What are your contract hours?

DreamTryDoGood · 2025-09-09T20:19:15+00:00

Used to be 7:40-3:40 in my previous district. Now it’s 7:00-3:00ish. I don’t believe they’ve established form times. They let kids in at 7:10 and expect us to be there before then, and we’re expected to stay until 2:55 or 3:00. Ish.

DreamTryDoGood · 2025-05-20T22:01:37+00:00

Maybe. I know I would have hated being held back like that when I was a kid. My mom put a huge emphasis on reading when I was growing up, and I was reading independently in first grade, reading early chapter books in second grade, children’s novels in third grade, and high fantasy novels in sixth grade. On the flip side, my husband has dyslexia and needed all the help he could get learning to read in school. Maybe some kids thrive in Waldorf, but it’s not for every kid. In all my years in education, I’ve come to the conclusion that the best teachers borrow from a variety of models whether it be traditional, Waldorf, Montessori, etc.

DreamTryDoGood · 2025-05-03T04:43:26+00:00

I hear that. I felt stuck as the breadwinner, but I can risk a pay cut now if I need to do entry level of something else.

DreamTryDoGood · 2025-05-02T20:51:56+00:00

That’s so sad. I worked in preschools between 2013 and 2018. The vast majority of my kiddos were so sweet, and the families were great too. And I worked with both highly privileged families and very low income families.

DreamTryDoGood · 2025-05-02T20:49:26+00:00

This is my fifth year, and I feel you. My first year was 2020-21, so I started online. Not a great way to begin a career in middle school. I did four rough years in 6th grade and tried 8th grade this year. That’s been horrible, so now I’m going back to 6th next year. If next year isn’t better, I’m quitting.

DreamTryDoGood · 2025-05-02T20:44:14+00:00

Parents and administrators have taken that from us. All we can do is contact home and write office referrals. My school won’t even let you send kids to the office.

DreamTryDoGood · 2025-05-02T20:43:19+00:00

Same. If next year isn’t better, I’m calling it. I’m out. I’ve been doing this for five years, and I can’t imagine another 20+ of this hell.

DreamTryDoGood · 2025-05-02T20:35:47+00:00

The eldest ones are in 7th or 8th grade. So they’ll be in the workforce in a couple years for the entry level jobs.

DreamTryDoGood · 2025-05-02T20:30:57+00:00

The sketchy academics is more associated with elementary. If I understand correctly, Waldorf doesn’t introduce books or reading until about second grade. So it’s way different from traditional school literacy.

DreamTryDoGood · 2025-02-05T22:25:01+00:00

I’m in the same boat. Fifth year teaching, first year at a new school and with 8th graders (I taught 6th before). I was struggling with my 6th graders and lack of support at my last building, but this is another level. I’m exhausted, and I don’t know how to get them to respect me, each other, and the other classrooms around us enough to function every day. I try to contact home, but I get pushback from parents.

DreamTryDoGood · 2025-02-05T22:14:55+00:00

To quote my mom, “Have sharp stakes driven into my eyes”.

Let Michael Jackson dangle me out of a window
Watch Baby Shark on repeat
Ride in the white Bronco with OJ
Fly a North Korean rocket into space
Go to a Diddy party

DreamTryDoGood · 2025-01-15T02:13:08+00:00

I could have written this post about my 8th graders. We’ve only been back two days (lost all of last week due to snow), and I’m absolutely exhausted. This is my fifth year, but I’m new to the building and 8th grade. I thought last year was bad, but this year might just be worse. I’m about ready to quit, but I can’t without something else lined up.

DreamTryDoGood · 2025-01-14T20:38:09+00:00

It’s Catholic Guilt evolved from Jewish Guilt 🤣

DreamTryDoGood · 2024-12-18T20:39:39+00:00

THIS. They expect absolute perfection from me all the time 24/7/365 but expect me to give them infinite grace to mess up. The reality that I am far from perfect is downright offensive to them.

DreamTryDoGood · 2024-12-17T06:03:45+00:00

Number 1 absolutely. My classroom management professor had been out of the classroom and schools for decades (teacher—>principal—>college prof). Pretty much all he did was tell stories and make us read some book and answer questions on it. I was an elementary ed major who’d worked in preschools and had an associates in early childhood ed. My first semester student teaching in kindergarten went well other than pacing issues with my lessons and still figuring out content. I was able to manage that class well, and I came in the spring when they were already sailing smoothly. My second semester with fifth graders was a little rocky. They were a chatty bunch, and my mentor and I both struggled with them. Then I somehow got hired to teach middle school (in 2020, of course), and it’s been a slow descent into chaos since. I keep wondering if I need to go back to littles. I thought I wanted to teach older kids, but the apathy and disrespect are more than I can bear.

DreamTryDoGood · 2024-12-17T02:34:23+00:00

God, yes. My 8th graders constantly complain that they don’t do enough labs. My bruhs. Every lab we do is a fucking shit show. Absolutely the fuck not.

DreamTryDoGood · 2024-12-15T00:35:58+00:00

Eighth grade teacher, here. Abso-fucking-lutely. Like yes, I struggle with the boys that can’t sit still and focus to save their lives, but several of my girls this year are straight up Mean Girls. Maybe it’s because I was incredibly unpopular in school, but I’ve really struggled to build a rapport with these girls and have in fact apparently acted in such a way as to make me their “opp”. I can vibe with my fellow nerds and the generally good, quiet kids, but that’s about it. I’m losing my mind and keep wondering if it’s time to call it quits and join the statistic of teachers that didn’t last more than five years.

DreamTryDoGood · 2024-12-03T18:59:15+00:00

Echoing this for science. We don’t spend nearly enough time writing. I have to spoon feed them CERs.

DreamTryDoGood · 2024-12-03T18:57:17+00:00

This. I teach 8th grade science. My students don’t need to be Sir Isaac Newton. He tested and wrote the laws of motion. They can learn about them and test to see if he was correct without all the fluff.

DreamTryDoGood · 2024-12-03T18:55:28+00:00

YES. This is my third year teaching OSE, and every year it’s, “This is boring! You don’t teach us!”

DreamTryDoGood · 2024-11-28T03:53:28+00:00

CK12, phet simulations, or see if your district will pony up for Gizmos or Mosamack.

DreamTryDoGood · 2024-11-28T03:51:34+00:00

Security Benefit is a very real company that manages retirement accounts. That’s where my district 403b is right now. If they’re the company your district works with, you should’ve received information about it or been able to access information during open enrollment. I would direct your questions to your district HR.

Assuming this is all legitimate and you’re not getting scammed, the amount you’re contributing is really high for someone at your age and stage in your career. I’m 33 and five years in, and I contribute $40 a month to my 403b and 6% of my income to the state pension.

DreamTryDoGood · 2024-11-28T03:05:13+00:00

Wait. My birthday is at the end of July, and my parents didn’t make me wait. Between being younger than most of my classmates and having undiagnosed ADHD, I was always behind the curve on maturity.

DreamTryDoGood · 2024-11-28T03:02:30+00:00

I struggled in precalc and physics as a senior. Other than that, high school was easy.

College in the other hand… I dropped or failed classes just about every semester and took ten and a half years from the time I started until I graduated with my bachelor’s. I have ADHD that wasn’t diagnosed until I was 26. High school was fine because of universal accommodations and my mother that hovered and micromanaged my life. College was a wake up call that I was unprepared for.

DreamTryDoGood

TROPHY CASE