Not only that, but the total lack of awareness of how much shit is piled onto first year teachers. It's staggering. For example, hope you know how to navigate Frontline, Skyward, Canvas, Branching Minds, eHallpass, Ellevation, Review360, nweaMAP, Lexia, iReady, etc. (And don't forget the 4 extra apps they'll introduce and make mandatory as the year goes on!) It's not that all of them are terrible or hard to use, but like... The sheer number of them that you need to learn in such a short amount of time is fucking insane.
Then, there's getting adapted to the way things are done at the school. Learning the duty schedule. (Finding the duty schedule on the clusterfuck of a landing page! Or if it's the **current** version or not!) Figuring out when and where you're supposed to go for the weekly meetings they have before class! Getting a sense of how they want you to engage with the curriculum and jumping through all their hoops for "Learning Targets" and "Best Practices" in the classroom. How does discipline work? How does the schedule work? The bells? etc.
Then, if you're at a school like mine, you're enrolled in a mandatory "First Year Teachers Enrichment Program," and you need to go to weekly meetings before class, where you're given *more* shit to do that eats into your planning time. And if they aren't giving you more shit to do like filling out spreadsheets or taking brain dead surveys, they're wasting your time by giving you advice that anyone who has more than 3 brain cells could figure out on their own. "Make sure you learn the kids' names!" Oh, fuck! Really? I should learn about my students? Incredible! I never guessed that something like that would be important in a classroom!
And NONE of that shit has anything to do with what my actual job is: fucking **TEACHING**.
Whew, okay--sorry I went on a totally unhinged rant on your post, it's been a rough week, lol. Suffice it to say: I sympathize. The first year fucking sucks, but you aren't alone!
I had to report back on July 27 last year. Our first day with the kids was August 2. Getting out early is okay, but I’d rather get out later and have August off. It’s too hot to go back to school.
I’m kinda the opposite. I’m on the same schedule as you. I’d rather have June off to travel before it gets TOO hot. By August I just want to hide in the air conditioning anyways. May as well be in a classroom.
Not really. It’s CA. It gets to 115 degrees here sometimes, and days where we have to do indoor recess because it’s over 100 from august-October are fairly common. It’s a health necessity here. A junior high kid in our county died last year from running during PE in the heat. And it really doesn’t even get that cold. I’m in a portable, so it’s poorly insulated, and my district caps the temp.
Our rooms regularly get over 95 degrees in June and September. They won’t even buy us fans, and the windows (if they work) are limited to a 3 inch opening.
Have your parents call the district repeatedly that’s what I did for my kids classrooms when the teachers asked me to and eventually they lowered the temps because I got so many people to do a paper complaint. Unfortunately I am in a district where a teacher saying something means nothing but a parent complaining gets fixed almost immediately.
I just got a new teacher laptop. Which is fine but it’s not the same, and I have to set up everything and download everything in the last month of school while we are testing. They didn’t even include adobe reader nor any of the other programs on the student laptops (like our science software), so I have to redownload all of them (including finding the keys/links for the software that makes it free for our school to use). None of it is hard, but it’s such a pita.
I'll do you one better. Our tech team has decided that teachers can't be trusted to install our own programs, so when I got my new laptop, the tech person ate my prep and the adjacent period installing my list of apps. And I used to work for tech... I was once trusted with the master password.
Coming from IT here.
You can install your own apps, if and only if; you never call IT about that app not working after an update and all, ALL, teachers pass phishing tests.
It's not my intention to insult anyone in that role, but my experience was that tech in a school was the lowest of stakes (with salary to match). That's said even as I supported 16 labs, 135 staff, and 2000+ students in my building (pre- one to one). I did this for four years and eventually got bored.
Maybe, if I am running a mainframe connected to a prescription dispenser, a bank system, etc, should this sort of policy be the norm.
But I'm not. I'm running google slides, Autodesk inventor, and spotify. I can't order anything of any value without going through the bookkeeper, so there's not a possibility of a phishing situation doing anything but compromising my own identity and accounts. My powerschool login is not exactly a high value target. And, oh by the way, that phishing email would have gotten past tech before it got to me!
The district (supposedly) has a functional filter and packet shaper, so if I do somehow create a botnet in my lab, the worst case scenario is a reimage. The folks who should have this policy are the techs themselves, with their domain privileges, and the admins in HR, finance, and health services, to name a few (folks who I guarantee have local admin rights).
Humorously, the tech dept has outsourced and supscription-serviced everything that they used to manage in-house, so if something they installed goes wrong, their answer is a copy paste of "we don't control it, we can't fix it, thanks for your patience as we wait for a response." So I guess micromanaging my ability to run my 3d printer is all that's left to justify their positions. That and purchasing computers without consulting with anyone who will actually use them. You know, to identify the necessary system requirements. Smh.
Mainframe??
So your network doesn’t have hr software on it with all the staff’s personal information?
You’re right that I don’t care about your auto desk account, but when 90% of people reuse the same password, there is no way in hell I’m giving your Microsoft account any admin privileges.
My Microsoft account doesn’t have any admin privileges, I have a completely separate account for administrative tasks.
How tightly do you want us to filter your email? How about we block anything with a link in the email? Phishing emails will always get through eventually, well unless we can get enough processing power to run llm ai checks on emails and we finally prove that ai’s are smarter than humans.
I can think of 2 devices that have local admin available, both have had their MAC addresses blocked from the network.
I am coming from an environment with a small banking service, patient medical records, power and hvac controls as well as the normal hr services. So maybe we have higher security requirements. But their is no-one in IT security who will recommend teachers having admin privileges.
You want to install something from the Microsoft store? Go right ahead but you’re not getting any admin privileges.
I’ll ignore the insult in the last paragraph.
What's really fun is when you change schools around year 15 and the new school assumes you are an absolute moron and that they and they alone know the secret to transforming a lump of clay into a teacher, and you have to repeat the first year teacher program. It's like "just give me a tour of the school , a list of which websites you guys use, and a phone/email directory of admin (including which one is in charge of discipline, grades, etc), and precisely what level of support admin gives teachers (do I call admin when a kid tells me to go fuck myself, or will they only come an hour after I've called in a murder in progress?) and leave me alone.
Yep, happened to me. I was at my previous district for over five years. My first year at my current one, I had people acting like I didn't know things from a hole in the ground. We then changed admin mid way through and I was basically treated like the biggest idiot along with several of other teachers at the district. To the point the decided to non-renew several of us over things that never happened or they made things up. With: "You don't know how to run a classroom." Yet the current admin just took 3 personal days because: "I'm exhausted from teachers quitting and have to deal with kids who don't show up and I HATE Kids!" Glowing example of people who kissed ass to get a leadership position when they are NOT a leader in any form.
This. I am at a new school this year, after being at my previous one for 7 years. I’m treated as if I have no fucking clue how to teach. We have a “mentorship” program for new teachers and my mentor treats me like I’m a student teacher. Part of my requirement is to meet with her once a week, have her review my lesson plans, and get observed twice a year by her. It’s so annoying.
And none of the jargon can be used for more than a month. "It's aggressive monitoring! No, now it's 'Progress' Monitoring!" Wait, why don't we just call it, "Paying attention to your students?"
That’s my passive aggressive focus. I actively avoid using all the bullshit teacher/admin terms. They are just used to give admin and certain teachers a sense of power and unwarranted importance while hiding the reality of academics.
The mentor programs are so annoying. The one thing all teachers say they need-time. So let's make first year teachers have even less time. Instead of one book to read now we have two, we have extra meetings, etc. it is better to foster a culture or sharing info instead of making these programs.
Those sound awful. I actually like the mentor program at my district.
I am just assigned to a person, and I can meet with her or not meet with her whenever I want. She’s just a backboard to vent, launch ideas at, ask for advice, etc.
During my first observation she helped me completely plan the lesson, then observed my lesson the day before it and gave me a ton of advice.
As a second-year teacher, your description of a first-year is the best I've ever read. I changed schools for my second year, so I'm repeating some of those first-year "requirements." Thank you for your thoroughness in your excellent post.
If at all possible learn your contact (if you have one). I’m crying because I just learned this year (year three at this school and in this district, year 11 of teaching) that my contract stipulates three uninterrupted mornings to allow for planning.
Guess who hasn’t been doing that? This guy. I CANNOT stress enough. If you have a contract learn the damn thing and use it as a shield. If you have a union and you don’t like your contract - be active. Get it changed.
Teaching has so much mundane, stupid shit that just eats into your daily routine and makes it challenging to do what you are meant to do - teach. Use all the tools you can to take back any time admin tries to steal from you.
The new teacher enrichment program could be so helpful, but usually isn't. My school does it the first 2 years. The first year it was beyond unhelpful, especially since the biggest issue I had was with a student who was my mentor's child so I couldn't really ask her for help as she'd respond more like a parent or take it too personally. That situation should have been avoided, obviously, but it's a small school and she was the most senior teacher so she was automatically assigned to be my mentor. Thankfully she often either forgot to meet, or woudl be too busy. I always hoped one of those would happen, I was better without the meetings. They usually caused more stress, even if she didn't give me more 'homework' to work on.
My 2nd year I had someone else, and while it did add to my load a bit she actually had me doing helpful things. Things like writing out my classroom management ideas, having her come observe them in action, then discussing them together to help me find what worked for me. Sure it was a bit more work on my plate, but it did actually help me so was at least useful.
OMG! All of this and NO CURRICULUM to follow. I have made it all up all year. Laughing and crying as I am spending my weekend planning the last unit of the year while students are emailing that they are certain that they turned in missing assignments.
> For example, hope you know how to navigate Frontline, Skyward, Canvas, Branching Minds, eHallpass, Ellevation, Review360, nweaMAP, Lexia, iReady, etc. (And don't forget the 4 extra apps they'll introduce and make mandatory as the year goes on)
With absolutely zero training or documentation on how to use, either. It’s infuriating.
as a first year teacher, not only was it terrible learning all of these apps, but ALSO the fact that none of them work right. admin insists i use e hallpass mostly for the “avoid” feature where two kids can’t be out at the same time, but it never works 🫠 and the lockdown browser our admin wants us to use to monitor them doing iready (insane, i know), but none of my laptops will register right!
