Lack of Being Able to Teach & More
- I feel like I am not “teaching” anymore. I just monitor students while on their devices. I still have them do work on paper – daily warm-ups, some textual annotations. The problem is that they are so ingrained to do everything on their device, that they seem lost when they don’t have it in front of them. They don’t seem to be as passionate as before. We were able to have intense discussions, but they are lacking. I have been at this 30 years. I want to go another 5 to 10 at least. I don’t fit in the scheme of things anymore so it is time to leave.
- I left because what I was trained to do as a high school English teacher isn’t what I was being asked to do. I was told by admin that the content mattered, but not nearly as much as the behavioral management and mental health support – both were said to be my responsibility but I was never trained on either. Admins tore up referrals without speaking to students and would send them back to class worked up, therefore setting me up for failure.
- Another big kicker for me were the parents. No admin support in hostile parent conversations over situations that should be taken care of at home, not in my classroom. I am there to educate your child, support them, but not to be responsible for raising them 100% and that’s what teaching has became.
- I don’t know the exact answer(s) to the question, but I was in the corporate world for 20 years and made the career change into teaching two years ago. Teaching by far is the hardest job I’ve ever had.
- Being simultaneously required to—and prevented from—implementing best practices. Educational policy and reality do not align. Policymakers say words and hold teachers accountable for carrying out those words—but policymakers do not realize the substance and significance of the words they simply fill with hot air.
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