Job Discussion Forums

[choudoufu]

strange situation, but....

if the school decides she is going to be 'dean of teachers,' then she
IS dean of teachers. they can grant any title they wish. if they say
she's 'intergalactic paradigm consultant,' then that is what she be.

if the school decides she will be the head teacher and grants her some
authority over the others, you have no excuse not to follow her 'lawful'
orders (within reason).

if the contract says friday meetings, then you must attend.

if the contract does not say friday meetings, and the school schedules
a friday meeting, you must attend. is during business hours, no? if you
want to refer to the contract, there's probably a vague clause about
attending school schedule activities.

c'mon. if you had a job in any western country, and the admin promoted
someone to first lackey, or called a thursday morning meeting, you
wouldn't fight it. complain maybe. why should china be different?

[SnoopBot]

[flyingscotsman]

[flyingscotsman]

Oh and let me add, I immensely dislike people who rat out others for whatever reason.

[TeresaLopez]

I actually am a teacher coordinator, and acting like she does is my idea of hell. Why make un-necesary work for yourself. I basically tell the teachers they know what their job is, we are all adults, and if they need anything I am available to help them. I figure no news is good news, and they probably feel the same way.

[AboutSchmidt]

I guess you really don't like meetings!
The (limited) teaching experience I have in the US has taught me that meetings are the favorite pastime of most academic types.

You're right that they mostly are a waste of time, but meetings are also very useful at spreading important info and getting everyone on the same page.

Do chinese schools really give ESL teachers that much freedom that weekly meetings are such an outrage?

Also, someone just suddenly declaring themselves a Dean or Phd. is clearly worth a good laugh at their expense. But I wouldn't get too upset about it.

[choudoufu]

yes, it be the school's job. but once they delegate that authority,
it becomes her job. and since you're a staff member there, it becomes
your job to follow her instructions (within reason, of course).

so what does the contract say about meetings?

if she doesn't have the experience or personality for the position,
then you wind up with an eric cartman"respect my authoritah!"
situation.

i didn't quite understand the 'ratting out' episode.

did she report to the admin on her own initiative, or was she
asked why one of the teachers didn't show up? if the latter,
she has a tough choice. she can cover for him (lie to her
superiors) or tell the truth (rat the guy out). sounds like she
doesn't have the diplomatic skills needed to find a middle way.

if the teacher didn't show, was it because:

1. he wasn't scheduled?
2. the schedule changed without notice?
3. he forgot?
4. he was drunk?
5. SHE scheduled him, and HE refused to "respect her authoritah?"

[flyingscotsman]

[west2east]

Recent day swaps and make up days with the October holiday has been a complete mare!

We had a meeting at our school where we were given clear and detailed schedules from our FT Manager. We each had to explain back to the FTM where we should be and when and then sign a form to agree that we understood everything and everything was in order.

Now that's with 25 teachers to manage and as far as I know, there were no mishaps.

This week's meeting was seminar on Emotional Intelligence. Next week we spend two hours making Halloween crafts. The week after the meeting has been postponed to early evening - the school manager is taking us for a pub lunch.

Each week a different FT has a ten minute slot to teach a grammar point (to both FTs and Chinese staff).

Once a month we're given a feedback sheet regarding everything from our apartments to specific issues in the classroom (this idear was suggested and organised by one of the normal ESL teachers).

I think the point I am making is, we don't regard the two hour weekly meeting as a bind and I think that's because the ESL teachers have an active roll in them. We don't just sit, listen and whinge, we use it as an opportunity to really learn from each other and actually have fun. I guess it's making the most of what could otherwise be a 'waste' of two hours.

[wangdaning]

Any meeting without clear action points that are clear prior to the meeting are pointless. No action points, no meetings.

Contracts might be vague about participating in meetings, but still, if there is nothing to act on then why bother. Maybe the school should just pay for everyone to have lunch together. At least then there would be a point to it all.

[Big Poppa Pump]

I'm an assistant manager of a school. My FTs requested we have a weekly FT meeting after it became apparent that the CT/FT meeting was an absurd waste of time. So every week I gather as much information as I can about what will be happening over the next couple of weeks, go to the meeting, and give them the news.

I then go around and ask each of them how their classes are doing.

We have conversations about problems in classes.

I generally keep track of any problems with their apartments during the meeting as well.

I give them a bit of open floor time for any questions they have of me. Which most of the time they don't as they tend to approach me personally about them.

And we wrap up with a quick training session on various teaching related topics. By this I mean I tell them what the topic will be a couple days in advance, I request they prepare some examples to discuss, then we discuss them as a team to share ideas on the topic/problems. We all tend to like this system as it avoids having long boring workshops once a month or so that waste everyone's time.

Meetings can be useful, but I've found they tend to be the most useful when you get away from the CT population and focus solely on the FTs as a group.

[Guerciotti]

Big Poppa, I think I see your problem. You don't complain enough, you cooperate, you act like an adult and a professional (I know we don't make bank, but ...) and you find solutions to problems.
Get with the program!
G

[Big Poppa Pump]

I'll be right back, I'm going to file a ream of complaints about trivial stuff. I think I have a burnt out lightbulb, I'll get them right on that.

[choudoufu]

[Big Poppa Pump]

I've honed the art of the memo. I love, I absolutely love, dropping a fact filled memo on the FTs desks before they get to work on the first workday of the week.

They love it also, keeps them well informed.

What they love even more is that I've ranted and raved so much that the school now understands that if we plan out some events and such for the next week, we'll actually plan the damn things, discuss it with those involved, and prepare ahead of time. Further, they also know that if we agree to a schedule of events a week in advance it'll take a direct nuclear strike to get me to add any "special" things that come up five minutes before they would like it to happen.

I'm all like, "TELL ME THE WEEK BEFORE OR BLOW IT OUT YOUR @#$!!!!"

They are all, "C..c..c..c.c.. con.. con.. cont.. contract!"

I'm all, "AHAHAHAHAAH, better job elsewhere!"

They are all, "Oh... ok.. nevermind."

These few things have minimized a bunch of the chaos and confusion I found when I took this damn management job.

It's definitely hard to stick with during vacation time when classes are doubled up, but I try my best to make sure things don't get too confusing during those times.