advice for new teachers

[Harry Bosch]

join NEA

it's expensive but you WILL at some point in your career run afoul of a school board members child (or whatever is the equivalent in your district) and need their protection when the school board member leans on your administration to lean on you

Don't make the mistake of thinking that it will never happen to you

[Unregistered]

Well, I'm surprised there hasn't been more response to help for a new teacher. I'm a new teacher and am 45 years old. I have never been on a chat thing like that but am dying for help. From what I've seen of this, teachers are very hateful. What happened to helping each other instead of attacking? I get enough attacking from my 120 high school students.
I'm seeing that there really is NO solution to the multitude of problems. I can read all the stupid idealistic stuff I can but putting it into practice in the classroom has been unbelieveable after I spend 70 hours a week working on lesson plans, copying, e-mails, extra crap, curriculum mapping, etc.
Where's the help??

[Unregistered]

My husband is a teacher (46) in his first year, (High School Social Studies). I cannot believe the amount of hours and stress he has endured in this first 6 months. I agree with your comments of not having any support. Not only from his fellow teachers in the Social Studies Dept., many who are ********************y women, but also absolutely none from the Administration. They have him under a microscope, with no help. The students are brats and spoiled by their parents and catered to by the school board. It's no wonder many teachers who go in this profession to make a difference are burned out and quit by the end of their first year. The money ****************s too. I am a RN, who is in my first year teaching at a College, what a wonderful place to work, and much freedom to be the professional that teachers are meant to be. I also make double of what my husband makes, for the fraction of the time. It's sad to say, but we train and pay correction officers more to work with the prison population than we do our teachers that are molding the future. There is something wrong here.

[Unregistered]

Having been in education for 15 years, I've been teaching a new subject at a new school for the last couple of years and my experience is very similar to the new teachers mentioned above. Too much paper work, hostile students and non-caring administrators. My professional observations have been brutal, with no aid offered, except for often useless district inservices. I teach lower level high school students with no motivation for the most part and at least 1/4th of the kids are looking for "free" grades. They won't do homework, are astonished that they fail tests not studied for, and stomp out of the room when angry. They yell at me, tell me "I'm grown" and won't listen. Yes, they're sent to In-school Suspension, etc., but I don't see many of them affected by it in the least. I want OUT.