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Good Teachers: “Ms. Greer, we need to take your planning period today. We have a class of students in In-School Suspension (ISS) who need coverage for their third period. I know you had a webinar scheduled for our upcoming unit on parallelograms, but you can watch that at home. We need all ‘hands’ on deck, and you’re the only teacher available.”

This was the conversation that I had at 7:35 am on Monday morning while standing by the mailboxes in the front office. I had just had a weekend of “rest” that included me grading 150 Argumentative Essays, all while updating grades- after being in Saturday tutorial for 4 hours. So as I rushed out of my house that morning, I was looking forward to spending my planning period actually planning for the week. When I saw my Assistant Principal quickly walking toward me as he motioned for me, I already knew he needed something. 

Little did I know, it was to take away my protected planning time. While the request was not huge, my assistant principal failed to realize that for the last 12 weeks of school, I’ve had my planning period taken 24 times. Twenty-four times when I’ve been asked to cover classes, attend arbitrary PLCs, watch over misbehaving students, have parent-teacher conferences over discipline concerns, and just general mismanagement of 2,800 minutes of my time.  

The simple task of asking to help a colleague, support a school initiative, or help an upset student is not a big deal, but coupled with all of the increasing demands of teachers, it has made the job of teaching almost unbearable. So unbearable that in the last five years, I have seriously contemplated quitting teaching. Each year the urge gets stronger and stronger, and it’s not just me, but most of my fellow teachers are with:

  • The increased demands of teachers to be more accountable than parents.
  • The lack of resources to help teachers actually support the content.
  • The assumption is that teachers should pay out of pocket for resources for students.
  • The escalating behaviors of students with mental health issues and parents.
  • The lack of flexibility for teachers to actually be active in learning on the job.
  • The neverending amount of paperwork attached to student learning that teachers are supposed to complete.

And that’s just to start.

There is no wonder that 50% of teachers have considered leaving the profession- a difficult decision, but to maintain mental sanity, it’s necessary. My decision has been one I’ve been wrestling with for years, but this week it’s been a feeling I can not shake. As I continue to teach and look at the beautiful faces of my students, I wonder how they will feel if I tell them I’m leaving at the end of the year. As I meet with my parents, I wonder if I should let them know that they will need to get to know a new teacher. As I met with my principal, I think about telling him that I will not be back, so he will need to find another teacher to sponsor my after-school activities.

I think about leaving constantly, but I am not alone. As I talk to my colleagues, they feel the same, but many are beyond “thinking of it” and are actively planning on leaving. They discuss their job opportunities and their trepidations with leaving the kids, but the satisfaction that will come on day one when they will not be entering a classroom. The scary part is that for every professional learning, conference, or workshop outside my building that I attend, every ‘good’ teacher I know is discussing leaving the profession. 

The conversations are no longer hushed and just between small groups of teachers, but teachers are vocal that they are DONE. Some have even gone as far as retiring early, utilizing FMLA to be off of work, or worse, just turning in their keys and never returning again. These are not your ‘bad’ teachers but are the teachers who have won national awards, sponsored after-school activities or have the highest growth percentiles- all of them are tired.

This fact alone should scare parents, administrators, and other stakeholders, but unfortunately, with the corporate focus on education, many of them don’t seem to care. Instead, new teachers come in, stay for a year or two (if lucky), and by year three- they’re gone. I’ve talked with friends who are administrators in other buildings, and they are equally concerned about what I thought to be true- we have reached a ‘tipping point’ in education, and the only to stop it would be to empower parents and students to collectively fight against the conditions that are scaring children and keeping teachers from the classroom. 

As I think about the ‘collective fight,’ it gives me hope that 2023 will be the year of teachers, parents, and communities to take back our schools and make them places where teachers and students want to be.

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37 Comments

  1. “The increased demands of teachers to be more accountable than parents.” Number one pet peeve for me! As a math teacher, parents often ask me to stay after school to “tutor” their child. I have a second job to make ends meet so I am unable to do this but even if I could, you expect me to give up my time, unpaid, to work with your child who isn’t listening in class, isn’t completing homework, isn’t completing the extra credit assignments or watching the many instructional videos which I post for not only students, but parents to better understand the math I am teaching. I don’t think so. Why don’t you as a parent sit down with your child, read the notes, study the example problems, watch the videos and make sure they complete their work. I will gladly clear up any confusing questions during our 40 minute study time or before school, but the students don’t come to me for that help then. They are busy with friends or on laptops playing games.

