Today was a late start that should have never started. It felt bad the whole day because I take things personally, perhaps when I should not.
There’s a bunch of old proverbs out there that remind us to stay useless. When you become indispensable, then you must be around all the time, doing things that only you can do. Better to stay useless and fly under the radar.
Well, I’m too tall to fly under the radar. This is my 18th year at North High. I’ve had one period of a student teacher. I have never been a TOSA (teacher on special assignment). 90 classes, one student teacher. There are others that get a student teacher almost every year. I guess I should be flattered–my classes are so special and wonderful, and I bring so much to the table, that, without me, and in the hands of a student teacher, the class would deteriorate into chaos. The apocalypse would be upon us.
I guess that’s the way I’ll justify it–I am just too valuable. Whatever would happen at school if I weren’t around to bring my expertise?
The reality is that everything would keep going, I would not be missed, and some would be really happy that I was gone. Camus would nod and smile, tell me this is the way the absurd world works, and that, sometimes, you are in a search for meaning where the world offers none. Thanks, Camus.
I was taken aback this morning–real quick–when a first-year teacher told me she has a TOSA period. She’s a first-year teacher, right out of student teaching. WOW. This isn’t about her and her qualifications. I would have taken any break in my schedule during my first year, too. That was the position offered her, and she took it. I will offer this teacher help any time she needs it, too, for we teach a similar subject.
But I didn’t know of this position, and I can venture that not many people at our school knew of it either. When I spoke to my immediate administrator about this, after school, I was told that the position had a reading recovery element attached to it. There was also the pesky fact that I would have to follow another teacher’s lead, and that was a concern.
I’ve taught at North High for 18 years. Every day brings a new surprise.
2 thoughts on “Stay Useless”
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After November 8th. Nothing is a surprise including incompetent leadership. Why would you want to be a tosa under the guidance of those folks. “Those that can’t do, lead instead.” Something like that? Here is to staying useless!
I thought of that before I read your comment. It’s the old Groucho Marx quote that goes along the lines of, “I wouldn’t want to be a member of a club that would have me as its member.”