Demoralized. What to do next?

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elizamina
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 6:49 pm

Demoralized. What to do next?

Post by elizamina »

I've posted once or twice here. Suffice to say, my husband and I are in our second year of teaching, me in the sciences and he in history (though he is teaching elementary this year). I said we were in Beijing, but that's because I was paranoid about revealing our location. We're not in Beijing. We're at one of those schools that begins with a Q and ends with an I and gets a lot of flak on this site.

I'm feeling incredibly demoralized right now. Like throw in the towel demoralized. We thought we were doing so well at this school, but then they put my husband on an "assistance plan," because he doesn't grade papers fast enough and one parent complained. Fair enough, even though up until that point, he had gotten nothing but stellar reviews from admin and parents alike. But now we've been told that we're denied any transfer for next year because of that.

I feel like we should just throw in the towel and go home, I feel so low. I honestly don't know what to do. We can't stand the idea of doing a third year here, but now we're afraid that if we go to the job fair we signed up for, we'll just be sabotaged by the director giving us bad references because of the assistance plan.

Advice, please. I'm sitting here crying. I don't know what to do. I honestly don't know what to do anymore.
heyteach
Posts: 459
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2008 3:50 pm
Location: Home

Post by heyteach »

What a sad experience. Keep in mind that it's early in the recruiting season and there are plenty of schools outside of that particular system. Have a good cry, then resolve to update all your documentation this weekend and start looking for another position. I'm sure there are decent schools who would be happy to have you. If everyone who got discouraged in the first two years of their international careers threw in the towel, most of us would have gone home.
WeDoDude
Posts: 136
Joined: Mon May 07, 2012 11:46 pm

Post by WeDoDude »

Keep your chin up and tell your husband to comply with the assistance plan. Document the heck out of everything. I mean really document it. Create Excel spreadsheets for all of his classes. Note when an assignment was issued, when it was due and when he returned the assignment graded. Keep this on your own personal external drive.

If you signed up for a fair, be professional and let your admin know that you are searching for new opportunities. Be humble and be respectful. QSI has a reputation, so as long as you have documentation and keep records of everything a lot of the more serious schools will look favorable upon you.

Teaching is an art, and by showing that you are willing to roll with the punches and meet the needs of the school in a professional matter you will most certainly find schools willing to take you on.

Good luck. We've all been there at one point, or another. But you've got each other. While at work, always smile and be professional. You don't want to show that you're unhappy.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Advice

Post by PsyGuy »

I see two scenarios:

1) The school and this principal doesnt want you to leave, and this is their way of keeping you. They reason you wont leave or be able to leave with the assistance plan this year (and they will be sure to notify or include it in their reference).

2) The school needs to satisfy the parents, and usually when that happens, its the teachers fault. Your husband is just the scapegoat.

Documenting everything while its nice (and knowing WeDoDudes perspective, I see where his advice is coming from). The reality is though that no head or recruiter is going to go through and read all your documentation. ISs dont need assistance/growth/improvement/mentoring plans. Their use is a control and manipulation tool of administration. They dont need to document an assistance plan to not renew your contract, or to terminate you. It comes down to this, you left, and your husband was on an assistance plan during the year you left. Thats all that anyone is going to care about. QSI certainly has a reputation and other schools know this. Some schools will hold this against you, and some wont. The question they are going to ask themselves is how late could his grading be that justified an assistance plan?

You need to leave this school though, either way. I see a couple of ways of handling this in the future;

1) The Good: Be honest and upfront about your husbands assistance plan. During the rest of the year at some point (typically 90 days, but could be as few as 30 or as much as a year) get in writing that your husband has completed his assistance plan successfully. Secure your letters of reference. Make sure that YOUR reference reflects your performance and not your husbands. If you use an agency have your associate check to make sure its positive. During interviews if hes asked about a weakness, or some similar question, use this as an example. Avoid using the term assistance plan. Your new teachers and some "help" is anticipated in a new teachers career. What ever problems happened were successfully resolved.
This approach is the best if the school acts favorably in regards to your husband.

2) The Bad: Your a high demand science teacher, your the front candidate. Your husband teaches elementary but is a social studies (history) teacher. Your husband could just forget these 2 years and say he was a trailing spouse, who didnt work. Its not like he was teaching his subject (dont know if he wants to continue in primary), so any experience isnt really going to be applicable to a secondary history position. This is best if the school really tries to destroy your husbands reputation.