    1. Amen to that sister! I’d also include the parents who pull their kids out of school for a Caribbean vacation of 10 days, ask for work to take along so the kid won’t fall behind (lol! Seriously it’s Alg 2 – your kid is going to self teach while tanning??) then get pissed when said student fails the test on the missed material because they were out of school on an “excused absence “. Ugh!!

      1. That was always a no win situation for me too! Who in their right mind is going to have their student complete the assignments on vacation? leave them at home with a grandparent! Ugh!

  2. I’m retired now, but I know what you mean. I taught from 1983 through 2016–right through the Nation at Risk era and the federal government take-over of public education. I know this sounds silly, but you either have to love it or leave it. Leaving might be the best thing for your life. Don’t stay if you hate teaching. Use your skills somewhere else where they appreciate you. I wrote a blog for a while a few years ago. A man in the community collected the blogs and published them on amazon with my permission. The little book is free. The title is “Screwed” by Nick Smith.

  3. This is my 7th year of teaching and I am soooo tired. I have students that just don’t want to do the work, they “demand” to be entertained or they won’t put their phone away, they expect to be given extra work so they can pass at the last minute…and on and on and on. It is just too much. I have PDs EVERY week for 2 hours, I have to have “tutoring” hours every week, I have been “requested” to make sure to give extra work to those students that need to pass. I work at least 12 hours per day, not including my drive (2.5 hours round trip). I am exhausted…

    1. I am retraining to work as a SpEd teacher, and I’ve rarely been more horrified at the lack of support as I have evidenced in my current situation. No support from my department leader (who just dumped the caseload on me – no rhyme or reason- and at a new school); too many parent demands for meetings with me (when they should be meeting with the teacher of the subject in question), and little guidance from my program on how to handle a nasty schedule and helicopter parents. Along with a mean commute, and not knowing people in my area, why bother working on my goal to help students when teachers are considered little more than dispensible?

    2. I’m right there with you, and so is nearly every teacher that I work with. We are working at least 60 hours per week and we are never “caught up”. No matter how hard we work, we can never do everything that we are supposed to do. We have a great administrative team at our school, but so many of the requirements come from our district administration, state school board, an state legislature. Our students have so many personal, behavioral, and psychological problems, in addition to the educational ones. The “solution” is to add an SEL curriculum. Hooray, another curriculum that I need to learn and implement in my classroom, despite the fact that I already don’t have enough time to teach the core curriculum!

      As I talk with my colleagues, almost all of us are considering quitting. It has gotten to the point where we feel sick to our stomachs every Sunday night thinking about the week to come. I’d like to be able to stick it out for a few more years, but I just don’t know how much more I can take.

  4. I quit not because of the workload and other problems but because of being bullied over and over by administrators. I have done many things differently as a teacher than the system required or the administration expected, yet delivering the programs fully without a compromise (and most of the time appreciated by students and parents). I had only two principals out of many who supported me and understood that doing things differently does not mean you cannot do your job right, that there is more than one way.
    To me it is unthinkable that in education, where we look for any signs of bullying by students, administrators are sometimes the biggest bullies and a teacher has not recourse.

  5. SUPER Saturday, as I read this article it touches something special inside me as this is a total concern for me.
    My name is Carol Peoples and I am launching a new “talk show and podcast” in 2020. The focus of the show is “REAL LIFE” issues with “CRYSTAL CLEAR” perspectives and solutions!
    As I read your story and comments I must say I TOTALLY AGREE. I am doing a show on this very topic and would absolutely love to speak with you.

    1. I would be happy to participate as well. This article is an echo Of my own thoughts and feelings. I’ve taught for ten years, as a substitute, at a charter school for six, and most currently at a public school. The education system has failed the students- ironically, by passing failing students. Most recently, we had a PD where the speaker explained that although respect for adults used to be a given, this is no longer the case and WE, the teachers, are supposed to earn THEIR, the students, respect?!! I about died. I could go on forever. THere is an agenda, but it’s not to educate children.

  6. I don’t envy any of you. You got a collage degree and entered a profession that is crucial to this country only to be undermined at every turn. In my community we are constantly hearing of cut backs for schools which means less teachers and less money for the teachers who are left with the larger classroom sizes and a larger work load.
    As a partial parent, having helped raise my two nieces, I blame the parents. People spit out kids like rabbits and then once they pass out of that cute, attention gathering, baby stage they have no idea what to do with them. They seem to think that parenting stops after the tyke is potty trained. Then they expect teachers to take over. I understand that parents are busy, but raising a child is an 18 year + commitment and they should take that into account before they start having kids.
    My sister worked preschool for several years and I was shocked to learn that part of their daily teaching plan included teaching the kids manners at the table during meal time. This is not something that should be a teacher’s responsibility. Teachers today wear the hats of not only teacher but disciplinarian, psychologist, referee, nurse, supplier, and counselor just to name a few.
    It’s sad that so many teachers are spending less time working in their chosen profession then the years it took for them to get there. My hats off to all teachers and they job they do, because they are teaching our future.

