Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
This is my first year being a math department chair at a high school. I've taught high school math for 12 years. I like being math department chair but I still have a lot to learn.
2. We have a first year math teacher that was hired last year to start this year. She has had trouble recently with parents and is thinking about calling it quits unfortunately. I have tried to empathize with her on the troubles of being a first year teacher. I had a lot myself and it was stressful my first year. This teacher appears rather stressed and anxious right now. I'm being as easy as possible on the new teacher right now so she feels less stressed.
3. This new teacher, despite given emails and being presented the required material to cover before school started, is not going over concepts that were to be discussed to be covered for algebra 1. The instructor is moving to more advanced topics, and is not covering the basics that are needed. Other teachers in the math department are noticing this when this teacher speaks during meetings what is covered.
4. My other colleagues want me to confront her about it again. The past two times I have tried to talk with her about the required material, she gets a bit defensive an says she is covering the required things. However, when she presents the topics in meeting and when I tutor some of her students, it's showing otherwise.
5. Our department had a very stressful year before this one due to the department head being fired for misconduct among students and staff. My principal is very busy right now and stressed himself. When I try to bring these things up to him, I get an answer " work it out among the department and continue to let her know the concepts to be covered". Don't get me wrong, the principal is a kind, hardworking one that I get along with.
6. I'm a bit stumped. I'm terrified about confronting again and again and then having a member of our department looking at me like an enemy. Should I just leave this matter on hold for now??
Any ideas? We live in Colorado where department chairs of high schools do not evaluate other teachers so I'm a bit stumped. Thank you for your time!
I'm being as easy as possible on the new teacher right now so she feels less stressed.
It sounds like you are more concerned about her stress than whether the students learn what they are supposed to.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Educator1982
I'm terrified about confronting again and again and then having a member of our department looking at me like an enemy. Should I just leave this matter on hold for now??
No! Bad news doesn't get better over time.
What are your duties and expectations as department head? Do you do the hiring and firing, or does the principal?
Sounds like you have a department member who is not doing the job, even after repeated warnings.
You get paid to be the department chair, so suck it up and present her with a formal WRITTEN performance plan with deliverables identified and a timeline. If you are not her direct supervisor, then you need to get the principal on board and the two of you have a meeting with her to present the plan. Most school districts have a union agreement which outlines in detail what steps to take to "help" an underperforming teacher (most princpals never read it).
Or, since she is a first year teacher and does not have tenure, tell her she will not be receiving a second year contract and start recruiting for her replacement.
And tell your colleagues you are aware of the situation and are taking action.
She is new. Pacing and curriculum basics are really hard for new teachers. Understanding the importance of mastering the baby steps of math for ALL students is particularly difficult for new math teachers. Your school or district should have a curriculum map or pacing guide for Algebra I. Give it to her and explain to her she must follow it. Who is her mentor teacher? That person should be guiding her and making sure she understands her students need her to follow that guide/map, especially for introductory classes.
But a word of caution, according to you this person is already talking about walking away from the job, so the typical value of the threat of non-renewable is not going to be as effective as some may think. You are probably going to have to decide which is more important as the person in charge of the department, keeping her for next year or keeping her on schedule and curriculum. Hint: for her student sake, particularly when it comes to future math classes, they need to be taught the actual material that is expected for Algebra I.
__________________
When I post in bold red that is moderator action and, per the TOS, can only be discussed through Direct Message.
It sounds like you are more concerned about her stress than whether the students learn what they are supposed to.
I agree! I should be thinking more of the students. However, at the same time, I just don't want a teacher to walk out. We have already had one walk out this semester, and our assistant principal had had to take over the class since we can't find a new hire yet.
No! Bad news doesn't get better over time. I agree as well!
What are your duties and expectations as department head? Do you do the hiring and firing, or does the principal?
Department heads in my district do not do the hiring or firing. We sit in on interviews though for candidates and they want our feedback. In fact, the principal has to get approval from our superintendent even before firing a teacher.
Sounds like you have a department member who is not doing the job, even after repeated warnings.
Yes, and it's not good for our students.
Thank you for your honest, helpful, feedback! I appreciate it!
[C
You get paid to be the department chair, so suck it up and present her with a formal WRITTEN performance plan with deliverables identified and a timeline. If you are not her direct supervisor, then you need to get the principal on board and the two of you have a meeting with her to present the plan. Most school districts have a union agreement which outlines in detail what steps to take to "help" an underperforming teacher (most princpals never read it).
Or, since she is a first year teacher and does not have tenure, tell her she will not be receiving a second year contract and start recruiting for her replacement.
