The English AP Told Me to Quit Teaching
May 2001. My first English assistant principal was not pleased with me. After all, she was not the one who had hired me. I was hired by the principal of the school while she had been out on medical leave. She returned one month after I had been teaching to find that the new teacher in her department was inexperienced and and struggling.
"Ms. Blank, I just started 3 months ago. Give me a chance and when it's all said and done, you will see that that the school did the right thing by hiring me."
Ms. Blank was not convinced. She gave me an unsatisfactory observation rating for;
- Letting two kids out of the room at the same time
- Extending a five minute quiz to a ten minutes quest (quiz+test)
- Writing a grammatically incorrect sentence on the board:
Proctor and her were vindicated should have been written as Proctor and she are vindicated.
I grieved the rating and lost, but by the power of the UFT, I remained a teacher at the school. Eventually, I learned how to teach. My contributions to the school grew steadily. 15 years after being told to teach elsewhere, I have taken on the following roles:
· 9th Grade English Teacher - Remedial, Mainstream & Honors
· 10th Grade English Teacher - Mainstream
· 11th Grade English Teacher - Mainstream
· 12th Grade English Teacher - Special Education, Remedial, Mainstream & Honors
· English Teacher - Vacation School, Summer School and Night School
“Having Mr. Castellano as a teacher in high school gave me a great advantage in college. He introduced me to the common writing style that is expected of college students.”
“This was an excellent lesson, demonstrating creativity and careful planning and executed with professionalism and craftsmanship.”
· Mentor for Student Teachers and Co-Teachers
· Curriculum Writer - ELA Regents Test Preparation and Credit Recovery Program
· English Staff Development Leader - "Knowing the New Terms" (2002),
"7 Habits of Highly Effective Readers" (2003),
"Creating Competition in Group Work" (2013)
· Weekly Staff Development Leader - "ESL and the ELA Regents" (2014)
· School Staff Development Leader - "Grammar Across the Curriculum" (2014)
“The workshop was an unqualified success. You enthusiastically embraced the challenge of presenting to your fellow teachers - the hardest, most cynical audience one can possibly encounter.”
“On behalf of the administration, as well as the student body of the school, thank you for the fine job that you all did in making our results so impressive.””
· Senior Class Adviser (2005-2015) – Implemented academic requirements for prom and senior trip, hosted graduation ceremonies, created a student database for all seniors who graduated between 2006 and 2015.
“You are a true professional who continues to model behavior, attitude and work ethic we hope all our staff members will emulate.””
“I can’t think of anyone better to have occupied the role of Senior Adviser. Mr. Castellano is diligent and passionate about those kids.”
An ELA Regents curriculum I had written helped the school increase its ELA Regents passing rate four consecutive years (2006-2009.) My school-wide seminar on grammar across the curriculum helped raise the ELA Regents passing rate 16% in June 2015.
Ms. Blank retired two years after I met her and the next assistant principal, and successive ones, welcomed me with open arms. They appreciated my effort, my work ethic and my passion for the teaching.
“In your class, students bring their ideas to the fore, making connections between what they know and what they don’t know yet in order to learn. Bravo!”
WHAT I DO
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