What to Do When You Are Micromanaged by Your Admin or District [Episode 156]

Rebecca 0:00
In last week’s episode, we talked about how to create active and accountable learners in your secondary science classroom, and how to hold the line with those students. And I shared in that episode about the year that I transitioned from teaching at a large public school to a private school, and I was tasked at this new job with teaching a high school course, which was physical science, to eighth graders, because the school was really moving towards a new initiative of having eighth graders take more courses for high school credit, like English, one, Spanish, one, algebra, one, knocking all of those out in eighth grade. And so the next step was trying physical science, and I shared that it did not go so well. My students pushed back so hard, and their parents pushed back even harder, but I held the line of the rigor of the course and what was required for it to be a high school level physical science course. I held them accountable, and I go into the effects of that and exactly what I did in last week’s episode. So if you missed episode 155 be sure to go back and give it a listen. But the reason that I am even rehashing that now is because one of the reasons that I was able to do what I did and see it through and stay at that job for several years after that was because I had such supportive admin, and that’s what leads me to today’s episode, because I know many of you can’t relate. I’ve heard from so many of you that you feel micromanaged, either by your admin or your district, and you don’t really know how to handle that. This can come in so many forms. It can come through mandated curriculum, mandated grading policies, mandated classroom management, and so much more and so today we are going to cover all of that. Let’s get into it. This is secondary science simplified a podcast for secondary science teachers who want to engage their students and simplify their lives. I’m Rebecca Joyner from it’s not rocket science. As a high school science teacher turned curriculum writer, I am passionate about helping other science teachers love their jobs, serve their students and do it all in only 40 hours a week. Are you ready to rock the time you spend in your classroom and actually have a life outside of it. You are in the right place, teacher friend, let’s get to today’s episode.

Rebecca 2:34
First, let’s talk about micromanagement from the district or maybe county level, and then we’ll kind of work our way downwards. I think all of us deal with some level of annoyances when it comes to stuff we receive from the district or county, especially if you’re in a district, you know, I was in one once, with 14 High School, so it was like, I am just an aunt in A Bug’s Life, you know, like they these people don’t see me. They don’t know me. I’m one of 100 science teachers in this district at this time, you know. So I felt like very small potatoes here, very small fish, very big pond. I think typically on the district level, we see a lot of like new initiatives that they’re applying from like, a K 12 level, and, like, a lot of things don’t work in kindergarten that work in 12th grade, and vice versa. Or you’re seeing things again, totally wide painted brush strokes here, where they’re making you do the same thing as a math teacher as an English teacher. And it’s exhausting. I know one time there was a really big push in a school I worked for S, A, T, A, C, T, prep, and we were required by the district to spend like 15 minutes of every class period doing these kinds of things. And it was outrageous. Okay, so I understand these outrageous initiatives now, you know we’re test optional. So I’m hoping that got removed from a lot of places, because so many schools are test optional now. But anyway, that’s just one example of an outrageous initiative. I’m sure you all have so many good ones, so you should send them to me so we can laugh, slash, cry together. But those new initiatives, data tracking things, they tell you they need to see from you. Again, they don’t even know most likely who we are. Curriculum adoptions, which, Oh, my word. There’s nothing like a district representative who’s never taught science telling you how to teach your chemistry class. It’s crazy. But here’s what I want to say. I’m I’m going to try really hard in this episode to not just like, run hot on this topic. You know what I’m saying. But I think everyone is going to have different tolerance levels for this. Some of you can, like, let these things bounce off of you. Some of you can wait and just wait and see if you get in trouble for not doing things, and that doesn’t bother you at all. Some of you are such stringent rule followers that, like, you’re like, I have to do this. I’m going to kill myself trying, even though I hate it and I hate every second of it. So this is very. Personal, and I think your tolerance level is going to really impact your response to this kind of situation. So as always, take mine with a grain of salt. You may feel differently about this. I personally, anytime there was a new initiative, I would wait and only initiate once it was totally fleshed out, or I absolutely had to, and they gave me the tools to do it. So, for example, when we first heard about the A, C, T, S, a T, prep we were gonna have to do, I was like, This is outrageous. I’m just not even gonna worry about it. I was a first year teacher. I was so overwhelmed. I was like, I don’t have time to even, like, consider what this would look like. And then as time went on, you know, districts started pushing on admin, which started pushing on department chairs, and started pushing on us, and we were pushed on this. And it was like, Okay, well, like, how are we supposed to do it? And then eventually