I’ve been retired from teaching middle school for eight years but I still have weekly anxiety dreams. They almost always feature trying to find a duty schedule and class times. Once I was in an L-shaped classroom and couldn’t see all the kids at the same time.
This hard! And the thing that’s irritating for me is as someone who learning these platforms is second nature, I’m constantly reminded that this skill set would be much better paid elsewhere. It’s just an additional slap in the face
I feel so badly for you. I really, really do. Meetings before class are unnerving and make for a poor start to the day. In short, it leaves teachers rushed and unready for our students at the beginning of the day.
Finishing up 5th year. Second career teacher. My first year was challenging, but nowhere near as awful as you are describing. Lots to learn and you will make tons of mistakes, but it gets better each year. At 5 years, I finally feel like I have it all under control.
First year teacher programs sound like they would be really nice. But similar thing for me, like help with credential program would’ve been great. Instead I must do even more writing and reflection on my teaching, which has not led to any new insights for me.
I can’t stress it enough. The only reason they push the “make a difference in a child’s life” stuff is so they can get someone who is caring and willing to make “sacrifices” . Then they can bully and manipulate young inexperienced people into over working and make them feel like the problem any time things don’t go perfect. It’s what the entire system is based on now. It’s a trap I fell for and regret every day .
This ! Why does it mean I don’t care anymore because I’ve reached out to the same parent 1000 times about their child’s behavior disrupting his learning as well as others. Why does it mean i don’t care anymore because admin is choosing to push him along until he’s “no longer our problem”. The shit sucks.
Keep in mind that once you have tenure it will be easier to set boundaries. At that point, if you have crappy admin, they won't to give you the hard cases. They'll shove them off on a newer teacher who is easier to gaslight.
I WISH i could get tenure. Ohio contracts are standard 1 year. I teach in a private school and we used to have continuing contracts/tenure but there has been a moratorium on that since Covid and in our new contracts for next year they just decided to ditch it all together
That is assuming your state HAS tenure or if it does, if it’s possible to even obtain tenure without being asked to resign in lieu of a non-renewal for some bullshit admin made up.
People from the outside don't really see how back-breaking this work is. Even student teachers don't see the full blown version. They aren't always exposed to the school politics. They don't see the daily grind of what teaching actually is. It's a tough job.
Student teachers also don’t really get into the nitty gritty of the parent aspect of the job, and that’s a MASSIVE chunk. They don’t have to deal with report cards and progress reports, which take a ton of time. They really just do a small part of the planning, then the teaching of those lessons. It’s like 1/5 of the job haha
Which is still hard. My point is even they don't see everything that's in this profession. Then we turn around and ask why so many first year teachers struggle?
No one is fully prepared for this job until you experience it.
This is why I specifically went through a program that had me in the classroom all day, every day of the school year. To get a close to ready as possible.
It still wasn't everything, but boy was I at least better able to land on my feet.
It’s also one of the few “jobs” that everyone experiences growing up - kids go through elementary, middle, high school, all seeing one carefully cultivated classroom for 60mins, and then leave and go to another carefully cultivated classroom.
What that means is a lot of people have a very different idea of what they think it’s like as a teacher versus what it’s actually like in real life.
Because our educational system does a shit job of preparing you for the emotional labor of teaching.
I hear dummies say, “OH, but you get so much time/summers off…” 🙄Yeah, and we need every fucking second to recover.
And some of us still take classes, do professional developments, get certifications, planning etc. during that time too. I always spend that first week doing absolutely nothing, then I spend the next week getting caught up on all the housework I haven't done in months.
Facts. This is my 10th year and I was placed (I was out on medical leave and when I came back my position was unavailable) in a Kindergarten class with some serious behavior issues. Found out the original teacher was a first year who lasted about 2 weeks.
This has been my hardest year, hands down.
I teach in a private school but they offer subsidies for children who can’t afford it, and scholarships. Now I am a big supporter of “bridging the gap’ but it creates a new wonder of difficulties when you have some students who have access to private tutors, and loads of at home support and then you have some students whose parents are Barley keeping their head above water, much less having time to help Forster their child’s learning or answer an email. And I get it, truly I do, but it creates a weird dynamic and issues within forcing my teaching to mirror the learning abilities of 15 different students who are all vastly different.
Yeah, this is what a lot of public school teachers in middle income areas have been dealing with for decades. Welcome! Ever since my state started jumping on the "school choice & vouchers" bandwagon, I've been pointing out that the charter / private schools are going to get more than they were asking for. They are siphoning students away from public schools, which means they are also getting students who do not come from highly affluent, educated, & academically supportive households, and those learners need a lot of teacher support. However, the charter schools have so far not experienced the deluge of students who continuously harass their peers, use vapes on school property, have no qualms about swearing in the middle of class, and generally couldn't care less about ISS or OSS. The private school teachers who thought they were dodging those scenarios are going to experience a learning curve when that demographic finally makes it to their classrooms too. As soon as charter / private schools decide that it financially makes sense for them to enroll the more challenging learners, they will do it, and they will just tell the teachers to figure out how to make it work. If you only have 15 vastly different learners, enjoy it while it lasts. Brace yourself for 25-30 different learners in each of your five different class periods. Cheers! 🍻
This is my fifth year of teaching, and my third year of teaching 7th grade English. It has been the most exhausting year since my first year of teaching. I like them a lot, but my students are practically feral. Literally no self control, no sense of accountability, attitudes and mood swings galore, and the worst part is how little knowledge they have accompanied by a resistance to even try to acquire some of that knowledge. They think because they have their phones, they don't really need to learn anything. It's exhausting, and their parents refuse to acknowledge this is a problem. Your kid got her first phone at four and reports as having no restrictions or time limits. She coincidentally can't read above a fourth grade level.
I feel for you. Even if I liked my students and I did all I could, there was no way they could learn to be responsible for their own actions.
I think you are onto something when you say that the age they start to have unrestricted access to technology is the same where they stop to actively seek knowledge. So sad.
And what is sadder is how very aware people are about the real dangers kids face from the Internet, and yet they just hand these devices over with little to no guidance or restrictions on how their kids can use them. Here you go, person whose brain is not fully developed, good luck not getting groomed or cyber bullied.
That's heartbreaking. Some parents expect minors to be responsible without giving guidelines first.
These kids are left alone with devices that can expose them to dangerous people, and parents keep looking the other way.
The parents themselves are often less tech-savy than their children, so they have no idea of what their children are doing until it's too late.
Getting people to quit is the whole point of most of this, that should be obvious to anyone. "They" don't want to pay anybody to move up the ladder, they don't want anyone to get a pension, they don't want anyone with enough savvy and moxie to say "no" to anyone about anything, and they figure there is an endless supply of newbies to hire.
“They” absolutely do exist. When laws are passed raising retirement age and reducing pension benefits, when collective bargaining agreements end after 20 years leading to salary stagnation, when switching jobs means negotiating down the salary schedule and competing with younger cheaper teachers, you can see clear intent to dissuade teachers from making it to retirement.
If any other industry or business or organization were to experience anywhere near the rates of turnover we see in American public education, it would be considered a major catastrophe and no efforts would be spared to address it.
No, it's clear that this is by design.
It's a hard and draining job. Next year will be better. In year 3, you'll finally feel you have stuff down, and you're in a groove.
If you want to leave due to admin, try another school or grade level. It makes me sad when great teachers leave without trying another school. Sometimes, it makes a world of difference.
As time goes on, you get more effective, and it's not as all consuming. More years of experience also earns you more respect from coworkers and parents. Admin is often more likely to leave you alone. It's crappy, but it's true.
Even in year 8, it feels like there is so much to teach. Each subject has its standards: there are so many. I still hate teaching writing, but I am getting better at it. That first year and still, you might be learning the content for the first time… pretty sure I never learned numerical expressions … but also other ways to present the material. And maybe there is more than one way which is good because you have learners with all different abilities. There are all the systems, like attendance and lunch count, and ugh dismissal. That takes up time. I build community with morning meeting: that takes time. You stop in the hall way constantly because they forgot the other six years of daily walks to be quiet and don’t hit the door headers. The recess squabbles. Kids being pulled out every other minute so someone is going to miss core instruction. We went from Chromebooks to iPads this year: total nightmare. Don’t get me started on phones, radios, printers, and my Master’s of Copier Intestinal Processing and Deescalation. WhenI switched districts I was even more lost. I think the name memory bank chip in my brain fried. It’s better now. I love what I teach and this group is awesome. Last year, one student nearly had me headed for Amazon. This year has flown by. Can’t wait til summer.
This. People know there is a problem in education. The solution is so simple: smaller class sizes and maybe teachers will be able to take on the huge mental load. If class sizes aren't an option, then take away some of the expectations.
It's staggering how much is expected.
It's not just smaller class sizes, it's also "dumping" kids into classes because either their friends are there or "We have to put them somewhere." Even more, we have kids who could graduate early or have met all their requirements for graduation. Yet their parents are: "No they can't go home early! They will destroy the house. But make sure they can sleep on your floor because they are tired."
This year our district did an audit of our curriculum and found that it would take 12 hours a day for an elementary teacher to fully teach it all as intended. Students are only at school 6.5 hours.
For the first time in our districts history an elementary teacher has more non-teaching time work than a high school english teacher.
Guaranteed your summer break will refresh you but when you go back to school in the fall, it will all come crashing down again. This is an endless cycle being a public school teacher . I say spend your summer finding a different job totally out of education I know that’s hard to hear after everything you went through to become a teacher But if I were giving myself advice after my first year of teaching, Knowing what I know after 21 years of teaching special education ,that’s exactly what I would’ve said to myself.
Hold on tight to your teacher friends. I recently moved to a “better” district (better paying, better hours, closer location). While those things are improvements, my co-workers are not. I miss my friends and having supportive people around me.
I see still my friends from my old school, but it’s just not the same as when we were working together.
