Teacher's spite

A good friend of mine has started teaching in a school. It was a big career shift for her from holding senior position in the corporate world. She had taken  a break for a few years for personal reasons and was now ready to look at options. By word of mouth she came to know about a vacancy for a English teacher in a reputed school.The school was quite desperate as their English teacher had to suddenly leave without much notice.The academic session was just a few weeks off.
My friend holds a B Ed degree but has not worked as a teacher. She thought for a few days whether she will be able to handle the demands of a full time teachers job  at this stage in her life. She decided to give it her best shot and joined the school a few months back.

Initially the demands on her were more physical. She had to work in a non ac environment.It was also the height of summer and Chennai was sizzling hot. The fan in the classroom right above the teacher's desk was of little use.Guess why? The students in the front row of the close, slowly push their desks inch by inch so that they get some breeze from the fan above the teacher's desk.Yes, they also manage to push the teachers desk inch by inch towards the black board. She is totally new to the working of young minds, so used to suffer a lot. She also gets to move around a lot in the classroom, and since fans cannot keep up her pace, they were left far behind.

If students are smart, can other teachers be far behind? She was assigned a desk in the far corner of the staff room, where there is neither a window nor a fan.Yes, she had to stew even in her free periods.

She was quite up to speed with the class work. She is a very smart and imaginative person and brought in a lot of innnovation and enthusiasm in her teaching.She would take an auto from home and during the ride would scan the timetable and plan for the day.Smartphones are truly handy in her hands. She has her entire classwork accessed there. She takes a snapshot of the weekly timetable and so the day's classes are right in her hands. The way she talks about how she prepares and handles the class is truly fascinating.

She would tell me, classroom management is posing a challenge, as today's kids are not like what we were, nor like what her children were.They just get up and walk away right in the middle of the class and when she stops them. they say it is very hot and they want to have get some breeze in the verandah.No asking teacher, just get up and walk. She was also saying in corporate life, a level of authority is assumed and respected. Here she did not find that she could take the students behaviour for granted. Class strength was also not small, so it was daunting.

And I kid you not, she has to handle on an average seven periods out of the nine periods in a day.For five days a week. And usually saturdays also some other assignments are given.So it is effectively six working days with lots and lots of correction work to be carried home.

In this scenario what kept her engaged and interested is the interesting work she was able to do with the students.

All this changed yesterday. One of her colleagues came and told her that she goes late for her classes and her classes are very noisy so, this is the talk in one of the staff rooms and it could become a big complaint, so why does she not mend her ways. It really threw her off balance and made her very upset. It is then that another friend of mine, who was a teacher for a year and later took up a job in a government office, told me, that teachers are the worst in being jealous and spiteful. She found it in her one year teaching stint, but never encountered it with the severity that she did when she was teaching in a school.

We were both discussing the rationale for this behaviour and she came out with a possible theory. Good teachers make a tremendous impression on students. Especially new teachers who are also quite enthusiastic and bring a freshness to the subject. And they make their feelings very clear. And that is what spawns the jealousy in such a virulent form.. In a corporate set up we are dealing with adults, who dont show their appreciation or criticism so openly.

So I went back to my friend and told her, now that there is criticism and jealousy it is a sure bet you are doing something  right and the students are very happy with you.

Go ahead and do more of the same thing! Blaze a trail!