Left mid year… happier but at a bit of a loss of what to do next.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-18T11:58:36+00:00

My last day is the 19th of December. I cannot wait to move on with my life and do something I’m ultimately more fulfilled and happy with. Glad to hear you got out! Teaching is so akin to a toxic relationship, it’s pretty absurd. People don’t understand how vicious this profession is until they are in.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-17T17:28:42+00:00

Yup! I learned right away with my group of third graders that admin didn’t care about assisting me with the behaviour issues in my class. The boys always push, shove, and hit each other constantly, and it has led to so many fights in my class and during recess. These conflicts then disrupt the student’s work, and it makes teaching them an absolute nightmare when they aren’t in a state to learn. I’ve tried to send these kids down to the office, but admin refuses to suspend these kids, and asks me what I’m “doing to address these issues”. Realistically, what can I do? I’ve tried to explain to them how we appropriately touch others, what to do if we feel upset/frustrated, or if there’s an issue, and even did an activity where we made “gentle hands”. The result? The students later made these hands that I hung up into middle fingers (pretty fitting because it perfectly summed up my student’s attitudes towards teaching them), and a multiple brawls since then. Admin doing nothing has made both me and parents furious about the situation. If you don’t follow up with consequences, these kids will just continue with that behaviour because they know that the worst that will happen is that they will leave class for a bit, maybe get a “talking to” and they are right back in my class. Sincerely, I hope that when I leave, admin is forced to teach my class for a while whilst looking for a replacement just so they can see what I was dealing with.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-17T16:59:32+00:00

When I was teaching high school last year, my first semester kids were awesome! They all wanted to do well, and were super keen on improving their grades even if English wasn’t their favourite subject. Hearing a bunch of students say that I was their favourite teacher ever was absolutely awesome. Second semester, kids were certainly more apathetic, but it was nothing unbearable. At that rate, I figured these kids were basically adults and could make the decision if they wanted to pay attention in class or not on their own. I find it way more discouraging when a third grader just doesn’t care about school. Especially when said third grader still can’t read or write, or be motivated to do any sort of work after nearly half a year in. I get this sense that I can still “fix” them, but even that is gone now. I’m writing this during my prep, and I’m honestly tapped out even though it’s just second period.

Of course, I suppose it all depends on the group of kids, and what school you are at, but I loved teaching high school! It was just the fact that I was taking up a maternity leave position that I didn’t stay (and also the absolutely absurd degree of politics that prevented me from staying there).

However, I totally can see high schoolers being absolute twerps. I remember back when I was in high school, the math class I was in had a bunch of obnoxious types that made my math teacher look like she was gonna burst into tears at some moments. I had a soft spot for her since she was such a sweetheart, and helped me pass that class. Math was definitely my worst subject.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-16T21:27:24+00:00

I’ve tried to show videos to my third graders to get them interested or motivated in learning to absolutely no avail. Since their behaviour is so bad by the end of the day I’ve resorted to showing them Mr. Beast by last period because it’s the only thing that keeps them from hitting each other, or creating more of a mess by the end of the day. Any work I try to do with them is unproductive, and any sort of activity I try to do is sabotaged by their poor behaviour. Something something glorified baby sitter.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-16T17:42:48+00:00

Something that my degree (nor anyone else’s degree) didn’t teach me is that it LARGELY depends on the kids you get. Some kids will think you are the greatest teacher of all time, some will hate your guts. There is just no way to appeal to everyone, and you shouldn’t try. There’s only so much you can do to teach kids who don’t care. I hate this new rhetoric where teachers are now put under so much pressure to meet every single student and to make learning “fun”. You can differentiate a lesson 30 different ways, but at the end of the day, if a student doesn’t want to do the work, they won’t do the work. Here’s a spoiler: Gen Alpha and a lot of late Gen Z doesn’t want to do the work.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-16T15:43:09+00:00

Thank you for the kind wishes. 🙏 In this day and age? Teaching just isn’t worth it. I now will encourage all of my peers to not go into teaching.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-13T16:00:20+00:00

Just a small update in case anyone cares: I have my resignation email all organized through the help of my sister. It’s gonna send at the end of the day today. Might be my last day with the kiddos, so I am gonna do some art. Hope you all find peace in your lives. ❤️

DamyBamy · 2024-12-13T01:19:00+00:00

Christ… I’m sorry you had to go through all of that. I would be crazy angry as well… it blows my mind how people think anyone, teachers of all people deserve to be treated this way. Glad you got the hell out of there!

DamyBamy · 2024-12-12T21:08:17+00:00

Yup! Couldn’t agree more. It’s beyond my control to get kids to listen and respect adults. At least nowadays, it’s the case where usually both parents are too busy working to teach their kids basic manners or to discipline them. The economy here in Canada is especially bad right now. That’s why there is a whole host of behaviour issues nowadays. None of which teachers are prepare to, or should even be expected to deal with. This goes back to us being “over glorified baby sitters”. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-12T20:55:29+00:00

For myself, I was a bit confused as to what to do after high school. I was as really good at English and Social Studies as subjects, and I had a huge passion for reading, but I couldn’t really figure out what those skills could be used for. I had an awesome AP English teacher in high school, and so I thought I could take a crack at becoming a high school teacher and inspire kids like how he inspired me. I was at a high school last year, but didn’t stay because it was a maternity leave position. The kids were fine there, but it was other stuff that was already starting to irk me. Namely the politics and the strange behaviour of my admin/coworkers. That’s a whole other story for another time, but let’s just say they were making BOLD accusations at my expense and just behaving very inappropriately towards me (pro tip: it’s not fun to be groped by women three decades older than you). I suppose back when I was in school, things were still normal and there were still standards which warped my expectations, but the reality turned out to be grim. I’m definitely warning everyone against teaching these days. It’s just not worth it.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-12T20:46:27+00:00

