I am a firm believer there are many more good, even outstanding, teachers than bad teachers. However, I sadly admit there are teachers who need to be chased out the school house door as far from teaching as possible. They are not necessarily bad people, but they lack the “want to,” the “get up and go,” and in some cases the “content knowledge” to be a good classroom teacher. Their lack of capacity to be a good teacher, their lack of passion for their profession, and for some, their lack of compassion for their students shows in their poor preparation for class, wasting student time showing movies and assigning busy work, and their disregard for school policies and procedures. Such teachers are a black eye to the teaching profession and fodder for those who badmouth the profession.
As much as I hate to speak negatively about teachers, there are a few nauseating rotten apples that give all teachers a bad name. The good teachers know who they are, but they won’t say anything, and the students know who they are, but no one in the schools will listen to them. However, being retired, I can say who they are and even call them by name! With all the negatives floating around about public schools, it is imperative these deadbeats, these non-professionals, these blights on the good name of teachers be sought out and identified. It is time someone told these poor excuses for teachers they are paid to be prepared for class, they are paid to teach and not show movies, and they are paid to enforce and follow school policy. If being prepared is too difficult, if teaching takes too much effort, or if they don’t like the policies of the school district paying them, they need to find employment elsewhere – preferably outside teaching. It is time the bad apples were called on the carpet to either put their classroom in order or pack their bags!
Ten Teachers Schools Need to Fire
| Schools Need to Get Rid of these teachers . | The teacher who . . . | WHY? |
| MOVIE DIRECTOR | uses class time to show movies from beginning to end under the pretense of teaching, but all they are really doing is wasting valuable instruction time. | This person does not understand how to utilize movies as a teaching aid and needs to be trained, this person is lazy and looking for ways to kill time, or this person is incompetent in his/her content area. The bottom line is either train this person or show him/her the door. |
| SLOTH | regularly comes to class unprepared to teach. | This person is lazy, has too many irons in the fire to prepare properly, or has other priorities over teaching. Not replacing this person is an injustice to students. |
| LOST DUCK | hates his/her job as a teacher. | This person is in the wrong profession and needs help finding something he/she will like better. Take care to steer this person as far as possible from teaching. |
| DREAMER | doesn’t hate teaching, but would rather be somewhere else teaching. | Rather than cultivating green pastures where he/she is, this person is looking elsewhere for greener pastures. Help this person locate that pasture – quickly! |
| BABYSITTER | regularly gives busy-work assignments to keep students occupied rather than teach. | This person doesn’t know how to teach or doesn’t want to teach. Schools need teachers, not babysitters! Get rid of this person and hire someone who wants to teach! |
| PLACE HOLDER | teaches for a paycheck until something better comes along; | It would be cheaper and the kids would be better off with a substitute teacher than this dud. |
| WARM FUZZY | does not support or enforce the school rules and policies. | This person makes things harder for everybody – themselves, colleagues, students, parents, and administrators. Part of a teacher’s job is to support and enforce school rules and policies. If a teacher cannot do that, the teacher should be assisted in finding another profession. |
| SCROOGE | does not like kids. | A person who does not like kids should not be a teacher. This person needs a one-way ticket on the first train out! |
| BORN PERFECTION |
does not see a need to read or study professionally to become a better teacher – knows it all.
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Teaching is a life time commitment to personal and professional learning. Over time, those teachers who think they are above such a commitment, refuse to make such a commitment, or do not have the capacity to commit to personal and professional growth become a liability to the school learning environment and should be replaced. |
| LOUNGE JOCKEY | is negative about kids, colleagues, parents, and the administration. | This person is a cancer. Cut this person before he/she sours everybody. The Lounge Jockey loves to ride gossip, talk about everyone, and meddle negatively in everyone’s business. Over time, this person’s negativity can ruin a school. |
If you recognize a teacher on this list, try to talk to them, but be careful. Confronting such an individual could be like telling a mama one of her babies comes from bad seed. No matter how true or how nice you try to say it, you better be ready for fireworks and heavy duty explosives. Therefore, it might be wiser to discreetly share this list with a bad apple teacher by circling one of the ten names in the chart and placing it in the teacher’s mailbox or leaving it on the teacher’s desk. Will such action make the teacher change for the better? Probably not, but it might encourage them to move to a charter school (Just joking – bad teachers don’t belong in any school). The bottom line is that either colleagues or administrators need to get the attention of these people and help them change or move on.
JL
©Jack Linton, March 30, 2017
I Don't Mean to Offend, but . . . . 