Blog Post 2

I was so excited when I was hired at Baker Demonstration School to be the new technology teacher. I had just finished my Masters of Art in Education from National Louis University the year before and had two thirds of a year as an assistant teacher in the media lab at Middleton School in Skokie. I had a very positive experience there. Ann, the Librarian, gave me different jobs to do that called for research and exploration. I learned a lot about some educational tools and technology. I already had years of experience as a web site designer but little training in educational technology. So…when I was hired at Baker I was very pleasantly surprised and more than a little scared.

Baker had a first year teacher mentor program and my mentor was a woman named Mary (the names in this story have been changed to protect….well…ME!). She got me started with creating goals for the year, but as time went by and I started to struggle, she was more critical than supportive. I was teaching grades one through eight adding up to about 250-270 students. I didn’t have enough experience for the job but I didn’t want to quit. I also was afraid to admit that I didn’t know what I was doing. I tried asking for help from my mentor but it became increasingly obvious that she was a very angry person who did not want to be a mentor right from the beginning.

Halfway through the school year I had my review with a temporary administrator who we will call Penny. The reviews for first year students are only supposed to cover class room management. If we have problems in other areas there is supposed to be a support system in place to help us succeed. When I walked in to that review I walked into an ambush. Penny proceeded to tell me all the things I was doing wrong. She had nothing positive to say and told me other teachers were complaining as well. Basically she told me I couldn’t do anything right. No one had actually come to me and talked about my better meeting their needs. I had asked for help and not received it. It took me two sleepless nights and a conversation with another educator that I trusted to realize that I needed to either quit, because the job wasn’t for me…or if I wanted to continue to be a technology teacher I had to grow a pair,,,get a spine…be proactive! I chose to say…(sorry for this) Yes I Can!

It was a transformational experience and very freeing. I went to the Head of School told him about the review and overall lack of support and what I planned to do about it, including documentation of the whole experience. He approved of my plan and asked to meet with him again to let him know of my progress.

First I asked the Penny to come down from her office and meet with me in my office. I told her that I had heard all of what she said in the review but that nothing positive was given me to work with. She apologized for the lack of positive feedback and said she must have forgotten to tell me my classroom management was exemplary. That was nice, but to little to late…(that’s just me being snarky).

I went to teachers and asked to go to their meetings and plan with me and collaborate. I got lists of their students add the student pictures in and was more quickly able to learn 260 some odd names. I checked in with teachers and students on a regular basis about what we were doing to avoid problems or misunderstandings. I offered training sessions for different technology tools. I go to their rooms if they can’t come to me. I reorganized my desk to find information faster and overall be a better organized teacher. If I had questions I went to the few teachers I trusted and they helped me work out the kinks.

This was a time of very meaningful learning for me. I had a choice to rely on someone else to solve my problem…probably not in a good way or I could take the bull by the horns and be my own advocate. It has changes the way I handle just about every thing I do. It’s all about perspective...mine has changed for the better. I enrolled in the TIE program and National Louis to upgrade my teaching and life skills. I joined educator groups like ISTE an ICE. I bought subscriptions to trade magazines such as Edutopia. I also started going to conferences and learning from my peers all over the world. My perspective has changed for the better and my skills continue to expand. I have a long way to go and will always be learning new things…that’s what it means to be a life long learner. I will never go to Penny for help or advice but at least I can work with her.

This year I am helping our new Spanish teacher with her struggles and am also a shoulder when she needs to vent. There is no more mentoring program at Baker and I’ve decided to help someone in need, program or not. I wanted to give someone else the chance for the good first year experience that I did not have. Funny enough, helping her is also helping me.