Why did you leave the teaching profession?

There are so many reasons:

1. I was gong ho about teaching in a poor school district. I was sold on it by the administration sayng that it was all about the kids. A few months into the job, I found that it was really about the administation gaining accolades for themselves to add to their resumes, so that they would get higher promotions.

2. I correctted a child that was throwing rocks. I simply asked him to stop - never touched him. He got upset. He told his mom I had manhandled him. The mom came to school to threaten me. When I corrected the child we were on the yard in plain view of ten other teachers and the enite middle school. Thank God there were about twenty witnesses that backed me. This boy could have lied and got my licesensing questioned or something.

3. Parents, who are kids themselves, trying to raise kids. This leaves education to the masses as a joke. The kids are running their houses; they think they can come to school and run the class.

I just got tired of fighting a senseless war everyday. I went back to being an engineer.

Yes, it does feel like the inmates are running the asylum. I am simply biding time until I can retire. Teaching has become so stressful, and like you said, administration DOES NOT SUPPORT teachers. We are everybody's "whipping boy" If a child comes from a dysfunctional family where the drug and gang culture is worshiped or education is looked at askance and school is viewed as just a place to leave your kid until they are 18, then what is a teacher to do? If a teacher has a conference with a parent and that parent walks in the door with a chip on their shoulder and the proverbial statement, "My child said he/she didn't do it." or "You're picking on my child. My child said you don't like him/her."

Then of course the principal who is desperately trying to get a promotion gets into the mix, and you, my dear teacher are always wrong.

Maybe years of teaching has made me cynical, but I fear for the future. I know that not all children are uncivilized little barbarians, but the one I've met are horrible. I think that when I retire and am beyond the retaliation of the local school district, I'll write a tell-all book about the real goings on in school.

I wish you well in your new career. I'm happy that you've gotten out in time.

i have a child in portland public schools....sitton, to be specific...my son comes from a very loving and nurturing home and he is very bright....although, i must say, he has a tendency to be the one acting up when there is a sub....he does not lie, steal, or act intentionally disrespectful....he just has a very hard time dealing with change....he can not even go to bed an hour late, or it disrupts his rhythm and routine.... i know the majority of the kids in his class, and they are quite good kids...there is only two that i can think of that may have some type of issue that will prevent them from living a normal life, probably due to issues at home or whatever....in defense of these kids, i want to note that it is my opinion that these problems are not only derived from the home....if you look into public education, specifically education in lower socio-economic regions and districts, the climate of the schools is completely different all the way around....behavior that is considered normal at a middle income school, gets punished at a lower income school....schools think they have to curb all possible "negative" behavior before the kids end up in jail....also, at these schools, you will see that there are no enrichment activities that give the children the idea that learning can be a fun well rounded process....etc....etc....i could go on and on...i went to school in a very affluent neighborhood in kentucky, where the children behaved much worse, it was just viewed differently, and it was a different type of behavior issue....the kids are good, i promise....they just need to be shown what the boundaries are with no exception and treated like people with voices and feelings, and brains.....subs have it hard everywhere...i have seen the most success with subs that come in hard, but show love and appreciation for the students and their achievements

i think you already comprehend what to do. regularly, i beg people to stay with coaching for some years, yet you have already completed that. once you're fairly unhappy coaching, that's time for a metamorphosis. i opt to propose which you pursue actual belongings as a skill to make money. Writing is a perplexing profession, one that can take some years to the two grasp and income from. as quickly as you have advance into financially tender with actual belongings investments, you should pursue writing. Regardless, that's time for a metamorphosis. life's too short to be caught in a profession you're no longer taking section in. Your vocation needs to be your trip!

I actually retired early for health reasons. The problem became one of trying to teach and keep up with all the paperwork that had become required. In my state we began education reform long before the "No Child Left Behind" business began. Think of NCLB on steroids! In addition the emphasis on testing and strict curriculum began to take much of the fun out of the classroom.

ok whoa whoa whoa. being a sub is SOOOO different than being a teacher. first of all, the relationship you have with the kids is so key, and you can't build that being a sub. secondly, as soon as the kids see the teacher is gone, they act like the worst version of themselves x2.

don't let being a sub keep you from being a teacher. you need to sign up for a teaching program, do a practicum. get in a situation where the kids see you as authority, AND you see them repeatedly. and even then...it's going to be better when it's your own class.

your problem is partly b/c youre in Portland.............get out of that toilet and move somewhere where you will be appreciated..............like any of a hundred small school districts away from I-5..............................