Teacher Insights

Some great positive relationships! Many years ago, I joined this international school as a middle year’s teacher. IB was new to me and I was drowning in the IB sea of documents, procedures and processes. It was induction week and the new teachers had independent working time. When  I was trying to figure out what I need to do and how to prioritise, there came into the room, this person with glasses and the kindest face I have ever seen. She sat next to me and said “Don't worry, I will help you”. She took me through what I needed to do, helped me prioritise my work and made everything seem so easy and doable. She was very efficient and knowledgeable and cleared all my doubts. She did this of her own volition. No one asked her to. And she did this with all the new teachers. She was phenomenal and soon became my mentor. Our relationship blossomed into a beautiful friendship. We went on to work together in different schools and we were like yin and yang; we had different strengths and ...

The teacher who spoke very rudely to my colleague!! Once, many years ago, at an international school, my colleague had to supervise students at a particular venue. Later on, she was told by a teacher who was also an HOD, that she cannot have the activity there and was directed to another venue. The next day, I was talking to this HOD and another colleague about something in the corridor and my colleague happened to pass by. She approached him to tell him something and he said "I dont have time, I dont want to talk to you" and walked away. My colleague was very disturbed. She said that he had no right to speak to her that way. The next day, my colleague came to see me. She said that she went to the Head of School and complained to him about what happened. She said that she found this behaviour unacceptable. He told her that he would speak to the Head of Department and get him to apologise to her. She said that soon after, the HOD came and spoke to her. He apologised to her sa...