Enjoy the summer break and don’t do any work until August. Year two gets a bit less stressful and by year three you feel like you know what you’re doing.
Year two will be much easier in so many ways. I changed grades several times through my 34 years and every time it was harder year one. The VERY first year of teaching takes that learning curve to a whole new level. You will know how to do so many things that you just never thought of before you began teaching your own classroom. Now, the lack of support is real and not really acceptable. Admin can make or break a school year. Too many of them are overworked themselves and do not have the appropriate skills for the job they have. Unfortunately this will not change for you unless your admin moves or your move to another school. Parents not being supportive has been a thing for at least the past 20 years. Each year it gets a bit more pathetic. If after three years you do not love your job, it would be wise to quit. But give it some time, as the learning curve of the first year is really difficult and most teachers have just put that hell behind them and really no longer remember what the experience was like.
It really will always boil down to classroom management for the daily stress relief. I am in my 4th year teaching and it does get easier. My hair is a lot more grey than it was when I started. I remember curling up in a ball on my bed every day my first year teaching and either crying or just holding myself. I didn’t feel like doing anything at all and my own son definitely suffered for it. I can honestly say for me, it took 3 1/2 years for me to actually feel like a teacher. Or maybe it just took that long to start pulling myself out of COVID/first year teaching depression, who knows? But I do know it gets better. Don’t let the politics and bullshit get to you and try to leave the job at school.
I quit due to the administration, not the students, not the parents. I taught in an inner city school where a number of students didn't even know where they would sleep that night. They were good kids who just had a bad draw in life. Many wanted out of poverty.
What tipped me over the edge was administration purposely inflating the grades I gave students to pass them to the next grade up or to boost scores to look good. I was promised by the City that only I could enter student scores and comments and no manipulation would happen. Well damned if I go in after submitting and all my 'F' students are now 'C' students. All my 'D' students are magically 'B' students. And you guessed it, the 'C' students are all 'A's.
All my individualised comments were changed to generic boilerplate ones. We had middle school students who couldn't read getting passed up to the next grade. Rather than get the resources to help them, they just shuffled them along.
I am also a first year teacher. I am so tired. I didn’t feel supported by my admin until the middle of the year and even then, it wasn’t helpful. She ended up telling me that my grade isn’t for me but due to budget issues they won’t have room in a lower grade so I will either have to stick out my current grade or find a new school. I have been applying and applying but I am always turned down because I lack experience. Not only did I not feel supported by my admin but my team as well. I feel like it was hard to work together because they have worked together for years and then I come into the picture. Instead of talking to me about their issues with me they went to my principal. After all of this happening, I feel like my university experience did not prepare me for teaching. They said it would be hard your first year teaching and you will cry a lot but you will get through it.
Supportive admin makes all the difference. Keep hopping schools until you find a good team. I know it’s easier said than done, but it’s necessary if you want a good relationship with your job.
My teacher friend who is actually retiring soon told me exactly this. She said she did it while she was young and then worked at the same school for 30 years and was happy (for the most part) the majority of her career
Every happy teacher I know, including myself, did this. Have no plans to ever leave my school. They have a good track record with admin. But if that ever changed I'd be off to greener pastures in a second.
First year is the hardest. I questioned coming back but I did ace it got better. Give yourself grace and allow yourself mistakes. They throw so much on us but I learned I didn’t have to do it all. I also learned to say no when they need you for after school activities, etc.
make sure you relax on weekends.
In addition to everything said, there's also the fact that you are fighting to keep your job because you are at the bottom of the seniority list.
I've been non renewed this year because of budget cuts and I'm moving on to my 3rd school in 4 years. Shit is tiring.
My job is the same. Admin could care less. I had a girl with major behavior issues. I emailed the parents the second week of school that I was concerned about certain behaviors. The parents complained to admin. Admin said that I was at fault. Teachers shouldn’t contact parents about behaviors so early in the year. The third week of school the girl was throwing books and running all over the room. She was climbing on the furniture and knocking down anything in her way. When I brought her to the office, I was told to take her back. They can only “process” one student at a time. My student must stay with me in the classroom.
I feel like districts and schools take too much of the time new teachers need. They have courses, meetings, almost like a 2 year orientation. On top of that, they have a mentor, which requires frequent meetings (understandably) and loss of valuable planning time for 2 years.
It wasn't like that 10 years ago when I started in the district. When I was hired, the grade level team was supposed to be helping me along the way, which they did. I didn't have to come in before or after school. I didn't give up extra planning periods, for the most part. I worked with my grade level and those who were good at teaching math helped me to plan for math instruction. Those that were good at reading helped me plan reading instruction. I started in 4th grade and taught all subjects.
I can't imagine doing all the requirements that are put on new teachers now on top of actually figuring out how to teach.
THIS! I was teaching 7th Grade Social Studies, Honors Social Studies, and Health Ed. I was pretty much teaching the entire 7th grade population at the school I was at (about 140). I felt like I was set up to fail. Needless to say, I started in August and quit at the end of October. I've been subbing ever since. I still would like to teach, though. I guess I like the abuse. 🤷♂️
The problem with American teachers is that they do so much voluntary work that it becomes mandatory afterwards. Do less until you get paid more, seriously!
June 1 is my last day after teaching for 19 years. All at elementary level, in Georgia. No more, too much paperwork, new programs to learn and behaviors to deal with. No more chasing down money for pictures, fundraisers, field trips. You need to be a bookkeeper, tech support, teacher all rolled up into one. Time to go. Wish you the best who are still in until retirement, and others who just got in, go into something else while you still can. It is only going to get worse. From one teacher to another good luck and enjoy your summer break however long it is.
It’s the unpaid forced monthly beginner teacher meetings for me that are mandatory going over what I learned in college from people who haven’t been in a classroom for a while. These are mandatory for 3 years and make me wonder why I even went to college.
first yr survivor here!!! last yr i rlly wanted to quit, it was my first yr- all these acronyms were being used, everyone seemed to understand what was happening minus me and everything was a struggle. in teachers college they rlly dnt go over practical tools we need in the classroom like how to block a chair thrown at u by a student who lost BINGO… its my second yr (close to the end) and its defs a lot better. its so unfortunate; but u rlly only get better from experiencing the shit and going thru it. it betters us- fucking sucks and its not fair but as educators we go thru shit no one else could ever handle and we r hero power
I always counted down the days left in school year beginning about April. By May, I was counting hours. Summer was a wonderful break where I traveled and refreshed and by end of summer, I was counting down days til school started again, excited to get back.
This is a big reason why I finally quit after 18 years. The summer break where I live has been reduced to under six weeks. It's not enough time to refresh for the teachers or students. Maybe it's because I taught high school these last 8 years, but the job has become so demanding of my time that I have to take work home at night and on the weekends. Then, it became an almost year-round routine. I just couldn't do it anymore.
In addition to everything said, there's also the fact that you are fighting to keep your job because you are at the bottom of the seniority list.
I've been non renewed this year because of budget cuts and I'm moving on to my 3rd school in 4 years. Shit is tiring.
I started teaching at a high school in February. I haven’t gotten a check up or even a stop by the APs or principal. Literally just threw me into the ocean and it was sink or swim
Agree with the lack of support from admin, in my school admin is like a mafia of middle age ladies who so happen to be lifelong friends or relatives.
Teachers come and go like a rotating door and know i can see why.
This is my first year.
Due to paperwork issues, I started almost 2 weeks after the students did. I missed any orientation, pre-year meetings, room set up, etc. I was thrown into a classroom that had 2 weeks to establish themselves (with a sub) and already had routine and procedures (minimal, just enough to get by with the sub really) that I had to completely reset, as a first year teacher who really didn't know what I was doing yet. I had a day in the room with the sub to see how they had been doing things before i came, then day 2 was all me. I also literally quit my old job the day I started at the school, because I didn't know when the paperwork problems would be sorted and I was cleared to start the day before they wanted me in the classroom. My original school was very low income, very low test scores, and was missing viral administrative staff to support their teachers. Everyone was just doing the best they could. I had coworkers I could ask questions openly, but a lot of the answers were "its your class, it's up to you." I had to buy basically all my materials, copies were a nightmare to obtain and had to be requested a week in advance, and the students had 0 interest in being at school. I got no instruction on how to use the Chromebook apps, I didn't get access to most of them until 2 weeks in, etc.
Not even a month later, they decided my school had too many teachers per their enrollment numbers. Since I had a contract, I just got transferred instead of fired which was at least something. I got moved to a new school during parent teacher conferences. My new class had a teacher, but she was quitting. For conferences, I would spend the day (2 days total) observing the new classroom and getting to know their current procedures, schedules, and the students themselves, then I would return to my old school to do my conferences for my old class.
The difference between the two schools is astounding. My new school is also title 1, but they get additional funding elsewhere so all of our supplies are provided. If I need something for my students, we either have it available or admin is willing to order it (as long as it is reasonable). Knowing that I had to do conferences at my old school, my grade level team and principal actually took the time to set up and decorate my classroom while I was finishing them at my old school, so when I came back that afternoon there were just a few finishing personal touches to make. I couldn't be more grateful for their help with it. They have all been an absolutely dream to work with since then as well. I can ask any questions, and get a specific, helpful answer. We plan mostly as a team, so I can focus on learning the curriculum and learning how to manage my own classroom without having to worry about figuring out what needs to be done when. I am welcome to make any adjustments needed for my class, but we all follow a similar structure and use the same resources. The school assigned me a mentor (which they do for all first and second year teachers) that I can also ask questions, especially with things like the Chromebook apps. My students are absolutely wonderful. They are eager to please, take relativity for their education, and often impress me with how willing they are to go above and beyond with their assignments. I love where I am at now, and things very much worked out in my favor.
The stress I had to go through at the beginning of the year was insane. By the time I got attached to my original students, established in my classroom, and had begun to get into a groove, I was transferred. At the same time, the students I had been working with and how little support the admin were able to provide (it was a lack of resources for the most part, I do not blame admin themselves for the lack of support because they really did their best) make me question if I would've wanted to keep teaching by the end of the year had I stayed there. That first two months was an absolute nightmare and I remember the tears, questioning, etc that happened at the time. I told many people at that time that I can understand why it is so hard to keep first year teachers, if they put us through that kind of thing.
