How do you public school teachers do it?

Question

I remember my freshman year in public school. now this was in the late 80's. glad we moved to the suburbs(pshhhh). It wasn't nice. people would not listen to the teachers, would talk back to them, would not shut up when the teacher DEMANED they do so, there would be consent fights, etc.

Anyway, how do you public school teachers cope with that today?

I really feel for those teachers who have to deal with that kind of crap. And to top it off they are blamed for the students "poor" performance in class.

Answer 1

Being blamed for poor performance is bad. When the kid just does not want to cooperate you cannot force them to do well. Poor performance is sometimes the students choice.

As for the behavior... I normally do not encounter that. When you have an administration that backs you up and follows through with consequences then it helps a lot. There are the occasional misbehaving students and fights, but when they have to face consequences most will choose to listen.

I like my job. It is a lot of work, and I do work hard to have a classroom where students listen, but it works for me.

Answer 2

The truth is, the kids are only about 10% of the problem. It's the system that makes the job so hard. You get unsupportive administrators who won't help you out in any way. In fact, they harass and bully you. Then they blame you for everything that goes wrong. (And I mean everything. On one occasion, I had to submit a written explanation of why the attendance in my third grade class had been so low the previous day. I had to include lesson plans. See, if my lessons were not engaging, the kids stayed home. Never mind that there was a snowstorm that day, and third-graders don't decide for themselves whether to come to school or not...)

Everything in the public school system is designed to demoralize teachers. Every move they make is micromanaged by the bureaucracy. There is no freedom, and the demands are insane. At the same time, when the students do poorly, the teacher takes all the blame. Any competence in rewarded with more work and successes are remembered for about 5 minutes.

If you are going to survive in that environment (as I have learned to - barely), you have to build some survival mechanisms. You learn quickly how to make it look like you are doing what the higher ups expect, while secretly you're doing what you know is right for the kids. You learn how to manage a room of children who have no respect for anybody or anything. You have to be an absolute tyrant. But if you do it right, it works. The real trick is preventive discipline. You can stop students from being defiant, or from fighting with each other. It's hard work but it can be done. And it's not 100% effective. Every once in a while you have to deal with an out of control child. Personally, I embarass the child (which is totally illegal) until he or she gets so upset he leaves the room. Then I lock the door so he can't get back in.

What people don't often realize is that elementary teachers have it much worse than middle or high school teachers. That's because they are in the same room with the same kids all day long. They have to prepare lessons for every subject every day. That's a lot of work! Plus, they only get one preparation period during the day, while middle and high school teachers get two every day. It's an insane amount of work. Anybody who says, "Yeah, but they get the summer off," isn't paying attention. I've seen teachers work at the school building from 7:00 AM to 5 or 6 PM every day. Then they work on weekends too. That's up to a 65-hour work week, with no overtime. 8 weeks off in the summer (when teachers are taking classes and attending professional development a lot of the time anyway), hardly compensates for the ridiculous amount of work and stress of a public school teacher.

Sorry for the long rant! Your question is a very good one. The truth is, most public school teachers can't do it. They either quit teaching, leave for cushier jobs at suburban or private schools, or they become drones who just show up to work and don't even try anymore. Teachers who can manage under such difficult circumstances are rare, and terribly underappreciated.

Answer 3

Yes, we get summers and breaks off, (as two or three have mentioned above) but trust me, those things ARE NOT worth making the crappy amount of money we make and dealing with all the crap we deal with. Disrespectful students, disrespectful parents, parents who don't care, parents who blame the school for everything, students who don't care, students who think they would know how to read, write, and do math without the education they receive from the public school. Having said all of that, I LOVE my job. I teach high school, and some kids can be disrespectful, but most kids aren't. I just take it one "crisis" at a time.

By the way, for those who think we get summers off, we need the breaks from the students, just as they need a break from us. Very few other jobs require that someone have 20-30 demanding pre-18 years olds in their room for 7 hours a day. Sometime, teachers have to prepare for seven different classes. I could go on and on, because I've heard it all. Every one has the choice to be a teacher and get those "breaks". By the way, I took 9 graduate level courses over the summer to get relicensed to teach.

Answer 4

I don't - that's why I quit teaching. Now, it's not just the students and the public attitudes toward teachers, it's also the parents. A parent tried to sue me for taking away a child's recess because the child was misbehaving. She claimed that I was discriminating against her child. Well, now I teach adults for the US Government, I get to do what I love, and that's teach, I get respect, and I doubled my salary overnight, which is unfortunate, because teachers should be some of the highest paid individuals out there, along with our policemen and firemen. Instead, they can't even afford to work where they live in some places.

Answer 5

For me personality is a lot of it. By building relationships with the kids you can generate respect in both directions. All the kids know which teams I support and I make jokes when we win and I have to take them when we loss. I'm not their friend but I am human with likes/ dislikes.

2 Work smart not hard. Where and how can you make it easy for yourself.

3. You need a supportive school.Last week a kid swore at me and they had three day suspension, had to write me an apology and was not readmitted until the parents had met the head and a Governor. They have to report to the Vice Principal every day for a month with a written report on the standard of his behavior.

Has to be a team effort

Answer 6

I also love my job teaching high school students. However, there are moments when I wonder what the h*ll I was thinking! I teach in an inner city school as well and our biggest problem is lack of parental involvement. Or in some cases, too much parent involvement!

I get tired of the public putting teachers down, rather than supporting us. It is a thankless job in many ways.

Sometimes I worry about the society we live in and the generations of children we are producing.

Answer 7

The teachers at my school make on average $80,000 a year plus they get the summer off, winter break, and spring break. The students at my school very rarely disobey a teachers request. At other schools where the students misbehave often and the teachers don't make as much money they still get all those benefits and the entire summer off so they actually have it pretty good.

Answer 8

my wife teaches in the inner city here in Columbus,Ohio ...I hear overnight all what gone on their been over 50 fight so far this year she got hit the face last week by an 8 year old and all the children laugh about it ...There a teachers how to go to court because she saw 2 mother encourage their to fight each other

Answer 9

in fact, maximum folk of school looking in the USA of a, in spite of which occasion is on top of issues comes on the interior sight point, no longer from the feds. i'm from a relatives of instructors, the two mothers and dads, my sister and my spouse all instruct or taught college. None of them are extremely political and in trouble-free terms had the suitable pursuits of their scholars at heart.

Answer 10

Patience. Some days and years are better than others, but it takes a lot of patience.