the solution was given to us that, like, Hey, if you can at least just do like a bell ringer or an exit slip every day, that’s one of these questions. And we can say we’re doing it. We can check the box type thing and move on. And so I ended up making exit slips out of questions. Again, they didn’t give me the exit slips I saw to do it, but someone in an admin above me, my department chair, specifically gave me the tools to help equip me to do it. I’m glad I waited, and I’m glad I waited until someone was willing to support me, to give me a specific way to execute this new initiative I had to do. I also think, too, if it isn’t best for your students, then you ask yourself, the age old, it’s not rocket science, you know, secondary science, simplified question, which is how required is required? Now, with this A, C, T, S, a T, prep example, the hard thing is, like I could see how it could be helpful for students. I could see that, especially with like, the demographic of our students, and none of them being the type that are like, going to be taking an S, A, T, A C, T prep class, like outside of school, and at the time, this was in a age where those test scores were really important, especially for getting into some of our larger state schools and universities. So I could see the benefit. It’s not like, it was like harming, you know, my students. I’ll have another example in a second about that. So I think if it’s like, okay, I’m kind of neutral on this, and you can try to make this space, if it’s not best for your students, then I would ignore it until I’m found out, or push back really hard, depending on your personality, initiatives like data tracking for that kind of stuff. And if you’re being micromanaged on this, I say do the bare minimum that’s required, that they’re, like, making you submit to somebody. So for example, one of the things I had to do at one school was pre tests because they wanted that data. And I’m like, I’m a science teacher. This is bad, pointless data. The pre test does absolutely nothing for me with these bio one students that are my ninth graders, coming from eight different middle schools, even if some of them do well on it, they’re still in classes with 30 classmates that didn’t do well on it. So I’m not really able to use this to inform my instruction at all. We’re just treating everyone like they know nothing and picking up there. So the pre test made me want to poke my eyeballs out, because, again, it was like, I’m wasting an entire 90 minute class period on this. It’s not like I was it was for my AP Bio class that like, okay, maybe a pre test actually would be helpful data.

Rebecca 8:11
So I did the bare minimum. I did the pre test. I did I did not do it for every unit. Even though that was a push. I was like, I literally don’t have time for this. I did it at the beginning of the year, and I was like, let’s just see what happens. And no one you know, other than encouraging me to do more pre tests, nothing else ever came from it. So that’s kind of how I’ve handled that kind of micromanaging the where you almost like, I don’t want to say they have to make up data, but when people are requiring you to track data that you know isn’t helpful, especially as a science teacher, that makes me angry. And so I just say, you know, kind of make it work. How you have to make it work. I’m not trying to get anyone fired here, but I’m just also trying to be a realistic voice of like, this is a real human who’s experienced these real micromanagement struggles that a lot of you have, and this is how I responded. Okay, this is not legal advice. I’m just sharing my experience in the hopes that it would help some of you now curriculum adoptions, who, as a curriculum writer, you know I don’t like this, because I think teachers should be trusted to know their students best, to know their content best, and be supported to purchase the curriculum that they feel like will best serve their students and learning the standards and the content that they’re and skills are supposed to learn. I feel like teachers are not being trusted anymore to do that, and it’s really, really sad, especially like teachers that are fully capable of making these kinds of decisions. But I also get, you know, please don’t email me and argue on behalf of the district why it’s important, because you don’t want to get sued by a parent. I get it. I totally understand. I just wish, like the legalities and the red tape could not exist and we could just go back to simpler times where people were trusted to do what was best for their students. All that to say, with the curriculum adoption, if you’re being micromanaged and being told what to do, I would again, wait. Did out see what the level of follow through is going to be. Are they really going to know what you’re using in your classroom and how much you’re using it, if you’re able pick and choose what you can use from it, so you can at least check the box that you’re using it, and then you can just say you’re supplementing with other things to serve your students needs, and you can decide how much you supplement there. That is tolerance level. I had a low tolerance level for was, again, one school I was at, we were had a district adopted curriculum for biology, because it’s a state EOC exam, so they wanted us all using this curriculum that they had curated, and it was on this website, and y’all, it was crazy. I mean, it was people had scanned pages out of workbooks from 1982 and uploaded them and, like, pieced together this hodgepodge thing, and had there were things listed for standards that had been taken out in like, four different standards rewrites in the last two decades, and they were still up there. I mean, it was crazy to the point that, like, admin and my department chair could