Mariko’s stomach knotted as she continued to listen to the phone. “Apparently she was gossiping in the staffroom about some student teachers’ experiences at another school,” the practicum coordinator said. “She mentioned individuals by name, both the student teachers and the university consultant who has been supervising them. Mrs. Grande knows the UC personally and was extremely offended, overhearing such comments.”  

“I wonder why Mrs. Grande didn’t come to me,” Mariko said. “Or Elle’s TA, for that matter. She must’ve known that Elle had a supervisor.” [She] was getting a message from the top about this. How did this escalate so quickly? 

“Mrs. Grande contacted Irene, the other UC, personally,” the coordinator explained. “Irene is going to address the situation with her own students, seeing as one of them must’ve told Elle everything, but she also reported it to me so that Elle’s behaviour could be handled appropriately.”  

 “Of course,” Mariko said. “I’ll stop by the school tomorrow for a visit and get the situation under control.”  

The next morning, Mariko arrived at the school and was met by Mrs. Grande and the vice principal before she had an opportunity to speak with Elle. She forced herself to remain calm and professional. When there’s a mistake made, there’s blood in the water and the sharks start circling, she thought. 

After a few minutes of listening to their concerns, she interjected, “Alright everyone I’ve got this figured out. Don’t worry. I’m going to have a conversation and then we’re going to get [to] the bottom of this.”  

“It was completely inappropriate,” Mrs. Grande said, face flushed.  

“I agree. And I’m going to make sure Elle recognizes the seriousness of this,” Mariko said. 

“Behaviour like this proves she’s not cut out to be a teacher,” Mrs. Grande continued. “There’s no use in her continuing to gain experience if she—”  

There was steel in Mariko’s voice when she spoke this time. “This practicum isn’t about making student teachers prove that they’re cut out to be teachers. And it’s is not putting a student teacher in there to just have experience. It’s putting a student teacher in there to grow, to mature and to develop as a teacher. Elle will grow from this. So let me and Adrian do our jobs. Let us teach her.”  

That made the sharks feel better about the whole thing, and then they [swam] away. 

When Mariko finally reached Adrian and Elle’s classroom, Adrian took over a lesson Elle was scheduled to teach so that Mariko could meet with her. As they settled into a breakroom down the hall, Elle burst into tears and recounted the situation herself.  

“I was just talking with some of the other teachers in the staffroom,” she said through tears, “and they asked how my practicum was going, and I said mine was good, but my friend Desiree told me about some drama happening at another school.” She drew in a shaky breath. “So I told them about Quaid and how hard his practicum was, and some of the things that their UC had done.”  

“Mrs. Grande claims that you called Irene an incompetent old hag,” Mariko said calmly.  

Elle’s face pinched in as she fought to hold back her tears, but she nodded. After a moment of regaining control, she said, “I’m really sorry. It was stupid and I knew better. I just got caught up chatting.”  

“You know that it is inappropriate to speak negatively about another teacher behind their back,” Mariko said. “Even as a practicum student, you’re held to the Professional Code of Conduct. Even as a university consultant, Irene is included in that professional relationship.”  

“I know,” Elle said, making an effort to clean her face. “If you have an issue with a teacher, you approach them directly to address it. Document it in writing. If it’s still a concern, take it a level up.” She spoke from memory, clearly reciting something discussed in her university seminar. “I know that. It’t didn’t click that that applied here, I guess.” 

 “This is something you’ll have to train yourself in,” Mariko said. “No gossiping about other teachers, even if it feels like just talk. I’ve had to caution you about this more than once, and it hasn’t stuck. This is something you need to take seriously, Elle.”  

Elle nodded and took a deep breath, finally asking the question that had clearly been weighing on her mind. “There’s only a week left in practicum,” she said.  “Did this wreck it? Am I going to fail?”  

Mariko sighed. [Elle] had made a bad mistake, but [Mariko] did not want to derail her professional career because of something stupid that she said. It was bad. But [she didn’t] think [it was] an indication of her character. It was just a mistake. 

“No, this is not going to stop your career,” she said, and Elle breathed a sigh of relief. “This is not going to ruin what you’ve been working towards…We all know it’s bad…This is how we’re going to get out of it.”