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htrain
Joined: 24 May 2007
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 Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 5:50 am Post subject: Shut your mouth and do as you're told. |
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I am finding out the hard way that this country has definitely adopted the Japanese style of management. That is, the boss has 100% complete control. The boss could be throwing children out the window and if you say "Hey, that's a bad idea," it's seen as blasphemy.
In my school we get rated every month on a bunch of crap that's not even applicable. Stuff like "enrollment, teacher performance, quality of instruction...." No one has ever watched me teach a class since I started my job 4 months ago, no one has dropped my class.. etc, but I keep getting sh1tty evals. At the teachers' meeting I said "How can you judge me on quality of teaching when no one here has ever observed one of my classes?"
Well, since then, I am now the 2nd to lowest rated teacher despite opening new classes, making numerous improvements that go unnoticed, etc. I guess I was supposed to just keep my mouth shut and do as I'm told. Oh wait, I'm not Korean.
Anyone else have these experiences? I know there's nothing I can do about it but it really chaps my @$$ because I take my job seriously. |
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:08 am Post subject: Re: Shut your mouth and do as you're told. |
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| htrain wrote: |
I am finding out the hard way that this country has definitely adopted the Japanese style of management. That is, the boss has 100% complete control. The boss could be throwing children out the window and if you say "Hey, that's a bad idea," it's seen as blasphemy.
In my school we get rated every month on a bunch of crap that's not even applicable. Stuff like "enrollment, teacher performance, quality of instruction...." No one has ever watched me teach a class since I started my job 4 months ago, no one has dropped my class.. etc, but I keep getting sh1tty evals. At the teachers' meeting I said "How can you judge me on quality of teaching when no one here has ever observed one of my classes?"
Well, since then, I am now the 2nd to lowest rated teacher despite opening new classes, making numerous improvements that go unnoticed, etc. I guess I was supposed to just keep my mouth shut and do as I'm told. Oh wait, I'm not Korean.
Anyone else have these experiences? I know there's nothing I can do about it but it really chaps my @$$ because I take my job seriously. |
Taking it seriously means....? Sorry, but your and their perceptions are probably anything but congruent. It seems that your low evaluations came before you even opened your mouth so perhaps you need to do some work in different areas.
"Teacher performance, quality of instruction" aren't applicable? |
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htrain
Joined: 24 May 2007
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:18 am Post subject: Re: Shut your mouth and do as you're told. |
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| Demophobe wrote: |
| htrain wrote: |
I am finding out the hard way that this country has definitely adopted the Japanese style of management. That is, the boss has 100% complete control. The boss could be throwing children out the window and if you say "Hey, that's a bad idea," it's seen as blasphemy.
In my school we get rated every month on a bunch of crap that's not even applicable. Stuff like "enrollment, teacher performance, quality of instruction...." No one has ever watched me teach a class since I started my job 4 months ago, no one has dropped my class.. etc, but I keep getting sh1tty evals. At the teachers' meeting I said "How can you judge me on quality of teaching when no one here has ever observed one of my classes?"
Well, since then, I am now the 2nd to lowest rated teacher despite opening new classes, making numerous improvements that go unnoticed, etc. I guess I was supposed to just keep my mouth shut and do as I'm told. Oh wait, I'm not Korean.
Anyone else have these experiences? I know there's nothing I can do about it but it really chaps my @$$ because I take my job seriously. |
Taking it seriously means....? Sorry, but your and their perceptions are probably anything but congruent. It seems that your low evaluations came before you even opened your mouth so perhaps you need to do some work in different areas.
"Teacher performance, quality of instruction" aren't applicable? |
Teacher performance and quality of instruction should be rated only if someone has observed you teach and can subsequently have a basis upon which to rate you. I'm not saying they aren't applicable to the job, but the categories aren't applicable in an evaluation that doesn't even have basis for rating those areas.
I also found it funny that we are all given everyone else's scores, not just the median or average score, and all of the foreigners are at the bottom. The Korean teachers are all at the top. Is that congruent?
Please write back, Demophobe. I am lusting for your poetic wisdom. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:31 am Post subject: |
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| Could they be basing scores on student evaluations? I know at my school, what the students write is closely monitored by the administration--which chaps the admin a@@ because the students like me and don't like them. |
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htrain
Joined: 24 May 2007
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:45 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| Could they be basing scores on student evaluations? I know at my school, what the students write is closely monitored by the administration--which chaps the admin a@@ because the students like me and don't like them. |
I doubt it, because my classes are all full and I agreed to extra weekend ones. Oh well, the fact of the matter is it's just more bureaucratic b.s., and it's a hagwon, so there's no real reason trying to analyze it. It's all just at someone's discretion who doesn't really even know how to evaluate a teacher, let alone manage people. |
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Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:51 am Post subject: |
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There's a way to test it. Start being fun teacher, buy the kids ice cream or something.
If your rating suddently skyrockets, then u know. If not, they are just making up numbers in their heads to encourage people to work harder.
I worked at a school that would ream out teachers, thinking it influenced them to work a little harder. It didn't. Many teachers quit. |
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htrain
Joined: 24 May 2007
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:58 am Post subject: |
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| Ilsanman wrote: |
There's a way to test it. Start being fun teacher, buy the kids ice cream or something.
If your rating suddently skyrockets, then u know. If not, they are just making up numbers in their heads to encourage people to work harder.
