im a shit teacher and i want to cry

So you’ve been teaching for a term and a half. You’ve had a crap day, but you aren’t a crap teacher. In the end, those boys will be glad that someone sets boundaries for them. They don’t like it just now, but they’ll remember the good lessons they had with you.

I had a small group (11) of year 11 boys and one girl, who had dropped a GCSE. I had been teaching for years, but boy, did they make me feel inadequate. I didn’t even have to get them through a particular GCSE; it was supposed to be supporting their other options.

You’re doing a good job if you’ve got the majority to a 4 in their mocks. Give yourself a break. You deserve it!

You are not a shit teacher.

Tomorrow is another day. Greet them with smiles, be pleased to see them, even if you are thinking, ‘Fucking hell, here we go again.’ Get in there with the stickers (all students, even the too cool for school, love stickers. I deliver them to my older students in a semi-jokey way but they all love them and want one.) Stand at the door with your welcoming smile and give them an easy task to do as they come into the room. Be positive and cheerful - pretend it’s making your day to see them (no-one wants to feel someone doesn’t like them.) Plan this lesson so it’s full of ways for them to succeed. Praise, praise, praise. Exude the ‘warm fuzzies’ even if you feel murderous. You’re not trying to get them to like you, (they are teenagers - they couldn’t give a shit) you’re trying to make them think you like them.

And play the long game. In a few weeks they won’t be there any more and you will.

It’s such a tough job. Stick at it. It’s also the best job, and you will learn something new every single day. I have been teaching for 30 years and still every day in school is (literally) a school day for me.

You are not a shit teacher!
Everyone says the run down to Christmas is the hardest part of the year but if you have mocks and formal assessments this half term it is truly tough going! You’re tired, they’re tired, you’re all stressed, it’s dark and the weather is manky!
Give it a couple of weeks, focus on giving yourself some slack and you’ll feel
like a new person after a week off :-)
You didn’t build that relationship in a day and it won’t be destroyed equally as fast. X

I’ve said YABU but by that I mean you’re unreasonable to say you’re a shit teacher.
You aren’t shit. You’re inexperienced and are teaching in a system that is collapsing around you with pressures and expectations that are enough to make the strongest people ill. Experienced, good teachers are struggling. I gave up teaching as I couldn’t take it anymore and I know I was a good teacher.

Please go easy on yourself. You aren’t failing. You aren’t shit. This job is HARD and you are very new to it. I’m glad your school are supporting you and I hope they continue to. If you can forget about work for tonight, get a good rest and go back in tomorrow with your head held high and don’t let the little shits mae you believe it’s your fault.

Pretty sure you just had a shit manager who should not have placed you with this class

💯
no wonder SLT are supporting you - they are terrified you may leave !

Well I cant cope with my own 14/15 year old at the moment so hats off to you op.

I’ve said you’re being unreasonable because you’re being far too hard on yourself.

it’s your FIRST YEAR of teaching, you’re still learning the ropes and you’ve got this really hard group. Ffs, anyone would fail with that lot!

deep breath, let them sulk, remind them that you’re there for their benefit not your own.

year 10 boys are shits.

I also have low ability high needs class

i feel shit some days because quiet boys get ignored lesson after lesson and high needs ones get “too much” negative attention

I can handle kids being divas but take criticism from parents or managers very much to heart .

my mum was a teacher and her advice was you have to learn to live with daily failures. Teaching is not for perfectionists . It’s like parenting - you only need to get it mostly right with a good intentions and love - all will be well .
I think you need to be frank with them and say “ look you’ve done the crime , done the time now let’s move on”. Maybe do a fake test which is easy and they mark it and get a boost and you can praise them , set a fun simple homework ,

boys like competition , I used to tutor a boy and all the time I tutored him I had a “fake boy” who i pretended to him I tutored to create competition, I would set him a task and say my “other pupil” had achieved 8/10 and my tutor would then go all out to get 10/10
can you fo that ? Make a fake quiz and let them be victorious but make it seem that they are the hero’s and foster good will that way ?

or just have a bottle of wine and write fuck it X 100 in your planner

@MerryUmberFox you did amazingly well to get them through the mocks. Try to repair by bigging up this achievement that is yours and theirs together. Perhaps build back the trust by having an honest conversation about how proud you are of their achievements and how you can work together to get them through

@powershowerforanhour yes yes it is! It’s also a common tactic by schools so that more experienced teachers get the higher sets to get the better grades for the school assuming the lowest set will fail anyway and effectively writing them off, really depressing

Anyone who can teach that age group with the issues involved is a saint.
I take my hat off to secondary school teachers at the best of times.
Well done, you’re doing a very difficult job, it is bound to knock your confidence at times.

I don't know anything about teaching but isn't this:

>first year on the job
>have incredibly difficult low ability high need SEN group of year 10 boys (14-15)

like strapping a pair of skis on a beginner and pushing them off the top of a black run?

Thank you for trying with these boys.

They will thank you in their thoughts, in time. Or maybe just some of them will. But they passed and maybe it will be the only mock they do pass.

You sound like an amazing teacher, not a shit one.

Voted YANBU as in YANBU to feel this way

You aren’t a shit teacher. There’s on,y so much you can do and it sounds like you’ve done it. Source: me. Retired from a 35 year secondary English career.
what other classes do you have? How are they doing? It’s far too easy to focus on the negative in teaching.

Hugs to you OP. Can’t offer any words of wisdom but as a fellow teacher we’ve all been there. The fact that you care about it shows you’re not shit. How long has it been since the sanction? The relationship has ruptured but young people are resilient and they tend to come around eventually. Feb half term soon and you can recharge. So sorry you’re in this shit position right now. Massive ups and downs in our job. Thinking of you.