Texas Teacher Law

Tuesday Task - Participate in a Meeting

Have you ever stood in front of your classroom and found that not only were the students not responding to you in any way, but they weren't even acting up - just acting bored?  It's very disheartening to try and give a presentation when it feels like everything you do just bores the audience. And how did you feel toward the one or two students who showed some interested and may have even raised their hand to ask a question?  Friendly?  Pleased? Maybe even grateful?

Faculty meetings can be like that for administrators. Just as you remember the students who pay attention and participate in class with more fondness than others, so an administrator is going to be more kindly disposed towards the teachers who seem to appreciate the administrator's efforts.  So your task for today is to make a note on your calendar next to the next scheduled faculty meeting that you will listen actively to the speaker, and you will ask at least one question during the meeting.

Tuesday Tasks - Where Do You Stand?

Today's Tuesday task will be simple if you're an organized person, not as simple if you're a pile filer like myself.

Get out a copy of your current teaching contract, and read through it.  Read the whole thing. 

School boards will be making contract decisions in the next month, so it's a good idea to know where you stand and what you can expect for next year. 

On Friday, I will post a review of the various contract status possibilities, and what they mean for you.

And if you cannot find a copy of your current contract, just ask for a new copy from the central office.

Tuesday Tasks - Practice Respect

Respect in the workplace will take you a long way towards finding satisfaction in your job. An employee who is well-respected is one can usually count on having their suggestions taken seriously, on getting good assignments, and on credibility when they have to explain an incident with a student or parent.

Achieving the respect of your colleagues and administrators evolves over time, based on your actions and behaviors as they interact with you. You have little control over the time factor.  But you can pay attention to many of the things that will garner respect for you and your work - attention to details, timeliness, cheerfulness, and helpfulness. 

But there is one action that will take you huge leaps - quickly - towards winning the respect of others, and it is the same thing we are taught as little children and it is simply this: Do unto others.  Show respect towards others and they will likely do the same towards you.

TODAY: Find an opportunity to support the work or opinion of someone else.  Maybe in the teacher's lounge, you'll be able to stand beside a teacher who is trying to make a point and acknowledge the validity of her viewpoint. Maybe you can complement a student for sincere effort, even if the effort hasn't paid off yet.  Perhaps you can simply mention to an administrator at the end of the day that you appreciate their help in setting a good tone for the school. 

Pay attention, and something will jump out at you.  There are lots of good people in the world doing good things. 

Tuesday Tasks - and a Confession

Having a happy and successful career is much more likely when you regularly tend to the little things that are easy to overlook or backburner when you're running 90 miles an hour trying to keep your head above water. Every Tuesday I give you a small task to do that will help keep your career in good shape. 

Why do I write about these things in a legal blog?  There's no law that says you have to help out a fellow teacher, say, so why should I waste time recommending it on a legal blog?  

Two reasons.  First, because I have always seen my role as a teacher lawyer as one of helping teachers remain satisfied with their job and career. The tools I use to do that are legal tools.  

Second, because I learned many years ago that teachers who tend to the little things generally enjoy better professional and personal reputations, which makes it far less likely that they will run into legal problems in the first place. When they do, it is much, much easier to defend against adverse employment actions if those around you like you, respect you, and trust your judgment. 

As the New Year begins, I've made a commitment to tend to these little things in my own business, which means I've committed to keep up the Tuesday barrage of tasks for all of you.  I am a mom, after all, so I have practice ordering people to do things.

This week, we start with a quote and a confession. 

"You will accomplish a lot more with movement than you will with motivation." -- Gary Halbert

The beginning of a New Year motivates people to set resolutions for the betterment of their life. Yet only movement, in the form of actual, real, concrete actions will result in that betterment.  Many years ago I was addicted to infomercials.  I don't know if you've noticed, but infomercials tend to go through cycles, just like regular TV shows, where for a few years you'll have a bunch of sitcoms, then there will be a lot of doctor shows, then it shifts to lawyer shows, etc.  Infomercials tend to do that, too.  You'll see a lot of cooking gadgets for a while - juicers, slicers, roasters, grillers, choppers, pannini thingees, et al - and then it'll be personal care - makeup, acne fixers, hair restoration - followed by exercise equipment - thighs, abs, butts, boxing, kicking, turboing, flying (you know, that pilates thing) - and then on to something else like finances, gold investing, coin collecting, cleaning equipment, ringlet making . . . .

