I think I look decent from the front, though my "do" sadly sometimes takes the texture of an arid shrub. But any time I have to bend down and pick something up I shudder. Also, the kids I teach have a tendency to make fun. Don't want to go bald but wondering what people think I should do.
I'm thinking about getting an implant for the crown.
I am an assistant teacher for the 6th grade of a small charter school. However, the head teacher has been out for the past four months, thrusting me into the foreground and the assumption of most "real" teacher duties. In that time, the rapport I initially had with most of the kids has degraded and I have become a particular target of scorn and sometimes mockery.
I address the class and it takes MANY attempts to even get them to even pay passive attention. A fair number romp through the classroom and don't take my "requests" for them to sit down seriously at all. At first I thought this might be due to my performance as an educator, but I'm getting good remarks from the principal and fellow teachers, though of course I've received some constructive criticism. At this point I think it may simply be a brute fact of adolescent psychology, in which those lower on the "totem pole" are innately treated with much less deference and often outright contempt. Most consequences that I hand out incite rebukes and lawyerly inquisitions.
I'm 44 (though people tell me I pass for 30), and I think many of them feel that I should be somewhere else because of the time dimension. What they don't know is that for many years I've struggled with debilitating psychological issues (that I have now thankfully resolved mostly) and this has hampered my career prospects. A job like this is really a substantial advancement relative to my past.
But I'm struggling with the lack of respect and wondering if anybody here has some tips on how to persist and create a more workable environment.