Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back.
During my first semester at Changpo the decision makers got the dimwitted idea that the best thing to do with a Native English Teacher was to schedule him to teacher every single class in every single grade during the semester. This means that I would see all 36 classes of 7th-9th graders 2 or 3 times a semester. Because this was a waste of time this was quickly changed when some new teachers who gave a damn showed up last March. Instead I would teach only first graders so I could have an actual progression of lessons and even get to build that relationship with students.
I came into today to see that I am now again teaching all grades. I had no qualms about pointing out how absurd this is. I even made my co-teacher look up the phrase "professionally unsatisfying" to make it very clear how I feel about the whole thing. Everyone is passing the buck for this farce and claiming that it was the parents who complained to the school. I am sure that Mr. and Mrs. Kim marched right into the principles office to demand why the the dancing white monkey wasnt dancing for Little Jihae.
What the school should have explained to the shortsighted Kim family is that teaching each class for 2 or 3 classes a semester is a %$#@ing joke. A joke with a punchline that my students will take the brunt of. 2-3 classes is space filler, a complete waste of time that forces me to reconsider if any effort I were to put into my time at Changpo is worth it.
This is profoundly demoralizing to me as I can not think of a more clear way to say "Justin we completely disregard your work as a professional, now go dance in front of the class so the Korean English teacher can sit at the back of the class and do her make up or stay in his office and take a nap."
This type of shortsightedness and ignorance also deprives me of the space I want to develope my lessons and my teaching skills. That space has now been replaced with the quaint novelty of a vague foriegn teacher babysitting little Min Su and Little Su Bin once a month... if that.
I can consolidate to working at only one school if I renew my contract. I like many of the people that I work with here at Changpo, but today they just decided for me that I will consolidate to Yanghak in the Fall.