Today I was told to take a comment directed at me, professionally. My response?
"but teaching's not professional....it is personal".
I put myself into my work. If my work is critised, or not good enough, it's me that's not good enough.
As teachers we are judged as being in one of four categories:
unsatisfactory; satisfactiory; good; outstanding.
My question?
Am I 'good' enough for this job.
At the moment, the answer is 'no'.
What am I going to do about it?
I don't know.
4 comments:
Only you as a teacher knows what is best for your children as a class. Only you know what they were like when they came in, and where they are now. Anyone else looking in only gets a snapshot of life inside your classroom. I know it's hard when someone questions your ability and nothing anyone says can help. My only suggestion is to do a "Grandma Ord"... shoulders back, chest out, chin up!
You were put in that place because God wanted you there. You are still in that place because God still wants you there. He obviously thinks you're doing a grand job! Don't get knocked down by one person's opinion!
One person's pet hate is another person's passion.......
Chin up!!
The comment probably tells you as much as about the communicator as much as it reveals anything about yourself.
Some people (often men) have a clear distinction between their 'self' and their 'behaviour.' Thus it's quite possible, for e.g. to criticise my behaviour/decisions etc at work and for it to have no bearing whatsoever on who I am as a man/father/husband/dad etc. That wasn't the point of the comment. If it had been, it would have been completely inappropriate.
Having worked in a team where I was the only man I quickly came to recognise that the way we viewed criticism in relation to our 'selves' was completely different. This is a HUGE generalisation but in my experience ladies don't separate these things in the same way that men do. So, for you, to criticise your work is to criticise you.
You didn't say whether it was a man or a woman who offered the comment. If it was a man it may be worth bearing this in mind.
Also, as you may be smarting a little less after a few days, it's probably worth asking yourself whether they had a point? If not, then forget it. If so, then they've probably helped you in some way.
Please feel free to come and shout at me if you wish :-)
I think I was cross because the word 'satisfactory' is horrible(!) I understood the criticism and therfore had to accept why she deemed the lesson 'satisfactory' rather than 'good' but when I asked her what she would have done instead, had it been her lesson the alternative she gave me was ridiculous (in my opinion, of course!) which made me feel even more like I had made the right choice - therefore having to accept that I am simply a satisfactory teacher!
Of course, since then, I have been obversved by Ofsted and they told me I was 'good'. It goes in swings and roundabouts!
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