Any other Teachers out here going crazy?

I'm a special education teacher in a middle school. holy crap, i can't remember a time when students were as crazy, lazy, or wound up as they are now. i'm about to lose my mind! there is always something. any other teachers feeling exhausted and overwhelmed?

I'm not a teacher but I am the father of a single six year old boy.

Teacher's rule. Here's hopin' you get some quality RnR over the holiday break :)

I have a couple of teacher friends, elementary thru high school. I don't know how you guys do it.

I am not a teacher but have several friends who are, one in primary and one in secondary (Ireland, its ages 4 / 5 - 11 / 12 and 12/13 - 17 / 18 respectively).

Secondary school teacher has had a lot to say about terrible students, but is also very understanding that it is usually a product of their upbringing and their home life. She is excellent with them though, and has frequently took problem students aside not to chastise them, but to really talk to them and try help them with whatever problems they are having. It is not always successful, indeed there is little she can actually do, but it improves their behavior in class which hopefully leads to them learning something. As someone who went through a public school education and had to watch hypocritical teachers picking on students due to their backgrounds, I really appreciate that.

Primary school teacher is constantly flustered because her class size is often monstrously huge. She taught a 34 student class for a year. Imagine trying to deal with 34 nine year old boys and girls. The woman is a saint. The main issues she seems to have with her students can all be traced back to the large class size. It is almost impossible to give any one-on-one time to the kids. Recently she has been teaching a very small group of autistic and developmentally disabled children, which she reckons is almost as equally challenging but she has more satisfaction in what she is doing as she can really see the effects.

Ireland is probably very different from where you are though...

No i'm not a teacher but you do have my deepest condolences. I remember Middle-School, those were good times. I don't remember much but I was probably a little shit head as most kids in middle school are. Just try to enjoy your upcoming break is about the only advice I can think of.

EDIT: Just noticed you said your a special educations teacher, just so we are on the same page are you referring to your kids in particular or just the whole school? Cause uh it wouldn't be very cool to talk about special ed kids like that.

I thought this was going to be another rant about common core.

I can't think of a time in the last 300 years when a figure of authority would not make this remark. I can't help but feel this is some kind of joke, a reflection on the mania of our time, and all times as well.

And everyone else in this thread who is bitching about the same thing into this echo-chamber, shame on you. Teacher or not, you should know better.

I don't really respect teachers who take their students for granted and treat them like they're a problem, but I get how the job can be stressful and wish you the best despite the fact that I think you should probably look for another job. I'm not saying this to be mean, but if you dislike kids so much maybe you shouldn't be teaching them.

This especially frightens me considering I help raise an autistic child who struggles every day in school, fitting in (not just with students but with teachers) and the poor way that teachers handle her psychological issues. I guess it doesn't help that there isn't any real punishments in schools anymore (when I was growing up the principal and teachers could spank you and what not- corporal punishment), and I don't mean spanking or hitting like how I was raised, but punishments in general. There are punishments that aren't "hitting" or whatever. It seems like the only punishment that exists now is getting suspended or expelled. What happened to detention? Or having to write "I will not deface school property" 1000 times (examples!)? What happened to punishments?

You think you're special education kids are crazy? Are you serious? This in particular makes me feel like you're trolling. What an offensive thing to say about your students. I don't care what they're doing. Maybe you're just not doing your job.

Other than that all kids are lazy. All kids are wound up. I suspect you don't know what you're doing or you are trying to get a reaction out of people (trolling). These are ill informed and terrible things to say about children- especially when they're supposedly your students.

You would be surprised how similar that is to the US. Almost 1 to 1, really. That's very interesting.

@cornbredx: IT is not the case in a lot of places, it depends on where you are teaching. The government is actually quite good with setting plans for building new schools and reducing class sizes, but with our recent austerity drives a lot of things are taking a hit.

I'm going to assume you were replying to me and let you know I'M ON IT.

@splodge: Ya, again, that's very similar to the US. Not everywhere has huge class sizes, but this tends to be a problem in larger cities and what not.

I think, though, in the US cities handle adding or removing schools to districts and what not. Sometimes I think they maybe should add more, but the economy is terrible everywhere so I don't know a real good answer to any of it.

Heh the previously mentioned lady teacher friends of mine are also AAA drinking buddies. The secondary school teacher can drink me under the fucking table, it is kind of embarrassing.

