My parents always used to tell me no one can make me feel a certain way... After student teaching for the past month, I do not think this statement applies to teachers. Students come into my classroom and can cause me to completely shift in emotions and actions based on their actions in my classroom. I thought I would outline some of the problems only teachers seem to have to deal with.
The moment when you ask yourself if you are going crazy.
You would think after you repeat yourself time and time again, students would understand the simple things you ask them to do, but you still have to look through your roster to figure out whose paper doesn’t have a name written in the slot that says “name” -- and they are juniors in high school. #teacherprobs
When you are really trying to throw them a rope, and you watch it just hit them in the face.
My class was studying "Of Plymouth Plantation," and this story, written by William Bradford, basically gives details of the story we learned in fourth grade about how Thanksgiving came to be a holiday we continue to celebrate. We were reviewing for the quiz, and I repeatedly made sure my students heard me say the name Samoset as the first Indian who met the pilgrims. That still did not stop students from writing down Pocahontas on their quiz. #teacherprobs
When you honestly don’t know what to do with a student because you never believed that those words would come out of their mouths.
I teach in a school where many students don’t understand the idea of mutual respect. Students say things to teachers I never heard in high school a little over three years ago. My cooperating teacher told a student she was taking his phone because he had it out in class. He looked at her and said, without blinking, “You can hold your hand out all you want, but I ain’t giving you my phone.” *blink blink* Um…excuse me? You wanna run that by me again? 16-year old student with absolutely no authority in the situation? #teacherprobs
When your lunch break becomes just lunch.
Students finally realize they are failing your class when they are not allowed to go on a field trip because of their grade. All of a sudden, they want to attempt to make up work at a time convenient for you both. All of a sudden, you are eating your goldfish at your desk while explaining that what you were not looking for in the essay was a summary of the story that you literally just taught them --which is what over half of your students wrote. #teacherprobs
When going home at 5:30 doesn’t mean you are done working.
I do school, help direct the theatre show, come home and eat, and then I finish up other work until I go to bed at a time that is much too late when you are getting up at 6:15 a.m. Students then come to me the next day and complain about how they stayed up until midnight watching Netflix, so I can’t possibly expect them to stay awake in class. Oh yeah…I’m sorry. I forgot how busy your schedule is. Please sleep while I am teaching you how to survive life, but don’t fret because you NEED to know whether or not Rachel gets off the plane. #teacherprobs
When I find out more than I want to know about my students.
My students will come up to me, and I will ask, “How are you today?” They will respond by telling me a relative, who is not supposed to call them, kept trying to get a hold of them. They will tell me about how their mom’s ex-boyfriend, who was abusive, came by the house. They will tell me about how they can’t wait to get out of their house because they don’t feel safe. My heart goes out to each of them. I care so much. All my #teacherprobs seem so trivial and able to be dealt with, and I wish I could take a moment and just tell them that everything is going to be okay -- but I can’t. I can’t promise that, and I can’t necessarily even be much of a help, which breaks me to pieces. That really is #teacherprobs.