Many years ago, the infomercial cycle was in personal improvement, and Tony Robbins was the King.  His infomercials were on several times a week, and periodically there would be a new one for his newest product.  Since these infomercials run 30 minutes, there was a lot of motivational talk  included, jazzing the viewers up so they'd be motivated to move to the phone and order the product.

Well, in my 20-something cleverness, I figured out that since the point of the product was to motivate you, and I felt motivated after watching the 30 minute infomercial, I could get great value by watching the infomercial every time I could and skipping the purchase part.  I have always loved a good bargain and am still a thrifty, thrifty girl, so I was well pleased with my clever little trick. 

And I did feel motivated every time I saw one of Tony Robbins' passionate pleas to me to change my life and live fully.  I walked with confidence, and expectation.  I walked tall and proud.  I also walked around in circles doing nothing, but golly I was full of confidence.

It took me a while to figure out that feeling motivated was pointless without a plan or goals or even a tiny little specific task to work on.  And to be fair to Tony Robbins, I had the opportunity years later to actually listen to one of his porgrams, and he does much more than merely motivate.  He understands that movement is the real key to success in anything.  Eventually, I figured that out too, although not before spending way too many late night and Sunday morning hours watching my way to nothing.  I confess I have not always been as smart as I like to think I am.

Anyway, I still haven't given you this week's task.  That's because it is up to you this week.  This week I want you to take one of your personal career goals (or one of your New Year resolutions related to your career) and come up with a movement related to your goal. Then go do it. Get off the couch, get up from the computer, put the class assignments down.  Take a little bit of time to create movement toward just one career goal.  You don't even have to be motivated to do it.  Just do it anyway, like cleaning the toilet.

Then leave me a comment and let me know what you did.

Tuesday Tasks - CPE

Today's career enhancement task is to get all your recent continuing professional education into your personnel file.  Collect all the certificates of attendance you have accumulated in the last year and make copies.  If you attended training for which you either did not receive or have lost the certificate, type up a statement with the title, location, presenter or sponsor name, and the number of hours.  Tomorrow when you go to school, submit the package to the office and ask to have it placed in your personnel file. 

Tuesday Tasks

Yes, I know it's Wednesday.  That's just the way it goes sometimes.

What goes on in the classroom isn't the only thing that matters, even if you're a classroom teacher.    A happy and comfortable teaching career is one in which, more often than not, you get the grade or subject assignment you want, you are able to get campus transfers or employment in other districts when you need to, and you can advance to leadership or administrative positions if you want.  In tough economic times, teachers also need to be valued enough that they escape the lay-off axe.  And occasionally, it’s nice to be in a position to receive consideration for honors and awards.

The employee who gets these things is one who:

Does a good job; and

Makes sure that people know they do a good job.

It’s a variation on the old question “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”  Consider this version: “If a teacher does a good deed and no one knows about it, will it be considered when the Teacher of the Year is being awarded ?”- the answer is a resounding “No!” whether anyone is there to hear it or not.

The Tuesday Tasks feature is designed to help you further your career, or merely safeguard it, by offering simple things you can do a regular basis that will increase both your value to and  visibility in the school.  Enhancing your reputation as a “good” teacher and a “team player” can bring all sorts of benefits down the line.   And as a teacher, one of the most valuable assets you have is your reputation.  A good reputation can insulate you from false charges of inappropriate conduct by students, parents, and even other educators. 

 

Todays Tuesday Task deals with communication.  Teaching is all about communication - primarily with students, but also with parents, administrators, and fellow teachers.  But at it's heart, teaching is about communicating with students in some fashion, and unless you can communicate effectively with your students, you will fail to teach them.  So today I want you to work your communication muscles.  In physical exercise, there is a form of exercise that involves isolating specific muscles in order to obtain better control and to improve that one muscle.  Today you will do a comparable exercise by choosing one student in your class with whom you need to better communicate, and focusing on ideas that will work specifically on your communication with that one student. 

Consider things like:

what is the student's preferred learning style? kinesthtic? verbal? visual?

How is the student in class? shy? disruptive? confused?

Are there any cultural differences between you and the student?

