September+25,+2009

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September 25, 2009 TE 302 was so frustrating this week! We met at the middle school to have a tour and become acquainted with the school. The coordinator promised she would have all I had requested: a principal to come in, share about the school and answer questions; a teacher to come in and talk about the culture of the school; and the ESL teacher/assistant to come in and talk about the ELL population in the school as many students will be working with ELLs (which I can do, sometimes it’s just good to hear it from someone besides me). Well, based on past experiences, I “touched base” with the principal via email to assure that he was coming in to class and that he would be prepared to talk with the class about the school. After class, the coordinator said, “I told you I would take care of everything, which means you didn’t have to contact the principal yourself!”. She was obviously…I don’t know…annoyed/angry/frustrated. The last two times I’ve asked for this, she hasn’t followed through. And I decided to make sure.

This brings up questions for me in terms of professionalism. It reminds me of being a student and having to do group work—I’d rather just do it all myself knowing it will get done well, rather than trust others. Granted, since being in the Phd program, I’ve found that I can trust others. However, when I’m working with a teacher in a school, this can be so frustrating. My students have a lot of questions about the middle school that I can’t answer. And, there is a pattern of the coordinator not following through. I hate feeling so helpless, and having to say to students “sorry” in a professional way without saying, “The coordinator said she’d take care of it and didn’t follow through.” Of course I can’t say that—they see her when they are in the school. Ugh. How do I navigate professionalism? How do I stand my ground and make sure that people will do what they say they will do? What if I don’t trust them?