Leaving the Classroom

Alright, here it comes. The sob story, right? Not necessarily. While my personal story is just that, personal, I do believe it is important for teachers to share their experiences and learn from them. Even more so, new or aspiring teachers need to hear them, out of transparency’s sake. Not to discourage, just to make aware. The experiences shared are unfortunate, however, they can be common in the modern classroom.

Bit of background knowledge – I started at my final school as a long term substitute before getting hired on full time. My first year as a teacher included many of the typical tropes of a first year teacher. Unsure of classroom management strategies, not sure how best to deliver the content, and lacking the confidence to speak in front of my students even. My voice shook for the first two weeks, no kidding. Overtime though, you develop these skills through a baptism by fire format, learning to fly as I get pushed out of the nest. I started to feel a little more confident. Then, March 2020 happened.

Fast forward a bit to the fall of 2021, the start of our first “regular year” since the pandemic started, and I don’t believe anyone was prepared for what school would look like in a post-pandemic world, teachers nor their students. And boy, was it a handful. Students hadn’t been in a normal classroom with normal classroom rooms for over 2 years. So, behavior management was going to more crucial than ever.

I had no problem enforcing the rules in my classroom. Not because I was a sucker for suffering, but for the benefit of the students who wanted to be there and wanted to learn. Yet, as many educators know, administrator support is necessary, not just for discipline situations, but for the success of the whole school. This year, we had a new administrator overseeing the Science department. She seemed nice enough and came to us with promises of backing us when it came to issues with parents. If only that were true.

Without diving too deeply into the details, just know my reasoning behind leaving the classroom ties into lack of administrator support. Your admin are the foundation of your school. Without a stable foundation, the rest of the building crumbles. With admin who didn’t back their teachers, met with students who weren’t held accountable for their actions, my time in the classroom came to an end. I found that my classroom environment and the effectiveness of my teaching declined, along with my mental health. Not to mention I had just found out I was pregnant, and I wanted to be as healthy as possible for my son.

Following my departure, I began work at an education service center, and I absolutely love it. My health has absolutely improved, both mentally and physically, and I have a much healthier relationship with my job. I share this experience so that other teachers make sure that they take care of themselves too. Teachers often are very selfless and just want to take care of everyone else. While that is important too, you live with yourself forever and you need to take care of YOU.