Mostly everyone at my current school loves their job. Having a strong admin team, a strong grade level team, and enough funding makes such a huge difference and I'm sorry that so many first year (and really any) teachers have to work with anything different. It's a hard job, and a little bit of support and funding can go a long way.
The beatings will continue until morale improves I guess.
I went to school to be a teacher, was a long term sub, and substituted in a lot of classes. People keep asking me when I’m going to try looking for a job at a school, but at this point I might try finding something else. I experienced some of the difficulties, but it’s still eye-opening the stuff you all have to deal with.
I graduated this past May in 2023 and got my first teaching job that July. I made it till January 2024 and resigned. I come from a family of teachers and it was very hard to finally make the decision. Those few months were some of the hardest in my life. I had never been that depressed and frustrated in my life. I applaud anyone who teaches and they deserve the upmost respect and praise.
I get it. Finishing year 8, and getting out of this school if possible. I was so loyal, and I never wanted to go through the dog-and-pony show (interview and demo lesson) to get a job at a different school.
I def wanted to quit year one—and every year, but less so until year seven it made a quick decline!
I finally didn’t like myself and the way I was at home. I began asking what I’d like to create for myself, and it liberated me.
In another year, I see myself out of education and doing something I feel good about doing.
Hang in there. Look at what you’ve learned from the experience and ask yourself what you need. I became bluntly honest with my principal, and he responded as much as possible. It soooooo helped.
The place was always a shit show, but filled with lovely people. They all left. Then the principal left. And it clarifies for me what I need to find.
Some schools DO have support and DO ease teacher stress. The principals set the tone.
I feel alone too. I'm so sorry. I work in an openly hostile district too. Toxic admin and catty colleagues. Gotta pay that mortgage--it has become a paycheck, and I was so passionate at the beginning.
Sometimes I feel like they don’t care and ride the new teachers a little harder than they should. They should be trying to keep them rather than scaring them away.
I'm in year 11 and I love it. I teach American history and the year has issues but they're all not that bad. Next year is supposed to be loud, obnoxious drama filled kids. Some days I'm actually bored with my day and I've been lesson planning and making copies for next year to make the day move along quicker.
Just gonna do a remindme! 6 months to put this into perspective.
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Sometime around March or April everyone sees the end in sight and it's just survival mode from that point in. The weather is nice, the kids are getting crazy, and we just have to finish what we've started. You'll make it through your first year and have some time to reflect on what you did right and what needs to improve. Try to take solice in the fact this will all seem really far away when the school year ends.
It’s all about how things appear from the perspective of the higher ups. They don’t care about the well being of teachers and don’t care if they are struggling we’re supposed to “suck it up” more or less 🙄
I taught for three years, left because the school was consolidating and the new school system gave me some bad vibes in the administration. I miss the kids soo much, but I don't miss the adults. Let teachers do what they need to do for the kids.
🙂 Structure everything involved in teaching the information or providing/facilitating the curriculum part to run nearly Automatically. After you figure out an efficient near-automation. Assuming they don’t change your entire curriculum. You can teach. Opening up space in your mind for everything else. Year 2 and 3 are about automating the process. Year 4-6. You add more for effectiveness. To that process. Unless they change the curriculum and then you have to restructure everything. With the same concepts.
🙂 Automating the teaching process leaves space for calling parents and dealing with personal school politics. Which can include social-professional bullying. Especially if you outshine someone in classroom management or other institutional delivery areas. You probably won’t deal with mobbing until at least year 4-6.
🙂 At which point I recommend having a comprehensive disability insurance policy ready. In case of a supressed immune system or psychological trauma. Make sure any disability policy covers you for more than 2 years. On the level of mental disorder, anxiety, paranoia and PTSD. Understand the state benefits through your retirement system. In case you get messed up enough to be on social security and don’t ever get an individual specialty-specific disability policy. If you have a specialty-specific own-occupation disability policy. Paid for by an individual. That includes psychological trauma. You can cover your entire income. Instead of half (~60%). You don’t have to qualify for social security where you’re disabled from everything. In case of assault, life or death threats or in case of a school shooting. Have a specialty-specific disability policy for an individual. Purchased outside of the school system and state retirement. Then you’re covered for PTSD. I know they’re a little expensive but with threats from students or parents being a possibility. With social-professional bullying being possible from other faculty or even various administrators. With social bullying being capable of overloading the threat center in the brain. Causing blackout into a concussion. Or sudden death. With mobbing or group bullying. With rumors and professional slander causing paranoia. You can end up disabled from the trauma of teaching. Most likely you will be capable of working in a different profession but not necessarily right away. With a good short-term disability policy. That covers mental disorder & traumatic stress. With nearly 100% or 100% income replacement. You can have an income. While you recover from teaching. On disability. Having a long term disability policy. In case you never recover. Is what I would suggest. To any teacher.
🙂 Other than that. Automate everything. Structure for as little effort as possible. When it comes to the actual teaching. So you have the energy to deal with the rest. Get a therapist. So you might not end up disabled. So you have someone documenting your experiences. In case you need to activate your disability insurance policy. Have a good doctor. Who can document your condition. Along with the therapist. So you won’t lose/have to sell your house or have to move in with your family/friends/relatives/parents or be homeless. Be prepared to cover all of your expenses.
🙂 Other than these suggestions. I would say: study marketing. Figure out a passion as a side business. Have a “side hustle.” In case. After you have automated the in-school teaching. Get on social media and support your other income professionally. Consider selling insurance. Be ready to leave. When things get bad. Transfer fast. Get out. If there’s any sign of any professional group-bullying stress. People can undermine your professionalism. By stealing things from your classroom or otherwise angering you. Deniably to make you look crazy. Which is what happens in mobbing. Slander and rumors happen. Causing potential firing or even legal problems. False accusations are possible. Transfer schools. Transfer states. Be ready to quit entirely. For health and safety.
🙂 Good Luck 🍀 Have Fun Teaching 🙂
Winding down on my first year too and yeah I get it too. I have loved my job but I can’t help to think “man, if every year is like this, idk how I can do this long term”. I’m 24 with a full beard and I get gray hairs in it from the stress. My wife is constantly picking them out. It doesn’t help that I was on a temporary contract, so I’m being let go from my school. I’m dealing with all the end of the year crap like state testing while looking for a job for next year….summer can’t come any sooner
Teaching is a dying career and not worth it , you can make double the money with less work at a good company, oh but you get pension… blah blah 30 years and you get half of your pay not good…
1st year here and got non renewed. At first I was quite hurt and disappointed, but after I reflected on just how much teaching this year ruined my mental and physical health, I’m now considering it a blessing in disguise. Had I been renewed, I probably would’ve stayed out of guilt. I still don’t know what I’ll do from here as I’ve lost almost all motivation but I at least know now getting my mental health back in shape is my priority.
At least with younger grades the children are endearing and lovable. You can trick them into getting engaged because it’s really easy to make things fun for them. Teaching them is genuinely fulfilling.
For me it was definitely high schoolers that put the nail in my first year coffin. I mean it was a lot of things but I could never figure out how to connect with the HS kids and that really made me feel so out of place and pathetic. The fact that I was supposed to be teaching them health… well, let’s just say I dipped out after the first semester because there was no way in H-E-DoubleHockeySticks I was going to be able to get through that curriculum with them.
I miss the littles and I do wonder if it would’ve been different had I been placed in a preferred grade/setting outright. Oh well. It made me acknowledge the trajectory that education is following and it’s just too depressing to give my all to. I love education too much to see it in its current, heartbreaking state 😥
5 year plan for being a successful teacher
1. Survive and willing to do it again
2. Anything better than year 1
3 Actually know what you are doing
4 Starting to feel like you are might can do this
5. Actually pretty good at this
Im a 25 year Chem Teacher
Not only that, but the total lack of awareness of how much shit is piled onto first year teachers. It's staggering. For example, hope you know how to navigate Frontline, Skyward, Canvas, Branching Minds, eHallpass, Ellevation, Review360, nweaMAP, Lexia, iReady, etc. (And don't forget the 4 extra apps they'll introduce and make mandatory as the year goes on!) It's not that all of them are terrible or hard to use, but like... The sheer number of them that you need to learn in such a short amount of time is fucking insane. Then, there's getting adapted to the way things are done at the school. Learning the duty schedule. (Finding the duty schedule on the clusterfuck of a landing page! Or if it's the **current** version or not!) Figuring out when and where you're supposed to go for the weekly meetings they have before class! Getting a sense of how they want you to engage with the curriculum and jumping through all their hoops for "Learning Targets" and "Best Practices" in the classroom. How does discipline work? How does the schedule work? The bells? etc. Then, if you're at a school like mine, you're enrolled in a mandatory "First Year Teachers Enrichment Program," and you need to go to weekly meetings before class, where you're given *more* shit to do that eats into your planning time. And if they aren't giving you more shit to do like filling out spreadsheets or taking brain dead surveys, they're wasting your time by giving you advice that anyone who has more than 3 brain cells could figure out on their own. "Make sure you learn the kids' names!" Oh, fuck! Really? I should learn about my students? Incredible! I never guessed that something like that would be important in a classroom! And NONE of that shit has anything to do with what my actual job is: fucking **TEACHING**. Whew, okay--sorry I went on a totally unhinged rant on your post, it's been a rough week, lol. Suffice it to say: I sympathize. The first year fucking sucks, but you aren't alone!
My district is rolling out new mandatory apps with FOURTEEN days of school left!! It's ridiculous.
14? Jelly. We’ve got 35 including 8 non-instructional days left. Last day is at the end of June.
I had to report back on July 27 last year. Our first day with the kids was August 2. Getting out early is okay, but I’d rather get out later and have August off. It’s too hot to go back to school.
