to want to quit teaching: I've lost all faith and motivation

[PeppermintTeaPlease]

I was so enthusiastic and excited during my first 5 years as a teacher. I loved working with the kids, and I spent so much time and energy trying to put together lessons and ways of introducing the material to them. I was the female Mr. Keating (Dead Poet's Society)!

But you know what? I don't care anymore. I'm so disillusioned. THEYthe studentsdon't care. I have two students in total who actually enjoy the things we read and want to improve as writers. The majority of the rest cobble together papers based on what they read on SparkNotes and CliffNotes online; I know most of them don't read the novels at all. Did you know that it is possible to write a basic composition without reading the book about which you are writing? Well, it is. SparkNotes and similar websites give detailed plot and character summaries, and explain all themes of the literature. I'm just the loser who prattles about how much they are missing by not reading the books, the loser with my little-person school teacher's job, and so I deserve to spend hours and hours of time every evening reading and marking pages and pages of uninspired dreck written by people who don't give a damn. In fact, I'll be doing just that until about midnight tonight.

I had a student who wanted an A. He bitterly resented his C grade (I was being generous). He even admitted he hadn't read the book, and "only read the Wikipedia article, that was my mistake 'cos I should have read more articles to say what it was about." The Head said I had to "give him a chance to try again" on the composition. I just opened the document that was the student's resubmission, and guess what? COPIED WORD FOR WORD from three different internet articles. It took me less than two minutes to realize he hadn't written it AND to find the articles he copied online.

And he WILL do great in life. His parents will set him up in their family business, and he'll have a better life than I do. And he knows it. And his parents know it too: they can barely mask their contempt when I try to speak to them.

So, yeah. I'm an idiot, and a fool, and I've wasted my life.

I've had that hideous "moment of reckoning": I've just seen myself for what I am. Now I am embarrassed to go face the students again. God, I'm a loser.

I don't think I know what a paper mill is.

I'm a teacher, and yes the job has changed and yes it's currently awful and showing no signs of improvement.
But I'm very sure that it's the paperwork, data, marking, Ofsted requirements and demands from SLT that will drive me away, rather than the kids, who haven't changed that much in the 13 years I've been teaching. In fact, I wouldn't carry on if it wasn't for them.

They cannot sanction, punish, detain or give them any sort of negative or punitive action for their refusal to do any work, submit any essays or tackle any material, and instead the Head calls them in and asks what they are doing to 'inspire' them. Because it's all the teacher's fault that a student sits on their phone all lesson snarling 'fuck off' if challenged.

Don't recognize this either.

OP, change schools.

For all the people who are asking me why I am bothering to mark plagiarized essays, or telling me to fail the students: I can't fail the students because we are not permitted to fail students, no matter what. A student who has a B MIGHT be a B student.

I DID tell the parents that I suspected the tutor was "helping too much"! It didn't go well. They became enraged and began telling me how well-qualified the tutor is. Then they told the Head that I "had no faith" in their son, and the Head told me that I need to "do what you can to regain this lad's confidence."

It is TERRIFYING to be faced with the need to tell parents that their child is not performing well, or is misbehaving, because most parents will blame it on the teacher.

And anyway, my students are meticulously polite and well-behaved in the classroom. That isn't the issue. The issue started years ago, well before they were my students.

OP If you think you have behaviour issues in an elite school you would have an eye opener in a state school.
Believe it or not we don't do book reviews or plot summaries either - we have to teach children the same exams as you (ok you do IB but having taught both they are very similar). I have pupils who get an F and pupils who go to Oxbridge. Novels and plays for the exam and enrichment are read in school - we a) can't afford for them all to take books home and b) they won't be encouraged to read at home (we have had cases of parents selling the book).

Same syllabus different focus

Look OP, are you teaching GCSEs and A levels?

If so, ignore the essays and wait for the exam.

When I was in school in the late 90s, we HAD to read the books because the cheat sites and paper mills online that kids can so readily access today didn't exist yet. It is rather frightening, really.
I was the lazy student you describe OP. I was an idiot.
I did English Lit. 'A' Level in the '80s and didn't read a single novel. I only read Brodie's notes for each book.
I had to compose essays myself but they were based entirely on other's analysis of the novels/poems we studied.
Your lazy students don't deserve you. I would say let them fail but know that their results reflect on you.
Try a different school before you quit. Believe it or not, many students still want to learn. It seems that the majority of those you teach currently at this school don't.

Pieceofpurplesky, there are NO problems with rudeness or acting-out in my classroom, at all. The students are polite, well-mannered, considerate, and well-spoken. The closest we came to a problem of that kind was the day a student was chewing gum. Another student told him he was chomping like a cow, and they had words. That was it. They are polite to adults and to each other.

So, see, I'm not meant to be a teacher at all, because I don't think I could do what you do. I picked the wrong career. I see that I keep trying to justify my feelings in my replies on here, but really, the problem is me. I need to get out and find another career. I'm just really frightened because this all occurred to me so suddenly, and I don't know what to do now. The rest of the year will be hard.

elodie2000, I wish I could bring you in as a guest speaker. You could have a laugh with the kids about how cheating methods have evolved over the years, and then you could give them a talking-to. They would listen politely, at least. Ha.

YANBU. You could deal with the attitude of the kids if the management and system were supportive of teachers. You could deal with the unreasonable system and management if the kids were largely well-behaved and motivated. Dealing with kids who don't give a monkey's AND an unforgiving, shitty system upheld by unsympathetic and unrealistic managers is too big an ask. Hence teachers quitting in their thousands. I teach a bit of adult ed and do supply in secondary schools. No pressure to get results, no ongoing responsibility for behaviour issues, no threat of Ofsted, no data, no performance management, no marking, no planning. It's not the same job but it helps pay the bills. Dh is a deputy head. I don't know how he copes with it.

