in the last 30 days, we've had one kid withdraw altogether due to homelessness. we've had one kid lose her mom to a drug-related death two weeks after getting out of jail. we have two kids who NEVER come to school and one who is a very well-connected gang member and comes just enough to not get in trouble with the police. today we found out that a different kid was arrested and can't come back to school because he is considered a violent threat. this is all on top of an incident that i really can't talk about that occurred a few months ago and resulted in literally half of my 3rd period class getting suspended.
SHIT GOT REAL IN THIS JOB IN A HURRY!!! holy crap~!
Sounds like the place you work is similar to mine. High school, middle or elementary?
high school. i love it and it's exactly the population i want to work with, but DAYUM!
I teach elementary. It's the population I would love to be able to work with, but after this year, I'm not sure I'm cut out for it. Although, I might do better in a school with more support.
No, I feel you. One of my favorite students was told by two separate doctors that she probably has lymphoma. She had a biopsy yesterday.
But....there is no one I can really talk to about this. I adore this student. She is brilliant, kind, has almost no family support and I want to fix this for her but I can't.
Its hard- we get so involved with our students, and so few people GET it. My H is sympathetic, but he just doesn't really get it entirely. Its hard to not have someone to really vent to and commiserate with.
Post by Monica Geller on May 3, 2016 16:02:52 GMT -5
That's a lot. It's why so many teachers burn out within the first 3 years...it's not an easy job. You can always PM me if you want to talk about things you can't talk about.
I can't imagine having kids in my classroom who are going through all of that and feeling like I couldn't really help them. I would want to take all of them home with me
I can't imagine those kids having to deal with all of that, on top of trying to stay in school and do school work. This is why I want to slap people in the face who think people should just be able to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." I can't even imagine life for that girl who lost her mom right now.
Those kids are really lucky that they have you and other stable adults in their lives. ETA: and there is no way you are getting paid enough money to do what it is that you do every day. So thank you.
I'm the testing coordinator at my school. I have a kid on my list that hasn't been to school so I asked what the deal with him was. He brought a gun to school so he was suspended for the rest of the year. Good to know. :-(
I come from a family of teachers. My aunt works at a rural, predominantly white, private college prep high school. She was going on and on about how high her students perform and how we don't need to spend money on public education because the students don't want to learn, ya know terrible generalizations you would hear from your run of the mill Trump supporter. At which point I told her that I worked with a former city high school teacher (20 minutes from her school, btw), who taught for 10 years and his last year was the first time he didn't lose at least one student to murder, not to mention the assaults and arrests. I told her that until she has kids who are facing those kinds of issues on a daily basis, she can't judge their or their school's achievements against her school's. Context is so important.
Yes. We've had a few staff meetings with presentations about the effects of childhood trauma. It's amazing how much childhood trauma affects actual brain development and cognitive ability. How can my kids be expected to sit and pay attention when they've had to deal with violence at home, on the street and at school? I'm pretty sure the teachers have PTSD from our school, so the kids must have it.
I'm the testing coordinator at my school. I have a kid on my list that hasn't been to school so I asked what the deal with him was. He brought a gun to school so he was suspended for the rest of the year. Good to know.
I'm the testing coordinator at my school. I have a kid on my list that hasn't been to school so I asked what the deal with him was. He brought a gun to school so he was suspended for the rest of the year. Good to know.
Post by regencygirl on May 3, 2016 17:31:32 GMT -5
Do we work in the same place? One of the main reasons I've never gotten a Sped cert is b/c I could not handle the population. I teach in an inner city school, if you ever need to talk or vent feel free to PM me. This is my 15th year and there isn't much that would shock me anymore unfortunately.
And these kids get brand new teachers every single year or ones that drop out halfway through the year. Year after year after year.
Ding, ding ding! Our school is where kids get sent when they're expelled from other schools, and about 2/3 of the staff were new this year, myself and the principal included. Several of us tried to get out of our 3-year commitment, and some were rejected. We actually had the art teacher walk off the job in December and hasn't been replaced.
I feel worst for the kids who legitimately want to learn and are trying as hard as they can, but they can't get ahead or learn what they need to be successful because of those around them.
middle school here. I'm SUPER lucky because I have a new principal and she is drowning so she got exemptions for algebra eoc and act aspire from the superintendent.
katfco , I work with victims of violence, so I'm usually the one doing those presentations on childhood trauma and development. It's easy to get in to talk to social workers, but it seems harder to get to the actual teachers. Like I mentioned, however, sometimes the teachers are just focused on getting everyone through the day alive and relatively safe.
You're not kidding. We didn't even have our PD on trauma until February. It was helpful, but it's hard when there are so many techniques being thrown at you, and the most vital thing is more people. We have over 500 students, pre-K to 6th grade, and violence in every grade, every day, almost every classroom. We just don't have the manpower to address all those needs.
I also work in a school like this but we are "lucky" in that we qualified for a huge grant and were able to get more support than what is usual. And it's still so hard! I had chairs flying across my room this morning before 10am. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with my school. Definitely love all the kids, but hate the stress.
Post by killercupcake on May 3, 2016 21:02:02 GMT -5
Sorry frkls, kind of ignored you in your own thread. Went to get my hair done and lost service.
Anyway, I feel you.
I find habitually absent kids constantly during testing because I'm looking for them obviously. I check their attendance and it's just solid red unverified. Some just disappear and we can't ever get a hold of them. I had a kid who I found out was homeless withdraw after being with us for less than 2 months. Found out when I went to have him take his proficiencies. He had just moved to our school from Chicago. It made me sad. He has zero stability. And he's one of hundreds in our school.
It's weird because I'm at an urban school with 3 very successful magnet programs. So we have both neighborhood kids and very high achieving magnet students. Our neighborhood is super transient and REALLY rough (see: lockdown two weeks ago). It's heartbreaking and frustrating all at once.
Post by flamingeaux on May 3, 2016 23:35:35 GMT -5
It makes me want to scream some days. This has been my first year teaching and it's been a fricken roller-coaster. I've had 2 students get lightening strikes, meaning they couldn't come back until they were cleared by a psychologist. I've been threatened, cussed at,disrespected, insulted, had a sanitary napkin left on my desk, had to recover school property after a 5th grader tried to steal it. But on the other hand, I watched all my kids become better readers. One of my kids went from a 33 to 68 % on our benchmark reading exam. I've truly seen the best and worst this year, and even now that I know how bad things can be, I still can't imagine doing anything else.