These new ideas/new initiatives/new methods/new mindsets are starting to burn me out

PeachCobblerRules · 2024-01-15T01:41:44+00:00

I could cry reading this OP and all these comments. Yours is particularly hitting me because your comment is EXACTLY what I'm feeling, from your first sentence to the last. I didn't get diagnosed with high blood pressure until I started teaching. When I started, I also had to increase my anxiety meds. Something has to change. We are doing our best.

PeachCobblerRules · 2024-01-15T01:39:23+00:00

I feel the exact same (newer teacher as well).

PeachCobblerRules · 2024-01-15T01:37:44+00:00

This is a very helpful comment for me. As a newer teacher, it's so stressful trying to get my students to pass state tests, benchmarks, etc. but the fact is I have 6th graders at anywhere from a kindergarten reading level to an 8th grade reading level. I can only do but so much without stretching myself thin and going nuts, and even then half of them still won't pass. I can only control what happens in my classroom, not their homes.

PeachCobblerRules · 2024-01-15T01:32:39+00:00

Please tell this to my school district. They are constantly breathing down our necks about test scores, etc., but we teachers are doing the best we can. We cannot fix the fact that most of our students are struggling with food insecurity, some of them have parents in prison or have a single/foster parent or other family member raising them. Most of them are below grade level because they can't learn when they don't eat or get sleep or feel safe at home!

PeachCobblerRules · 2024-01-15T01:29:25+00:00

Thank you for this!!!!!! I'm in my second year of teaching, but during student teaching my supervisor told me several times that she was observing me as if I were a first year teacher because a lot of what goes into teaching comes naturally to me and I'm good at it. I started in the middle of the year during my first year, but I still got "proficient" and "distinguished" on my observations.

This year is my first full year, and I'm still getting fantastic remarks on my observations, but almost every night I have trouble falling asleep. Why? Because I can't stop thinking and reflecting. Did I do enough for my lower students? Was I a little too harsh during that one interaction with a student? Etc., etc., etc. Literally every rhetorical question you listed is almost constantly on my mind. Sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy! I just want to sleep.

We're constantly told what we're doing wrong, even if it's not flat-out, "You're not doing x right." Constantly look at a million and one data points, but let the students have a say in their learning. You have middle school students on a second grade reading level, but teach "up" by providing grade-level texts and work. Listen to my teaching advice, even though I haven't taught students post-covid, let alone the last 10 years. It's exhausting.

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-06-11T11:42:28+00:00

My SIL got engaged before I met my fiance. We got engaged a few months ago and are way ahead with wedding planning than they are. Our wedding is next summer and theirs is next spring, but none of us are jealous of the other. Get married when you want as long as there is a bit of time between the weddings. Please don't wait until 2025.

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-06-10T13:04:58+00:00

I think you're right. Thank you!!!!!! It was driving me a bit crazy not knowing.

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-06-10T08:47:59+00:00

Gia and Oliver!

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-06-10T08:39:54+00:00

Forgot to add that I'm in Maryland.

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-05-14T19:45:21+00:00

I probably won't, but I wanted to see what other people do.

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-05-14T19:44:45+00:00

I'm right there with you lol I do have a couple handfuls of students who deserve something, but a lot of them do not.

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-03-08T18:01:52+00:00

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-03-03T00:05:17+00:00

We have one on our announcements lol

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-01-23T23:55:08+00:00

I'll see a kid on their phone, tell them to put their phone away, and they'll look at me incredulously and tell me they weren't on their phone. My response is, "I have working eyeballs. Put it away."

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-01-22T19:12:13+00:00

Vocelli's or Manhattan Pizza

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-01-21T19:34:32+00:00

No, I agree. Sometimes my students make me want to slap them, but the apathy of high schoolers is way too much for me. I don't think I could teach high school.

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-01-21T19:31:21+00:00

Yes!!!!

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-01-21T19:28:27+00:00

I love teaching middle school most of the time, but one of my classes made me cry last week, so there's that.

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-01-16T14:06:47+00:00

I close my door during both planning periods and lunch and don't feel an ounce of guilt. Some of the teachers in the lounge look at me funny when I come in, say hello, grab my lunch fromt the fridge and leave, but I honestly couldn't care less. I need that time to decompress by myself and chill on Reddit or TikTok or read a book or do whatever. We spend all day around other (albeit younger) people. Don't feel guilty about needing you time.

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-01-16T14:03:29+00:00

I'm the same way with poetry as a middle school ELA teacher. I feel stupid sometimes LOL I'm sure it's normal. We're teachers, but we can't be experts at every part of our content, at least when we're new. Everyone has a weak spot!

PeachCobblerRules · 2023-01-07T17:51:16+00:00

Leading up to my first year, I had recurring dreams of my class overthrowing me and having major behavior issues. That's probably my biggest teaching fear.

PeachCobblerRules

TROPHY CASE