Did anyone else have a really tough time when they first started teaching?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

A thread title like mine doesn’t really leave much room for explication, but I’ll try my best to fill you in on some of the basic details of my first seven weeks of teaching without being redundant.

I am an English and Media Studies teacher in a “difficult” school. It’s got a reputation for being a hard school to teach in. It is my first ever teaching post. I am training “on the job” and have not been to teacher training college. During my first 7 weeks I have: [ul]
[li] “Presided” over an incalculable number of classes which have devolved into utter pandemonium.[/li]
[li] Been called, apropos of nothing, a “Four Eyed Cunt” by some little toerag I’d never met (and whose name I have as of yet been unable to ascertain).[/li]
[li] Had two fights break out in my classes.[/li]
[li] Generally been left utterly helpless at the hands of snotty little fourteen year olds who treat me as though I’m invisible.[/li][/ul]

Having said all that, I have had some small triumphs. One time the computers went down and I couldn’t do the lesson I had planned so I ended up making one up on the spot using only the materials I had in the room and it turned out pretty well. There have been a couple of other little incidents like that.

But mainly I’m just pissed off and stressed out. I walk out of one of my nightmare lessons, make a beeline for the smokers room and pass 12 classes which are all perfect and I wonder what the hell am I doing wrong? It’s a right shitter and I was just curious to see if anyone else had endured anything similar?

2

I am not a teacher. However, I just thought I would pop in and offer this -

I just finished reading Teacher Man by Frank McCourt (of Angela’s Ashes fame). It is a memoir of his life as a high school english teacher. You might find his experiences to be relevant in your new life.

Cheers!

3

Thanks. I’ll check it out.

4

FWIW, I’ve never talked to a teacher that didn’t say his/her first year or so weren’t exponentially more challenging than subsequent years.

5

Go find The First Days of School. Then go talk to your vice-principal, principal, or whoever else is in charge of discipline.

With the Person in Authority standing beside you, explain to your classes what the new rules are and what the consequences are.

And then come down on them like a ton of bricks. One of them puts a toe out of line, you deliver the harshest consequences you can.

No sane school district would put a first time, uncredentialed teacher in a classroom of a “difficult school” without lots of backup. Their negligence is, well, pretty damn bad. You started out with the deck stacked against you. You are going to have to start your school year over, discipline-wise, and make it stick. It will take a great deal of effort from you, and you’re going to have to be okay with being despised by (some of) your students (for a while).

And the kid who called you a four-eyed cunt? Tell the principal. He/She will probably know just who you were talking about.