I hear you!

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Home : 2002 : July : 12

I hear you!
By Julie

I understand exactly what you are saying, except my own kids are now grown up and in college. I still feel the pinch on my "free" time, however, and I don't really like that. Our district even wants to lengthen our school
day, so that students can "improve" their performance, which places more demands and more stress upon my life. We have enormous end-of-year test pressures, as well.
I just don't think that school districts have a grasp of reality! Students and teachers are not machines like cars which can improve their "efficiency." We are just not designed that way. Yet when you propose ideas

that suggest a more humane approach to the school day for both students and teachers, the administration either becomes more balky, or they simply laugh at you as if the idea is ludicrous. I suggested to my principal that the teachers have at least a bathroom break each day, plus one day a month of duty-free lunch. He actually did laugh at that.

I, too, have a difficult time "psyching" myself up each year. I have been in the classroom for ten years, but I don't see any improvement in the attitudes of kids or their parents. I keep thinking that the kids will get better, or that I will have a better class. This will be my third year in the school where I am currently teaching. I was told that the first class I had there was "terribly rough and needy," and I thought I was a nervous breakdown candidate by the end of the year. The veteran teacher of seven years who had them the following year called them the "roughest class I have ever taught." The kids I had this past year were supposed to be better, but it got rough with them, too. Mostly, I believe that they had no respect for rules or guidelines because their parents didn't have a firm enough hand on them.

Okay, that was the venting and bad part. The good news is that there ARE schools out there where your administration, at least, will care about you and try to help and support you. My principal, for the most part, does support us. He does listen and even respond to our suggestions and advice.

Another good thing is the faculty I work with. They have been wonderful to cry on when times have gotten rough. They listened to me on the day a student told me that he was going to cut my head off. They bought me flowers one time when I had an especially bad day.

Perhaps it may be a bit late now, but maybe you could consider going to a different school next year? I know for a fact that adminstration and faculty make an enormous difference in a teacher's survival.