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How can I work with administrators who lack expertise in my field but evaluate my work?
I'm dealing with a frustrating situation. Despite being highly qualified and feeling confident in my work, my supervisors seem to think otherwise. To give some context: I'm nearing 20 years of teaching experience, have a BA in my subject area, and a master's in pedagogy. I’ve published in my field, taught in a teacher-education program at a college level, and have reached the top of my pay scale—earning more than the administrators in my building. In terms of credentials and professional standing, there's little more I could do that would have any affect. I constantly read, and try to better my craft. Due to regional teacher shortages, alternative certification programs have become common. These programs allow people to switch careers and enter teaching after passing a few tests and taking community college courses (and sometimes just through tests). As it happens, both my current principal and vice principal came through these programs—and unfortunately, they don't seem to recognize the limitations of their own training. After the new admin came, in just one year, I went from mentoring new teachers to being treated like one. Lessons I think are very-well-thought-out and crafted, they rate as "poor" on their scale. To give an example, I recently gave students a vocabulary list and asked students to guess word meanings without looking them up, then explain their reasoning—a solid exercise in inference and language skills. They were confused why I didn't just show the words and definitions on a PowerPoint slide up front. My supervisors seem to equate direct instruction with learning and dismiss anything that doesn’t look traditional. They make little effort to understand my approach, which is research-based and well-established—there's nothing radical or experiment or super new in what I do. Still, they continue rating my work poorly, treating an evaluative checklist as the only valid measure of teaching. What they call “coaching” often feels like interference, and it’s actively disrupting the lessons I’ve carefully designed. How can I navigate being managed by administrators who lack a strong grasp of the field? I’ve made multiple efforts to explain my methods, but they consistently dismiss or disregard them. I don't want to be rude and point out they seem uneducated, but that seems the to be the reality of it, but at the same time I can't get them to see that I actually know what I'm doing.
I'm dealing with a frustrating situation. Despite being highly qualified and feeling confident in my work, my supervisors seem to think otherwise.
To give some context: I'm nearing 20 years of teaching experience, have a BA in my subject area, and a master's in pedagogy. I’ve published in my field, taught in a teacher-education program at a college level, and have reached the top of my pay scale—earning more than the administrators in my building. In terms of credentials and professional standing, there's little more I could do that would have any affect. I constantly read, and try to better my craft.
Due to regional teacher shortages, alternative certification programs have become common. These programs allow people to switch careers and enter teaching after passing a few tests and taking community college courses (and sometimes just through tests). As it happens, both my current principal and vice principal came through these programs—and unfortunately, they don't seem to recognize the limitations of their own training.
After the new admin came, in just one year, I went from mentoring new teachers to being treated like one. Lessons I think are very-well-thought-out and crafted, they rate as "poor" on their scale. To give an example, I recently gave students a vocabulary list and asked students to guess word meanings without looking them up, then explain their reasoning—a solid exercise in inference and language skills. They were confused why I didn't just show the words and definitions on a PowerPoint slide up front.
My supervisors seem to equate direct instruction with learning and dismiss anything that doesn’t look traditional. They make little effort to understand my approach, which is research-based and well-established—there's nothing radical or experiment or super new in what I do. Still, they continue rating my work poorly, treating an evaluative checklist as the only valid measure of teaching. What they call “coaching” often feels like interference, and it’s actively disrupting the lessons I’ve carefully designed.
How can I navigate being managed by administrators who lack a strong grasp of the field? I’ve made multiple efforts to explain my methods, but they consistently dismiss or disregard them. I don't want to be rude and point out they seem uneducated, but that seems the to be the reality of it, but at the same time I can't get them to see that I actually know what I'm doing.
