Positive/Negative Comments

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Positive/Negative Comments
By Sara J.

I don't have any advice, but I just wanted to say that I was just thinking of this situation last week. I am a first-year teacher. Some teachers at my school have indicated that this qualifies me to be unhappy, which I
think is funny and reassuring. However, since I am new in the school, I want to make a good first impression and not become known as the complaining teacher. And, mind you, I am not upset ALL the time. But it is hard when I am upset, because I'm not sure if I want to complain to try to get support and risk having people think I'm incompetent. One day I was ready to cry, and I went into

the lounge, ready to vent to my sort of informal mentor. That's when this other teacher, who I feel is living on a cloud because she's just a little TOO happy, said, "Oh, I was just telling so-and-so what a great lesson I just had." She is like this all the time. My "mentor" responded by saying, "Oh, that's wonderful. You're such a great teacher." You can bet I didn't want to complain then because if this happy teacher's day was going well and that made her a good teacher, what kind of a teacher did the mentor think I was if my day was going badly? It bothers me that when you have difficulties, some teachers see you as incompetent, but that's the way it goes. You find the teachers who can look at difficulties more realistically and seek their support. (Sadly, they don't have the same lunch as I do.) That's why I'm so happy to have found this board as well, because you can feel free to vent without being judged (usually).

As for your report to the teacher, DEFINITELY tell him/her what happened. I would be afraid to say, "The whole class behaved inappropriately," because that would look like I didn't have control, but don't sugar-coat it if specific kids were bad. Those kids need to know that a sub day doesn't mean an unrestricted behavior day. Their teacher will still find out what they did.