Any education majors quit during Fall classroom placements? What happens next?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If she was shocked by the conditions in a suburban school, what if she gets a job in an urban school? I work in one and it's often like working in a third world country. Last week, we didn't have any drinking water for most of the day due to late water deliveries. This happens fairly frequently. We have rats, mice and mold in our school. Not enough supplies. She sounds way too immature to be doing this anyway. Does she come from a wealthy family? I wanted to quit student teaching but I didn't have the money to pay back my student loan. I just kept reminding myself that it is temporary and it will be over soon.



The school was technically in the suburban, but very similar in physical and academic conditions to a struggling urban school. I wouldn’t at all characterize my friend as wealthy. They had small bequests from a grandparent to help with college so they didn’t need loans, but the children were spaced to hypothetically avoid two in college at the same time.

The girl sounds very immature, and not suited to be a teacher. It sounds like her program has also let her down by not giving a realistic view of what teaching is really like. Sounds like shifting to an English major would be a good idea.

[Anonymous]

If your friend has any influence or control over her daughter she needs to insist that the daughter grovel and beg to be reinstated and not quit. Yes it may be terrible and awkward the rest of the semester but she can suck it up and finish. It sounds like she just send the email over the weekend and her college doesn’t even know yet. I would use any influence to get her to try to take it back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no creativity in public school. Has she spent any time in schools prior to this? Most education departments have students observing starting in their sophomore year. That gives them time to see what it is really like.

You think creativity (or the lack of it) was the problem here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally, I'd bring that kid home and have her get a full time job and work for awhile until she decides what she wants to do.

What year is she?

She’s already home. She moved back in when her fiancé graduated. She’s a senior. I doubt they will tell her to quit this semester and start working FT. She’s too close to earning her degree. Even if she drops this major, she can probably eke out an English major from the credits she has.

Then she gets her English degree, gets a job, works for awhile and if she wants to teach she can go back and get her masters in education.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like your friend's daughter received a much needed reality check, and she obviously failed the check. I also agree with others that her reasons are very immature.

Does she really think that as a military wife following her husband to new assignments that she will get to pick and choose her schools, and pick and choose her placements? Hardly!

Even with the teacher shortage, she will be hard-pressed to get cushy placements in the most desirable schools. Most military bases and posts are not located in places where there are a lot of options. And, in fact, unless a school is completely desperate, it will bypass a military wife for someone who has staying power in the community. She will be a last-minute pick-up because something else didn't work out at a school and she may be doing a lot of long-term subbing to get her foot in the door.

I know middle school is a tough gig but if she couldn't ride it out beyond a month or so then perhaps teaching isn't for her. And her response to the input on her unit plan is astounding.

I'm sorry. Usually I have lots of input and I am always counseling the student teachers at my school. But this young woman doesn't sound like she is cut out for teaching. I strongly encourage you to show her the responses you are receiving here. She (and her fiancé probably, too) needs to see/hear directly from teachers how out-of-touch she is with the realities of what we do as teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no creativity in public school. Has she spent any time in schools prior to this? Most education departments have students observing starting in their sophomore year. That gives them time to see what it is really like.

You think creativity (or the lack of it) was the problem here?

I think she didn't spend any time prior to student teaching observing in a school and that's a problem. If she had, she would have clearly seen that she won't be able to be creative.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps she can teach at private schools. They can be more creative.

[Anonymous]

I had a horrible first year, hellish, and I knew not to quit in flames mid year. Even when I did finally quit, it was according to policy, and with kind word for the staff. This poor girl needs to backpedal hard tomorrow. I wouldn’t suggest she go into teaching, but she needs to get enough credits to graduate. As long as she finished the placement, she can use a letter from an English professor for a job in a different career. Her stint in teaching can be viewed as a life lesson.

I had a friend with an awful placement, and she asked * permission * to quit. She went into federal contracting, using her math degree. Never puts her ed degree on her resume, just the math.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't sound like teaching is for her. Figure out how to finish her degree this year, receive her bachelor's, and move on to another career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't sound like teaching is for her. Figure out how to finish her degree this year, receive her bachelor's, and move on to another career.

Agree. I posted earlier about requesting a change for one of the junior-year teaching placements. My final immersion-level placement was horrible - terrible school, a principal who bullied the teachers, demoralized teachers largely because of the bullying, etc. I didn't love it, but I stuck it out.

It's unfortunate that your friend's daughter didn't push back on the distance issue. That was a nice, neutral, and valid issue that she could have leveraged to change her placement. It sounds like she became increasingly frustrated at the number of adjustments that she needed to make a less-than-ideal assignment work, and then finally blew up over instructions to make an adjustment that was reasonable and appropriate. Her best option is to humbly and profusely apologize, take responsibility for her decisions, and hope they'll let her complete the semester at the non-optimal school. It's not an attractive option, but it's probably her best bet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friend’s DD just quit her fall classroom student teaching placement. Badly burned bridge on her way out. She says the school is a bad fit and is requesting a rematch with another school. If not, she will have to repeat the current semester next fall when her sister will be a freshman. The family is unprepared for the financial load of two in college at the same time. The young lady also has a late June wedding planned. Her fiancé is military and her career plans hinge on where he is sent. My friend asked me, as a teacher, about options but I can’t think of anyone who quit their placement but stayed in the major. However, I’m a career-changer so we were all adults with prior work experience and a sense that all workplaces can be exhausting or have unpleasant coworkers, clients, etc. Maybe rematching is an established practice in undergrad Ed programs. Anyone BTDT?

She is never going to make it as a military wife if she is so rigid. And she will have an impossible time finding a job as a teaching wife of a military officer if she isn't doesn't become more flexible about what she will teach and where. She will be the last resort pick of most schools anyway.

[Anonymous]

She is immature, unprofessional and a bit unrealistic/idealistic. That doesn't mean that she is not cut out for teaching. It does mean that she has some maturing to do before she is ready to teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no creativity in public school. Has she spent any time in schools prior to this? Most education departments have students observing starting in their sophomore year. That gives them time to see what it is really like.

You think creativity (or the lack of it) was the problem here?

I think she didn't spend any time prior to student teaching observing in a school and that's a problem. If she had, she would have clearly seen that she won't be able to be creative.

I’m OP and a teacher. I have room to be creative. Even when I couldn’t write my own curriculum, I could design lessons and most assessments. I don’t know anyone (except the remedial reading teachers) who has a completely canned curriculum with zero room for creativity.

This young lady did observe, but only a certain type of school that she was allowed to handpick. I think she picked what she knew would fit her perception of teaching and desired environment. Middle class suburban HS. I think she had the opportunity to specify a preference of rural, suburban, or urban for placements. No guarantees, but they tried to match. She got suburban. It just happens to be a suburban school with issues more typical of an urban school in a struggling district.

It seems the straw that broke the camel’s back wasn’t actual denial of creativity, but asking her to create something appropriate to the skills and interests of students she has. That’s reasonable in my opinion.

Last night, my friend asked her DD to consider groveling if she can’t be reassigned. Her fiancé seconded this. She said she would consider it, which is encouraging. But first, she wants to hear that reassignment is completely out of the question. Ah, well at 21, the brain isn’t fully developed and worst decisions have been made by student teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps she can teach at private schools. They can be more creative.

She doesn’t sound ready to teach anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps she can teach at private schools. They can be more creative.

She doesn’t sound ready to teach anywhere.

She's not. She was shocked by kids fighting or cursing? That can happen at any school. It's part of the job. Some kids are going to come to school with behavior and emotional problems. If you're not ready to deal with that, you're not ready.