Teaching Tips & Tricks, Uncategorized | Jun 11, 2010
Switching grades: teacher needs vs. school needs
By Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
Switching grades: teacher needs vs. school needs
By Angela Watson
8 little words can invoke panic in the heart of almost any teacher: “You’re moving to a different grade next year.”
Changing grade levels is a big topic of conversation in June. In some schools, nothing’s been decided yet, so the rumors are flying and everyone’s unsettled. Other principals have already dropped the bomb: I’ve heard of one school in which a kindergarten teacher is being moved to 7th grade, which means the 7th grade teacher is being moved to 4th, so that teacher’s moving to 2nd, and the 2nd grade teacher’s going down to kindergarten.
Why the huge shuffle? Because one teacher is the weakest link, and the principal’s playing a game to make sure he inflicts the least amount of damage on students.
Situations like that infuriate me. It’s one thing when a drastic move is necessitated by budgetary reasons; for example, when a position must be cut due to decreased enrollment or funding. I can also understand moving a teacher into his of her field of expertise or preference. However, causing a chain reaction of switches for no reason other than to shuffle an incompetent teacher is a tragedy.
I’m amazed at how often this happens. Sometimes the principal is trying to run the teacher off or force early retirement (and it often works). But many times it’s a matter of placing ineffective educators in non-standardized-testing grades, as if children who don’t get scored by the state one particular year are of any less value or don’t deserve a top-quality education.
Another grade-switch reasoning that bothers me: This teacher’s been in the same grade for too long. He’s getting stale and stuck in a rut. I’ll move him up two grade levels and he’ll have no choice but to change with the times!
Wrong, wrong, wrong. He DOES have a choice: to get really angry, shut down, and try even less. He has the choice to take his frustration out on the kids and everyone around him. And chances are, if he’s the kind of teacher who refused to try new things in his former position, he’s not going to be too excited about learning to work a SmartBoard now that he has a whole new curriculum to figure out.
I’m not excusing the laziness and incompetence of certain teachers. I’m ascertaining that moving ineffective teachers to another grade level doesn’t fix the problem by itself, and it can make things worse for everyone else affected.
Most teachers have an increasingly limited amount of autonomy in their jobs, and I believe that choosing the age level or subject area they’d like to devote their career to teaching is a reasonable expectation. An unhappy teacher is never going to be as effective as a happy one, so shouldn’t a principal honor a teacher’s wishes whenever possible?
Not everyone agrees with me on this, I know. Whether you do depends on your feelings about a few fundamental questions:
- What is a legitimate reason for forcing a teacher to switch grade levels?
- Are administrators obligated to make any switch that will benefit the maximum number of students? If so, how can those potential benefits truly be gauged in advance?
- Is it worth making a few teachers unhappy if it’s advantageous to the school as a whole? And when we refer to the benefit of the ‘school’, do we really mean the faculty, the students, or the test scores?
We can all agree that the purpose of school should be to meet the needs of children, but teaching is a professional career choice. I don’t think anyone should be stuck teaching something they’re not passionate about.
So what’s more important in your perspective, the good of the ‘school’ or the good of the teacher?
Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
Discussion
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Hi! I was wondering if anyone knows what happens to a teacher who refuses to move to another grade or to another school in the same district because the principal has discretion to make any changes he/she wants. Thank you! deb ps from NY State
Hi Deb!
I’m wondering the same thing!
What if an inexperienced principal demands you change grade levels only because you’ve been teaching the same grade level for 20 years, and that it’s your turn to make a “sacrificial switch.”
She says it’s in the best interest of the students. But how can that benefit the students in my OLD grade level and the students in my NEW grade level? She’s making another veteran teacher change grade levels, too, because “change is a good thing.”
Why does a principal choose to “shake-up” some teachers and not others? I think she’s “playing favorites,” but what can I do about that??
I got my Master’s degree to re-energize and rejuvenate my teaching. I work hard to improve my teaching constantly. My expertise, experience & passion aren’t being valued! WHY?
hi kristi! thanks for responding … i think i am going to ask my union president and perhaps go to NYSUT to find out what happens to a teacher that refuses to change grades or schools just because the principal wants it!
