80s50 You Are Not a Teacher!

I remember sitting in the office of the Superintendent of one of the districts I would be serving as Curriculum Director and hearing him say, “You are not a teacher! You are not a teacher! You are not a teacher!”

I was shocked and didn’t respond. We moved on to other discussions but what he had said stuck in my head. I remember saying to myself, “I am a teacher and will always be one.”

I know what he was trying to do: to move me along in the transition from the classroom to an administrative role. He had good intentions but I wasn’t about to go along with it because I was sure teachers could think systemically and still be teachers. I was convinced that teachers and administrators didn’t have to be enemies. I was confident that I could help teachers and they could help me. I didn’t believe I had to have all of the answers and was willing to be vulnerable. Something so many others seemed so afraid to do. I knew it could be risky but believed that it was worth the risk.

I didn’t have the contempt for teachers that so many administrators seemed to have. I wasn’t sure how I would fit into the group. The six administrators I worked with in this role were a mixed bag. Some were professional and some left something to be desired.

Of the later, I was not amused by the jokes they told about teachers at administrative functions. I knew personally how difficult a teachers’ job was and wanted to honor them by treating them with respect and dignity. I wondered what kind of teachers some of these administrators had been. I am convinced that one of the qualifications for being an administrator should be having been a good teacher.

Some of those administrators ruled with an iron hand and tended to every possible detail that you can imagine. Others were hardly involved in the operation of the schools and saw themselves as more of a figurehead. They attended functions, represented the district, and expected the staff to do most of the hard work of running a school.

I need to say that not all the administrators I worked with treated teachers negatively but would say the majority did. I did work with some exceptional leaders. I promised myself that I would try to remember the good things they did and emulate them and remember the bad things and try to avoid those.

One of the unwritten rules is that you can’t be friends with the teachers you work with because you may have to fire someone. For me, that was all the more reason to have strong relationships. I believe it has always been easier to work with someone, provide constructive criticism, if I have a strong relationship with them. If I hardly know a person it is much more difficult to help them. I felt the same way about my students. Today, I think relationships are even more important than I thought back then.

I am still a teacher.