My first advice would be to not return to that school. But of
course these days we all need a job....

and so you might well find yourself at just such a school
again. How will you cope with that? Well, did you like teaching
at all? I like being around the kids - if people don't like
kids, they truly shouldn't be teaching. It's rather like a
doctor not liking people. I found joy in the presence of the
kids who are at times frustrating yes, but - if kids were
perfect, why do we have them in school?

Some of the venting in school about kids is again like a doctor
complaining "All my patients are sick." Well, that's what you
do - help sick people - and that's what we do - work with kids.

If kids really ran a school, they'd disband it and send
everybody home. But - you can run your classroom and it's a
Major Fallacy to think you can't run a classroom without the
administration's help and support. In fact, I NEVER send a kid
out - try to teach as if you didn't have an administration
because you don't really anyway. Build a relationship with your
students as did Harry Truman with his Congress - 'the buck
stops here'.

My kids deal with me - I deal with them. It's me they don't
want to deal with not some namby-pamby principal who sits in
his office reading People Magazine. If you can't be that kind
of classroom teacher these days, then returning to the
classroom might not be a good idea. Did your parents send you
to somebody else when they had an issue with your behavior or
they deal with it themselves? My father never beat me or
spanked me and I was scared to death of his displeasure.

You have to develop a persona that works for you - not one that
is dependent on the authority of your administration. Take an
acting class - nothing helps a teacher more than being able to
act. I had a student come back years later and say "I figured
out your classroom was pure theater - you're actually a soft,
sweet person."

But in the classroom, I"m crisp. Cultivate an air of natural
authority. You'll sleep better, your classroom will run better.
And bring a laptop to all meetings, pretend to take notes, and
plan your lessons on it while they blither on about some new
miracle idea that isn't either a miracle or even a good idea.
Good luck.

> Hello, all.
>
> I taught for 4.5 years, but have been out of the classroom
> for the past 3 years getting a master's degree.
>
> The district I taught in before was small and drama-laden.
> They were incredibly disrespectful of teachers time. For
> example, they would do things like drop by one afternoon
> and announce a brand new program that needed to be
> implementented immediately, thereby rendering useless the
> months worth of photocopying/planning/scheduling you'd done
> based on what was "required" before.
>
> Students ran the school, and EVERYBODY knew it. There was
> no consequence for student behavior besides what you could
> come up with as an individual teacher. The idea of school-
> wide enforcement was a joke, as being sent to the vice
> principal resulted in nothing.
>
> The district required so much professional development
> (usually a random 2 nights a week), that creating a
> schedule for planning, grading, photocopying, calling
> parents, etc. was impossible. Professional development
> started 30 minutes after school let out, but we had duty
> and had to drive across town, and this was just a stressful
> process for 2 days out of each week.
>
> All that said, I love teaching, I just feel a sense of
> acute anxiety at the thought of joining a school district
> again. School districts just don't seem to treat their
> teachers well, from my experience, and I fear the pain of
> teaching again.
>
> Any advise?
>
> I have spent the last few years trying to prepare to have a
> better experience, but I am not sure how much I can prepare
> for unethical administrator treatment and lack of school-
> wide preparation to respond to distruptive students.
>
> Thanks!

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