FYI Teachers
P.S. I now need a new job

Letter to Management

I write to request that any visits to my classroom and classroom observations of me be postponed until January 2011 for the reasons outlined below. I inherited my present courses from the previous teacher on November 28. Noteworthy is the fact that I have just completed four days of teaching at Al Hekma and both the students and I need time to adjust to each other. I need to recount the series of events leading up to writing this email.

I have taken over classes with a history of behavior problems (mostly Grade 8 & 9) as relayed to me by Sawson and Cheryl. I have Selection Tests scheduled for all 3 of my English classes on December 12. This formal assessment is direly needed and will be preceded by intensive informal assessment during the week of December 5-9. There are only 8 teaching days remaining before the upcoming holiday Dec 16-Jan3. Naturally the students will be excited about the holiday. During the time before the upcoming holiday, there is a holiday on December 7 and Bahrain National Days Activities scheduled on December 14. These 2 factors will also contribute to the students not being entirely focussed on their lessons and therefore not an optimal time for classroom visits or teacher observations.

I have spent many hours planning English lessons for Grades 8,9, and 12. I have gone to great lengths to ensure that all aspects of the English Curriculum are incorporated into my lesson plans.I will continue to make regular use of the ActivBoard and other proven, varied and interactive teaching methodologies. I now request that I be left without class visitations or observations for the period of December 5-16 while I get to know my students, establish classroom routines and expectations, make up for work not previously covered and deliver my lessons in an unscrutinised fashion during this crucial bonding period with my students. This settling in period with my students is paramount in establishing guidelines and for the students to adapt to a change in teacher in the middle of the term. I believe this is a fair and resonable request under the circumstances. Of note is that I grant marks for student notebooks and students need the notes I have and will continue to provide (through a variety of methods and formats) until December 12 for their Selection Tests. I am now developing Student Portfolios for each student since they do not currently exist. I will compile samples of work and evidence from each student on each Standard to be assessed. I assure you my lessons are delivered in an interactive fashion and optimal learning is taking place. The format I am now establishing with my students will be replicated for each module in the new year. I was hoping to commence the logical Novel Study so the students could read the novel over the holiday but Harrison has squelched that idea without providing an alternative.

Throughout my 4 days of teaching at Al Hekma, my coordinator, Harrison, has been unduly critical of me to members of Al Hekma Administration Team. He has not performed any of the duties as outlined in the Coordinator Job Description of the Al Hekma Teacher Handbook, been unhelpful and uncooperative with me in the handover of classes to me and been unjustifiably critical of me since I started. His unjustified scrutiny and criticism of me is inappropriate so early in my tenure with Al Hekma and doubly so in light of his total lack of support and provision of guidelines and materials to me. In light of Harrison's self-professed emotional problems resulting in antidressant drug therapy and regular sessions with a psychiatrist, I request that all short/long class visits and formal/informal observations of me be postponed until after the upcoming holdiay from December 15- January 3. I now request to schedule a time in January for a class visit to take place and request that it please be conducted by Dawn, the Principal. The gender imbalance and behavior of Tom, Jihad and Harrison toward me prompts me to request a female prespective. Tom, Jihad and Harrison are supposed to support my efforts as a new teacher not make me the target of their scrutiny. I am a highly competent teacher and assure you that I employ a variety of state-of-the-art teaching methodologies.

Both Dawn and Reemah Kaisi expressed agreement to a Novel Study and Research Report plans with my English classes but my English Coordinator will not permit it. This may sound dramatic but I feel like the current undue scrutiny of me by Tom, Jihad and Harrison actions is similar to a witch hunt and surprising given the fact that I am so new at the school. I look forward to a long career with Al Hekma. My lesson plans are available for review and my agenda is published on the intranet. Harrison has never requested to see my lesson plans or agenda. My transcripts have arrived and I will produce them on Sunday, December 5.

During my 4 days of teaching from November 28-December 1 I noted that some/all students in all 3 grades:

1. did not have notes in their English notebooks and some students did not possess notebooks at all; the students informed me that they did not need or keep an English notebook prior to me taking over
2. were experiencing behavioural difficulties resulting from the change in teacher and lack of structure and discipline from the previous teacher
3. had few documented formal and informal assessments from the time period August 2010 until I took over the classes on November 28.
4. had not been instructed using the ActivBoard
5. seemingly accomplished/learned more in my 4 days of teaching than they had all year to date

WHITEBOARD

In my short employ with Al Hekma I have completed the ActivBoard Online Training (November 25/26) and been granted 2 ActivBoard Whiteboard Completion Certifications. Copies of my Certificates of Completion are now held in my personnel file with HR. This proves my sincere intent to fully utilise the ActivBoard as a valuable classroom instructional resource. I am unaware if Harrison, the English Coordinator has undergone similar training but I did note in my first 4 days of teaching that his usage of the ActivBoard was limited and most times when I happened to pass by his classroom on my way to my own classroom, he was sitting on top of a student desk while teaching. He appeared to employ no other teaching methodologies.

All of the Language for Literature and Language Networks textbooks supplemental resources are in transparency format. I have painstakingly selected only highly-specfic relevant individual transparancies for use in class (projected trhough OHP and Whiteboard combination of methods). I use these in combination with many other tried and tested teaching methodologies.

