future i'd make sure to keep a copy of your documentation. it seems silly to have to CYOA in a substitute teaching position, but that's the way of the world. Instead of putting them on her laptop (i assume as a file?) email is a better form of delivery? it's trackable at least. She could be completely computer illiterate besides her shortcuts.
Document everything you can in writing for the meeting. As a public institution, bans are not something they can do without proper justification via paper trail and they do not want to be audited.