Saturday, March 9, 2013

Dilemma #3

Hi Everyone!

My dilemma for this week has to do with my relationships with my colleagues.
Instead of having one mentor teacher like y'all, I technically have six...
Mr. H (History), Ms. E (English), Ms. P (Biology), Ms. B (Biology), Ms. T (English), and Ms. C (English).
I consider these people my mentor teachers because I will be in each of their classrooms at least once a week.
Formally, I only have three.
Mr. H (History), Ms. P (Biology), and Ms. C (English).
These are the classes in which I will be required to teach lessons.
For the purposes of completing my TWS I am hoping I will be able to narrow it down to one.
Ms. P (Biology).
With this teacher and class it will be the best opportunity for me to teach an entire unit.
However, I don't know yet how we are going to approach everything.

Besides all of that, the real dilemma that I wanted to share was something that happened between me and Ms. C.

A little bit of background:
Ms. C was initially assigned to be my point of contact and mentor teacher because she is originally from the United States, so theoretically we could relate. As we got to know each other better and figure out my schedule we realized that this would not be the best thing because English is not one of my concentrations. However, in the process of figuring this out I told her I was willing to give it a try because everyone at the school is very enthusiastic about taking advantage of my English speaking.
So, last Wednesday Ms. C sent me an email around 9 p.m. informing me of my schedule for the next day and asking me to present a powerpoint to her English class covering connectives (conjunctions), adjectives, and adverbs. I responded saying that I would be more than willing to help out, but I also reminded her that I am not an English teacher and this is not my area of expertise. She didn't respond via email, so I didn't speak to her until the next morning just before class.
The powerpoint was the last thing on the agenda for the period and as we got closer and closer to the end of class I was beginning to think it was going to happen at all that day. This was kind of a relief for me because at that point I had only been in her classroom 3 times before and had only seen her teach once. The one time I did see her teach she sat in a chair and delivered a powerpoint presentation. However, she noticed the time and made sure that I could at least get started. So, I stood in front of the class and went through the powerpoint she had sent me. I didn't completely bomb, but it was far from what I consider to be effective teaching. Anyways, class ended before my powerpoint did and that was the end of that.

A couple of days later I got an email from a teacher I had never met before asking me if I would be willing to work with one of her students who is struggling with their English. This message had been CCed to Ms. C because she is the teacher coordinating my schedule. Before I could respond Ms. C responded saying the following:

Van: Ms. C
Verzonden: donderdag 7 maart 2013 12:31
Aan: Rian Moonen; Eliane Buningh
Onderwerp: RE: Jet - Julia

If you need help with grammar then you should ask Leen and/or Wiep.  If you just want help with conversation you should ask Julia.  Julia is not an English teacher and didn't know that an adverb can describe an adjective and an adverb as well as a verb.  She's told me she's not really a grammar expert.  Please delete this if you contact her via email, ok?

Cheers,
Ms. C

Essentially, she was saying that my grammar knowledge is insufficient to work with a struggling student. 
I was so embarrassed!!! I don't think she knows I've seen this, but regardless I am completely embarrassed!! I feel like I have poorly represented myself, Georgia State, America, everyone!!
Besides being embarrassed, I am extremely frustrated because I made it very clear that I am not an English teacher!!! What I said to the students wasn't wrong. I told them that an adverb describes a verb. I had only been in her class 3 times before. One of the times the students were taking a reading comprehension test, and one of the times the students were grading this test!! I did not really have a good understanding of their level etc. So, the fact that she is portraying me this way to other teachers is really upsetting to me. 
I don't know if any of you have any sort of experience with something like this?
I can say without a shadow of a doubt now, that just because you are an educated English speaker does not mean that you can teach English!!
What do you all think?!?!

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