  7. My name is Lisa and this is my 40th year teaching. I retired from brick and mortar at 32 years and have been teaching virtually for the past 8 years.
    WOW how education has changed! I think more than anything that has effected education is the change in our society. Parents are busier and spend less quality time with their kids. As education has changed into testing, our kids have suffered from being asked to do more than they are mentally ready for. As the saying goes, “ we keep doing the same things over and over expecting different results!” It just isn’t working!
    Our system is broken and no one has the solution or is willing to do what it takes to fix it!
    I wish I had a answer, but the truth is, even if I did, no one would listen! I am “ just a teacher!”
    We just have too many people making decisions for education that aren’t educators! Just my opinion!

  8. As a culture, we have foisted off teaching ANYTHING to our children. We expect preachers and Sunday School teachers to teach them about our religion; we expect coaches to teach them everything about the sports they play; we expect private music teachers to teach them all about the instruments they need to use; why not expect our public school teachers to teach them manners? Parents who spend TIME with their children (not screen time or “being-in-the-same-room” time) are the best at teaching them all kinds of things. Parents, please spend quality time with your little ones. We as an entire society are better off for it.

  9. I agree with all of the points that are made in this post and the comments. However, I have a question for Ms. Greer: Where is you union? Even in my right to work state, we still have a master contract, and protected planning time is a major part of it.

    1. Amen! We get paid extra for subbing on our prep or doing PD outside of our work day. Our union would not allow it any other way. Collective bargaining, and then holding to the contract, is the answer. We must get unions back in operation in our country.

  10. I was an English/drama/journalism teacher for 25 years. I found what I thought was a way out… I became the high school librarian. That was fantastic for a year or two, until our district got chrome books for every student and decided librarians could be in charge of them. I am retiring in June, heartbroken that the jobs I’ve lived have been systematically destroyed.

  11. I’m a teacher turned building administrator. It has been eye opening. All those situations I had previously complained about that I thought my Principal and AP were “ignoring or promoting” well it wasn’t so…not at all. The amount that building admins are controlled and held hostage by philosophies and opinions of district directors. Assistant Superintendents, Superintendents, and BOE members will blow your mind. I often fight for my teachers, which has resulted in losing btw, ended up costing me a good performance rating which cut into my supplement $, and even once a written reprimand of which put me on probation. I will continue to fight for my staff and teachers and I will continue to look for an escape out of education. After 29 years, 11 of which as a school administrator, I just want people to know that just because it’s asked by your building administration doesn’t mean they agree or even came up with it. Some of us like you are trying to do what’s best for kids, just trying to keep our job until something else comes along, and be the buffer between the powers that be and the teacher no matter the cost.

    1. Well Willis, you are a rare bird indeed.

      It IS so in most schools. We have five untenured APs and an untenured principal in my school. I respect all but one of them (and my reasons for that are myriad and go waaaay beyond what can and should be examined here. I’ll just say the individual is deeply flawed – – even mentally ill.) and usually feel sorry for the situation that they have been put in (must cowtow to an INSANE superintemdent who is pofoundly “tetched” and is a bigot with an absolute vendetta against people who don’t fit into her twisted little subset of PERCEIVED “victims”) BUT I have seen so many TRULY hideous decisions and changes made in the interest of pleasing that nut (and her even more disgusting, even more warped “next in line”) rather than in the interest of common decency as well as protecting both the children and the teachers, that I really cannot excuse them anymore.

      So, yeah. YOU are rare. Then again, 11 years in and tenure long since having been attained…it’s easy for you to say – – and even do – – that; isn’t it?

    2. Eleven years in and tenured is a pretty comfortable place.
      Who cares if the admin. agrees with it? I care about whether and why they enforce it when THEY KNOW it’s the wrong thing and not at all in the interest of children and teachers.

