A Bad Principal Taught Me A Good Lesson

She Stood At The Front Of The Room, hands On Hips, and Faced Us All As If We Were Prisoners. "Keep In Mind That I'm The Boss, "She Said. "You Will Do As You Are Told, and If You Don't, i'll Make Your Lives Miserable! I'll Make Your Lives Miserable!!

This Was My First Faculty Meeting Of The Year, as A New Teacher My First Ever, and This Woman Was My Principal.

Fresh Out Of College, I Had Accepted The Position Of Kindergarten Teacher At A Public School. The Principal Arrived At The Same Time. From Day One, she Made It Clear That It Was Time For Some Changes. Instructors With Seniority Were Dismissed, and Quickly Replaced With The New Principal's Close Friends. An Elderly Teacher With A Physical Disability Was Moved Upstairs To A New Classroom. When She Asked If She Could Return To Her Former Room, the Principal Replied, "Deal With It. "Deal With It.. Upset, the Staff Began To Complain, but Nothing Changed. New And Inexperienced, I Decided To Keep My Mouth Shut.

Young, vulnerable, and Reluctant To Stand Up For Myself, I Was The Perfect Victim. While Everyone Labored Under The Tension, by My Second Year It Became A Personal Battle. She Was Out To Get Me. Her First Hostile Action Was To Move Me, without Cause, to A Different Classroom In A Noisy, high-traffic Area. When I Told Her That Parents Had Protested That This Environment Interfered With The Children's Learning, she Lashed Out, "You're Staying Exactly Where You Are, and You'd Better Deal With The Parents, because I Won't! Because I Won't!!

She Would Yell At Me In Front Of My Colleagues. "Can't You Do Things Right? ""You're Still A Baby Wearing Diapers. ""You're Still A Baby Wearing Diapers.. "Come Down From The Clouds. "Come Down From The Clouds.. "You're Too Much Of A Dreamer. "You're Too Much Of A Dreamer.. She Never Missed An Opportunity To Humiliate Me.

In My Third Year My Classroom Was Moved Once Again, this Time To A Small, depressing Storage Room Without Windows Or Fire Escapes. Occasionally The Principal Would Stalk Into My Classroom, demanding That Students "shut Up. Demanding That Students "shut Up.. Sometimes She Scribbled Notes, occasionally Giving Me A Contemptuous Glance. I Knew That Even Though I Did My Job To The Best Of My Ability, it Was Never Good Enough. Although The Performance Assessments I Received Were Acceptable, she Never Discussed Them With Me. She Simply Grunted "Sign Here, "Thrusting Forward The Evaluation Sheet.

After Three Years Of Working In This Environment, my Health Became Affected. I Experienced Bad Headaches And Grew Increasingly Depressed. Day After Day, I Woke Up With A Knot In My Stomach Knowing I Had To Face The "monster. I Woke Up With A Knot In My Stomach Knowing I Had To Face The "monster..

Then I Found A Ray Of Hope. I'd Read These Words By Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, "You're Nobody's Victim Without Your Permission. "You're Nobody's Victim Without Your Permission.. I Knew That I Had To Take Control Of My Life And Stop Blaming My Principal. I Couldn't Control Her Behavior, but I Could Control My Reactions To It.
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