Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Weeding Out, Part 2

So I said I'd explain my resistance to THE PROGRAM in this post. So here it is.

THE PROGRAM does not, in my view, prepare students well for high school. It does not acquaint them with a wide body of literature that is widely considered to be excellent. Perhaps worst of all, in my view, kids don't get much of an opportunity to read texts deeply and share understanding of them as a group. And I'll be frank: I just don't like it. I don't like trying to classroom-manage it, I don't like the touchy-feeliness of it, I can't relate to it, I don't agree with philosophical underpinnings, I Just. Don't. Like. It.

Which is why Principal X is kind of driving me crazy right now, because as I get to know him/her a little better, I have to admit that s/he isn't so bad. S/he's backing off some of the micromanagement--possibly, egads, at the behest of our CL--and after a couple of one-on-ones with him/her recently, I've gotten a sense from him/her like s/he really cares about and respects what I'm doing, even if it's not 100% with THE PROGRAM. I was discussing an aspect of my current unit with him/her today and s/he was totally okay with it. I'm not saying I'm ready to become Principal X's number-one fan, but maybe some of my feelings toward him/her really are not personal--they're all bound up in my anxiety about and distaste for THE PROGRAM.

(Also, just a side note: If you're new here, Principal X is not a hermaphrodite--I'm just not identifying his/her gender as a privacy move.)

So what to do now? Swallow my serious misgivings about THE PROGRAM because Principal X might just be a decent human being, or stick to my guns and, so to speak, weed myself out?

Thank heavens I have six or seven months to make up my mind.