I worked at a school that would ream out teachers, thinking it influenced them to work a little harder. It didn't. Many teachers quit. |
Yep. My coworker used to be a chef and he even did an extra free cooking class and taught a bunch of ajummas how to cook American style. He even gave handouts with recipes and vocab for cooking, spent a load of cash on the food.. and still got rated even lower than me. He's an awesome teacher too, I can say that with confidence.... I've actually seen him teach on several occasions. |
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ChopChaeJoe
Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:01 am Post subject: |
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| Why would you even care about it? bucking for a raise? |
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htrain
Joined: 24 May 2007
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:03 am Post subject: |
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| I guess because I'm somewhat of a perfectionist and I try really hard... but your point is very valid. |
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Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:19 am Post subject: |
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Maybe because he didn't use enough gochujang in the food. It isn't 'delicious'.
| htrain wrote: |
| Ilsanman wrote: |
There's a way to test it. Start being fun teacher, buy the kids ice cream or something.
If your rating suddently skyrockets, then u know. If not, they are just making up numbers in their heads to encourage people to work harder.
I worked at a school that would ream out teachers, thinking it influenced them to work a little harder. It didn't. Many teachers quit. |
Yep. My coworker used to be a chef and he even did an extra free cooking class and taught a bunch of ajummas how to cook American style. He even gave handouts with recipes and vocab for cooking, spent a load of cash on the food.. and still got rated even lower than me. He's an awesome teacher too, I can say that with confidence.... I've actually seen him teach on several occasions. |
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htrain
Joined: 24 May 2007
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:21 am Post subject: |
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| Ilsanman wrote: |
Maybe because he didn't use enough gochujang in the food. It isn't 'delicious'.
| htrain wrote: |
| Ilsanman wrote: |
There's a way to test it. Start being fun teacher, buy the kids ice cream or something.
If your rating suddently skyrockets, then u know. If not, they are just making up numbers in their heads to encourage people to work harder.
I worked at a school that would ream out teachers, thinking it influenced them to work a little harder. It didn't. Many teachers quit. |
Yep. My coworker used to be a chef and he even did an extra free cooking class and taught a bunch of ajummas how to cook American style. He even gave handouts with recipes and vocab for cooking, spent a load of cash on the food.. and still got rated even lower than me. He's an awesome teacher too, I can say that with confidence.... I've actually seen him teach on several occasions. |
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HAHAHA! They actually b1tched because his spaghetti wasn't sweet like Korean spaghetti is... he was like "This is my Italian grandmother's recipe." They didn't really care. |
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Young FRANKenstein
Joined: 02 Oct 2006
Location: Castle Frankenstein (that's FRONKensteen)
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 7:30 am Post subject: Re: Shut your mouth and do as you're told. |
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| htrain wrote: |
| Anyone else have these experiences? |
Not similar to yours, but yes.
Did some part-time proofreading for the yoohak center down the street. The yoohak boss was an ass. Never spoke to anyone in the office with any sort of politeness or niceties. Just yelling and demands. One day he came to me and said he needs me to write a letter to a family in the US about a problem with their bill. I said, go ahead and write it and I'll proofread it for you. No, you write it, he says. No, we made a contract for me to proofread your letters. If you wish me to act as a freelance writer, too, then we'll have to discuss my rates for that. He screams, "I pay you so you must do everything I tell you!!" I slowly raised my eyebrows, "Really?", walked over to the secretary for my pay, and left. I quit. He came back to the school a couple months later to beg me to come back and work for him, I told him to get bent. |
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 2:00 pm Post subject: Re: Shut your mouth and do as you're told. |
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| htrain wrote: |
Teacher performance and quality of instruction should be rated only if someone has observed you teach and can subsequently have a basis upon which to rate you. I'm not saying they aren't applicable to the job, but the categories aren't applicable in an evaluation that doesn't even have basis for rating those areas.
I also found it funny that we are all given everyone else's scores, not just the median or average score, and all of the foreigners are at the bottom. The Korean teachers are all at the top. Is that congruent?
Please write back, Demophobe. I am lusting for your poetic wisdom. |
If you only want replies you like, then think twice about posting. All I meant was that your idea of being a good teacher and theirs wasn't jiving. You said you got a low score before you confronted them in the meeting, so things were going wrong for you before you realized. So, maybe, just maybe there is something to that.
Not all jobs in Korea require the trained, conscientious teacher unfortunately. Perhaps you have one of them?
As Ilsanman said, change (for the worse) your style and see what happens. That way you can rest assured that it isn't your teaching that is the problem. |
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jlb
Joined: 18 Sep 2003
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 2:44 pm Post subject: |
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Something I learned from my crap hagwon job was that there will always be something to complain about. I think it's the Korean way to make you work harder and keep you on your toes. For example, I got: you should stand up more, don't look at your watch, play less Bingo, be funny, etc, etc ad nauseum.
Just put your head down, work hard and try to be a decent teacher. After that, forget about all the criticism and don't worry about it. It's something you can't control. If they give you genuine, helpful feedback, use it. If not, don't worry. Nothing annoys me more than when someone tells me I'm doing a bad job at something but doesn't give me any suggestions or hints on how to improve or make it better. |
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bellum99
Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: don't need to know
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| Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 2:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Take your money, smile and not give a damn. Just do your best and ignore the stupid Koreans. You are not the same as the Korean teachers...their life depends on them doing well. They care about the evaluations because they have to care. Do you really think the Korean in charge of the performance evaulations is actually doing a good job? No. He is an a$$clown like the rest of them. |
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