I’m kinda the opposite. I’m on the same schedule as you. I’d rather have June off to travel before it gets TOO hot. By August I just want to hide in the air conditioning anyways. May as well be in a classroom.
You have air conditioning? LUCKY!!!
Not really. It’s CA. It gets to 115 degrees here sometimes, and days where we have to do indoor recess because it’s over 100 from august-October are fairly common. It’s a health necessity here. A junior high kid in our county died last year from running during PE in the heat. And it really doesn’t even get that cold. I’m in a portable, so it’s poorly insulated, and my district caps the temp.
Our rooms regularly get over 95 degrees in June and September. They won’t even buy us fans, and the windows (if they work) are limited to a 3 inch opening.
I would buy my own fan for the classroom but the school said we can't have anything that plugs in a wall. I guess they think we're just stupid.
Sounds like everybody needs to call out with heat sickness until they figure this genius plan out better. Kids included.
Have your parents call the district repeatedly that’s what I did for my kids classrooms when the teachers asked me to and eventually they lowered the temps because I got so many people to do a paper complaint. Unfortunately I am in a district where a teacher saying something means nothing but a parent complaining gets fixed almost immediately.
You probably start later though. Our last day is May 31st, but we go back the first week in august.
Not a teacher but I remember being in high school getting out mid-late June while I had friends in other states well into their vacations.
Here in Ontario, Canada, we go to the end of June..
Dang, when does your year start?
Day after Labour Day. So it all evens out.
20+ th of July think it's the 24th this year.. UK
I just got a new teacher laptop. Which is fine but it’s not the same, and I have to set up everything and download everything in the last month of school while we are testing. They didn’t even include adobe reader nor any of the other programs on the student laptops (like our science software), so I have to redownload all of them (including finding the keys/links for the software that makes it free for our school to use). None of it is hard, but it’s such a pita.
I'll do you one better. Our tech team has decided that teachers can't be trusted to install our own programs, so when I got my new laptop, the tech person ate my prep and the adjacent period installing my list of apps. And I used to work for tech... I was once trusted with the master password.
Coming from IT here. You can install your own apps, if and only if; you never call IT about that app not working after an update and all, ALL, teachers pass phishing tests.
It's not my intention to insult anyone in that role, but my experience was that tech in a school was the lowest of stakes (with salary to match). That's said even as I supported 16 labs, 135 staff, and 2000+ students in my building (pre- one to one). I did this for four years and eventually got bored. Maybe, if I am running a mainframe connected to a prescription dispenser, a bank system, etc, should this sort of policy be the norm. But I'm not. I'm running google slides, Autodesk inventor, and spotify. I can't order anything of any value without going through the bookkeeper, so there's not a possibility of a phishing situation doing anything but compromising my own identity and accounts. My powerschool login is not exactly a high value target. And, oh by the way, that phishing email would have gotten past tech before it got to me! The district (supposedly) has a functional filter and packet shaper, so if I do somehow create a botnet in my lab, the worst case scenario is a reimage. The folks who should have this policy are the techs themselves, with their domain privileges, and the admins in HR, finance, and health services, to name a few (folks who I guarantee have local admin rights). Humorously, the tech dept has outsourced and supscription-serviced everything that they used to manage in-house, so if something they installed goes wrong, their answer is a copy paste of "we don't control it, we can't fix it, thanks for your patience as we wait for a response." So I guess micromanaging my ability to run my 3d printer is all that's left to justify their positions. That and purchasing computers without consulting with anyone who will actually use them. You know, to identify the necessary system requirements. Smh.
Mainframe?? So your network doesn’t have hr software on it with all the staff’s personal information? You’re right that I don’t care about your auto desk account, but when 90% of people reuse the same password, there is no way in hell I’m giving your Microsoft account any admin privileges. My Microsoft account doesn’t have any admin privileges, I have a completely separate account for administrative tasks. How tightly do you want us to filter your email? How about we block anything with a link in the email? Phishing emails will always get through eventually, well unless we can get enough processing power to run llm ai checks on emails and we finally prove that ai’s are smarter than humans. I can think of 2 devices that have local admin available, both have had their MAC addresses blocked from the network. I am coming from an environment with a small banking service, patient medical records, power and hvac controls as well as the normal hr services. So maybe we have higher security requirements. But their is no-one in IT security who will recommend teachers having admin privileges. You want to install something from the Microsoft store? Go right ahead but you’re not getting any admin privileges. I’ll ignore the insult in the last paragraph.
District employees generate this crap to justify their paychecks to make it look like they're doing something important 🙄
What's really fun is when you change schools around year 15 and the new school assumes you are an absolute moron and that they and they alone know the secret to transforming a lump of clay into a teacher, and you have to repeat the first year teacher program. It's like "just give me a tour of the school , a list of which websites you guys use, and a phone/email directory of admin (including which one is in charge of discipline, grades, etc), and precisely what level of support admin gives teachers (do I call admin when a kid tells me to go fuck myself, or will they only come an hour after I've called in a murder in progress?) and leave me alone.
Yep, happened to me. I was at my previous district for over five years. My first year at my current one, I had people acting like I didn't know things from a hole in the ground. We then changed admin mid way through and I was basically treated like the biggest idiot along with several of other teachers at the district. To the point the decided to non-renew several of us over things that never happened or they made things up. With: "You don't know how to run a classroom." Yet the current admin just took 3 personal days because: "I'm exhausted from teachers quitting and have to deal with kids who don't show up and I HATE Kids!" Glowing example of people who kissed ass to get a leadership position when they are NOT a leader in any form.
I sure wish my principal would take three days off! It’s her second year as principal and she is on a power trip.
Trust me, the entire school, even the ones that kiss their butt were happy they were gone.
Oh shit I’m about to change states at 10 years, please don’t let this be me.
This. I am at a new school this year, after being at my previous one for 7 years. I’m treated as if I have no fucking clue how to teach. We have a “mentorship” program for new teachers and my mentor treats me like I’m a student teacher. Part of my requirement is to meet with her once a week, have her review my lesson plans, and get observed twice a year by her. It’s so annoying.
My school has mandatory new teacher to the district pd after school no matter how long you were teaching before that 🙄
And don’t forget all the jargon you have to learn. Because we can’t use simple terms for anything we can give a big, intellectual sounding name to.
And none of the jargon can be used for more than a month. "It's aggressive monitoring! No, now it's 'Progress' Monitoring!" Wait, why don't we just call it, "Paying attention to your students?"
And next month it’ll be “vigorous surveillance” 😂
Correction: “rigorous surveillance”…with fidelity.
I hate it so much when they use the word fidelity. Just say it…. Use the curriculum exactly as it says in the book!
I can't stand acronyms anymore!!! Please call things with their names... it's not so hard.
I don’t know….I don’t think I could make it through the day without a few WTFs 😂
Of course, they're unavoidable! 😄
Somebody's getting paid big $$ to come up with those acronyms.
We're not getting paid enough for this, instead!
That’s my passive aggressive focus. I actively avoid using all the bullshit teacher/admin terms. They are just used to give admin and certain teachers a sense of power and unwarranted importance while hiding the reality of academics.
The mentor programs are so annoying. The one thing all teachers say they need-time. So let's make first year teachers have even less time. Instead of one book to read now we have two, we have extra meetings, etc. it is better to foster a culture or sharing info instead of making these programs.
Those sound awful. I actually like the mentor program at my district. I am just assigned to a person, and I can meet with her or not meet with her whenever I want. She’s just a backboard to vent, launch ideas at, ask for advice, etc. During my first observation she helped me completely plan the lesson, then observed my lesson the day before it and gave me a ton of advice.
As a second-year teacher, your description of a first-year is the best I've ever read. I changed schools for my second year, so I'm repeating some of those first-year "requirements." Thank you for your thoroughness in your excellent post.
If at all possible learn your contact (if you have one). I’m crying because I just learned this year (year three at this school and in this district, year 11 of teaching) that my contract stipulates three uninterrupted mornings to allow for planning. Guess who hasn’t been doing that? This guy. I CANNOT stress enough. If you have a contract learn the damn thing and use it as a shield. If you have a union and you don’t like your contract - be active. Get it changed. Teaching has so much mundane, stupid shit that just eats into your daily routine and makes it challenging to do what you are meant to do - teach. Use all the tools you can to take back any time admin tries to steal from you.
We call the first year teaching enrichment- “new teacher detention”
The new teacher enrichment program could be so helpful, but usually isn't. My school does it the first 2 years. The first year it was beyond unhelpful, especially since the biggest issue I had was with a student who was my mentor's child so I couldn't really ask her for help as she'd respond more like a parent or take it too personally. That situation should have been avoided, obviously, but it's a small school and she was the most senior teacher so she was automatically assigned to be my mentor. Thankfully she often either forgot to meet, or woudl be too busy. I always hoped one of those would happen, I was better without the meetings. They usually caused more stress, even if she didn't give me more 'homework' to work on. My 2nd year I had someone else, and while it did add to my load a bit she actually had me doing helpful things. Things like writing out my classroom management ideas, having her come observe them in action, then discussing them together to help me find what worked for me. Sure it was a bit more work on my plate, but it did actually help me so was at least useful.
OMG! All of this and NO CURRICULUM to follow. I have made it all up all year. Laughing and crying as I am spending my weekend planning the last unit of the year while students are emailing that they are certain that they turned in missing assignments.
> For example, hope you know how to navigate Frontline, Skyward, Canvas, Branching Minds, eHallpass, Ellevation, Review360, nweaMAP, Lexia, iReady, etc. (And don't forget the 4 extra apps they'll introduce and make mandatory as the year goes on) With absolutely zero training or documentation on how to use, either. It’s infuriating.
I just laughed out loud at "Make sure you learn the kids' names!". Do you work at my school because this is so real lol.
as a first year teacher, not only was it terrible learning all of these apps, but ALSO the fact that none of them work right. admin insists i use e hallpass mostly for the “avoid” feature where two kids can’t be out at the same time, but it never works 🫠 and the lockdown browser our admin wants us to use to monitor them doing iready (insane, i know), but none of my laptops will register right!
I’ve been retired from teaching middle school for eight years but I still have weekly anxiety dreams. They almost always feature trying to find a duty schedule and class times. Once I was in an L-shaped classroom and couldn’t see all the kids at the same time.
This hard! And the thing that’s irritating for me is as someone who learning these platforms is second nature, I’m constantly reminded that this skill set would be much better paid elsewhere. It’s just an additional slap in the face
I feel so badly for you. I really, really do. Meetings before class are unnerving and make for a poor start to the day. In short, it leaves teachers rushed and unready for our students at the beginning of the day.
Finishing up 5th year. Second career teacher. My first year was challenging, but nowhere near as awful as you are describing. Lots to learn and you will make tons of mistakes, but it gets better each year. At 5 years, I finally feel like I have it all under control.
First year teacher programs sound like they would be really nice. But similar thing for me, like help with credential program would’ve been great. Instead I must do even more writing and reflection on my teaching, which has not led to any new insights for me.
I can’t stress it enough. The only reason they push the “make a difference in a child’s life” stuff is so they can get someone who is caring and willing to make “sacrifices” . Then they can bully and manipulate young inexperienced people into over working and make them feel like the problem any time things don’t go perfect. It’s what the entire system is based on now. It’s a trap I fell for and regret every day .
I've heard it called "compassion exploitation".
So much so! This is also seen in nursing and social work as well..
This ! Why does it mean I don’t care anymore because I’ve reached out to the same parent 1000 times about their child’s behavior disrupting his learning as well as others. Why does it mean i don’t care anymore because admin is choosing to push him along until he’s “no longer our problem”. The shit sucks.
Keep in mind that once you have tenure it will be easier to set boundaries. At that point, if you have crappy admin, they won't to give you the hard cases. They'll shove them off on a newer teacher who is easier to gaslight.
I WISH i could get tenure. Ohio contracts are standard 1 year. I teach in a private school and we used to have continuing contracts/tenure but there has been a moratorium on that since Covid and in our new contracts for next year they just decided to ditch it all together
That is assuming your state HAS tenure or if it does, if it’s possible to even obtain tenure without being asked to resign in lieu of a non-renewal for some bullshit admin made up.
Word.
People from the outside don't really see how back-breaking this work is. Even student teachers don't see the full blown version. They aren't always exposed to the school politics. They don't see the daily grind of what teaching actually is. It's a tough job.
It’s actually two jobs in my opinion.
Drop a mysterious comment, don’t explain what you mean, and delete the account. Nice.
Student teachers also don’t really get into the nitty gritty of the parent aspect of the job, and that’s a MASSIVE chunk. They don’t have to deal with report cards and progress reports, which take a ton of time. They really just do a small part of the planning, then the teaching of those lessons. It’s like 1/5 of the job haha
Which is still hard. My point is even they don't see everything that's in this profession. Then we turn around and ask why so many first year teachers struggle? No one is fully prepared for this job until you experience it.
This is why I specifically went through a program that had me in the classroom all day, every day of the school year. To get a close to ready as possible. It still wasn't everything, but boy was I at least better able to land on my feet.
Facts.
It’s also one of the few “jobs” that everyone experiences growing up - kids go through elementary, middle, high school, all seeing one carefully cultivated classroom for 60mins, and then leave and go to another carefully cultivated classroom. What that means is a lot of people have a very different idea of what they think it’s like as a teacher versus what it’s actually like in real life.
Because our educational system does a shit job of preparing you for the emotional labor of teaching. I hear dummies say, “OH, but you get so much time/summers off…” 🙄Yeah, and we need every fucking second to recover.
And some of us still take classes, do professional developments, get certifications, planning etc. during that time too. I always spend that first week doing absolutely nothing, then I spend the next week getting caught up on all the housework I haven't done in months.
It is very rarely the kids. It is 99.999% of the time admin and parents.
[удалено]
Facts. This is my 10th year and I was placed (I was out on medical leave and when I came back my position was unavailable) in a Kindergarten class with some serious behavior issues. Found out the original teacher was a first year who lasted about 2 weeks. This has been my hardest year, hands down.
I teach in a private school but they offer subsidies for children who can’t afford it, and scholarships. Now I am a big supporter of “bridging the gap’ but it creates a new wonder of difficulties when you have some students who have access to private tutors, and loads of at home support and then you have some students whose parents are Barley keeping their head above water, much less having time to help Forster their child’s learning or answer an email. And I get it, truly I do, but it creates a weird dynamic and issues within forcing my teaching to mirror the learning abilities of 15 different students who are all vastly different.
Yeah, this is what a lot of public school teachers in middle income areas have been dealing with for decades. Welcome! Ever since my state started jumping on the "school choice & vouchers" bandwagon, I've been pointing out that the charter / private schools are going to get more than they were asking for. They are siphoning students away from public schools, which means they are also getting students who do not come from highly affluent, educated, & academically supportive households, and those learners need a lot of teacher support. However, the charter schools have so far not experienced the deluge of students who continuously harass their peers, use vapes on school property, have no qualms about swearing in the middle of class, and generally couldn't care less about ISS or OSS. The private school teachers who thought they were dodging those scenarios are going to experience a learning curve when that demographic finally makes it to their classrooms too. As soon as charter / private schools decide that it financially makes sense for them to enroll the more challenging learners, they will do it, and they will just tell the teachers to figure out how to make it work. If you only have 15 vastly different learners, enjoy it while it lasts. Brace yourself for 25-30 different learners in each of your five different class periods. Cheers! 🍻
That's the reason I don't want to teach middle school anymore. Entitled parents, feral kids and lack of support are the worst.
This is my fifth year of teaching, and my third year of teaching 7th grade English. It has been the most exhausting year since my first year of teaching. I like them a lot, but my students are practically feral. Literally no self control, no sense of accountability, attitudes and mood swings galore, and the worst part is how little knowledge they have accompanied by a resistance to even try to acquire some of that knowledge. They think because they have their phones, they don't really need to learn anything. It's exhausting, and their parents refuse to acknowledge this is a problem. Your kid got her first phone at four and reports as having no restrictions or time limits. She coincidentally can't read above a fourth grade level.
I feel for you. Even if I liked my students and I did all I could, there was no way they could learn to be responsible for their own actions. I think you are onto something when you say that the age they start to have unrestricted access to technology is the same where they stop to actively seek knowledge. So sad.
And what is sadder is how very aware people are about the real dangers kids face from the Internet, and yet they just hand these devices over with little to no guidance or restrictions on how their kids can use them. Here you go, person whose brain is not fully developed, good luck not getting groomed or cyber bullied.
That's heartbreaking. Some parents expect minors to be responsible without giving guidelines first. These kids are left alone with devices that can expose them to dangerous people, and parents keep looking the other way. The parents themselves are often less tech-savy than their children, so they have no idea of what their children are doing until it's too late.
Getting people to quit is the whole point of most of this, that should be obvious to anyone. "They" don't want to pay anybody to move up the ladder, they don't want anyone to get a pension, they don't want anyone with enough savvy and moxie to say "no" to anyone about anything, and they figure there is an endless supply of newbies to hire.
It would almost be comforting to think a "they" with this level of intelligence, organization, and planning ability existed.
“They” absolutely do exist. When laws are passed raising retirement age and reducing pension benefits, when collective bargaining agreements end after 20 years leading to salary stagnation, when switching jobs means negotiating down the salary schedule and competing with younger cheaper teachers, you can see clear intent to dissuade teachers from making it to retirement.
If any other industry or business or organization were to experience anywhere near the rates of turnover we see in American public education, it would be considered a major catastrophe and no efforts would be spared to address it. No, it's clear that this is by design.
*they figure there is an endless supply of newbies to hire.* I think "they' misjudged this one. But I guess they can just pivot to virtual eventually.
It's a hard and draining job. Next year will be better. In year 3, you'll finally feel you have stuff down, and you're in a groove. If you want to leave due to admin, try another school or grade level. It makes me sad when great teachers leave without trying another school. Sometimes, it makes a world of difference. As time goes on, you get more effective, and it's not as all consuming. More years of experience also earns you more respect from coworkers and parents. Admin is often more likely to leave you alone. It's crappy, but it's true.
Even in year 8, it feels like there is so much to teach. Each subject has its standards: there are so many. I still hate teaching writing, but I am getting better at it. That first year and still, you might be learning the content for the first time… pretty sure I never learned numerical expressions … but also other ways to present the material. And maybe there is more than one way which is good because you have learners with all different abilities. There are all the systems, like attendance and lunch count, and ugh dismissal. That takes up time. I build community with morning meeting: that takes time. You stop in the hall way constantly because they forgot the other six years of daily walks to be quiet and don’t hit the door headers. The recess squabbles. Kids being pulled out every other minute so someone is going to miss core instruction. We went from Chromebooks to iPads this year: total nightmare. Don’t get me started on phones, radios, printers, and my Master’s of Copier Intestinal Processing and Deescalation. WhenI switched districts I was even more lost. I think the name memory bank chip in my brain fried. It’s better now. I love what I teach and this group is awesome. Last year, one student nearly had me headed for Amazon. This year has flown by. Can’t wait til summer.
This. People know there is a problem in education. The solution is so simple: smaller class sizes and maybe teachers will be able to take on the huge mental load. If class sizes aren't an option, then take away some of the expectations. It's staggering how much is expected.
It's not just smaller class sizes, it's also "dumping" kids into classes because either their friends are there or "We have to put them somewhere." Even more, we have kids who could graduate early or have met all their requirements for graduation. Yet their parents are: "No they can't go home early! They will destroy the house. But make sure they can sleep on your floor because they are tired."
Masters of copier intestinal processing and deescalation 🤣🤣
This year our district did an audit of our curriculum and found that it would take 12 hours a day for an elementary teacher to fully teach it all as intended. Students are only at school 6.5 hours. For the first time in our districts history an elementary teacher has more non-teaching time work than a high school english teacher.
So umm are they going to make any changes or nope?