see that it was crazy. And they cared so much about our EOC scores that they were like, do your best and check the box to pull, like, one thing out of it per unit, and just so you can say you’re using it, and then you do keep doing what you’re doing, because our test scores were so good. So I would do that. Like, again, that’s my response is, like, I’m not going to use trash with my students. Like, I’m not going to use trash curriculum. I’m just sorry and use the bare minimum that you have to. And again, no one from the district is following up with me. Again, small potatoes in this example to see if I’m using it, but my admin were and luckily, they trusted us, and our test scores proved that we knew what we were doing. And that’s an opportunity to now let’s move into the next level of this, how to deal with the micromanagement at the admin level, because oftentimes I found the district might be micromanaging, but your admin might be more realistic, and they might help you kind of circumnavigate how to best appease the district while still doing what’s best for your students. The hard thing is, I feel like when that micromanagement comes through the admin level, when they’re the ones that are not trusting you to know how to do your job, and so first, I would say, run your concerns by your peers and just see if you’re off base. I am not one for the teachers lounge. I’m not one for gossip by any means. But I do think sometimes, with my personality and my tolerance level being low for some of this kind of stuff, you again, you might be much more patient, calm, level headed than me. I get extremely defensive and protective of my students, and they’re learning that I can run really hot on some of this stuff, and so oftentimes I am best served, and maybe you as well, by verbally processing these things with someone else who’s in your same situation to say, like, hey, is this crazy? Am I off base? What are you doing? How are you handling the district initiative. How are you handling the data tracking? How are you handling, you know, the curriculum that they’re expecting us to use that’s like, completely antiquated and doesn’t align with standards at all. See what they’re saying and what they’re doing before you just run hot into your principal’s office. But then I do think if you get some validation and are still getting pushed, like, if admin are still pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, you need to do this, and you don’t want to, and you feel really strongly about that. That’s when I think you asked to meet them face to face and ask them to explain to you how this is going to best serve your students. Again, I talked about this in the last episode, but I really in an era, if you will, in this last year of putting the onus back on others. Instead of always being the solution seeker, I find myself being a problem solver, even problems I don’t create. I’m trying to find the problem. And the last year, I found so much freedom and being like, help me understand your side of this, or how you see this serving students, as opposed to just doing what the district’s telling you to do when it’s actually not helping the students at all, a kind of prove me wrong situation, but in a very kind, gracious, demure, mindful, respectful way. Then if they just keep pushing, or they’re like, it’s your job figured out, and they’re rude to you, I mean, then you bring up, okay, well, then something has to give, because I can’t add something without subtracting something else. So see if there’s a compromise there. See again, if they can provide any sort of solutions or tools for execution here, like if you’re expected now to start tracking all this different data, that’s going to take an insane amount of time. Can you stop coaching this club because they want you to do all these extra things? I also think you have a lot of sway if you teach like an EOC course or an AP course, because they want your pass rates, they want your high average on those things. And so I would lean into that. I also love, as a science teacher, being leaned into anything I’m always looking for something I don’t want to do to have a safety concern. So I can bring that up, because I often find the worst. Admin in the worst districts, the most micromanaging are the ones whose, like, number one priority is not getting sued. And so I would bring that up. So again, another little side note there, but find a compromise. So another example is I had admin at a school at one point that and again, I don’t know if this is an admin thing or district thing. I’m not 100% sure in this instance, but they were like pushing that we did common everything, that we were all using the exact same instructional resources. So if we’re not going to use this district mandated curriculum, then the all six biology teachers are using the same ones. And I think it was born of parents complaining about different they’re, you know, twins and different science teachers classes having different experiences, and one being harder, one being easier, that kind of thing, but see if there’s a compromise that was we had too many different personalities in the biology department to make that work. The common instructional resources was not happening. We also had a lot of different standards. I could not use some of the same things that some of my colleagues were willing to use, because it just was not my standard of what an instructional resource should be, and I’m extremely intentional about that. Hello. I’m now a full time curriculum writer, so look for a compromise. In that instance, we kind of banded together as a department and said, Hey, can we start with common unit tests and see if that’s enough? And they allowed us to do that, and that actually ended up being a real benefit to everyone, because we could get we could write the tests together. I think that helped us write better tests, putting multiple brains to it. I think it helped better equip our students for the EOC, because they were seeing questions written by a lot of different voices. And then I also think it helped us have a lot more data points,

