Week 5 Discussion - Handling Conflict

Handling Conflict

Tuesday, February 4, 2020, 12:51 PM

There have been many times in my career thus far i

n which I have witnessed conflict in

the workplace. I have witnessed conflict between teachers, between students, between

teachers and students and between teachers and parents. Much of my experience in

terms of conflict I have seen, or been part of, would

be conflict between parents and

teachers. Most recently I received an email, which my principal was CC’d on, from a

parent explaining that I was wrong for not informing her sooner that her child was failing

prior to progress reports going out. I informed

her according to our policy which was one

week prior but she was not happy with that. In the email she requested that the student

be removed from my class due to my incompetence. Obviously, it was extremely hard

not to respond at the time, but the email ma

de me feel very angry and a little sad

because I generally think that I follow the rules and notify parents when I am supposed

to.

Luckily, my principal was extremely supportive and responded on my behalf. She

explained that I followed school policy and

even spoke up on behalf of my leadership

skills and said I was one of the best teachers in the building. The parent then requested

a meeting with all of the teachers and the principal. Ultimately the outcome was positive

but only because my principal advo

cated for me, which she did because I followed

protocol. I think the biggest take away I had from this experience is the weight and value

parents put on the principal’s words. The parent didn’t want to believe me, the teacher,

but when the principal backed

me up then she had a different tone. I think this only

works if the teacher’s are following protocol. I think if everyone is doing their jobs

correctly, there is little to no space for negative outcomes to conflict because rules are

being followed.

Handling Conflict

Tuesday, February 4, 2020, 12:51 PM

There have been many times in my career thus far in which I have witnessed conflict in

the workplace. I have witnessed conflict between teachers, between students, between

teachers and students and between teachers and parents. Much of my experience in

terms of conflict I have seen, or been part of, would be conflict between parents and

teachers. Most recently I received an email, which my principal was CC’d on, from a

parent explaining that I was wrong for not informing her sooner that her child was failing

prior to progress reports going out. I informed her according to our policy which was one

week prior but she was not happy with that. In the email she requested that the student

be removed from my class due to my incompetence. Obviously, it was extremely hard

not to respond at the time, but the email made me feel very angry and a little sad

because I generally think that I follow the rules and notify parents when I am supposed

to.

Luckily, my principal was extremely supportive and responded on my behalf. She

explained that I followed school policy and even spoke up on behalf of my leadership

skills and said I was one of the best teachers in the building. The parent then requested

a meeting with all of the teachers and the principal. Ultimately the outcome was positive

but only because my principal advocated for me, which she did because I followed

protocol. I think the biggest take away I had from this experience is the weight and value

parents put on the principal’s words. The parent didn’t want to believe me, the teacher,

but when the principal backed me up then she had a different tone. I think this only

works if the teacher’s are following protocol. I think if everyone is doing their jobs

correctly, there is little to no space for negative outcomes to conflict because rules are

being followed.