I don't want to teach after my first year...am I selfish?

Question

This is my first year teaching and I'm extremely emotional and overwhelmed. I love kids and I love the subject I teach, however I am just not happy. I have over a thousand students in six different grades (they are 2 K-12 schools)because I teach students from 2 different schools. The schools are excellent and my pay is pretty good for a first year teacher, but I am dreading going to work every day. My principal has not spoken more than 5 minutes with me all and all and I feel completely alone amongst the staff. I was just thrown into the schools and I was never told what the expectations were, what the schedules were and I had to ask for rosters and schedules the night before the first day of school. The workload, meetings and professional development on top of the already consuming schedule of grading, forming lesson plans and teaching leaves absolutely no room for downtime and I have found myself neglecting other aspects of my life. I have heard it is typical to feel this way your first year, but I feel like such a whiny failure. I have always been successful in any job I've ever held, but this is my first career since I am a recent graduate. I am an overachiever and I feel like giving up because I am so scared of letting people down and failing. I have a lot of people counting on me (the over a thousand students, all their parents, the faculty, administrators, etc.) and I am freaking out. Would it be bad if I did not resign a contract if it is offered to me at the end of the year? I am so scared that my principal will be very upset if I decide not to stay. Of course I will finish the year, but I'm seriously considering looking for another job. Is that wrong and selfish of me?

Answer 1

This is not at all a question of being selfish. It sounds much more like self-preservation. Did you somehow fall through the cracks? There should have been several days of orientation for all new hires. You should have been assigned a mentor who is paid to help you. They should have given you the class lists and schedules when the other teachers get theirs. You should not have had to search for them.



I can begin to calculate how you can have 1,000 students a week. The lack of attention from the principal is inexcusable. I'd like to suggest several ideas.



You need to really get to know the office secretaries. They can help to be sure that you get all the supplies and things that you need. They can route you to people who can help.



You need to make an appointment and talk with the principal. Ask about what kind of support that the district should be giving new teachers, because you don't seem to have any. Has the principal been in to observe? As a new teacher, there should be several formal observations this year, with follow-up conferences. If the school doesn't supply a mentor, ask if he can help to arrange for someone to help you. Try to keep it positive, not whiny, because you don't want it to become a complaint session. You want it to be a get-me-some-help session.



Talk to others in your department. I am guessing that you must be art, music, or phys ed. Ask for how they cope with the crazy schedule. Commiserating about a situation is a kind of support.



You are not whiny and not a failure. This is more than your ever bargained for.. I know that you had dreams of how great it would be to teach, and the situation where you landed does not sound like an ideal situation. Please be strong and hang in there. Do what you can to build a support system and to get a better handle on all these classes. Next weekend, develop a long range plan for what you need to cover for each class for the remainder of the year. That will help you to feel that you have some grasp and some control.



Have your joined the teachers union? Talk to your building rep. The union may also be able to find some support for you.



It really can get better. I believe that you can make it!

Answer 2

There is nothing harder than your first year, I know from experience. You will feel alone and abused and taken advantage of and treated like a nothing piece of ****, but if you can get past the first year, then it does get better. You are exhausted and feel like a house maid for Hitler. This is just the way it is. the second year is so much better. Hang on for a while longer - it took you a long time to enjoy the abuse of a new teacher. Please don't quit just yet. This is a baptism of fire! if you go home in tears almost every day, then that is normal. There is no downtime, there is no peace, there is nothing but crushing stress and feeling like a failure - how else do they find people with the balls to teach?

DO NOT QUIT.

Answer 3

We teach Newton's theories of action with their flaws; that they do no longer stick to at very intense speeds or at atomic ranges. further Einstein's theories do no longer stick to on the quantum point. teach evolution an identical way; which includes its flaws. it quite is an insufficient concept to describe what it tries to.