    3. I too was a teacher turned assistant principal. District level administrators and Superintendents long with school boards are gutless. Until that changes the results will remain the same

  12. This article hits the nail on the head in so many aspects. With 33 years under my belt in special education, I am sooooo DONE!!!
    I am trying my best to make it two more years, but I am not sure how much more I can take. We are not a respected profession, even though a lot of us have advanced degrees. The paperwork is killing me! The parents expect kids to make all A’s, even when they do not do the required work. Don’t even get me started on testing! I love the kids, but it has become too much! I feel sorry for new teachers because I know they will not stay.

  13. The problem was that administrators once thought that they could easily replace any teacher that left. Now Maryland is facing a 1,000 teacher shortage. Maryland colleges face 30% fewer students in education majors, with some colleges like Goucher completely dismantling their education department. There is no one to replace teachers that are leaving. Students are being shoved into grossly overcrowded classes or taught by long-term subs. Loyal veterans that stay are “punished” with these overcrowded classes or writing daily plans for these substitutes.

  14. All hands on deck is truly a symptom of the larger issue. Losing teachers does not seem to be a big deal. Or so it appears. Corporate system is in full swing at schools.3% growth on standardized tests. Students aren’t products to be sold. Teachers are tied to growth and so are administrators.

  15. This is all really so scary! As a administrator I know I ask too much from my teachers! I am willing to do myself anything I ask them to do also. I know the feeling of almost every reply! Then educators are always in question when it comes to qualifications! Well like it said the highly qualified are leaving the profession. We are giving out degrees on line just to keep up with the upcoming shortage! The hard thing to swallow is that education has become a sucker job if you put up with the crap, not be a great teacher just put up with the crap!! I salute all you teachers! God bless!!

  16. I just retired after 24 years of teaching. I will miss “my kids” but after being told by an administrator, in front of students, that I could not take a student’s phone, that was about the last straw. Mind you, phones are supposed to be in lockers, turned off.

  17. I’ve been teaching for 48 years.. First grade second grade, Reading Recovery, tutor, teaching college courses, supervising student teachers, seminars, designing and leading PD, and volunteering in a local Catholic kindergarten to work with a brand new teacher.
    I love teaching. It is my passion. I “retired” in 2009 After 37 years to move on to college level mentioned. I believe I experienced the golden age of teaching when teachers were trusted to make good decisions for their student, when we could try new ways of teaching, when we decided decided how to use our time, when we felt appreciated by parents and administrators. I would walk into my principal’s office and tell her I have an idea. I would be listened to and many times the principal would let me run with it. If there wan’t enough money, we wrote grants. I was happy, it was never….I’m going to work, it was always…I’m going to school.
    As I observe education today, I am deeply saddened. I won’ repeat what has been written, it’s all true. I keep waiting for the pendulum to swing back to sanity. Young people are not going into teaching. For the first time in ten years, I will not be working with student teachers because the number has dwindled so drastically. The permanent faculty can handle the number easily. It looks like my future as a teacher will be volunteering in a Catholic school where there is no reading specialist. I’m happy to do it. But, I’m not happy for the thousands of teachers who are missing the joy of teaching. I was blessed to be a part of the golden age. It was a vibrant,, exciting time to teach and I truly miss it.

  18. “The increased demands of teachers to be more accountable than parents.
    The lack of resources to help teachers actually support the content.
    The assumption that teachers should pay out of pocket for resources for students.
    The escalating behaviors of students with mental health issues and parents.
    The lack of flexibility for teachers to actually being active learning on the job.
    The neverending amount of paperwork attached to student learning that teachers are supposed to complete.”

    You nailed it! Amen sister! by any chance are you teaching in a NYC school? It sounds like you just snatched this list out of my head and off my lips!

    In my case I’d add…”and the UFT doing nothing to help; but rather EVERYTHING to bend over backwards and assist the administrators, educrats and teacher hating morons who are making our lives miserable. Every contract we’ve had, sin ce 2009 has stripped us of more and more rights.

    The New York Teaching Fellows program is churning novices (I was paired with one who had a teaching license for all of 3 months and who had all of 7 weeks teaching experience…that having been gained teaching summer school and ONLY summer school for the 7 weeks before she was paired with me.) who ARE TAUGHT that we experienced teachers who went through training and licensure THE PROPER WAY ( 3.5 years of ed. classes, AND 5 semesters observations – -200 hours each – – of in-service teachers BEFORE student teaching for 5 months) are “old fashioned”, “bitter”, and – – my personal favorite “out of touch with teaching children.”