This happens a lot actually, its not the end of the world, and hes going to bounce back from this. Look at it as an opportunity to move on to something better. QSI has a lot of turnover, and the reason is that teachers would ultimately leave rather then stay.
Going home isnt going to solve this problem, the reference and the assistance plan will just follow him there instead of too another IS.
Danda
Posts: 120
Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2006 10:38 am

Post by Danda »

I’d love to here the full story as to why your husband was put on the assistance plan. I just don’t fully believe that he was put on an assistance plan for taking too long to hand back assignments. Was he just not handing stuff back or not grading it or what? I’ve worked at 2 QSI schools and seen people that are horribly incompetent that were never placed on assistance plans (I’ve never even heard of an assistance plan before) and were offered transfers or references to leave. I think I know which QSI school you are at and if I’m right your DI is a pretty nice guy that I don’t see being that malicious and I’ve heard pretty rave reviews of the Director there too (and rave reviews of Directors are very rare in QSI). Don’t worry I’m not going to say anything to your admin. I appreciate the anonymity of this forum and would not violate that.

It appears that something is not working out for you at the school. I’m not sure if it is your fault or the school’s. My advice would be to sign your departure letter so that you get the bonus ($2600/couple) for leaving and start looking for jobs elsewhere. If you sign the commitment letter and then pursue jobs you may risk not being offered a contract and/or losing your commitment bonus ($5000/couple). If you want to stay with QSI, you could always try to figure out a way to remedy the situation so that you can be placed in the transfer pool. My fear is that you are on someone’s poopy list and you wouldn’t be offered a transfer anyways. I’d try to confirm with your admin that you will even be offered a contract for next year.

I’m sorry that you’re experiencing such hardship now. I hope it works out for you.
bish180b
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:54 pm

Post by bish180b »

get out of there...another year will kill you

use someone in a leadership position that u know ill give u a good reference and move on
AquaChiller
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 6:09 am

Post by AquaChiller »

Oh my. I feel for you. I really do. I know what it can be like receiving only positive reviews, then suddenly being told that you are not doing your job as well as you should be.

I think what you should do next really depends on what has/hasn't happened yet.

If you have signed your letter of commitment, I would see if you can take that back and sign your departure letter. QSI views a signed letter of commitment the same as a signed contract. Is it possible to find a job after signing your commitment letter? Yes. Some schools will still hire you. But your director can tell every school that inquires about you that you had signed a commitment letter.

Letters of Departure/Commitment aren't due until December 1st. Use this time to really think about it. Weigh all your options. I wish you the best of luck.
elizamina
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 6:49 pm

Post by elizamina »

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Last edited by elizamina on Wed Nov 28, 2012 8:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
White Dog
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2011 7:35 am

Try to hang on!

Post by White Dog »

I don't post often, but I just had to reply to this. Some QSI schools are a mess, and your director could always leave, so there's that to hope for. One of our years with QSI was a nightmare where we thought about breaking contract and going home every day. Another year, with a different director, was a dream. Our teaching didn't change, but having a supportive and reasonable director made all the difference. If you can outlast the director who doesn't want your husband, you can probably get your career back on track. I do have some suggestions: I would ask the director to be very specific about what s/he wants your husband to do to get better. Just kiss this person's butt and have your husband say he really wants to do a good job, he knows things could be better, etc. It doesn't matter if that's not true and if he's been wronged; the point is to get back in QSI's good graces. Once he has a plan of attack, follow it to the letter. Next year, ask to be observed several times and ask for written reports on the observation. Ask for parent comments, in writing, and save them. Have students complete a survey or review of his class and save that. He could do that this year. Try not to let this ruin your teaching career. Next year, maybe the director will be gone or will have moved on to another target. If your husband starts trying to work with the director, maybe it won't be worth it for the director to make him the target next year. There ARE good schools in QSI, but a bad director can kill a good school. I know several good teachers who have left not just QSI, but international school teaching because of situations like this. Try not to let that be you. Good luck.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

When you say "we", has their been any actions against you? It sounds like all the crude was coming down on your husband?

As i wrote before you can always scrap this position from your husbands resume. Act like it never existed, you got the job you did based on your prior experience you will get hired again.
micki0624
Posts: 60
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:06 pm

Post by micki0624 »

I completely agree with PsyGuy. Scrap this from his resume and focus on you getting the positive letters. Have your husband contact references from home to get something positive in writing.

I have had something similar happen to me where the admin was after me and I hated going to work. Once I changed schools it was much better. Have faith that something better is out there for you.
antitravolta
Posts: 88
Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2012 10:35 am
Location: United States

Post by antitravolta »

[quote="higgsboson"]What do you mean you "don't know what to do?" Its obvious: do a runner!

Or even better just do nothing. Go to class, hand out a worksheet and kick back: read a book, search the web or my favorite jerk-off in the bathroom.[/quote]

Yawn...if obvious troll wasn't obvious enough before...
elizamina
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 6:49 pm

Post by elizamina »

Ahem. I was feeling very raw and emotional at the time I wrote that last post. It came off a tad histrionic, I'll admit that. At the same time, I really appreciate the feedback (except for the strange troll bit) given. It's something to think about.

Regardless, we did have a meeting with the administration to clear things up. We're not returning next year, obviously, but we will finish out the contract. Hopefully there will be a school out there that is a better fit for us.
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