Is there competition for the student's attention? from friends? subjects the student perceives as more interesting? personal items?

You get the idea - analyze the student.  Once you have done that, come up with ideas for things that you can do that will take advantage of the knowldege that you have.  For example, adding different types of examples in your teaching, changing your voice tone, asking direct questions (or none at all in front of peers), asking the student to tutor, having the student tutored, etc.

Be creative.  The point is to focus intently on better communication with one student as a means of practicing the techniques that you will use on the class as a whole.

 

Tuesday Tasks

As tempting as it is for teachers to tell themselves that the only thing that matters is what they do in the classroom, it’s just not true.   A happy and comfortable teaching career includes the ability for a teacher to reasonably exercise options like making grade or subject level changes, obtaining campus transfers or employment in other districts, or advancing to leadership or administrative positions.  In tough economic times, teachers also need to be valued enough that they escape the lay-off axe.  And occasionally, it’s nice to be in a position to receive consideration for honors and awards.

These career benefits can be boiled down to two necessary factors:

Do a good job at your job; and

Make sure that people know you have done a good job.

It’s like the old question “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”  If we rework the question to ask “If a teacher does a good deed and no one knows about it, will it be considered when the Teacher of the Year is being awarded ?”- the answer is a resounding “No!” whether anyone is there to hear it or not.

The Tuesday Tasks feature is designed to help you further your career, or merely safeguard it, by offering simple things you can do a regular basis that will increase both your value to and  visibility in the school.  Enhancing your reputation as a “good” teacher and a “team player” can bring all sorts of benefits down the line.   And as a teacher, one of the most valuable assets you have is your reputation.  A good reputation can insulate you from false charges of inappropriate conduct by students, parents, and even other educators.  

Today’s Tuesday Task Many people tend to judge the way we work by the way our workspace looks.  A messy workspace can be seen by people as a messy workstyle.  Although there is no correlation between the two in reality, there is in the minds of others, so it’s worth it to keep your desk and other work areas looking neat as much as possible.

Take 15 minutes to straighten all the books and papers on your work areas.  Clear as much as you can off the work surfaces completely – either purging materials you don’t need, or placing in drawers and filing cabinets.   Accept any compliments graciously.

Tuesday Tasks

As tempting as it is for teachers to tell themselves that the only thing that matters is what they do in the classroom, it’s just not true.   A happy and comfortable teaching career includes the ability for a teacher to reasonably exercise options like making grade or subject level changes, obtaining campus transfers or employment in other districts, or advancing to leadership or administrative positions.  In tough economic times, teachers also need to be valued enough that they escape the lay-off axe.  And occasionally, it’s nice to be in a position to receive consideration for honors and awards.

These career benefits can be boiled down to two necessary factors:

Do a good job at your job; and

Make sure that people know you have done a good job.

It’s like the old question “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”  If we rework the question to ask “If a teacher does a good deed and no one knows about it, will it be considered when the Teacher of the Year is being awarded ?”- the answer is a resounding “No!” whether anyone is there to hear it or not.

The Tuesday Tasks feature is designed to help you further your career, or merely safeguard it, by offering simple things you can do a regular basis that will increase both your value to and  visibility in the school.  Enhancing your reputation as a “good” teacher and a “team player” can bring all sorts of benefits down the line.   And as a teacher, one of the most valuable assets you have is your reputation.  A good reputation can insulate you from false charges of inappropriate conduct by students, parents, and even other educators.  

Today’s Tuesday Task is to follow up on the tip you gave or received last week.  Las week I suggested that  veteran teachers pick a relatively new teacher and offer a tip or a lesson plan idea that you think will help her/him out; and that newer teachers approach an experienced teacher who has a good reputation and ask her/him for a tip on some area that you are struggling with.   Today, write a thank you note to the teacher you approached and copy it to the campus principal. 

Ex: “Dear Ms. _____, I just wanted to thank you for offering me the tip on______________.  I tried it and ________ [happened] OR I plan to try it out as soon as ____________________.  I really appreciate your help. “

OR

Ex: “Dear Ms. ____________, I just wanted to follow up on the conversation we had last week and see if you found my suggestions helpful?  I noticed that [something positive related to the tip you gave] OR I’d be happy to brainstorm with you about this if you are still looking for ideas.”