I don't know if you teach private or state, but I don't see why students who steal sources 'deserve a second chance'. a C is fine. What's worse is what your head encouraged: no consequences for plagiarism or a bad job. The best thing that child could learn is that A's aren't just given out.

Sorry you feel this way. I think it's a great profession and I wish more teachers were retained. I don't know how your T&C would have to change for more teachers to stay.

If it helps, I absolutely loved the inspirational teachers I had.

Just read your update - sounds like you are in a Grammar/ private school. Find a decent comprehensive & give that a go.
You will deal with less of the b'shit you describe.
Remember, don't let anyone bully you in this life.

Oh dear, OP. Perhaps you are that most dangerous of things: an idealistic educator without a realist bone in your body? For me, my idealism drives me - education is a right. Every child deserves an excellent standard of education. But it is realism that keeps me from cracking up - they're kids; they will cut corners. Not all of them will be passionate about your subject. Sometimes you will have to drag them kicking and screaming through RL Stevenson or Austen, and one day - but not today - they will thank you for it!

Your school management sound shit OP.

Are you in the UK? I teach English at a very challenging school. We do indeed read everything in class- if I leant them a book it would never come back and they can't afford to buy their own.

They have tried the plagiarism thing. I make them sit in my room at lunch and redo it. I don't stay with them- I go and have lunch and come back. They take as many lunch breaks as it takes until it's done. You're right- the effort from some kids is shocking, but it's like all things in the classroom- they need training and boundaries. Like a puppy 😃

Try to find a decent state comprehensive.

I absolutely love my sons' teachers. They have helped to transform ds1 and he loves learning and reads avidly. I honestly can't thank them enough for the effort they put in. They are lovely, lovely people.

Ds also has some lovely friends who work hard too and appreciate their teachers' guidance and tuition.

There are decent students out there. You need to change schools and leave the spoilt little buggers behind.

So you will fail the plagiarist, I take it.

This is such inverted snobbery. You are not telling me every single privately educated child is as OP describes.

But you don't seem to like your school or children much, OP.

Perhaps it's time for a change.

OP the difference between my world and yours is that the parents of your kids pay so they don't have to bother and the parents of my kids don't pay so they don't have to bother! That is all.

The private curriculum is restricted in that you have to be seen to be doing the right thing for parents not for the kids. In state it is all about government targets we have to dance to.

The kids I teach though can be little monsters behaviour wise - but I have strategies to deal with that. One of my boys last year got a D in literature - his highest grade by two. I was prouder of that than any A*. His behaviour was poor due to a number of things but we got their. This is what I came in to teaching for.

This is such inverted snobbery. You are not telling me every single privately educated child is as OP describes.
OP has stated that the parents and her students do not take criticism (no matter how constructive) well. To the point where the management do not acknowledge that the students are effectively lazy cheats for fear of upsetting the parent.
I have taught for many years and this is very rare in the state sector.
It's my guess that she teaches in the private or Grammar school system.
Obviously, not all students are like this. The ones OP describes in her classes at her school are.

Frustrating but I agree with instantly. It sounds like the school's sanction procedure needs to be better.

1. Refuse to mark it.
2. Record this via email, CC'ing head of year/tutor/appropriate person.
3. Email parent making this abundantly clear.
4. Reinforce with pupils. I've found that I've become far more direct (still fair and kind) with certain classes.

There

Yes, yesterdaysunshine, it is indeed time for a change. Weirdly, I do like the children. And believe it or not, they like me. That somehow makes it harder for me.

DoinItFine, I guarantee that the Head will not allow me to fail the plagiarist. The Head is actually a fan of "mastery learning", based on the supposition that every child can achieve a B, and if the child does not achieve a B, it is because the teacher did not differentiate or modify instruction appropriately, or did not give the student enough time. You can google "mastery learning" and "Benjamin Bloom" to learn more about it. In theory, it sounds great, but for older students, it is a farce when they come to understand that they cannot fail, not matter what. So the plagiarist will get another chance, and I will need to spend lunch and an evening study sessions with him until he achieves his B.

Everyone who is saying that I need to find another career: you are correct! I totally understand this. I am going to begin looking at my options.

I'm not surprised the OP doesn't like her school or pupils. They sound bloody awful. Personally I'd leave them to it and find something more rewarding to do. Or if not more rewarding, at least less time consuming.

Pieceofpurplesky, we aren't allowed to give Ds! (see "Benjamin Bloom" and "mastery learning").

You are correct that the parents are paying for a product, and they want it to come out shiny and perfect. And I think they are right, to an extent. They deserve to have teachers who believe in the system, and who passionately love teaching, and I just don't anymore. Ironically, I attended the same type of school at which I now teacher, and my dad told me I was "wasting your life" by becoming a teacher. He was right! I don't even think I could teach at your school. I've never seen a student swear at a teacher, not even when I was a student. I don't know how I would deal if a student told me to fuck off and insisted on using his phone in class, as another poster described: I've never seen or dealt with anything like that. But I think that, ultimately, the problem for me would be the same. Something in my just gave up and checked out this morning.

Bottom line: either learn to stand up for yourself or find another job. 'Mastery learning' is not inclusive of plagiarism or zero effort. You can do so much, but you're a teacher not a magician.