So there are pink flowers growing around the portable that I teach art in. Unfortunately I have no access to water and have to carry buckets of water to my portable for class. It's a ton of work. So after the kids are done I pour the paint water into the yard around the door. I'm just wondering if these flowers are tinted by the paint or naturally pink. There are no other flowers anywhere around to compare.
those do come in pink
What age of kids do you teach?
>>2120743
Elementary
>>2120753
How long have you been doing it? Do you find that it's rewarding?
>>2120755
I'm in a rough School District and I can't control my classes. I was asked to sign a non-renewal which feels really bad even though I would never do a second year there anyway. I cry myself to sleep and I'm on antidepressants for suicidal thoughts.
>>2120758
That's pretty sad. What city is it in?
So what are you doing now that the summer vacation is coming up?
>>2120758
Hey op, this sounds EXACTLY like me three years ago. Except I was set up to fail and bullied by admin so they had a good excuse to get rid of me and I couldn't afford antidepressants. Know that you're not alone, that this is done to hundreds of other teachers, and you're not a bad person and it's not your fault. I quit teaching and I'm studying to be a paralegal now. Fuck the educational system.
>>2120759
This summer I'll be helping my parents paint their apartment complexes for some extra cash. Before the job went downhill I planned on taking the summer off but not when I'm not sure if I'll be employed next year.
>>2120774
Thank you. I really really appreciate it. I was actually bullied by admin as well. They said some amazingly screwed up things to me and now I don't see them without my union rep. I just had a great interview with a middle school and I'm hoping I can get a secondary position next year. I never wanted to do elementary to begin with but that's where the jobs usually are. Fuck Elementary.
>>2120787
I was in secondary and it was hell. If you can make it, go for it; it's really good that you're keeping your chin up and you haven't given up. It's also nice that you joined the union; admin basically told me they wouldn't renew my contract if I did when someone came to ask me to join. I know they weren't allowed to do that, but I didn't know my rights at the time. My life was totally wrecked because of teaching and that's why I'm seeking something else.
>>2120784
Have you looked at moving to other areas with maybe better districts?
Surely there can't be any demand shortage for teachers. What did you get your degree in?
>>2120787
I teach primary school here in the UK.
I'm on anxiety pills
Love the kids but what the fuck is with the abusive work environment and ever increasing workload?
>>2122581
got no idea about the UK, but it's like this in the US:
on the one hand, you have shitloads of standardized testing. good scores on standardized tests are how schools get funded. the better they do on tests, the more money they get. these tests are designed by private companies that sell them to the government. no educational professionals are involved. so the question remains: how are schools supposed to prepare for these tests? that's where "common core" comes in: standards designed (once again) by no one with a background in education, based around retarded daily objectives. this is all nice in theory, except for the fact that 1) these tests and standards are designed by companies, not educational professionals, so the objectives and questions are usually pants-on-head retarded, and 2) schools now rely on these tests so much that there is no classroom time dedicated to anything besides regurgitation of facts and theories and formulaic writing.
on the other hand, the approach to teaching is becoming completely based on social issues instead of actual pedagogy. they teach us all about how inherently racist and culturally-ignorant we are (seriously, I had an entire day of class dedicated to why black kids should be allowed to cuss in my class), and how to create activities to build relationships with kids. there's little to nothing about actually TEACHING kids. "if they respect you, they won't act up," is an idea that floats around. it's nice in theory, like if you're teaching in an upper-middle-class full of white kids whose hearts start pounding if they hear the word "hell", but teachers learn nothing about things they actually need in the classroom, like what to do with a kid who screams at you in class every day how they're going to kill you and you're blocked at every attempt to discipline them.
>>2122608
so you have teachers graduating with bubbly hopes of pulling a "Freedom Writers" situation, only to be placed in urban schools because those are the only schools that are desperate enough to take a first-year teacher with no teaching experience besides sitting in the back of a classroom and watching how things are done. and then new teachers try to do the "this is a safe space" and "your voice is heard here!" bullshit, and they're eaten alive. the schools do poorly because they're filled with urban kids whose parents either work too much to chase after their shitty kids, or who straight up don't care about their kids, and the kids do poorly in school because they've got shitty home lives and aren't supported at home, and then the school gets no funding because the kids do shittily on the tests, and then there's no money to buy books to better teach the kids, who do even more shittily.
so who does the government blame? teachers. after all, it must be the 7th grade teacher's fault that Kyree still doesn't know how to read--nevermind that he hasn't been able to read since kindergarten, or that he's got fifteen siblings and half-siblings all going to different schools because they keep getting moved (not expelled--districts just move kids to different schools now so they can keep their expulsion numbers low) for drugs and fighting and sex assaults so his mom gets him late to school every day after dropping the rest of them off, nevermind that you're forced to make do with twelve beaten books for 124 kids in three class periods, nevermind that Kyree ditches school after third period so he's never even in your class, it must be the TEACHER'S fault, because to imply that it was anyone else's fault is either racist, classist, or saying that the government made a bad decision by approving NCLB and common core. because you were supposed to be like the teacher in Freedom Writers. and you weren't.
>>2120787
Good luck with the middle school anon, I teach regular and Honors English at the high school level and the older groups are infinitely better. I personally hate middle school, but it's loads better than elementary for sure. They appreciate sass and if you roast them a few times earlier in the year they know not to fuck with you too much (unless you have some kids who like to post on /pol/ or /b/ or reddit. Prepare for the most cringe worthy edge ever imaginable).
>>2120758
>ywn have a qt art teacher girlfriend come home and tell you about her day and then cook dinner together and share a bottle of wine.
;_;
Life is suffering.