I too love teaching and learning … do you read Language Arts, the Reading Teacher, Science and Children – i think i have the titles right – they are great journals – and also rethinking schools – one of the very best! – Reading these journals keep me happy and intellectually challenged! take care! deb
I do agree that teachers grow stronger within their grade as time goes by. However, how do administrators get rid of those ineffective teachers?? How do we change those few teachers without having them feel attacked or defensive? How much support is that teacher getting before that admin feels that she is ineffective?? How is ineffectivity being evaluated in your school? This should also be driven by data, test scores and observations. Just like certain students need educational plans, ineffective teachers also need these kinds of plans so that administrators document their progress or lack thereof. I do agree that flipping the whole school around for one teacher will not be beneficial to the school climate, test scores or moral. However, something must be done for those teachers who are just collecting the pay check and often don’t even do lesson plans. I do see this with certain tenured teachers and those teachers that have been in the same grade level for years….. I see this all the time in urban schools and it makes my heart sad. Education had changed quite a lot…. do we blame the system for the lack of moral and teacher burn out or do we blame the teacher for not making more of an effort??
I think “teacher burnout” is a sixties saying, the more up-to-date phrase is “demoralized” for one reason or another, usually negative teacher around the school as well as a negative administration staff can demoralize teachers. They say teachers should stay away from negative people, but how can you avoid them, if you work with them? Teamwork is the key and support of each other with a positive outlook. Many teachers act as though they are superior to others and this causes negative reactions from them to other teachers.
Maria, you make an interesting point about demoralized vs. teacher burnout. I just read this really fascinating article on the difference between the two, and why the author says it’s an important one to make: http://www.ajeforum.com/archives/145. Not sure I ever thought of it that way before!
Hi Angela-
I think a school is a community and that you absolutely need buy in from ALL teachers and administrators when moves are concerned. I HATE this whole unsettled feeling that happens at this time of the year and all the gossiping that goes along with it. It sets people against each other and breaks the community apart instead of bringing it back together. Of course it is about the students, BUT happy teachers = happy and successful students = happy and productive school!
I have been teaching 5th grade for the past 4 years and this year we departmentalized. I agree that K teachers are a certain breed and I also think 5th grade teachers are a certain breed. 5th graders are challenging – but I have made a lot of headway with them and feel like this is the grade level that suits me. I got to teach math this year and feel like I really made a difference being able to focus on one subject.
Last week my principal asked to talk to me and of course I got the dreaded, “I am thinking of moving you to 3rd grade. How would you feel about that?” I of course expressed that I might be open to this but wanted some time to think it over which she seemed fine with. The following day I went to her and expressed that while I appreciated her offer, I felt that my heart was in 5th grade. By that afternoon, members of the 3rd grade team were making negative comments to me about the fact that I didn’t want to move. Then today I confronted one of them and apologized saying that it wasn’t personal – just what is best for me. The reply I got from her almost knocked the wind out of me. She said, “I am VERY disappointed in you. Asking to stay in your grade level is completely unprofessional of you and unacceptable. This is how Elementary Schools are – you need to deal with that.” Yikes! I was so shocked I didn’t really say much of anything.
I have decided to just to brush it off to her having a bad day and didn’t understand that I was asked for my opinion and it seemed like I was given the opportunity to choose. But it isn’t easy and I can’t shake the feeling that I have done something wrong.
Thanks for giving me a sounding board :)!
I am so sorry teachers treated you like that by the other teachers. I don’t think it’s unprofessional to voice your opinion in a polite manner.
This is my second year of teaching, and I was asked to move two grades up. I am teaching first grade, and they want me to teach third grade to help students improve their state scores. I understand the need and I also care about the students, but I don’t feel ready to make that jump.
When I was asked I said that I would be willing to teach the third grade. However, the next morning I just felt it wasn’t the right grade for me. I struggled with being able to voice my opinion because I was also afraid they did not give me an opinion.
I finally voiced my opinion which I feel really good about it. They said that they don’t want to lose me as a teacher, but that it doesn’t sound good to the higher-ups if I am not willing to change. I am still trying to figure out what I will do. I am sure some teachers will look down on me for voicing my opinion on this.
I know that changing grade levels is a fact of life in the education field. But I was reading the rights of teachers written by the NEA (National Education Association) on grade level change. It stated that teachers can be switched grade levels after at least three years in one grade level. I would like to know if this policy or teacher right is effective in California, throughout all districts or is it decided on a local school district level?
I have never heard of this policy. It seems that school needs trump something the NEA has laid out. I can’t imagine every school district in the nation agreeing to something like this–it would have made big news. Do you have a link you can share?