My mom was a elementary school teacher for over 30 years and it can certainly be overwhelming sometimes. But she never gave up on trying to make everyone learn something new before the school year was over. Remember no matter how hard it gets your hard work will pay off one day if that annoying kid turns into a responsible adult.

To be fair, while at secondary school in the UK (11-16) I could have said the same about the teachers I had. I had a maths teacher get arrested for assault, one who thought was reasonable to change schools half way through the final year and leave a fellow student as the de facto teacher, and a bunch of teachers who would just disappear randomly and never be seen again.

@cornbredx: As your post suggests, you're helping to raise an autistic child. Helping to raise one child compared to 30 something. I'm sorry, but your measure of comparison is kind of off.

My gf is currently teaching a class of 9. By today's standards that number is very low. But all 9 of them are special need kids who have fallen far behind on the rest of the school.

Me, I work as a system administrator. Anyone who has some real experience with IT knows that that is a very stressful and high pressure job.

Wanna know something? Compared to her job mine is like a leisurely stroll on the beach.

Don't judge someone without at least walking a mile in their shoes.

My mom is a teacher and she is really at her wits end, not just with the students but with the bureaucracy of the public school system. Suffice to say she's been thinking about other career paths for a while. I feel bad for both the teachers and students quite honestly because I don't think either side is getting enough of what they need.

I taught for a couple of years in the 90s and, to be honest, couldn't get out of the profession quickly enough. Got friends and family (including my wife) who are still in the job and they say it's got even worse since then.

I taught Primary so had classes of 30+, mixed ability 10 year olds in an inner city school and left to become a car salesman where I earned twice as much for half as much work. That's sad when you think about it...

I just finished my first ever semester of teaching. I teach 10th grade and my students were great, better than I had hoped.

Yeah I had one leave mid way through a year causing everyone to fail (it was only RE though so who cares) and a year after I left one got the sack for having an affair with a pupil.

@kazona: No. I wasn't even comparing. I was giving a real life reason why I find this post offensive. I would not want my niece taught by someone who thinks children are too much and furthermore somehow teaches special needs and has the nerve to call them "crazy." You won't ever convince me this is ok.

The "raising" a teacher does is teaching. Sure it's similar, but it's not the same and no it doesn't make a teacher better than her mother (my sister) who also has to be a teacher without any actual experience many more hours out of the day than the teacher. I would expect more from a teacher than to complain that special needs students are "crazy". That's offensive and someone who would even consider saying that for a second should not be teaching.

You don't know me and what I know. Try not to assume. I ask this because I don't suspect you intentionally were trying to talk down to me, but you did, and this is me telling you I noticed it.

Don't judge someone without at least walking a mile in their shoes.

Wise words. I suspect you should read what you wrote here again and again. Until you realize what you're doing right now. And realize how my post had nothing to do with judging someone because of how much pressure their job has. There are certain responsibilities of a teacher (which is something that makes it such a difficult job) and one of them is never looking down on their students. It's only magnified even more when they are special needs so their needs are expected to be much more difficult to fill from the beginning.

No amount of telling me how horrible children can be, and how wonderful it makes a person because they have to put up with it, makes it ok to put someone down. Any adult should know better. A Teacher even more so IS expected to know better.

May not count as much but I salute you brave duder ..... some people in my family has sugested me to become a teacher on my aunt´s school , but no way Jose , Im not that crazy_patient to be one.... what you want children crying to their parents because of the mean angry teacher? I thought not :3

I work as a substitute teacher (where I'm from we call what I do casual but yeah I'm a sub). I've worked in many High Schools that are in my area, from a school that was 100% selective to a school where all of the kids were highly special needs, most of them being non verbal. I certainly do get stressed out and overwhelmed. I've been lucky that some of the schools I have been at have been really supportive and made sure that I could do my job of teaching the content in the absence of their usual teacher. Other schools have just seen me as a glorified babysitter, and thats the most frustrating thing.

@cornbredx: the person's venting, obviously. Doesn't mean they don't care about their job or the kids they work with.

Pretty much exactly what I was going to reply said more succinctly than I possibly could have said it.

Dude, did you seriously just call your special education students "crazy"? Or did you mean students in general? Just to be clear so I know what side of the "not cool man" fence this falls on.

I don't know about high school but my Mom was an elementary school teacher for over 30 years and that can be tough, especially in a climate where parents have all the power and their direct boss (the principal) never backs up their staff. I'm not all for corporal punishment or anything but hearing about having to capitulate constantly to lunatic parents sounded rough.

