EPISODE 27


Should you ever get rid of a teacher?

Biggest Takeaways You Don't Want to Miss:
  • There is a better way to deal with underperforming teachers - a way that actually solves your problem and builds your culture in the process.
  • Focusing on building your school rather than getting rid of those who seem in the way means that you will no longer have your goals and plans for your school held hostage by an underperforming or resistant teacher.
  • When you focus on building a strong culture, giving high quality feedback and support, and helping everyone stay accountable to your school vision, mission, and core values, poor performance, bad attitudes, and even mediocrity are no longer even an option.

Today we’re talking about something pretty controversial: What do you do about a teacher who just needs to go?

I get this question all the time. I do a lot of workshops showing school leaders how to achieve their goals WITH the people they have, only for someone to inevitably raise their hand and ask, “What if a teacher can’t improve and just needs to be fired?”

I know it can be frustrating to feel as if the work that you know you need to do for your school and the goals you know you need to accomplish seem to be held hostage by that one teacher who is resisting your efforts to the point of ruining your culture or that one teacher who is so ineffective in the classroom that it’s feels impossible that she can ever improve.

Full disclosure here. I believe that ANY teacher can become a master teacher with the right kind of support and practice. But is that REALLY true? Can ANY teacher become a master teacher? Or, are there some teachers who just need to be fired.

Well, we’re going to dive into the controversy today and talk about how you can improve your school and reach your school goals with the people you currently have (even the resistant or ineffective ones) and you’re going to learn how to do it, #likeabuilder.

Check out these highlights:
  • The question that started a HUGE debate on my Facebook page.
  • The way we treat teachers differently than we do kids and why it’s wrong to do so.
  • Why going after a teacher is a trap that can potentially backfire and destroy your school culture.
  • There is a better way to deal with underperforming and resistant teachers, but... it’s not for wimps.
  • The only four ways you have to influence a teacher’s behavior.
  • What happens when you go after teachers.
  • How Builder’s get teachers unstuck and moving towards mastery.
  • What you can do so that you never have to worry about “getting rid of” a teacher again.
Links mentioned in this episode:

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