The Poor Teacher

Teaching is not considered a high paying job. New teachers barely get by with the starting salary in most states. Then add on the increasing qualifications criteria and the recipe becomes perfect to discourage anyone from entering the profession. So then who wants to become a teacher?

Surprisingly enough, lots of different people do. Most people enter teaching as dedicated professionals. However, some are looking for a job where they have their summers free or just want to coach sports. A large number of both groups don’t survive for very long. Teaching is a grind that wears you down. It takes a unique individual to be able to do it successfully. A listing of the reasons for leaving teaching would find their classroom students down near the bottom of the list. The highest dropout rate among teachers is within the group that enters the profession for the wrong reasons.

The poor teacher has developed a number of self preservation techniques and will do one or more of the following things to excess. Principal observations are treated to a real “dog and pony show” when they are announced. Classroom discipline is maintained through excessive use of office referrals for misbehavior. Students are kept very busy with worksheets that are intermittently graded while videos, many of which are loosely related to the subject matter, are shown to excess. Notes are put on the overhead or white board and the students spend most of the class period copying them. Students are usually given minimal directions or assistance when given assignments and are left pretty much on their own to come up with solutions. Lessons are seldom changed from year to year and the same old lectures are given forever. The teaching contract is often closely followed, especially concerning the hours required. Volunteering for anything is seldom done unless there are adequate benefits or remuneration involved. School property is often appropriated for personal use through a variety of techniques.

I have had to tolerate a number of these teachers in various school districts. One time as department chairman I tried to do something about a poorly performing individual in my department. Not only was nothing done, the hard feelings generated made things uncomfortable for a year or two. Then he moved on to another district. I learned the hard way that teachers can’t do much about other poor teachers. The final responsibility rests with the principal.

Most principals know who the problem teachers are. They don’t always deal with them for a variety of reasons. Some principals just can’t gather sufficient evidence for dismissal while others don’t want the hassle of eliminating bad teachers. Many principals use “backdoor methods” to eliminate poor teachers. The most common “back door” method involves changing the teacher’s assignment to classes with students who not only perform poorly academically but are also exhibiting many discipline problems. One district used to “demote” high school teachers to the middle school in the hope of acquiring a letter of resignation.

The problem with “back door” methods is that they inflict bad teaching on the students who need the best teaching, similar to what happens in many districts when the “new guy” gets the most difficult classes that the experienced teacher tries to avoid.

Tenure protects teachers from unfair termination but does provide methods to eliminate the bad teacher. The reason many principals don’t want to take it on, is the amount of work and time required to process a teacher through the system.

Teacher bonuses to reward good teaching are never trusted as a means to improve teaching. When these awards are based on student performance, it leads to teachers wanting only the better classes where students will score well on tests. The other drawback is the possibility that the awards will be based upon favoritism or nepotism on the part of the principal or superintendent. There really is no fair way to determine how to apportion these bonuses. Not only do they lead to bad feelings among staff members, they don’t have any effect on the quality of teaching.

Every school has a mix of teachers. Just like everything in life involving people they range from excellent through mediocre to poor. Well managed districts with effective administrators tend to have more of the cream while others end up with more of the curds. Teacher associations (unions) are of little help in sorting the curds from the cream. Unfortunately, students suffer the most since not only are they subject to less than the best quality lessons, they also observe the actions of these "do as I say, not as I do" teachers and often use them as role models.