Thread: Please help me before I go insane!

Deltateacher --

I wish I had some wonderful words of wisdom for you, but I don't. I've been in your situation before and it is almost unbearable -- almost being the operative word.

What I did

1) Prepared the best lessons I could, knowing I would be held accountable.

2) I rarely left my room. Although as the year progressed, I did find allies.

3) I tried my very best to stay in the building only as long as I had to. It was too depressing a place to spend any extra time there.

4) After Christmas, I applied to every school district and private school in the area. I had a new job by March and that made last quarter much more bearable.

The really funny thing was that one of the most hateful students I ever taught approached me on the street the next year. "Mrs. Griffin, Why did you leave us. I learned more in your class!" Go figure. He made my life miserable!

Bitsy

Originally Posted by deltateacher

Hi! I'm new here, and thought maybe you all could guide me about how to cope at a school I teach in until May of next year when my contract expires. :roll:

It is a poor school district...there is no parental involvement and to top it off we have a interim principal. The former principal took a job elsewhere AFTER I had signed the contract. :x I teach 7th grade...have never seen so much disrespect and poor attitudes in my life, and I am only 28. :cry:

I have been an assistant teacher for 4 years, and I have never seen anything like this before. This is my first year as a certified teacher and I am so disheartened. :cry:

I also work with a disadvantaged population and entered the teaching profession on a career ladder from a long term classified job. Some of the benefits about having a long time in the school district were knowing the system and who could be helpful. The downside was that everyone expected me to be able to work with difficult populations overnight. I did have a supportive administration. After three years, I feel that I cope much better. My first year however was hell. Students were disrespectful, rude, violent, etc. But like Bitsy, they now come to tell me that my class was the best and that they learned something from me.

Along with all of Bitsy's strategies, I would like to share a book I am currently reading. It gives me AHAs as I recognize behavior and helps me to feel less isolated. It has also given me some food for thought as I attempt to work with students at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.

A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne.
[url="http://www.ahaprocess.com"]www.ahaprocess.com[/url]

Hang in there.

Karleen

Wow, your situation sounds really bad. Last year (my first year teaching full-time) I had a similar situation. But not nearly as bad. I mean, the kids in my class were good most of the time, but I didn't get along with the staff very well and didn't get much help or support from other teachers. They were all 2ce my age and had all been at that school for over 20 years. So I felt like an outsider and they didn't appreciate my new methods of teaching such as group work and self-directed projects, ect. So, what did I do? Well, first I had to confront the teachers who kept barging in to my classroom to tell my kids they were too noisy. That created even more enemies, however, at least they left me alone and didn't interfere with how I decided to teach my class. I didn't try to stir anything up with the staff that wasn't necessary. I just kept to myself and focused on the kids. And stayed away from staff room (where I heard teachers talking behind my back about the way I taught my class).

Don't get me wrong, it is very hard working with staff that act like that. But, just remember, you're there to do your job and only that. My advice? Don't try to do too much, give the students a lot of paperwork (worksheets, ect instead of projects and groupwork), smile and always act overly happy and pleasant (especially to the secretary), stay away from the staff room, and take lots of sick days. Do your job and that's all. It also helps if you can befriend just one teacher in the school. Take him/her out to lunch and explain your situation. Good luck and keep us updated!

Originally Posted by deltateacher

How can I possibly last until May? HELP! :cry:

A teacher friend of mine once said that sometimes the only thing you can do is to close your door and teach.

Since you're under a great deal of stress - have you considered going to see your doctor? Your doctor can prescribe medication to help reduce your stress. You can also get medication for depression.

Venting would also be good. You may vent in this forum as much as you'd like. If you have close friends, you should also talk to them.

You should also make sure that you give yourself down time to relax and unwind. As a first year teacher you're probably burning the candle at both ends. My best advice to you would be to stop doing this. Don't work through the weekend. Take at least one day off to sleep, run errands, or have fun. Don't burn yourself out. Enjoy life. Don't let your job consume you and know that this year WILL PASS.

Best wishes,

David

Thank you all so much for your advice. Actually, I had stopped doing my work at home. My new motto is that if it doesn't get done at school, it won't be brought home. Within reason, of course, but I am NOT going to torture myself like I did this past nine weeks.

I am so glad I found this forum...it is just the type of support I am going to need to get me through. I really appreciate all your wise words and can't wait to get to know you all better. Thanks a TON!

My advice is a little more long term than most....get through the year in whatever manner works for you...take some of the suggestions offered here. Then.....prepare yourself for next year. There's alot you don't have control over. You can't control other teachers, the administration, parental involvement, etc....you can only control what happens in your classroom. I am a huge fan of Harry Wong in terms of classroom management. He has some wonderful insights into managing your classroom. Look for some of his books and articles. It's hard to change behavior that has already been learned by your students. Wong talks about setting up procedures for everything and practicing them until your class knows what to expect and everything runs smoothly. Use this year to learn everything you can about classroom management - mistakes are particularly enlightening so don't be afraid to make a few. See what works for other teachers and use their ideas...don't reinvent the wheel. Make life easy for yourself. I don't know your philosophy about homework but I would suggest another book - The End of Homework. I don't remember the authors but I think this book should be a must read for every new teacher. Good luck and hang in there...