A Teacher's Story

Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. No characters are based on real people, whether living or dead. Any resemblance to a real person is pure coincidence.

I have recently had relayed to me a story - or at least the beginnings of one - by someone I know. A high school teacher by trade, she has survived six long years at the same school, a school I will not mention here. For the sake of speaking succinctly about said institution, let us call it Benjamin Franklin High School.

This teacher friend of mine - I will call her Beth - is a math teacher. A smart woman, but humble, she is well liked by teachers and students alike. Still a tad green, which she recognizes, Beth has little interest in any kind of administrative job; she likes teaching too much. Geometry to the sophomores and Pre-Calc to the advanced juniors. She picks up a general math every now and then, but that material just hasn't excited her as much.

Beth works in a mid-sized department in a mid-sized school. About 20 math teachers for a school of just over 1200. And their school is just above average in math and English skills. A quiet suburban school for the most part. Mostly white though there have recently been larger populations of Hispanic, Asian, and African-America students.

The year for teachers begins in mid-August. And it seemed a promising year by all accounts. The English department lead - Randy - was promoted to Principal; he is a man with whom most in the school are pleased. Everyone knew of Randy's desire to make Franklin a leader in academics as well as sports, so they waited to see what he would do. Randy didn't disappoint. He brought in with him books upon books about how to make the school better. It was all about team teaching. Allowing teachers to teach what they know best but allowing students to have multiple points of view in a single class. A great idea, in theory. Beth immersed herself in learning about it.

Beth came to school on the last day of teacher workshops before the students started. When she stepped through the door, she could sense a change in mood, a sadness. It certainly didn't have the feel of a new school year. And when she reached the math wing, a colleague told her why. The math department lead - Don - had passed away suddenly. It seems Don had had a history of heart problems that he didn't openly share with many people other than his family.

Amidst the melancholy, the principal and vice principal had a meeting with the math department. At that meeting, they discussed their intention of putting a newly hired teacher - Eleanor - into the math department lead position. Most of the math teachers were a bit taken aback by the rushed decision, but decided to give Eleanor a chance based on her credentials of having been a math and education professor at the local university.

The year began. Eleanor came off as a world beater. Get down and dirty with team teaching. Damn the torpedoes. To hell with the whites of their eyes, just fire. And fire the department did. They started their team teaching and put their hearts and souls into it. But they weren't altogether sure how to do the team teaching in the first place. Who creates the lesson plans? Which books are they supposed to use? For that matter, what curriculum were they supposed to teach? The same as in years past? Should they just work from the book? And how would both teachers get equal time in class?

A lot of confusion, to say the least. But Eleanor and Randy knew how to handle the problem. First Eleanor would team teach with each of the teachers at least once. To give each teacher an understanding of what team teaching was all about. Second, the teachers would have to go to classes at the university where Eleanor happened to have taught. They could attend a Saturday class each weekend for a month to learn the fundamentals of team teaching.

Thus was the plan determined.

Beth looked forward to the team teaching exercise with Eleanor. On the day they were scheduled to teach together, Eleanor walked into a sophomore geometry class - a little late - and spoke to Beth for a few minutes explaining what she was going to do. From what Beth understood, there wouldn't be much team teaching; rather, Beth would be watching Eleanor teach. And that's exactly what happened. For 50 minutes, Beth watched as Eleanor incorrectly defined an isosceles triangle as a triangle with two acute angles and one obtuse.

Furious that Eleanor would do such a thing, Beth visited with a few other teachers to find out what was happening with them. Some of the teachers thought Eleanor the greatest thing since sliced bread seemingly because Eleanor just took all the pressure off of them to teach appropriately. Others just didn't care too much; they teach for the paycheck. And there were some who agreed with Beth.

At the first teacher workshop during the school year - the beginning of October - Randy addressed all the teachers in the school. He finally explained that team teaching was not necessarily of his choosing - it was from the Superintendent who was mandating team teaching across all schools in the district - but that he was willing to work through the transitional chaos to actualize team teaching at Franklin High.

The teachers were inspired by such talk and decided that team teaching wasn't such a bad idea, on the whole. It just hadn't been implemented altogether well. But, they rationalized, that happens when there are so many changes at so many levels.

Beth went back to work, trying to teach her kids. And she went to training. For all four Saturdays. It ruined her weekend, but she learned from the class. She had high hopes of bringing her newfound knowledge into the classroom.

By this time - the beginning of November - Beth was showing some promise as a team teacher. Then again, Beth had always shown promise as a lone teacher. At the same time, Eleanor was becoming more unpredictable with each passing day. She moved one of the Algebra 1 teachers to full time teaching of Remedial Math, telling everyone in the department - except that teacher - that he couldn't handle the team teaching in Algebra 1. Eleanor then took that same Algebra 1 class and obviously had no intention of team teaching the class. In addition, Eleanor gave no direction. Instead of encouraging the teachers in the math department to use the team teaching knowledge, she just spouted education-speak with words like pedagogy, pragmatism, and positivism while throwing out names like Dewey, Montessori, and Piaget.

Beth, by this time, had had enough and went to both the principal and vice principal to express her concerns. She was told that they would take her thoughts into account, but that changes like this require patience and flexibility. Patience, she told them, out of which everyone in the school was running.

Beth has since heard that a colleague of hers - Mike - is to be taken from teaching Calculus to teaching the Algebra 1 class Eleanor's teaching so that Eleanor can teach Calculus. And show the math department what excelling really means. Beth has also seen others in the department reprimanded because they are not living up to the expectations that were set for them in August.

Not to mention the fact that the kids all see this too. And students who need help from the teachers aren't getting it because the teachers are flailing in their attempts to team teach.

I feel for Beth. But I don't quite know what advice to offer. Isn't it supposed to be about the kids, I ask her. She looks back at me and can only nod with her sad eyes.

In any case, I'll relay more as I know more.