I just haven't been feeling it lately.
I enjoy teaching. I enjoy working with teenagers. But lately I'm not sure if I want to be a teacher anymore, at least not in the US.
A friend of mine is packing up her stuff, selling her house, and moving to Taiwan to work at an international school there. I considered that prospect last year, but the financial hit to my retirement was just too big. But given the soul-sucking nature of my job, I'm considering it again.
I got one of those notes from a student today, one of those personal "thank you for..." notes that make you smile both inside and out. I decided to put it in my rainy day folder, and as I was doing so decided to read everything in there.
Everything.
I have a couple in there going back to my first year of teaching, 1997-98. A lot were from around 5 years ago. Just the one from this year. Oh, I got a few notes this year, but only the one made it into the folder.
There's a reason it's called the "rainy day folder". It's there to remind me of the good I've done, to remind me of the sunshine when all I can see is the rain. What I read in there reminded me that I'm good at what I do. In many cases I teach kids what they didn't think they could learn. I really wish that were all that mattered. If it were, I wouldn't be in this quandary.
15 comments:
I have something like that, but it is behind my desk in my classroom. If I am ever feeling down about my job, I look at that wall.
It is my last couple days of the school year and I am signing yearbooks and getting some thank you cards. I know most of the kids enjoy my class and they do learn in my class. However, it is tough some days and I am a bit burned out on the school year. We had a strike and I switched classrooms mid year (construction). I just can't wait for the year to be done.
Darren,
I know that blogging isn't your day job, but I appreciate it. I thank you again for introducing me to Camillia Paglia, and Johnathon Haidt. I never would have run across them without you.
I appreciate good teachers, and know that I never could have become one. (I've taught and enjoy it, but classroom control and organization are beyond me.) GRIN just give me a lab and some interesting problems to solve.
(and I have a few good memories of my teaching in religious settings, also.
Good luck in finding your next steps.
Nice! I love those. When do you retire? I left public school after 8 years in the system. I teach at an Independent school and love it. While I don't contribute to the state pension, I have a school-matched 403B instead.
I'm curious about what exactly it is about teaching in the US that is getting you down. Could you share some specific problems?
Got the Administrative blues, do ya?
Administrative Bloat is a disease that kills teachers.
I'm retiring next May; getting out just in the nick of time before despair or "eh" sets in. I began cleaning out over 30 years worth of files and came upon my rainy day file; it brought back some good memories. Nothing has taken the joy out of teaching the way the CCSS and Ohio's state tests for HS have done. Looking at some of the things I used to do brought that home in a sad way; those state tests take up so much time for so little pay back.
If I were just beginning as a teacher, I don't think I could do it--looking at the ways teachers are not treated as professionals and navigating the kelicoptor parents and entitled kids and I think it will only get worst. I think we've brought some of this on ouselves with the liberal bent of educators today, and some of the really stupid and nasty behavior that seems to get publicized so readily. (What is wrong with those teachers who get involved sexually with students?!
I hope you can find out what you want to do; life is short, yet retirement funds are important, too. So many of my fellow teachers who are in their forties are wondering how in the world they can do another 20 years.
What's wrong?
-Entitled parents who threaten lawsuits
-Cowardly (mostly district) administrators who give in to those threats
-Special Ed and Section 504 accommodations that are *totally* out of control, and the so-called civil rights threats if we don't give in to what parents want
-Incompetent district leadership
-(Horrible) CC standards in math
That's probably enough to start with.
You know what isn't so bad? The dang kids. I can deal with them. The rest? Soul-sucking.
Are you allowed to offer enrichment without your employment being threatened?
I talked to a fellow teacher at a retirement party last night. Great teacher, but clearly close to burnout. Only his deep sense of professionality keeps him producing. I asked him how long to his retirement. He mournfully said five more years. Health insurance is the reason. He’d have to pick up bill of fourteen hundred bucks a month for the family.
That’s why I’m for medicare for all or some modification of it, like let people buy in at 55 or so. Too many folks in our profession hanging on for that boost in retirement or health insurance. It isn’t good for the teachers and it isn’t good for the profession.
Richard
lgm, I don't understand your question.
in my area, the teachers initially offered enrichment to the interested students who did not need the review days dedicated to the socially promoted or fully included. This offered some sanity...but its no longer allowed, all must be on the same dumbed down page. Was curious if you had that restriction also.
My last day was May 23rd. I know I'm retiring early as TRS reminds me with every missive, but honestly I could not take another year in this toxic stew. The phones, the social media, the restorative justice, the helicopter parents, the cheating all the time....the utter despair of working to create engaging challenging projects only to have a class treat them like a joke--it's just not worth it. I should be doing my own writing and painting. Here's the blog I wrote on my retirement and I think you'll find it hits the high points: https://sumofallthingsaccording2me.blogspot.com/2019/05/retirement.html
There was no question. It was just an observation about how common your dilemma is to teachers in the latter part of their career. You would like to take off and teach overseas for a few years but can’t pull the trigger because of the pension hit. It is either pension hit or health insurance hit that keeps people slugging away at a job that no longer gives them fulfillment. Tough call.
As an aside I took four years off from teaching in mid career and went to the Smithsonian Institution as a biologist. For me it was a good decision and I’m a better teacher for it, but yep, took a retirement hit.
Richard
lgm--not yet!
Two more years until I pull the plug. I will be 65, have been teaching middle school for 16 years as a second career. The number of kids who do next to nothing is growing each year. In our building we have kids who get up and literally just go for a walk whenever they feel like it. This is a result of a law passed in Oregon about 6 years ago that prohibited regular classroom teachers from touching students in anyway that could be conceived as restraint. So we now have a whole crop of kids who have learned they can stay out at recess if they want to or go for a walk and all the adult can do is helplessly follow.
Post a Comment