Rebecca 16:36
because we now had hundreds of students taking the same test, and we could get a average of all the ninth grade biology students on this test, as opposed to just our groups of 30 or 35 or, you know, 90, if you had three sections of 30 or whatever. Also, it helped us see, like, Oh, your class did great on this, but mine didn’t. Now you tell me what instructional resources you used, and I’ll tell you what I use, and maybe this time I’m going to adopt some of yours. It really helped with our collaboration better, while still not putting people in a box. So look for compromises. Look for your admin being willing to have some give and take here and to really hear you and hear the needs that you’re expressing and asking them, like, do you trust me to know what’s best for students when it comes to teaching chemistry, when it comes to teaching AP biology, and maybe asking, Hey, can you give me a chance this year to do it my way? And let’s look at the data. Let’s look at the stats, let’s look at the pass rates, let’s look at the you know, averages, and then we can circle back after that and see what their willingness level is and all that to say, if you get nothing back from them, if you get no compromise, no support, I think especially those of you who are not getting admin support when it comes to classroom management, like they’re not following through and supporting you when you have rough students or parents, you have got to be able to count on your admin to support you when it comes to unhinged parents. I think if you are not experiencing that. My last and final note of encouragement here in an episode that feels a little chaotic to me is to look for another job. And I hate to say that, because I know some of you are like, there’s no other options, but I want you to give episode 121, a listen. If you’re hearing what I’m saying here and this is feeling really relevant to you and feeling like your life, it’s gonna help you know when it is time to make a change. I said this the last episode, and I’ll say it again. I don’t think many of us realize how different our quality of life can be as a teacher, if we were just in a different environment. And I think that episode 121, is gonna really help you reflect on like is my burnout, is my feelings towards my job? Actually me not wanting to teach? Is it the subject I don’t want to teach, or is it the environment, or do I need to totally leave the entire career? I really think it’s a good reflective episode for you to consider again. I’m not trying to underplay how much of a transition that could be to consider looking for jobs. I understand that that is so much and it can be so hard, but at the same time, I also know what a difference that transition of having great admin is I specifically when I received jobs, when we moved from my husband’s job, I got job offers at a large public school and a very small private school, and I ended up choosing the small private school solely because the admin support was unmatched, and their trust, their ability to trust me and to say, I completely trust you with all curriculum decisions and know what’s best to do in your classroom, and we support you 1,000% and I experienced that there, and it, it was honestly life changing, and I would not even say that I had bad admin before by any means. I don’t feel like they were bad at all. I feel like they did the best they could with a very large school and a large I mean, there was probably 90 of us teachers, not even. Including support faculty working at the school like it was a lot I was I’ve told you I was one of like five or six biology teachers at any given time. I think they did the best they could, but I’m grateful then that when I made this switch, I got to experience something so much different. I was like, wow. Didn’t realize the grass could be this green, and it was a really positive thing. So I hate to end on a negative note, but hopefully this at least encouraged you with some practical tips, some examples for how I’ve managed, the micromanagement and my past teaching life and that you might be experiencing as well. And I will link those other episodes I mentioned as well as other just I have a couple others where I’ve talked about working with difficult admin, how to get admin to support you better without spending money, that kind of thing. I have a several on this. I’ll link them in the show notes. At it’s at rocket science classroom.com/episode 156, and if you haven’t left a review for the podcast yet, I would love it if you did, and especially those of you who have switched from a school to a new school and realized, wow, my admin are so much better now. Or maybe you knew your admin were micromanaging, and then you went somewhere else and you were set free into a different admin. I would love if you left a review and just encouraged other teachers who have made the switch, taken that leap and found a better teaching environment. How much better it’s been for you. And it’s worth maybe considering the change. I think that would really encourage a lot of teachers. All right, teacher friends, that wraps up today’s episode. If you’re looking for an easy way to start simplifying your life as a secondary science teacher, head to It’s not rocket science classroom.com/challenge to grab your classroom reset challenge. And guess what? It’s totally free. Thanks so much for tuning in, and I’ll see you here next week. Until then, I’ll be rooting for you, Teacher friend, you.