Whoa, long time no post.
I have reached the point in my teaching career where I think I would be better suited flipping burgers. What is the statistic, most new teachers leave before 5 years or something like that?
I am so done. I hate the paperwork, I hate the pressure of "if the test scores don't improve you probably won't have a job here", the apathetic students, etc.
The worst part of it all is I blame myself. I want my students to succeed, I want to be a great math teacher.
I have heard that it takes 8 years to be a good teacher. Is this true? Does it sound right? I guess the problem with starting a teaching career as an older person, every minute counts.
I went to edcampnj today. It was fun, but... there were only a few high points for me. 1. I connected with another teacher who I went to college with. We were both older students with kids, etc. But she is my "soul mate" in the teacher world. We haven't gotten together in awhile so this made my day. 2. While most of the sessions seemed to cater to ELA, the last session was about Khan Academy which I have previously hated, but after today I am like "wow so cool!" and this has to do with being introduced to the "practice", "coach" and reports section.
Saw the term "shiftclass" tonight and I am in love. There are a lot of things I am thinking of with this, my version is that I post in video fashion the "notes" of the day for them to put into their notebooks. I see how this is probably the PROPER term for flipclass. But aaaagggh this is such a complex subject.
Back to my college buddy and edcampnj, it was held in her middle school.... they may be adding more 7th grade math teachers next year. I LOVE my school. Its a charter school. Long hours, lots of responsibility, low pay. I think I am updating my resume. Sad/excited/hopeful/confused.
I need to blog more. I need to reflect more. I want my students to achieve more.
Teaching is hard; especially when teaching middle school students. I also started teaching as an older person and understand your feeling about making every minute count. This is my eighth year teaching and while I do feel more confident, I am not sure I will ever feel secure as a "good" teacher. That is okay though. It keeps me from getting stale and looking to improve.
ReplyDeleteI can tell from many of your previous posts how much you care. Even if your students seem apathetic at times and do not show it, they know you care too. And they do appreciate it. When I am feeling like I should be doing something, anything else, other than teaching, it helps to focus on the students that are improving and working like mad to understand math. Those students are there but it is easier to miss seeing those positives when we feel frustrated.
Hang tough
Everything Frank said. "I need to blog more. I need to reflect more. I want my students to achieve more." Right on!! This blogosphere community is here for you!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your encouraging words. I am going to try to look for something positive everyday. It is easy to focus on the things wrong and how to fix them that it gets overwhelming.
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