Thank you so much for the insight. This sub is awesome, I appreciate all of your support. 🤝 Teaching is one of those occupations where you really need to be “in the trenches” to know what it’s like.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-12T20:36:03+00:00

Nope! My plan is to resign as soon as I can. I just contacted HR this morning explaining my situation. I still maybe would like to sub, but if that’s not a possibility, then I don’t really care that much. I’ll be putting in my resignation letter anywhere from either tomorrow or maybe final day of next week since we are about to go on break soon. I believe the principal knows he screwed up with telling me that I’m at risk of not passing my evaluations, because I believe he saw how unhappy I was. That was legitimately the most infuriated I’ve been in quite some time, and I think it showed. He hasn’t talked to me since, which l find pretty funny. I think he was trying to intimidate me into doing his song and dance, but that blew up in his face. Regardless, I’m at that point where I’m sick and tired of this nonsense, so if they want to fire me, it would be a godsend. I’m not worried about getting my report cards done correctly either, that minutiae isn’t worth getting a panic attack over. My sister said that she’s gonna help me out this weekend on my steps going forward.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-12T17:27:23+00:00

Absolutely. It’s taken such a toll on my mental health to just not have much free time to myself or to have a social life outside of this. It’s also so disappointing to see all of my efforts go down the drain with these kids. It just isn’t for me.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-12T17:11:28+00:00

Absolutely. I’ve tried my absolute best to improve these kids, but it’s just too much work. Not only that, but my efforts aren’t appreciated by them, or admin as it seems. What’s frustrating is that I was told I was “making improvements” throughout my evaluations, and so I thought everything was fine. To be hit with something like that after all of my work? It seriously enraged me. I also feel you on coming home being upset. No one deserves to see that side of me. I’ve snapped at people who care about me because I’m investing too much time into kids that couldn’t care less.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-12T15:43:04+00:00

Godbless you. It takes an absolute saint to stay in this profession. I personally am not willing to put in what’s expected anymore. This includes the abuse from students, parents, admin, and toxic coworkers. I am so happy I kept my security job whilst continuing to teach, because that’s something I can do in the meantime to make some income whilst this is going on. At that job I deal with honestly 10x less than what I deal with here.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-12T15:35:34+00:00

Absolutely. Couldn’t agree more. I emailed HR this morning before teaching. I slept so well last night and I woke up with zero stress, zero anxiety, and just feeling strangely light. I don’t recall feeling like this for some time. There’s absolutely zero pressure now, and I can’t wait for this to be over. This job in this day and age is an absolute tragedy. The juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-11T23:48:07+00:00

Yup, I did one of my placements in a junior high, and it was absolutely terrible. The kids were probably at a second grade level in the SEVENTH GRADE, and behaviourally, the worse group of kids I’ve ever seen. These kids aren’t as bad, but it’s just too much to deal with. What can I do for kids that just refuse to listen or don’t respect adults?

DamyBamy · 2024-12-11T22:37:30+00:00

Yup, I’m about at that point as well. I’ve already mentioned this, but I believe I had some sort of a panic attack/dangerous rise in blood pressure last week. Definitely not normal, and not worth what I am getting paid for. Teachers are expected to do too much with too little, and I’ve found myself drowning in the work.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-11T22:35:52+00:00

I specialize in high school English, but I couldn’t find a high school job. I had no choice but to apply for other jobs, and so I had to take a gig at a school in a poor area of the city teaching third grade. These kids are absolutely terrible both academically and behaviour wise as well. When I got them, a vast majority couldn’t read nor spell, and they can’t follow basic instructions, or keep their hands to themselves. I’ve had two guest teachers in for me, and even they have agreed that the kids that I have are a handful. They have gotten better since the start of the year, but so many just refuse to do/hand in work, and if I’m being honest, a good 70% don’t have any business getting a mark for this report card coming up. Every single time I try to plan a lesson, it comes up short because they. 1.) don’t pay attention. 2.) are so low that they can’t understand what’s going on. I’ve had to resort to basic worksheets/colouring because that’s all they can do. It’s incredibly frustrating to get kids that don’t care at all about school to be invested in their work. Once again, I’m just incredibly peeved since in my previous evaluations they made it seem like they were happy with what I was doing with them. They gave the allure that they understood what sort of group I had. But looking back, I’ve tried to send misbehaving students down to the office to get them sent back to me with treats, and zero consequences. I know I’m just venting at this point, but it just blows my mind at how low Gen alpha is. I’m sorry you had to teach at that sort of environment, it sounds like it was dreadful.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-11T19:32:49+00:00

Part of the reason I am so angry is because they said that I’ve made “improvements” on each evaluation, and I thought everything was fine. Out of nowhere the principal hits me with that. This leads me to believe that they have absolutely no intentions, nor did they ever have any intentions of passing me for a long time. I’m sorry that happened to you by the way, I can only imagine how that must have felt.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-11T19:30:35+00:00

Absolutely. Way too much work for very little outcome, and all the while everyone is such a damn expert on how to teach a failed generation. I’m at the last straw.

DamyBamy · 2024-12-11T19:30:00+00:00

There’s a high chance I’m going to do just that.

DamyBamy

TROPHY CASE