opinion please - husband's teaching job

chanstriste13

i have a rant/question on the behalf of my husband. here goes:

when he first started teaching, he team taught a seminar world history class with a veteran teacher. he loved it and hoped to be able to teach it regularly at some point. that teacher retired and basically handed allen the torch for the seminar classes. another teacher (with more years of experience) took interest in it and ended up taking the class. allen didn't complain because she was his senior.

now, the current seminar teacher is thinking about retiring. she has already told allen that he should have the class and the administration has agreed with her (this conversationg was towards the beginning of the school year). the social studies department recently had their meeting on class alotments, and at that meeting, it comes to light that a first year teacher has interest in the seminar class too, and they are considering giving it to her since allen teaches AP.

i'm not currently teaching, but i have, and i know what it's like to be a first year. however, i think she has no business in hell taking the seminar classes from allen - he's had it for a long time coming. and it's not like the first year is getting a crap schedule, either - she just doesn't want to have to deal with classroom management issues. but i don't think she understands that having higher level students is not a band-aid for classroom management - if anything, they can be trickier if out of control, because they are sneaky and tend to hit below the belt and tell their parents (who believe them unconditionally, of course) that their teacher is stupid and is not teaching them anything.

all that aside, i'm so angry at the thought of allen not getting the class after hoping for it for the last 7 years. also, the head of his department and the current seminar teacher are saying it's not fair for allen to have all of the 'higher level' students. first, allen always teaches at least two standard classes, and both of the others *refuse* to do so. secondly, he couldn't just hand AP over to the newbie because it requires a licensure add-on.

it's just so unfair it's blowing my mind. he's going to speak with the chair and any administration he needs to today. i'm really hoping he presents a good case and doesn't blow his lid. :explode:

anyhoo...am i being totally biased because he's my husband, or is he actually being screwed?

damn, i need a workout! blow some of this steam off! happy thursday, everyone - it's almost the weekend! :drinker:

denise980

Nope you are completely in line here. I am a teacher and this is my first year doing it as well. I wouldn't dream on stepping on anybody's toes and taking something that was supposed to be theirs. The nice thing about where I work is we can design any electives that we want to teach.

When I was doing my student teaching, I heard a lot of people doing that and it pissed me off knowing that could eventually happen to me.

I hope that things turn around. Stay strong for him. I bet he's just as pissed off as you are.

tammyquinnlmt

My mother and brother are both teachers, and my mother works in the Texas Youth Commission with kids that have been locked up. She is experiencing the same thing and is plenty upset about it. You have a right to be frustrated and so does your husband. Its time he rocks the boat a little...in my opinion. Best of luck!

chanstriste13

thank you both for the replies! i feel better knowing there is some agreement to my thinking. tammy, i hope the best for your mom's teaching situation, and denise, keep rocking it out in your classroom! i hope to be doing the same if i can ever get hired around here! :grumble: