no child left behind

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Home : 2005 : December : 15

no child left behind - ha!
By 2nd grd

It is only my second year teaching but I am very disillusioned. This year my class is very large (27), has 3 SPED students, 1 ESL, 4 in Child Study, and beyond those kids there are 8 who are not reading at grade level.
My lesson plans, seating arrangements, and classroom management are all strongly effected by the many, many accomodations the SPED, ESL, and Child Study kids are required to have. The SPED and ESL get some pull-out instruction but everyone else is my full time responsibility. We are just about at our mid-year point and I feel totally overwhelmed and ineffectual. The low kids are not catching

up. The high kids are bored silly and the middle kids are just sort of lost. My district has implemented a bunch of new tests this year "to guide our instruction" and make sure the kids are really learning what our large number of curriculum guides says they should be learning. Supposedly, these tests are for my benefit so I can see where I need to reteach, what lessons went well, etc. What they are really doing is totally undermining my confidence. It is more proof that I am not succeeding with most of my students. My principal is not helpful and my grade level team members all feel the same as me. So, my question to the veterans out there is how typical is this situation? What are reasonable expectations? Where is it best to use my limited time and energy? How do you keep feeling good about doing this in spite of the long odds and huge obstacles?