Teacher Series: The teachers who wanted to talk to me when I was taking a class!!
Teacher series: The teachers who wanted to talk to me when I was taking a class.
Many years ago, when I was a middle school teacher in an international school, one teacher wanted to talk to the students in my class. He very respectfully and politely stood near the door of my class and told me that he wanted to speak to the students for a few minutes. I told him that I was on a tight schedule and had many things to finish. He smiled and said that he would ask another teacher.
I did not think about this at all. Many years later, when I, as a Coordinator, had to request teachers to allow me to make an announcement in a class, or speak to a particular student for a few minutes, I remembered this teacher. Now I think, why did I say no? It was a request for a few minutes. As long as it was not a pattern it should have been okay. I don't know if the teacher remembers this incident, but I do, even after all these years and I don't feel too good.
There was another time when we had a new person join the school and he was my superior. We had a chat where he told me that he was very happy to learn from me and I should give him any feedback that would help him, as I had been here longer.
Once, he stood outside my class door when I was teaching. I went and asked him what he wanted. He showed me a document and said that he wanted me to go through it and give him feedback. I told him that as it would take time, I would do it as soon as my class was done. Later on, I went through it. He came to my room and I shared my thoughts about the document with him. Then, I remembered him asking me for feedback and I told him that since he asked for feedback earlier, my suggestion was that for short doubts or questions that don't take time, he could ask teachers during class, but for things that took time, it was not advisable to ask the teacher when the class was on. This upset him. He asked me who I thought I was and how dare I tell him not to come to my class. He said he was my superior and I had no right to tell him this. I was calm and kept trying to explain that I was ready to read the document, but not during class time. He got aggressive. He threatened me stating that he would have me thrown out of the school. That year, I had already told my management in September that I would not be continuing he did not know of it. So I told him calmly that he can't throw me out as I was already leaving. He said a few more nasty things like I did not know his power and what he could do etc. Then he left. I spoke to a few colleagues who said that I should lodge a formal complaint.
I related this incident to his superior who heard me out and said that he would talk to him. I don't remember if I filed a written complaint or not. Since then, my relationship with my superior deteriorated and he hardly spoke to me. I did not really care much and was my professional self, though I felt bad about how things turned out. Upon reflection, I think now that as I already told him a no when he came to class, maybe I need not have additionally advised him about not going into classes when he came to talk to me. I could have left things be.
This incident has stayed with me and has guided me about how a leader should be. A leader is a mentor and a guide and should role model expected behaviour, not threaten teachers who have less power than them.
