Today may just be a day I need to devote to the different reasons why teachers cry. Rarely do you see it in public, but when you do, it's heart breaking. Last night I saw a DISD teacher cry. Hard.
These weren't the maybe they're sad or maybe there's something in their eye tears. These weren't the I just reached for a popcicle but someone just left the empty box in the freezer tears. They weren't even the I thought there was an extra step so I fell and scraped my knee in front of everyone tears.
These were big, angry, frustrated, streaming down their face tears. What caused them? Reason number 1: Incompetent Administrators.
We all know that assistant principal or that just looks lost. That's frustrating, sure. You ask them a question or need some assistance and they're all thumbs. They don't know anything and they don't know where to direct you. That's just bad customer service. It's annoying like a waiter that keeps spilling water next to your table.
It becomes tear inducing when that administrator knows they're terrible so they overcompensate by throwing their weight around (sometimes literally) to pretend they know what they're talking about. Example: Yelling at kids to use the front door when everyone on campus knows the policy is for kids to enter at the back or side doors where the metal detectors are plugged in. That makes the kids hate admins.
That's the student side though. Bad admins bring teachers to tears by writing them up for frivolous reasons like walking in 3 minutes before class is over on a test day and writing up a teacher for not "teaching bell to bell." Yes, that's a real write up that I signed with a scribble that was 100% not my signature our of protest.
The worst thing poor admins do, completely in my opinion, is dump off all the things they don't know how to do onto their department chairs and instructional coaches. Both of those people are busy enough. Adding the insult of pretending like you're trusting them and giving them more responsibility is what triggers those angry frustration tears.
These weren't the maybe they're sad or maybe there's something in their eye tears. These weren't the I just reached for a popcicle but someone just left the empty box in the freezer tears. They weren't even the I thought there was an extra step so I fell and scraped my knee in front of everyone tears.
These were big, angry, frustrated, streaming down their face tears. What caused them? Reason number 1: Incompetent Administrators.
We all know that assistant principal or that just looks lost. That's frustrating, sure. You ask them a question or need some assistance and they're all thumbs. They don't know anything and they don't know where to direct you. That's just bad customer service. It's annoying like a waiter that keeps spilling water next to your table.
It becomes tear inducing when that administrator knows they're terrible so they overcompensate by throwing their weight around (sometimes literally) to pretend they know what they're talking about. Example: Yelling at kids to use the front door when everyone on campus knows the policy is for kids to enter at the back or side doors where the metal detectors are plugged in. That makes the kids hate admins.
That's the student side though. Bad admins bring teachers to tears by writing them up for frivolous reasons like walking in 3 minutes before class is over on a test day and writing up a teacher for not "teaching bell to bell." Yes, that's a real write up that I signed with a scribble that was 100% not my signature our of protest.
The worst thing poor admins do, completely in my opinion, is dump off all the things they don't know how to do onto their department chairs and instructional coaches. Both of those people are busy enough. Adding the insult of pretending like you're trusting them and giving them more responsibility is what triggers those angry frustration tears.
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