Greetings, everyone. I'm a fifth year high school English teacher. I recently got hired at a nearby school. We're operating on a hybrid schedule because of Covid. It's been really, really challenging. I feel like I'm failing. I feel like my years of experience have taught me nothing. I really want to go back to school for a degree in education so I can learn how to teach better. I want to learn how to make an effective lesson plan, pacing strategies, differentiation, etc. I never went to school for secondary education; I got hired via alternate route five years ago, and it was a disaster. Has anyone else been experiencing difficulty adjusting to this new year?
Reach out to the other teachers if you need help with anything. Everyone should be helping one another right now. These are crazy circumstances so do the best you can with what you have.
It's been a rough time on everyone. You are not alone in struggling to figure out a whole new system that you were never prepared for. That said, there's plenty of resources out there to learn about different strategies; there's books, video lectures, likely classes at your local CC, possibly trainings through your BoE or district, and using your coworkers as a resource. If you're really starting at square one, I suggest reading up on some of the major players in education and learning theory- Piaget, Vygotsky, Bloom, Gagne, Erikson. . ., and start thinking of ways to apply those theories to your teaching. You've probably heard a million of their terms over your experience, now it's time to start decoding the alphabet soup of acronyms that get thrown around at in-services. Goodness knows, the ed. world loves an acronym.
I have a degree in English teaching and 27 years of experience. I'm still barely keeping my head above water this year.
Yeah, this is my 23rd year here and I went home with a dang migraine daily trying to get this crap together. You are not alone! We are all struggling.
I legit cried within the first 15 minutes of our first day of classes. I don't do that. I was completely overwhelmed. Thankfully I was at home and could mute my microphone and shut off my camera while I got it together.
One of my professors in college used to say that being an educator was like trying to keep a train running on time. The admin team being the engineer/conductor(s) and the teachers being the car staff. And the passengers? Well that would be the parents and students. Some days the train isn’t on time and wet hope they understand. The goal of course is to be on time everytime. Some days we’re lucky the station is still standing with the hurricane pulls in. I imagine he would equate Covid to the ice lake scene from the polar express.
Most times the parents should be outside the train waving as it passes. Not butting in on what's going on on the train and telling the conductor how to run the train.
Yes yes yes say it again for the people in the back. Unfortunately though, they often feel they know best. (This is why teacher parents are the worst heh). I had to explain to a parent today that no, unfortunately her degree in culinary does not make her a creditable source for her child’s science project. She sent me a long winded email about why she felt magnets were not scientific enough.
Honestly, I would like to know who would dare knock on the door to the engineer's car and say, "hey buddy, I think you should be going faster. This is nonsense. I need to get to Hoboken and you are going too slow"!!
If your trying your best, your not failing your kids this year. Society failed them with how we handled all this, but its not your fault.
Of all the alternatives, hybrid seemed the MOST challenging of all. Try not to be so hard on yourself. Everyone I know is having a hard time teaching this year. Our district decided to give kids the choice of coming or not. Teachers did not get the choice. Even with the kids in class, it is very hard and teachers here are stressed. They closed twice already to "deep clean" after Covid cases. On top of it all, the teachers are voting to strike very soon. 1 simple thing that might help you is to ask for the district's pacing guide. They don't always give you 1 unless you ask. It saved me a ton of time when I had to teach a new subject.