    Don’t even get me started on our hands (feet and tongues) being tied with regard to discipline. (You were ABSOLUTELY RIGHT about calling many of our biggest “problem” children “mentally ill.” In the interest of “least restrictive environment” for the children in Special Education, we have restricted the environment of EVERY OTHER child, because they just pushed ALL special ed (with the exception of the most physically or developmentally challenged) into mainstreamed and co-taught classes without any examining who was/was not ready and who would never be ready. Then they brainwashed the (new) special ed teachers into thinking that gen. ed teachers were “mean” and “elitist” and “didn’t want to deal with” or “have the compassion to deal with” the special ed students. SOME CHILDREN SHOULD NEVER BE IN GENERAL EDUCATION. IT IS A FACT!

    Yes. many/most of the best teachers have left…and have done so in droves. Those who remain either are dead smack in the middle of their careers (and can’t risk “throwing away all that time spent getting the qualifications to teach”…and/or the pensions that they are working towards) or close to the end of their careers but are too “young” to collect the full pension for which they’ve worked so hard.

    We are thoroughly abused by EVERYONE – – parents, children, “colleagues” (and I put that in quotations because I really cannot consider some snotnose with a three month old teaching license and a HUGE attitude with opinions about my life’s work which started when she/he was either in 2nd grade (as was the case with my co-teacher AND my AP last year) or (n the case of this year) six years BEFORE he was BORN; especially when the only suggestion that either had was “ummm, so why don ‘t we add a graphic organizer or show a clip about it from the internet?”

    I’m out in 5 years…and I wish it were 5 years AGO!

  19. Those who can, do
    Those who can’t, teach
    Those who can’t teach, become administrator
    And tell those who can, how to

  20. If you don’t file a grievance, this will keep on happening. When you don’t file a grievance, you are letting yourself down, and letting down all the other teachers at your site.

  21. I’ve had to start taking high blood pressure medication and a beta blocker for a rapid heart rate. It’s all stemming from work-related stress. I have to work for insurance for my children. Ironically, I pray daily that I don’t have a stroke that leaves them without their mother. I don’t mind working hard. I just can’t handle the abuse by students and administrators.

  22. I just quit my teaching job (4th grade in Maryland) after 23 years in the profession. I go to work for one last time on Monday to gather my belongings and turn in my badge/room key. I’ve taught grades 2, 3, 4, and 5, taught PreK-5 Gifted and Talented, and was a teacher mentor/coach for several years. I have a BS, MA and additional coursework such that I am certified to teach elementary grades and be a school administrator. This past year I returned to the classroom (4th grade) and let me tell you, it was NOT a good experience. Everything mentioned in this article and by the commenters speaks to my situation. My principal is “very sad” that I am leaving as are many of my colleagues. I went out on FMLA leave due to severe anxiety and depression (now in counseling and on antidepressants). None of the parents of any of my students have even cared enough to wonder where I’ve gone to or how I’m doing. This year I spent over $2,000 USD on teaching materials because I literally was given practically no teaching materials – nothing except for access to some online passages/practice test questions for ELA and a handful of single-copy trade books (I literally mean nothing else), a few resource books for me to use for ideas for teaching math and access to a website with more test questions, an online science book (but not access for each student and without most of the materials needed for the investigations), and for Maryland History – 1 copy of the student book and an incomplete set of teacher materials. I had one student who was a CHRONIC behavior problem and needs serious mental health support (but the school isn’t providing it). I wrote this student up more times this year than the past 22 years combined. The curriculum guide for our district follows the Understanding by Design model. This model requires teachers to use enduring understandings, essential questions, transfer goals, as well as the content standards to backwards map instructional units. The district provides us with this extensive Google doc with these goals on it and it is our job to locate materials (which are mostly NOT provided by the school) and figure out how to arrange instruction in a way that makes sense while also managing daily lesson planning, teaching, meetings, PD, and so forth. I worked 10+ hours six days a week and could still NOT get caught up. Maryland revised the Common Core State Standards (they are the same just under a different name) and the students SERIOUSLY STRUGGLE with them – except the most gifted and talented (which was like 2 kids in the class). By the time I had my nervous breakdown in early March, 2020, I wasn’t sleeping, started having suicidal thoughts, wasn’t eating, and was spending too much time while away from work trying to use substances to not have to think about work. (nothing harmful). I started having anxiety attacks simply by hearing of or seeing anything related to schooling at all. So, after 23 years (the only profession I’ve ever had), I have quit. I quit without having an alternative because, quite frankly, being poor is more attractive now than being in the education profession anymore. I wish the best to all who stay and stick it out. I know that a large number of my colleagues would also quit if they felt they could, as the topic of quitting was a common topic among teachers. Hopefully the future will bring good things for me. Thankfully it doesn’t include teaching.

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