Teaching & time management Problems

[teenytineytori]

I just graduated from college. I am now a first year teacher in a high risk area in a catholic school. The kids are great but are up against so much. They have no stability anywhere not even at school. The school i work at has such a high turn over rate that the kids are testing me to see if I will stay for the year. And to make it worse one of the teachers that I work with closely because I only teach Math and Science and the other two teach religion social studies and ILA (spelling reading writing grammar spelling penmenship) Well the other teacher left. And the third teacher put in her resignation and they will both be replaced in about a week or so. And the kids are going to freak. I don't know what to do. I am doing my best but it feels like it is not good enough. I always feel like I am catching up whehter it is grading papers, making outlines, sleeping, or trying to find some me time. I guess some advice on how to do some time management and stress reducing techniques are what I am asking for. So yeah any help would be appreciated

thanks in advance

[Margo]

Jesus that sounds awful!
I wonder if this would be better moved to support. I know its not a support post per se but its a bit manic in Gen atm and you may get more replies in Supp.

For your fist assignment you have been not only thrown in at the deep end but had a brick tied to your leg and left there by the sound of it. No-one should have to cope with this much pressure straight from college and surely management should be drafting in experienced "hard-core" teachers with more experience to cope with tihs school??

Im not sure what advice to give you but i think you are doing amazingly to stay there and you sound quite a tenatious person. However NOTHING job related is worth risking your health for! Trust me im a victim of work related stress and for all the money and kudos in the world its just not worth it in the end!

If you were to leave the school i dont think anyone would blame you or think you a failure. You MUST try to step outside of this and look at whats best for you. NOT the kids! If you are ill you cant teach anyone.

I hope someone can offer a little more advice, theres a few teachers and ex-teachers on the boards and i hope someone can help more.

Take care

Matthew

[katkinb]

Hey, not too sure what to say here I am afraid. I am a teacher, and have been in the same school for 6 years.
All students test new teachers out to start off with, whether its beacuse you are completely new or just new to that class. Firstly, try and remember that dont know how "new" you are! Follow the school rules, and usually by christmas they have you sussed out.

The first year of teaching is always going to be the toughest.
Time management is a difficult one, unfortunately you probably will find yourself working very very hard to start off, but once you find your feet a little more, you will learn ways round making new resources for each lesson and quicker marking techniques.

Use your colleauges as much as you can, they have been where you are, so dont be afraid to ask for help, they wont know you are struggling unless you let them know.

It is hard work, it is a complete myth that techers work from 9 till 3.15, I regularly do a 11 hour day, but, the holidays are great, teh rappour with the students is fantastic, and there is no other job like it.

Sorry this isnt very helpful.
PM me if you need anything.

Good luck
Kx

[N.Bluth]

Hey I'm a teacher too. I hate to say it but you'll find this year very trying, but once you've survived this year you'll find things get easier. Have you spoken to any senior members off staff, they might be able to offer you some tips. It's still ok to hold your hands up and admit you are struggling, but make sure you speak out before the situation gets out of control. Please don't be too scared to ask for help.
As I've said you will get in to a more regular routine eventually, but still be prepared to put in long days, it's pretty much par for the course I'm afraid. My best advice would be to try to keep on top of stuff as much as possible. I'd rather put an extra hour a night in over term time if it means I get through the bulk of my work and can enjoy the holidays. Good luck, and to keep yourself motivated remember why you joined the proffession in the first place.

Good Luck

Ginny x

[teenytineytori]

Hey,

Thanks alot :) and especially to those of you in the profession and to the one person that posted some support. Well the one teacher left so today we were down two people. and tomorrow we get a ne teacher. i told the kids i am not going anywhere so don't mess around with me or the new teachers. and i have been talking to some of the "veteran" teachers but there is only one teacher who has been there for more than three years. Isn't that ridiculous. i am still learning and so are they but it is good to have someone to talk to about everything. and it is good to have support here as well. i am getting better at the time management but man i sucked at it before and am realizing how important it really is. and organization.

[katkinb]

Well done for sticking it out, and talking to the staff. Its good to talk to others and be able to back each other up!
PM me if you ever need anything, or if I can do anything to help.
Kat

[teenytineytori]

thank you i appreciate it. i needed the kind words everyone gave me. it is hard but it is getting better for me.

[Crysainta]

I'm a teacher as well. I started out teaching in public school, but I currently teach in a Catholic school. Like others in the profession have said, the first year is very tough. Remember that you have to take care of yourself before you are any good to your students. You can't be a hero to every one of them, because you are human. You do the best you can. With time management, I used to stay up all night grading papers and in tears my first year teaching. Now I count some assignments as participation grades and I let the students check and correct it in class. I just check to make sure they did it. You can't do this with too many assignments but it lightens the load and is still beneficial to those students who are putting forth the effort.
Another aspect of time management is planning as far in advance as you can. You can always alter your lesson plans along the way as needed. I'm glad you seem to be getting better at it. If you really love your job as a teacher, and you stick with it, you WILL keep getting better at it.

[teenytineytori]

thanks chrys

ia m getting better at it but the time management is a problem and the organization. i hate grading papers. it is crazy. especially for math because i want to give them credit for work and stuff. bah.... and honestly i truly loathe grading papers. i would like to just give them a grade for their effort and a small quiz on the infor and say there you go kid. it sucks. and is it wrong that i kind of enjoy putting red marks on the children who are disrepectful and disrupt class constaly tests. because i do. i feel bad about it later but at the time i relsih it. i feel like. that is what you get for talk, having an atitude, and disrupting my class. and then later i am like how can i get them to pay attention so i can get through to them. bah

[((deleted))]

I don't know how helpful this will be but in response to what you said about grading for effort, one of my teachers gives us stickers on our work for effort (1 star for good effort, 2 stars for excellent effort and 3 star for super-human effort)....admittedly we are al 18 in our class, but as we have a star chart as well it really motivates us.