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I won't name the school, but it's a high school in the Wake county school system. This is her first year teaching here, but she has taught 3 years in a northern state. She's a special education teacher, and the special ed division in the school is totally screwed up - weak leadership, nobody has your back/every one is out for themselves, administrators are worthless at giving direction or a helping hand with anything, and kids are COMPLETELY disrespectful because there is NO discipline! She taught special ed in a different state for a few years and it looks like heaven compared to the way this school is run. Basically she doesn't get to teach because she ends up going from kid to kid telling them to behave. There is no hope for this school getting any better, and therefore she comes home every night a wreck and wants to quit. Her weekends are ruined because she lays around and cries thinking about how much she hates her job. ALL WEEKEND. When we talk about her job, she gets so fired up she starts screaming.
As her husband, this is getting old.
So, why won't she quit? Because Wake county schools are so prevelant down here. She's afraid if she quits, she will severely limit her opportunities in the future. Please help! Does anybody have any suggestions? Please give me some good advice, I am begging you!
And, are there any other teachers out there in the Wake County school system that are feeling the same way? If this is you, then why aren''t you quitting?
I came from WI to teach in Durham and my first year (at a struggling school) I had a similar experience. It was rough on my husband as well because I was miserable.
The student population in my Durham school had a much higher % of kids on free and reduced lunch and with it came some problems of behavior and apathy. I wasn't sure what to do with kids who didn't care wether or not they passed the class. Your wife's situation may be a little bit different if she doesn't teach in a self-contained classroom and therefore doesn't have the opportunity to manage her OWN classroom but I will share some things I learned:
1. if she doesn't feel supported by the administration, she can try to transfer at the end of the year. SPeD is in demand so she should have no problem. The system didn't seem to "black-ball" people who requested transfers.
But for this year....
2. It helps to form personal connections with kids, not make "friends" just connections (over TV programs,movies, books, anything not related to school). The kids may not still be engaged in school but at least they respect the teacher.
2. being confrontational with students isn't very effective with an urban population. It instigates kids to talk back. This surprised me because I was brought up to never talk back to an adult and if a teacher disciplined me I corrected myself immediately. I found the "love and logic" approach worked far better in a more urban population. There is a book called "classroom management with love a logic" that basically discusses how if a kid is misbehaving you give kids choices of their possible actions and emphasize the outcomes, especially the better choice and they hopefully make the right choice. For example if I catch a kid on their cell phone, I have to confiscate it and often the kids refuse and throw a huge stink. I say "The school rules require me to take the phone until the end of the day you can either give the phone to me or I have to call a disciplinarian and they may choose to give you detention or send you home. Its much easier if you just give me the phone.
I still work with an urban population (in Boston) where classroom management is usually the biggest challenge for new teachers and I find the love and logic approach very effective.
Please do your best to support your wife. Its rough, but it will get better.
I come from a family wherein almost all of my cousins were in that category... it was so true when we were growing up and it still remains so true right today... I pray every day that at least one of them will try to get UP OFF THEIR APATHY... but, to no avail....
sounds like she simply needs to move on from this job...no job is worth hurting a marriage over. Try another county if she doesnt think another schools would help, what about private schools? If she has tried to help or fix the situation and it hasnt gotten better then they only thing left is a different job.
There is no hope for this school getting any better, and therefore she comes home every night a wreck and wants to quit. Her weekends are ruined because she lays around and cries thinking about how much she hates her job. ALL WEEKEND. When we talk about her job, she gets so fired up she starts screaming.
I've never worked in the school system, but gosh, this was me a year and a half ago. There was just nothing at work that made me happy (even tho I was good at it). I finally quit - went back to school - and started a new career. What I realized is that it wasn't that my old job was so bad, it just wasn't for me (and I had put 15 years into that career).
I segued my experience from my old career into my new one, and I'm really enjoying working again. Maybe your wife would be happier with a similar job in a different environment - not just working in the school system. It's a big world out there.
Osumatt, my sister's going through a similar situation. This is her first year teaching in Wake County......she previously taught "up north", also. Her issue is mainly with the school administration and the school "culture". Not that they're bad people or inept, but they're so darn focused on their NCLB scores........really focused on them. She's pulling her hair out b/c there's so much pressure put on the teachers at this school, with regard to keeping up their NCLB. It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. She's EXHAUSTED all of the time. All that she does it work, sleep, and eat. She's seriously considering switching schools (or to Durham County) next year. It's that bad.
Does anyone have any insight on whether new WCPSS teachers can change jobs/schools, without the fear of being black-listed or something like that?
Thanks!
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I can understand
