Episode Details

Doug Robertson, a third grade teacher in Southern Oregon and author of He's the Weird Teacher, explains how teacher accountability and principal trust go together. You hired a professional, he says, so let that person do the job, and expect the teacher to own what happens in the room.

Robertson describes what his own principal does right. She let him plan a Read Across America event with readers coming in for everybody's class, and she drops into his room so often that her feedback lands. He also tells you what to say when a parent complains about an unusual lesson.

What you'll learn

• Visit classrooms often, because Robertson trusts feedback from a principal who is in his room all the time far more than from one who only shows up for the formal observation.
• When a teacher does something strange, ask them to explain it afterward instead of shutting it down in the moment.
• Tell an upset parent you trust the teacher and that the teacher can explain exactly why they teach that way.
• Ask teachers who blame parents or curriculum what they are doing in spite of it.
• Tell new teachers to spend two or three years learning the basics before they start to experiment.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Doug and teaching in Hawaii
• 6:30 Why Doug wrote He's the Weird Teacher
• 9:51 Why teaching is a performance art
• 13:48 Own what happens in your classroom
• 23:20 Taking away excuses and blaming parents
• 29:55 When it is okay to vent about kids
• 37:48 Noisy classrooms and noisy cafeterias
• 56:38 Trust, observations and backing teachers with parents

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Questions this episode answers

How can a principal support a teacher who teaches in an unconventional way?
Robertson asks principals to come into his room as often as they need to build trust. If he does something that looks weird, he wants to be asked to explain it afterward, not shut down. If he can justify it, he says the principal should back him.

How do you get teachers to stop making excuses?
Robertson takes excuses away by asking what you are doing in spite of the parents, the curriculum or the old books. His job is to get third graders ready for fourth grade and, in the end, for adult life, so a difficult parent does not change his expectations of himself.

Is it okay for teachers to vent about their students?
Robertson is all for venting and calls it a slow release. He warns that repeating a label like space cadet etches it into your head, so he aims for five positive things said about his class for every negative one.

About Doug Robertson

Third grade teacher at White City Elementary School in Southern Oregon and author of He's the Weird Teacher.

Links and resources

• Sanebox sponsor banner
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• Transformative Principal website
• Transformative Principal on Stitcher
• Refer a principal form
• Doug Robertson on Twitter
• He's the Weird Teacher blog
• Doug Robertson YouTube channel
• He's the Weird Teacher Facebook page

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