First-year TA at an NES campus — principal basically threatened my job
I’m a first-year teacher/teacher apprentice with absolutely no prior teaching experience. I’ve only been doing this for about two months, so I’m very much still learning.
There have already been some unrelated workplace harassment issues at my school that I reported to administration, and the situation has continued to make me uncomfortable. In my original complaint, I even asked about the possibility of being transferred to another campus if things didn’t improve, but I never received an answer about that.
This week I had my first teaching demo in front of my principal and other teachers. I’ll be completely honest: I was not prepared enough and my demo was not good. I take responsibility for that.
That day had already been chaotic. Around 6 a.m. I was told I had to cover for an absent teacher, so I spent the entire day teaching a lesson I had very little time to prepare for. My appraiser observed me during first period and told me to use my second-period planning period to internalize the lesson. However, our entire planning period was then taken up by a meeting leaving me about 15 minutes.
I also hadn’t realized I was demoing that afternoon. It had been listed in a Sunday newsletter that I admittedly missed, but on Monday my appraiser had directly told me and other teachers that we would be going to another campus for training Thursday afternoon. I didn’t find out until Thursday that I was actually staying behind to demo.
During the demo, the principal stopped me several times to coach me and had me repeat portions the way he wanted them done. By that point I was extremely flustered and nervous in front of everyone, which made my performance worse.
Afterward, he spoke to me privately. He told me my performance was unacceptable and that he was very disappointed. He said I would have to demo again the following week. I explained the situation with being told to internalize during planning but then having that planning period taken up by meetings.
Then he asked me, “You do realize your position is at-will, right?” I said I didn’t know what that meant. He responded that it meant he could let me go whenever he wanted and that he didn’t have me there just for the sake of having me there. He also questioned what I was doing at work and whether I was actually doing the work expected of me.
That part really rattled me.
I understand being corrected. I understand being told that I was underprepared. I’m brand new and I know I have a LOT to learn. But I don’t feel like reminding me that he can fire me whenever he wants was constructive coaching, especially considering the other workplace issues I’ve already reported.
I’ve also spent much of my first couple of months filling in elsewhere because of staffing issues, on top of being pulled to cover classes when teachers are absent. I feel like I’m constantly being pulled in different directions while simultaneously being expected to perform like someone who already knows exactly what they’re doing.
At this point, I don’t necessarily want to quit the district. I’m considering contacting Employee Relations to ask whether I can be reassigned to another campus or possibly even move into a non-teaching/administrative position.
For experienced teachers/admin: am I overreacting? Is this normal treatment for a first-year teacher/apprentice? Would you try to stick it out, or would you start looking into a transfer/reassignment now?
I’m completely open to hearing where I need to take accountability too. I know I should have been better prepared for the demo. I’m mainly trying to figure out whether the overall situation and the way the feedback was handled are reasonable red flags.