It wasn't all bad though, my Mom had great classes and students she loved. Increasing bureaucracy, complete adherence to a sort-of silly standardized provincial test curriculum, and lack of power over crazy parents definitely wore her down.

If that's how you feel about special ed kids I suggest you find a new job or reflect upon what you just said.

I've been out of school for 10 years now. I remember my class in particular, including me, were little bastards. The school I was in for the first 2 years merged with another school in the next town, who we had a kind of stupid rivalry with. A lot of teachers quit before the merger went through, leaving us with supply teachers everyday, in like half our lessons for most of my remaining 3 years. It was a pretty shitty situation, and we took advantage of it to the fullest. I straight up didn't go to school for 3 months in my final year and didn't even get into trouble. There were fights literally everyday and people would just block the halls so teachers couldn't get through to break it up. People spent most lessons talking amongst themselves. Multiple teachers had to quit because of stress. Multiple teachers were assaulted. It's a wonder I graduated tbh.

I saw my old high school English teacher in Tesco a while back and he told me that things have gotten a lot better in the last few years. Perspective, man. Kids are shit, but at least you aren't at my old school.

I saw GTO (Great Teacher Onizuka) and wanted to become a teacher, but then I realized it would not be awesome like that to be a teacher.

@cornbredx: I didn't see anyone being put down in the first post. I saw a broad, general, statement applied to an equally broad group. And it is a statement I agree with. Kids these days are more wound up and crazy then ever before.

That's not saying that I don't care for them, but it is acknowledging the fact that times have changed and so have children. But I don't blame them for it, I blame society as a whole for it. These days it almost seems like it's quickly becoming a case of where being without any special needs is... well.. special.

I don't intend to belittle anyone. I simply felt you were belittling the OP and his ability as a teacher when, in fact, you have no inclination of what he or she is like or what the students are like.

Special needs does not alway mean there's something inherintely wrong with the child. They could just be a mean little shit thanks to their upbringing. Their fault? Not at all, but I would not want to stand in the shoes of someone trying to deal with it when, really, there is nothing you can do about it if the parents aren't willing to change.

I am ranting. What I'm trying to say is I agree that we should take special care of our children but it is made increasingly difficult because society as a whole is fucking these kids up more and more. And the few that do try to set things right, make a difference? They're the ones getting told to "fuck off' by the very children they're trying to help.

Society is fucked up and we are taking our children down with us.

How old are your students? I gave classes to a class of 12 year olds. It was terrible but I'm not good at herding or instilling discipline. I did notice they all shut up and listen intently if you show them an interesting youtube documentary.

Always nice to see people who have never taught trying to tell teachers how to do their jobs. Especially when even most classroom teachers don't have well enough of an idea what Special Ed staff actually do on a regular basis.

Snark aside, no, I don't think my special ed students are any worse or anything like that. It all really depends on having a good match of support staff, something not always viable because of how crazy a variety of things can get.

An example: All the special education students were having a cookie party today, and due to the hectic nature of setting up a party like event in the lunch room, I was watching a few students, one of whom I usually don't work with. He had a rather bad meltdown suddenly due to something that happened (still not sure what considering he was smiling one moment and became violent the next), and proceeded to attempt to punch me a dozen times until he was pulled off me by a few other SEAs. It's a behavior issue that the staff has developed a way to deal with, but due to the hectic nature of the situation, not everyone was in the exact correct place.

These things happen, and teachers learn to deal with it, along with many other things.

It's December duder! This time of year I give up on serious lessons and just do random shit in a attempt to keep attention from waning too drastically, but there's really only so much you can do to battle the almighty approaching holidays.

Hey, all through school I had some real asshole teachers, so it swings both ways. At least the students are kids. And calling special ed students crazy is totally not cool.

For those complaining about the use of the word "crazy", once you get to know your students, special ed or otherwise, behavior out of the ordinary is easy to spot - and students frequently become more and more agitated around Christmas break (or any other notable interruption of routine). They're students, they're kids, they're individuals, and once you get to know someone like a teacher does, you become familiar enough to use that sort of language. Coming from a special ed background, there's nothing malicious about it.

My mother is a 2nd grade teacher and is miserable right now. Her kids are disrespectful and out of control. Many of them have bad home lives.

On top of that she has countless testing she has to do nearly every week. Plus all of the bullshit you deal with working in a shitty school district.

I'd like to see anyone complaining about phoenix6153's complaints try to teach for a day. These kids will eat you alive.

I taught one class in college for a day and it was enough for me to say fuck it