Subversion and insubordination
So, the schedule is out for next year. The publication of the schedule is how we learn how many hours and what classes we will be teaching next year and when. Sometimes it’s also when we learn some of our collegues will not be returning or that new people have been hired. Incidentally the schedule has informed me that I have 24 hours to come up with a syllabus for a class that my boss apparently invented for me by combining a subject I offered to teach to 6-8 year olds with an age group I also teach, but other subjects (high school).
i do not like my schedule. I like it as far as it goes, but I do not like that I am teaching only two days (effective pay cut) and that I did not get to offer several of the classes I wanted. I do not know if any of that is because my room is in use, as the version of the schedule we got does not have room assignments. It may be because my boss did not want me to compete with certain other teachers because we would split enrollment - resulting in smaller class sizes and two teachers being paid for that period instead of one, or creating a need to cancel one because both were too small.
my primary “career” guiding questions:
1 is this good for the kids?
2 will this get me fired?
so I am planning to use my (paid) time standing at the table at information night to talk to parents of existing students and collect information that will hopefully allow me to do an end run around the current schedule and offer some additional classes under the guise of exercising my option to “tutor”, instead of pitching the classes I already have (goal of event) because 1 no, and 2 unlikely.
i will also have a kickass syllabus for the new class, and my classes will fill anyway, but if my plan works, I may create competition for someone else that results in their class not filling. And I don’t care. The only specific someone else I see at risk is a new teacher.
so worst case - my boss is angry, I make a new enemy, and I still don’t get my classes and can’t serve my kids as well as I would like.
best case, the information I collect is so compelling that I take it to my boss instead of using it to subvert the schedule and she gives me my classes (if I “tutor” a large number of students it undercuts the school financially - I don’t want to do that if I can avoid it) and my kids get what they need.
i feel good about all of this except “stealing” my pay for the event. But I can’t exactly say “don’t pay me, i’m Freelancing on your time.” And I will fill my classes - which is the goal for which I am being paid to attend. And I will also be promoting that amazing new class i’m about to make up.....