Re: Should I Just Quit?

Margaret

Posted on 12/01/12

(15) Comments

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km, did you read my post of a few days ago? I am an
experienced teacher (33 years) who always had good classroom
control. I was not a strict teacher but had a warm, friendly
atmosphere in my classroom where there was mutual respect
between students and the teacher. Students knew what behaviors
were and weren't allowed. I never had to make a request more
than once. The students were polite and respectful. When I
was at the front of the room teaching a lesson there were 25
pairs of eyes on me and the room was so quiet you could hear a
proverbial pin drop. If they were taking a test or doing
independent work it was the same way. If they were working in
groups or with a partner there was only a busy hum in the air
with , again, excellent behavior. Now it's like I landed on a
different planet and these miniature people that I once knew
as "children" are some alien beings that I don't like very
much. Don't beat yourself up. It's not you...it's the kids.
I believe that it's the home life with hardly any parental
control along with the video games, Wii, X-boxes, etc. that
are doing the babysitting for the parents. My reputation
speaks for itself - I don't question my teaching ability or my
ability to handle a class. I blame the kids who simply don't
know what respect is because they've never been taught.
On 12/01/12, km wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've been substitute teaching for about a year and a half
> now, and I haven't been able to get control of the
> students. I have a bachelor's degree and a teaching license
> and am working on a master's degree, but I'm beginning to
> think that I just don't know how to do my job. Every time I
> sub middle or elementary school, I have complete chaos. The
> only course of action the schools give us is to write the
> students up and send them to the office. I hate writing
> students up for simply getting out of a seat without
> permission, but most of my problem comes from students who
> get up and cause trouble for everyone else, in the form of
> rough housing, stealing worksheets, and generally making
> mischeif that makes my job nearly impossible. At the end of
> the day, I'm beaten up, discouraged, and frustrated. Why
> couldn't I control the students better than I did? Why
> didn't I get any work done? To make matters worse,
> sometimes my complaints are taken seriously by
> administration, and other times they are not. Perhaps I'm
> almost waiting for someone to tell me that I need to go
> back to school, because I don't know anything about
> Education. Maybe I would quit everything then.
>
> I'm so tired of being a day-to-day substitute teacher and
> practically begging for long-term sub assignments and
> permanent positions. From what I've experienced, substitute
> teaching is torture. I need help.

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