Reply to Am I Making a Mistake?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What’s your alternative option? Is it teaching someplace else? Leaving a different job? No job at all? What position? We can’t answer these questions without knowing your situation. [/quote]

I just graduated with my MA in English from GMU. The position is for an English teacher. I have never taught before. [/quote]

Do you have another plan? I have a family member who was an English major and after a few low paying jobs, decided to try teaching middle school.  She left after 3 years.  She really loved writing and literature and being around kids all day who did not was not what she had in mind.  Do you like children? Middle school is a tough age.  Give it a try if you actually want to teach and won’t get too frustrated by kids who can’t/wont read or write.  [/quote]

You are replying to me here.  I’m going to be brutally honest about the hardest part of my job.  I’m a teacher and have been doing this almost 30 years.  I couldn’t teach middle school.  It was never the kids themselves but it was too hard.  I don’t know about your particular school but there were so many rules for the teachers that did not help the kids.  
 a classroom? I have been researching classroom management.

I’ve worked in challenging middle and high schools and it takes a special type of person to be able to do that.  It’s great to want to make a difference but it had too much an effect on my emotions, stress and health.  I’m going to tell you some of the worst, just to not sugar coat the job.  Drugs, sex, consensual and non consensual, violence, gangs, pregnancy, hunger, fear of deportation, death by disease, at the hands of others, suicide, hunger…. I’ve had students with all of these issues in both middle and high school.  Notice I have not mentioned anything about challenges of teaching content.  Sometimes you realize quickly why that’s not a primary focus when you have a pregnant child in front of you who doesn’t have enough food and you genuinely like.

This is not daily and not everywhere but it’s real life, here, in FCPS in some areas.  My current school is nothing like this and a high SES community but you’d be surprised how much is still going on and how much they tell teachers.  It’s really not for the weak and you need to learn you can’t save all of them.  That’s was the hardest part for me when I was starting out.  Have boundaries and compartmentalize.

Try it for a year if you don’t have any other job options.  We certainly need good teachers.  I really do like it but it’s not for the weak.  [/quote]

I sincerely appreciate your brutal honesty. I was wondering what would have caused the aforementioned new teachers to cry. It helps for me to know what the worst I can expect to encounter in any new endeavor, so I can mentally prepare myself for it. I am an empath, but I recognize all I can do is my best to make things better. Having boundaries and learning to compartmentalize sounds like good advice. TY[/quote]

It probably won’t make you cry but prepare yourself for minimal effort and constant complaints. For example, when asked to write 5 paragraphs, student will write 3 sentences while complaining non-stop for 3 class periods about “not wanting to write, the annoying prompt, or having no ideas.” You can help them brainstorm topics and they’ll say they don’t like any of the 10 topics brainstormed.[/quote]

What made me cry my first year was the constant go-go-go. I always had 50 things to accomplish and no time to get it done. (This is not an exaggeration.) I’d work at night and still start each day behind.

It was also the comments. I was called some very creative insults by high schoolers who could tell I was new. I had a whole class of 10th graders mock me my first year. Over time, I grew in confidence and learned how to control a classroom. Took some trial and error as well as some thick skin. 
[/quote]

I have been researching behavior management a bit. I am considering co-creating a list of expectations that go both ways with the students. What worked for you as far as controlling the classroom? [/quote]

Great question. A lot of it is presence, which is something I had to learn over the first couple of years. But there are things you can definitely do immediately:

1. Over plan. Better to have too much to do than too little. A free 5 minutes at the end of the period can quickly turn chaotic. It also sets a tone that can become the norm in a classroom.
2. Set routine early and stick to it. (It’s really easy to let routines slip.) Talk to other teachers about their routines and consider adopting what sounds like your style. Start the first day of school.
3. If you need to correct behavior (and you will), try to do it privately. I use post-it notes that I casually drop on desks or I wait until the end of the period. Doing it in front of the class understandably causes students to go on the defense. 
4. Get to know students. Take notes the first week about home life, sports, likes, etc. Comment on these things in conversation. Students respond well to teachers who pay attention to them and get to know them. This is what works really well for me. I use “about me” assignments the first week to not only diagnose writing, but also to start my notes about each student. [/quote]

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