Job Discussion Forums

[prlester]

I liked your post on alt work. my question is, it seems keeping up apperances is much more important than teaching, eg. showing up early, appear busy etc. I usually find that after an hour of planning and my classes are over I have a lot of free time, so I might read or use the internet for a 2-3hrs/day. On thurs I have no classes but still come in.
Is there anyway to use the internet without causing a problem? Is the trick to leave the school and read? I see other teachers put their head on their desk, but it seems like I'm watched more. Maybe its because I do jokes or interesting class activities with the students that draws the attention, like role-playing, group discussion etc.
What's your advice to having good relations with the other teachers without pretending your busy for half the day or looking bad by refusing to add more classes without pay? I plan most of my lessons too.
Which leads me to my last question, the idea of what a good lesson seems to differ. I like group participation, drawing in history or current events. I think they want more educational games. For exercises I will go over some vocab and introduce an exercise like, "I have 500 dollars. I will spend it on this because I like this". What will you spend it on?" etc. THen they fill out a ditto by themselves and present. The teacher don't hate it, but they dont seem impressed most of the time. However their lessons are following the book, which is pretty poor and doesn't last the whole year.
I think one of my problems is I was too liberal with the teachers, treating them like equals and friends, where I should have had a pleasant, at arms length, but boring professional relationship. I also ignored some of the ettiquete, like giving presents, arriving early, pretending to be busy instead of internet, too friendly with the kids.
What should I do. What should they expect to improve relations and class time? Also, how does one get a board job directly?
Thanks.