I had asked Harrison for a handover of all of relevant materials on November 25. He said he did not have anything whatsoever to give me. He did not give me materials, guidance, resources, pacing calendars, curriculum maps, computer files, PDFs, CD-ROMs, etc. It was only on November 28 after I reitereated my request for a handover from Harrison in the presence of Tom that Harrison was forthcoming with some information. Up to that point Harrison had not provided me with the materials he held in his possession related to my courses. I was given a CD-ROM with a few selected PDF files. These were mostly a few Warm-up/Daily Language Skillbuilder teasers for each grade level. None of the PDF files I received contain any information on any of the 3 literature selctions I am now completing with my classes. I have created many ActivBoard Flipchart files and PDFs based on my current units.

Since my very first day of teaching Tom, Jihad and Harrison have held an unusually high interest in my use of the whiteboard. This is surprising and ironic to me since Harrison himself does not appear to regularly use the whiteboard. This type of unusually high scrutiny of me by 3 male staff members is surprising and ironic given I had only received negative feedback on my novel study and SAT ideas; and had not been voluntarily provided with the PDF files (that I could use on the ActivBoard). I had on my own initiative completed two Activ Board online training programs and specifically asked the librarian for any CD-ROMs to go with my books. I was told that they do not exist.

HANDOVER OF MATERIALS AND CLASSES TO NEW TEACHER

Harrison has not been forthcoming with information to me despite the fact that he is English Coordinator, has taught Grade 12 before and that I requested any or all all relevant materials, unit plans, curriculum guides and expectations from him on several occasions without success. My first conversation with Harrison took place on November 28 when he stated the following to me:

"I am on antidepressants and undergoing intensive psychotherapy because of this school."
"They did not tell me they were hiring you. They are trying to backdoor me on this and I will not have it. They are not going to get away with this."
"Nobody reads the Agenda anyway."
"Reemah Kaisi wrote the English Curriculum and she does not know what she is talking about."
"I do not care what you cover or in what sequence because I am leaving in seven months."
"I will come in and have a look at your teaching next week to see if you are doing it ok. I have to see if you can teacher literature."
"Sawson was not prepared for this teaching assignment and neither was Adam."
"I was supposed to get the job of Academic Controller but they did not give it to me.I was supposed to get Jihad's job."
"I do not approve of any SAT related teaching."
"'Do not do a novel study. "

SAT

On November 28, I administered a Reading/Writing English test to Grade 12 to establish a general baseline of English proficiency for my own records. This is quite a normal practice for a new teacher taking over a class. Both Tom and Jihad agreed with me on this and both sanctioned it wholeheartedly.

At the end of my first day of teaching, both Tom and Harrison came to my classroom when they instructed me not to teach SAT. Prior to making this statement, neither Tom nor Harrison questioned me on why the SAT books were in my room or what I had used them for in my classes. Harrison stated that he had only walked by my classroom and seen the SAT textbooks and jumped to the conclusion that I was teaching SAT. I then told him I had used the SAT books to administer a short English Proficiency Quiz to my Grade 12 students. Harrison then embarked upon a dialogue on why I was not to teach SAT. He stated "These kids want to be spoon fed. I have been fighting them on this for four years. These kids only want to make up for years of doing nothing. You are not to do anything in English class related to the SAT and if so it must be this week only. You are not to instruct an afternoon English SAT program the same as the math teacher. I will not agree to it at all. I cannot approve any SAT-related subject matter in the English program at all. I do not believe in SAT prep." His arms were crossed his chest during the entire conversation in a defensive body language stance. I had mentioned to Jihad the previous week that I wanted to set up a similar English SAT class after school as the math teacher had. I did not refer to it as a club.

I have offered to deliver a SAT Prep course from December 26-30, an after school SAT program and to reinstate 1 class period per week of SAT/TOEFL prep back into the Grade 12 English program. I will provide a full proposal of the content of these programs to you next week.

NOVEL

On my second day of employ I requested the Recommended Reading List of novels for Grades 12,8 and 9 English from the librarian, Katia. She provided me with the list and I then selected a novel from the list for each of of my English classes. On the 1-page pacing guide document for Grade 12 I had been given by Sawson, it dictated that a Novel Study was to begin after Eid. Therefore I went about selecting the novels and planning a Novel Study Lesson planning unit. When I informed Harrison of the novels I had selected for Novel Study for each grade, he stated "I would not do the a novel before the holiday if I were you. We are supposed to give the students some work to do over the holiday but they won't do it". When I told him I would start Beowolf with Grade 12, he stated that the school had just picked the book up cheaply at a book fair as if it was not even a prescribed text. I selected it because it is part of the Grade 12 Literature Curriculum, on the Al Hekma recommended novel list and a class set is available in the library. When I later asked Harrison to name the novels he had studied with Grade 12 the previous year, he informed me he had not completed a Novel Study with Grade 12 English the previous year.

Jihad, Harrison and Sawson appeared perturbed that I selected novels for Novel Study despite the fact it was clearing on the pacing calendar. Sawson immediately took the 3 novels I selected from the prescribed list and took them to the library where she said, "I need to check on this". I was meeting with Tom early on the morning of November 29 when Jihad entered Tom's office and stated to me "Remember, you are to follow the English books only." Prior to Jihad entering Tom's office I had just shown Tom the Scheme of Work for English where it stated in writing that a Novel Study was scheduled to begin November 28. I also told Tom that I thought it unusual that I was getting commentary from Jihad, Harrison and Sawson on starting a novel study even though it was clearly scheduled to begin at the same time as I took over the English classes. during this same meeting, I asked Tom if I could develop an Eneglish bulletin board display on the 3rd floor and he said; "I would hate to see all of your hard work go to waste. There is some question if you will be teaching Grade 12 or not. You better hold off on the bulletin boards." The 2 bulletin boards I requested to decorate on the third floor remain empty.