Many years ago when I first began my career as a teacher, I enjoyed what I did. Although my boss could be a pain, she was essentially a fair woman who worked to keep teachers doing their job while at the same time making sure that the students were growing. We did not have data to determine how best to move forward. We looked at the students; we generally knew who they were and we moved forward.
These days all that is gone.
I toil for hours doing lesson plans. (For the record, I had to hand my lesson plans in every Monday morning in my first job. NEVER did I have stress or the sickness at the pit of my stomach that I suffer now.)
I am supposed to use the data to help students. Students who know what they're doing but don't have the time to do the work correctly. For example, if I look at the summative data, it looks like my students don't know how to cite text evidence in literary work. However, when I look at the diagnostic test, what I see is that students don't have the attention span to finish the work assigned. So, I receive data that suggests that they cannot cite text evidence when in fact they did not even get to the question.
Tomorrow I have a meeting with my boss to plan the next year. While I have a pretty good handle on what I'm doing, I still feel nervous about having to meet with her. There is something wrong with this. Employees who arrive to work fully prepared to do their job shouldn't feel the level of stress that a mean boss can force upon them.
I guess what I'm saying is that my boss should be less of a tyrant and more of a leader.