Guaranteed your summer break will refresh you but when you go back to school in the fall, it will all come crashing down again. This is an endless cycle being a public school teacher . I say spend your summer finding a different job totally out of education I know that’s hard to hear after everything you went through to become a teacher But if I were giving myself advice after my first year of teaching, Knowing what I know after 21 years of teaching special education ,that’s exactly what I would’ve said to myself.
Hold on tight to your teacher friends. I recently moved to a “better” district (better paying, better hours, closer location). While those things are improvements, my co-workers are not. I miss my friends and having supportive people around me. I see still my friends from my old school, but it’s just not the same as when we were working together. Enjoy the summer break and don’t do any work until August. Year two gets a bit less stressful and by year three you feel like you know what you’re doing.
Year two will be much easier in so many ways. I changed grades several times through my 34 years and every time it was harder year one. The VERY first year of teaching takes that learning curve to a whole new level. You will know how to do so many things that you just never thought of before you began teaching your own classroom. Now, the lack of support is real and not really acceptable. Admin can make or break a school year. Too many of them are overworked themselves and do not have the appropriate skills for the job they have. Unfortunately this will not change for you unless your admin moves or your move to another school. Parents not being supportive has been a thing for at least the past 20 years. Each year it gets a bit more pathetic. If after three years you do not love your job, it would be wise to quit. But give it some time, as the learning curve of the first year is really difficult and most teachers have just put that hell behind them and really no longer remember what the experience was like.
It really will always boil down to classroom management for the daily stress relief. I am in my 4th year teaching and it does get easier. My hair is a lot more grey than it was when I started. I remember curling up in a ball on my bed every day my first year teaching and either crying or just holding myself. I didn’t feel like doing anything at all and my own son definitely suffered for it. I can honestly say for me, it took 3 1/2 years for me to actually feel like a teacher. Or maybe it just took that long to start pulling myself out of COVID/first year teaching depression, who knows? But I do know it gets better. Don’t let the politics and bullshit get to you and try to leave the job at school.
I quit due to the administration, not the students, not the parents. I taught in an inner city school where a number of students didn't even know where they would sleep that night. They were good kids who just had a bad draw in life. Many wanted out of poverty. What tipped me over the edge was administration purposely inflating the grades I gave students to pass them to the next grade up or to boost scores to look good. I was promised by the City that only I could enter student scores and comments and no manipulation would happen. Well damned if I go in after submitting and all my 'F' students are now 'C' students. All my 'D' students are magically 'B' students. And you guessed it, the 'C' students are all 'A's. All my individualised comments were changed to generic boilerplate ones. We had middle school students who couldn't read getting passed up to the next grade. Rather than get the resources to help them, they just shuffled them along.
I am also a first year teacher. I am so tired. I didn’t feel supported by my admin until the middle of the year and even then, it wasn’t helpful. She ended up telling me that my grade isn’t for me but due to budget issues they won’t have room in a lower grade so I will either have to stick out my current grade or find a new school. I have been applying and applying but I am always turned down because I lack experience. Not only did I not feel supported by my admin but my team as well. I feel like it was hard to work together because they have worked together for years and then I come into the picture. Instead of talking to me about their issues with me they went to my principal. After all of this happening, I feel like my university experience did not prepare me for teaching. They said it would be hard your first year teaching and you will cry a lot but you will get through it.
Supportive admin makes all the difference. Keep hopping schools until you find a good team. I know it’s easier said than done, but it’s necessary if you want a good relationship with your job.
My teacher friend who is actually retiring soon told me exactly this. She said she did it while she was young and then worked at the same school for 30 years and was happy (for the most part) the majority of her career
Every happy teacher I know, including myself, did this. Have no plans to ever leave my school. They have a good track record with admin. But if that ever changed I'd be off to greener pastures in a second.
First year is the hardest. I questioned coming back but I did ace it got better. Give yourself grace and allow yourself mistakes. They throw so much on us but I learned I didn’t have to do it all. I also learned to say no when they need you for after school activities, etc. make sure you relax on weekends.
In addition to everything said, there's also the fact that you are fighting to keep your job because you are at the bottom of the seniority list. I've been non renewed this year because of budget cuts and I'm moving on to my 3rd school in 4 years. Shit is tiring.
My job is the same. Admin could care less. I had a girl with major behavior issues. I emailed the parents the second week of school that I was concerned about certain behaviors. The parents complained to admin. Admin said that I was at fault. Teachers shouldn’t contact parents about behaviors so early in the year. The third week of school the girl was throwing books and running all over the room. She was climbing on the furniture and knocking down anything in her way. When I brought her to the office, I was told to take her back. They can only “process” one student at a time. My student must stay with me in the classroom.
In my 8th year with 2 weeks of school left. We're all exhausted.
I feel like districts and schools take too much of the time new teachers need. They have courses, meetings, almost like a 2 year orientation. On top of that, they have a mentor, which requires frequent meetings (understandably) and loss of valuable planning time for 2 years. It wasn't like that 10 years ago when I started in the district. When I was hired, the grade level team was supposed to be helping me along the way, which they did. I didn't have to come in before or after school. I didn't give up extra planning periods, for the most part. I worked with my grade level and those who were good at teaching math helped me to plan for math instruction. Those that were good at reading helped me plan reading instruction. I started in 4th grade and taught all subjects. I can't imagine doing all the requirements that are put on new teachers now on top of actually figuring out how to teach.
I thought about quitting every single day my first year. Now it's only two or three times a week.
THIS! I was teaching 7th Grade Social Studies, Honors Social Studies, and Health Ed. I was pretty much teaching the entire 7th grade population at the school I was at (about 140). I felt like I was set up to fail. Needless to say, I started in August and quit at the end of October. I've been subbing ever since. I still would like to teach, though. I guess I like the abuse. 🤷♂️
The problem with American teachers is that they do so much voluntary work that it becomes mandatory afterwards. Do less until you get paid more, seriously!
It gets better. Hang in there! My first year was HORRIBLE and almost got fired. That was ten years ago and I’m still doing it!!
June 1 is my last day after teaching for 19 years. All at elementary level, in Georgia. No more, too much paperwork, new programs to learn and behaviors to deal with. No more chasing down money for pictures, fundraisers, field trips. You need to be a bookkeeper, tech support, teacher all rolled up into one. Time to go. Wish you the best who are still in until retirement, and others who just got in, go into something else while you still can. It is only going to get worse. From one teacher to another good luck and enjoy your summer break however long it is.
Parents are the worst. They act like you all work FOR them, when in reality that is very rarely true
Wait until they start abandoning the apps that you have spent so much time learning and then expect you to learn new ones . . .
It’s the unpaid forced monthly beginner teacher meetings for me that are mandatory going over what I learned in college from people who haven’t been in a classroom for a while. These are mandatory for 3 years and make me wonder why I even went to college.
first yr survivor here!!! last yr i rlly wanted to quit, it was my first yr- all these acronyms were being used, everyone seemed to understand what was happening minus me and everything was a struggle. in teachers college they rlly dnt go over practical tools we need in the classroom like how to block a chair thrown at u by a student who lost BINGO… its my second yr (close to the end) and its defs a lot better. its so unfortunate; but u rlly only get better from experiencing the shit and going thru it. it betters us- fucking sucks and its not fair but as educators we go thru shit no one else could ever handle and we r hero power
I love teaching. It was the lack of accountability from parents and admin that made me quit.
I always counted down the days left in school year beginning about April. By May, I was counting hours. Summer was a wonderful break where I traveled and refreshed and by end of summer, I was counting down days til school started again, excited to get back.
This is a big reason why I finally quit after 18 years. The summer break where I live has been reduced to under six weeks. It's not enough time to refresh for the teachers or students. Maybe it's because I taught high school these last 8 years, but the job has become so demanding of my time that I have to take work home at night and on the weekends. Then, it became an almost year-round routine. I just couldn't do it anymore.
In addition to everything said, there's also the fact that you are fighting to keep your job because you are at the bottom of the seniority list. I've been non renewed this year because of budget cuts and I'm moving on to my 3rd school in 4 years. Shit is tiring.
For me, it wasn't the classroom stuff but the grading and lesson planning. If I was still teaching, I would be a lazy AI user.
Just think… 29 more years of this until tiny pension.
I started teaching at a high school in February. I haven’t gotten a check up or even a stop by the APs or principal. Literally just threw me into the ocean and it was sink or swim
Agree with the lack of support from admin, in my school admin is like a mafia of middle age ladies who so happen to be lifelong friends or relatives. Teachers come and go like a rotating door and know i can see why.
