Couldn't Have Put it Better

Yes, two posts in one day.

A member of my department emailed us in frustration because her students all cheat off of each other during classwork and/or look up all answers on Google rather than researching in their notes or trying to figure it out on her own.  She is frustrated with this generation of students.

In response, my fellow Physical Science teacher Charlie shared his feelings.  I asked Charlie could I share this, and he gave me permission to share both his name and his words.

I don't have a solution for students who do not wish to learn that the school system is willing to implement.  Cheating is rampant!  Today's students want immediate gratification at almost any cost but don't want this to impact grades.

I am at my ropes end and am totally [ticked] off.  The snow/ice days have created breaks in continuity of instruction for both me and my students and eliminated useful planning days for the remainder of the school year.  The lack of any future planning days, constant student interruptions, skipping, absences, cell phones, rude student behavior(repeated), and follow-up with ASD, ISS, OSS, [after-school detention, in-school suspension, and out-of-school suspension, respectively] has eroded my sanity and my ability to reach most of my students this semester.  I am just trying to hang on.  It is hard to complete a whole thought without a cuss word coming out of my mouth!  

Why hang on?  At this point don't really see any improvement in the future outlook.  I feel like I am under pressure to make student do what they have little interest in doing this makes me feel like I am just wasting my time and ruining my health.  Did I mention the lack of a raise for many years, the lack of support from the legislature, and governor.  

I try to be positive and not drag everyone down, but this is how I feel.

Like I said, I'm not trying to be Debbie Downer today.  I think it's just important to know what's going on in the modern classroom.  This is not a woe-is-me post, a plight for pay raises, or a political statement.  This is a request for you to take a moment and pray for us.  This has been a difficult school year for me, from coming back from maternity leave last semester to classes with major behavior problems to this piecemeal semester.  I still love teaching (I actually sent Jason an email today about how much my usually-apathetic Physical Science class loved today's lab and how happy that made me), but this is the overall sentiment for every teacher I talk to right now.  Pray for us.  We have the potential to be salt and light to students who may not be exposed to that any other way, but it's hard when we feel sucked dry.  We're spent.... pray for us.