And tell your colleagues you are aware of the situation and are taking action.
This would be nice if I had the power to do so and to not renew someone's contact but in our district department chairs do not. Even worse, it seems to be very hard to get teachers in. We only had one applicant for our math teacher position that we hired that was determined by the principal. I do not have the power to say that a teacher is to be renewed the next year or not. Our principal is the only one that has the say. I've talked to other department heads at my school and unfortunately that's the case. I spoke with the English dept chair on Friday and she says she is also dealing with a teacher that is not following the standards. We can go the principal and say, oh so and so isn't doing a good job, but it seems to take a lot to get anyone fired. There so many teachers that do little or nothing, despite being a part of a department, and they don't get fired because there is no misconduct among students or staff. Across the hall from me, there is an art teacher that basically sits all day on the computer and has students do online work and rarely ever lectures. It's not "easy" to get rid of bad teachers. We had one that we wanted to let go about 5 years back, and the only thing that got him fired was the fact that he showed up to work drunk. I'm beginning to realize that's it's not simple to fire a teacher, unless a major rule (like being under influence, sexual misconduct, racial or detrimental comments to student, ect)
She is new. Pacing and curriculum basics are really hard for new teachers. Understanding the importance of mastering the baby steps of math for ALL students is particularly difficult for new math teachers. Your school or district should have a curriculum map or pacing guide for Algebra I. Give it to her and explain to her she must follow it. Who is her mentor teacher? That person should be guiding her and making sure she understands her students need her to follow that guide/map, especially for introductory classes.
But a word of caution, according to you this person is already talking about walking away from the job, so the typical value of the threat of non-renewable is not going to be as effective as some may think. You are probably going to have to decide which is more important as the person in charge of the department, keeping her for next year or keeping her on schedule and curriculum. Hint: for her student sake, particularly when it comes to future math classes, they need to be taught the actual material that is expected for Algebra I.
This is true. It's a hard place right now. If we loose this teacher, that means we could have a round of subs for several months until someone is hired. That isn't good for the students since another teacher from another department just walked out as well. I'm just wondering why, when I spoke very nicely to this person about required curriculum, that she would want to do otherwise. It just baffles me.
If there's an issue with this teacher I can only say Make the Principal do his job. If he doesn't you're the one who will catch the fallout. In fact it's already happening.
People complain constantly about "bad" teachers and how difficult it is to get rid of one. In 95% of the cases it's because the Administration doesn't want to do part of the job they get paid to do.
Meet with the teacher and lay it out:
"This is the pacing and scope and sequence for this course (I assume it's a tested one for PARCC or whatever your state signed on to)."
"You have to teach these concepts in this order so your students can pass the HSA/PARCC/Fundamentals test."
"You may be thinking of quitting but if you crash the curriculum you won't get to make that choice, someone else will make it for you".
If asked, although you don't do official evaluations you will have to give your honest assessment: "The teacher is good but won't follow the scope and sequence".
Did I mention MAKE THE PRINCIPAL DO HIS DAMNED JOB?
I'm probably the last person this forum to be giving advice on this topic. There may be a disconnect between what the teacher sees on paper and how it is implemented. New teachers often assume that students already understand certain concepts and don't know how to break them down into small steps.
Without any type of confrontation or getting the teacher even more upset, can you visit her classroom and do a demonstration lesson on one of the topics that has to be covered? Then, have a post interview with the teacher and point out how you broke the presentation down. It's going to be hard because she will view this as an insult and then get resentful.
When I was a new teacher at any type of new job, I would write down all of the steps in long form and in detail. It was kind of like a script. I found this immensely helpful. The latest lesson plan formats that I've seen are long and detailed with a lot of stuff for writing down all of the standards and the things to do for individualized instruction for ENL ,SWD etc. It's so tedious. There's really no room for writing down the "procedure" in small incremental steps.
Ok I'm not a teacher but have been a supervisor for years. First question I'd like to ask is "has she been trained on what is expected?" Note I'm not asking about her education; I'm assuming she has to necessary education. Nor am I talking about a intro meeting and "here's the curriculum, any questions, go."
You've indicated she's a new hire. So a couple months on th he job? In no job I've held woukd we even consider someone that new ready to perform on their own.
Do you have a formal training plan that lays out every step and expectation with a timeline? Have you assigned a trainer/mentor to meet with her daily to help her learn? Do you as dept head meet with her and her trainer weekly to assess progress?
I get the feeling the answer to these is no. Then how can you assess where she is relative to where she should be? If you decide to let her go, is it based on data or "gut feel?"
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
