We Can Trust Our Hearts

4 thoughts on “We Can Trust Our Hearts”

1. chill

   November 16, 2011 at 5:43 pm

   Thank you, Ben for this closed blog for saying this really pains me. When I am having a bad day, I often have the fear that I will be outed. Clarice touched on this when she said her new principal needs data and numbers are up because TCI is easy and that is why kids a re signing up. A simplistic answer to something that goes so much deeper. This is some of the stuff that swirls around us on the daily grind. Now to the dark forces – those who are too closed, afraid or stubborn to look at anything differently. My colleague, a friend, who is losing her German program but can also teach Spanish, was saying: “we’re just zippin along, zippin along – quiz tomorrow, dialog, chapter test Friday – no matter it’s only a 30 minute shortened for prayer service. The problem is, they have zipped right into the dreaded chapter 3 – you know the one – the one where the fun and games of counting, weather, what’s your name, my name is – is all over and the heat is turned up. The grammar beast is making himself known along with his buddy, worksheet and busywork. Cheating scandals can’t be far behind. This is where those who can will begin to pull away from those who cannot.When you really stop to think about it, it’s a sick thing. I really think that the negativity from the adults, no matter how hard the critic tries to hide it, is more exhausting _on most days- than the non-engagement of the kids.

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2. Ben Slavic

   November 16, 2011 at 9:16 pm

   Alors la question du jour is: are the dark colleagues worse then the jackal students or is it the other way round? Either way, this is not easy work and we must somehow protect ourselves.

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3. John Piazza

   September 7, 2015 at 10:28 am

   This is powerful stuff. All I can say, from my experiences with these forces, is that it is so important not to lose sight of our long term goals in connecting with kids and building compassionate communities of learners in our classrooms, even if those communities don’t exist anywhere else in the building, or district. This clear vision will keep us from getting distracted by the hundreds of microagressions that may come our way in any given day.
   Last year when I was really suffering, a friend, who is also a psychologist, asked me: “can you identify the real threat?” This was huge for me, because being judged can lead to a real sense of panic when we think our jobs are on the line. Sometimes our jobs are on the line. If that is the case, it is time to reconsider our involvement in a school and develop an exit strategy. But often it is not the immediate threat of job loss, but the fear and insecurity that takes over when the affective filter goes up, when we know that colleagues don’t understand or respect what we do. This is still crappy, devastating at times, but we have the power and the choice to move forward, as Ben says in this post.

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4. John Bracey

   September 7, 2015 at 2:01 pm

   Great rant as usual, Ben. I think I have some new ideas to help with this.
   1) Build your base! Who love what you are doing in your classroom? Are there students, parents, colleagues in different disciplines, and/or administrators who are big supporters of you? Congratulations, they are your base. They will support you and sing your praises to anyone who will listen. Treat them well and show them how much you love and appreciate them. Angry traditional teachers and malcontent students are not likely to be converted. If and when they mount an offensive against you, you have to be ready with a loyal group of supporters to repel the attack.
   2) Gain pre-emptive support from above. Send unsolicited emails, pictures, videos and invitations to visit classes to your superintendent and their assistants. Tell them about all of the wonderful things you are doing and, if necessary, use all of the educational buzzwords to explain your practices. This gives you a chance to gain pre-approval from a high-ranking administrator in a seemingly zero stakes context. Our rivals like to band together and complain to department heads behind our backs, and force us to defend ourselves when outnumber and unprepared. By gaining praise from a high ranking admin, you can force your department chair to have to challenge their bosses own bosses in order to take you down.
   3) Remember that you are GREAT at what you do. Not good, not just getting better, but GREAT right now!
   4) It is NOT your job to PREPARE your kids for ANYTHING! Your traditional colleagues want you to get to chapter 13 so that they can start at chapter 14. They don’t care who the kids are or where they are at. They just want to be able to start at chapter 14. Guess what? That’s NOT your job. You job is to teach a language to the specific kids who are in your classes. They either don’t want to do that, or don’t know how. Ask yourself this. Have you EVER heard a CI teacher complain about how their students’ previous teachers didn’t prepare them for their class? Have you ever heard of a CI teacher complaining to a department chair that another teacher hadn’t covered enough in the previous year? We teach OUR kids, not theoretical future or past versions of them.
   5) All of your colleagues secretly know that you are GREAT! I recently read an article about teacher bullying, and it mentioned how the most beloved, overachieving, and innovative teachers are the ones most likely to be bullied by co-workers and admins. They are JEALOUS of you. No matter what they say, they are dying from envy. NO ONE actually thinks they have a legitimate claim against you. They just simply want to eliminate you as a threat to their comfort or stability.
   These are just a few ideas off the top of my head. I’m getting really sick wasting my time and mental energy on jealous and petty colleagues. However, we have to continue to come with strategies to fortify ourselves against these inevitable attacks.

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