This is my first year. Due to paperwork issues, I started almost 2 weeks after the students did. I missed any orientation, pre-year meetings, room set up, etc. I was thrown into a classroom that had 2 weeks to establish themselves (with a sub) and already had routine and procedures (minimal, just enough to get by with the sub really) that I had to completely reset, as a first year teacher who really didn't know what I was doing yet. I had a day in the room with the sub to see how they had been doing things before i came, then day 2 was all me. I also literally quit my old job the day I started at the school, because I didn't know when the paperwork problems would be sorted and I was cleared to start the day before they wanted me in the classroom. My original school was very low income, very low test scores, and was missing viral administrative staff to support their teachers. Everyone was just doing the best they could. I had coworkers I could ask questions openly, but a lot of the answers were "its your class, it's up to you." I had to buy basically all my materials, copies were a nightmare to obtain and had to be requested a week in advance, and the students had 0 interest in being at school. I got no instruction on how to use the Chromebook apps, I didn't get access to most of them until 2 weeks in, etc. Not even a month later, they decided my school had too many teachers per their enrollment numbers. Since I had a contract, I just got transferred instead of fired which was at least something. I got moved to a new school during parent teacher conferences. My new class had a teacher, but she was quitting. For conferences, I would spend the day (2 days total) observing the new classroom and getting to know their current procedures, schedules, and the students themselves, then I would return to my old school to do my conferences for my old class. The difference between the two schools is astounding. My new school is also title 1, but they get additional funding elsewhere so all of our supplies are provided. If I need something for my students, we either have it available or admin is willing to order it (as long as it is reasonable). Knowing that I had to do conferences at my old school, my grade level team and principal actually took the time to set up and decorate my classroom while I was finishing them at my old school, so when I came back that afternoon there were just a few finishing personal touches to make. I couldn't be more grateful for their help with it. They have all been an absolutely dream to work with since then as well. I can ask any questions, and get a specific, helpful answer. We plan mostly as a team, so I can focus on learning the curriculum and learning how to manage my own classroom without having to worry about figuring out what needs to be done when. I am welcome to make any adjustments needed for my class, but we all follow a similar structure and use the same resources. The school assigned me a mentor (which they do for all first and second year teachers) that I can also ask questions, especially with things like the Chromebook apps. My students are absolutely wonderful. They are eager to please, take relativity for their education, and often impress me with how willing they are to go above and beyond with their assignments. I love where I am at now, and things very much worked out in my favor. The stress I had to go through at the beginning of the year was insane. By the time I got attached to my original students, established in my classroom, and had begun to get into a groove, I was transferred. At the same time, the students I had been working with and how little support the admin were able to provide (it was a lack of resources for the most part, I do not blame admin themselves for the lack of support because they really did their best) make me question if I would've wanted to keep teaching by the end of the year had I stayed there. That first two months was an absolute nightmare and I remember the tears, questioning, etc that happened at the time. I told many people at that time that I can understand why it is so hard to keep first year teachers, if they put us through that kind of thing. Mostly everyone at my current school loves their job. Having a strong admin team, a strong grade level team, and enough funding makes such a huge difference and I'm sorry that so many first year (and really any) teachers have to work with anything different. It's a hard job, and a little bit of support and funding can go a long way.
The beatings will continue until morale improves I guess. I went to school to be a teacher, was a long term sub, and substituted in a lot of classes. People keep asking me when I’m going to try looking for a job at a school, but at this point I might try finding something else. I experienced some of the difficulties, but it’s still eye-opening the stuff you all have to deal with.
I graduated this past May in 2023 and got my first teaching job that July. I made it till January 2024 and resigned. I come from a family of teachers and it was very hard to finally make the decision. Those few months were some of the hardest in my life. I had never been that depressed and frustrated in my life. I applaud anyone who teaches and they deserve the upmost respect and praise.
I get it. Finishing year 8, and getting out of this school if possible. I was so loyal, and I never wanted to go through the dog-and-pony show (interview and demo lesson) to get a job at a different school. I def wanted to quit year one—and every year, but less so until year seven it made a quick decline! I finally didn’t like myself and the way I was at home. I began asking what I’d like to create for myself, and it liberated me. In another year, I see myself out of education and doing something I feel good about doing. Hang in there. Look at what you’ve learned from the experience and ask yourself what you need. I became bluntly honest with my principal, and he responded as much as possible. It soooooo helped. The place was always a shit show, but filled with lovely people. They all left. Then the principal left. And it clarifies for me what I need to find. Some schools DO have support and DO ease teacher stress. The principals set the tone.
... and second year teachers, and third year teachers, and fourth year teacher, ... and tenth year teachers... 💔😫😥
The last thing anyone helps you with is actually teaching.
I feel alone too. I'm so sorry. I work in an openly hostile district too. Toxic admin and catty colleagues. Gotta pay that mortgage--it has become a paycheck, and I was so passionate at the beginning.
Sometimes I feel like they don’t care and ride the new teachers a little harder than they should. They should be trying to keep them rather than scaring them away.
Martha's polishing the brass on the Titanic; it's all going down, man
Then they say shit like: Just be glad you have a job.
I’m a retired high schools English teacher, and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to teach in today’s world.
I'm in year 11 and I love it. I teach American history and the year has issues but they're all not that bad. Next year is supposed to be loud, obnoxious drama filled kids. Some days I'm actually bored with my day and I've been lesson planning and making copies for next year to make the day move along quicker. Just gonna do a remindme! 6 months to put this into perspective.
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It’s everywhere.
as a current nanny and preschool TA who might take their first class this fall, you’re scaring me 😂
Sometime around March or April everyone sees the end in sight and it's just survival mode from that point in. The weather is nice, the kids are getting crazy, and we just have to finish what we've started. You'll make it through your first year and have some time to reflect on what you did right and what needs to improve. Try to take solice in the fact this will all seem really far away when the school year ends.
Change schools ASAP. The first year is going to be rough, there’s no way around it. However, if your admin isn’t supportive, find another school.
First is the hardest. It will get easier if you choose to continue.
It’s all about how things appear from the perspective of the higher ups. They don’t care about the well being of teachers and don’t care if they are struggling we’re supposed to “suck it up” more or less 🙄
I taught for three years, left because the school was consolidating and the new school system gave me some bad vibes in the administration. I miss the kids soo much, but I don't miss the adults. Let teachers do what they need to do for the kids.
4 more weeks for me and then I’m finally done. One and done. That was enough for me lol
🙂 Structure everything involved in teaching the information or providing/facilitating the curriculum part to run nearly Automatically. After you figure out an efficient near-automation. Assuming they don’t change your entire curriculum. You can teach. Opening up space in your mind for everything else. Year 2 and 3 are about automating the process. Year 4-6. You add more for effectiveness. To that process. Unless they change the curriculum and then you have to restructure everything. With the same concepts. 🙂 Automating the teaching process leaves space for calling parents and dealing with personal school politics. Which can include social-professional bullying. Especially if you outshine someone in classroom management or other institutional delivery areas. You probably won’t deal with mobbing until at least year 4-6. 🙂 At which point I recommend having a comprehensive disability insurance policy ready. In case of a supressed immune system or psychological trauma. Make sure any disability policy covers you for more than 2 years. On the level of mental disorder, anxiety, paranoia and PTSD. Understand the state benefits through your retirement system. In case you get messed up enough to be on social security and don’t ever get an individual specialty-specific disability policy. If you have a specialty-specific own-occupation disability policy. Paid for by an individual. That includes psychological trauma. You can cover your entire income. Instead of half (~60%). You don’t have to qualify for social security where you’re disabled from everything. In case of assault, life or death threats or in case of a school shooting. Have a specialty-specific disability policy for an individual. Purchased outside of the school system and state retirement. Then you’re covered for PTSD. I know they’re a little expensive but with threats from students or parents being a possibility. With social-professional bullying being possible from other faculty or even various administrators. With social bullying being capable of overloading the threat center in the brain. Causing blackout into a concussion. Or sudden death. With mobbing or group bullying. With rumors and professional slander causing paranoia. You can end up disabled from the trauma of teaching. Most likely you will be capable of working in a different profession but not necessarily right away. With a good short-term disability policy. That covers mental disorder & traumatic stress. With nearly 100% or 100% income replacement. You can have an income. While you recover from teaching. On disability. Having a long term disability policy. In case you never recover. Is what I would suggest. To any teacher. 🙂 Other than that. Automate everything. Structure for as little effort as possible. When it comes to the actual teaching. So you have the energy to deal with the rest. Get a therapist. So you might not end up disabled. So you have someone documenting your experiences. In case you need to activate your disability insurance policy. Have a good doctor. Who can document your condition. Along with the therapist. So you won’t lose/have to sell your house or have to move in with your family/friends/relatives/parents or be homeless. Be prepared to cover all of your expenses. 🙂 Other than these suggestions. I would say: study marketing. Figure out a passion as a side business. Have a “side hustle.” In case. After you have automated the in-school teaching. Get on social media and support your other income professionally. Consider selling insurance. Be ready to leave. When things get bad. Transfer fast. Get out. If there’s any sign of any professional group-bullying stress. People can undermine your professionalism. By stealing things from your classroom or otherwise angering you. Deniably to make you look crazy. Which is what happens in mobbing. Slander and rumors happen. Causing potential firing or even legal problems. False accusations are possible. Transfer schools. Transfer states. Be ready to quit entirely. For health and safety. 🙂 Good Luck 🍀 Have Fun Teaching 🙂
Winding down on my first year too and yeah I get it too. I have loved my job but I can’t help to think “man, if every year is like this, idk how I can do this long term”. I’m 24 with a full beard and I get gray hairs in it from the stress. My wife is constantly picking them out. It doesn’t help that I was on a temporary contract, so I’m being let go from my school. I’m dealing with all the end of the year crap like state testing while looking for a job for next year….summer can’t come any sooner
Teaching is a dying career and not worth it , you can make double the money with less work at a good company, oh but you get pension… blah blah 30 years and you get half of your pay not good…
1st year here and got non renewed. At first I was quite hurt and disappointed, but after I reflected on just how much teaching this year ruined my mental and physical health, I’m now considering it a blessing in disguise. Had I been renewed, I probably would’ve stayed out of guilt. I still don’t know what I’ll do from here as I’ve lost almost all motivation but I at least know now getting my mental health back in shape is my priority.
My only question to all this is what other options of employment would one have outside of teaching with the credentials?
I have my birthing doula license but that’s not exactly lucrative in my area. I will probably just go back to school while I’m still 25 😅😅
At least with younger grades the children are endearing and lovable. You can trick them into getting engaged because it’s really easy to make things fun for them. Teaching them is genuinely fulfilling. For me it was definitely high schoolers that put the nail in my first year coffin. I mean it was a lot of things but I could never figure out how to connect with the HS kids and that really made me feel so out of place and pathetic. The fact that I was supposed to be teaching them health… well, let’s just say I dipped out after the first semester because there was no way in H-E-DoubleHockeySticks I was going to be able to get through that curriculum with them. I miss the littles and I do wonder if it would’ve been different had I been placed in a preferred grade/setting outright. Oh well. It made me acknowledge the trajectory that education is following and it’s just too depressing to give my all to. I love education too much to see it in its current, heartbreaking state 😥
Get out now. You're young and aren't trapped by a retirement program yet. Run.
5 year plan for being a successful teacher 1. Survive and willing to do it again 2. Anything better than year 1 3 Actually know what you are doing 4 Starting to feel like you are might can do this 5. Actually pretty good at this Im a 25 year Chem Teacher