u/Kind_Jury_3805

For context, I am 21 years old & in college for an Elementary Education program. I have done student teaching, subbing, teaching my own Kindergarten class (after a teacher left mid year). While I love children & teaching those who want to learn, I’ve noticed that the behaviors in the classroom are out of control. Even the veteran teachers I student teach under have major issues with behavior students.

This is upsetting to me because, again, I adore teaching the ones who want to learn. But it seems like every class has students who disrupt everyone, & the teacher’s attention always has to go to that student. I’ve experienced such behaviors, including being punched in the head & had chairs thrown at me. From what I’ve experienced, it also seems like parents do not help with discipline.

I’m starting to lose my spark for teaching & I haven’t really even begun. Teachers I’ve talked to have also said they are so burnt out. I’m wondering if this is a career still worth going into.

Also, side note, I recently went on a vacation to PR where there were so many stray animals. I’ve always had a passion for animals & feel more & more compelled to go into a career along those lines each time I see a behavior problem.

For context, I am 21 years old & in college for an Elementary Education program. I have done student teaching, subbing, teaching my own Kindergarten class (after a teacher left mid year). While I love children & teaching those who want to learn, I’ve noticed that the behaviors in the classroom are out of control. Even the veteran teachers I student teach under have major issues with behavior students.

This is upsetting to me because, again, I adore teaching the ones who want to learn. But it seems like every class has students who disrupt everyone, & the teacher’s attention always has to go to that student. I’ve experienced such behaviors, including being punched in the head & had chairs thrown at me. From what I’ve experienced, it also seems like parents do not help with discipline.

I’m starting to lose my spark for teaching & I haven’t really even begun. Teachers I’ve talked to have also said they are so burnt out. I’m wondering if this is a career still worth going into.

Also, side note, I recently went on a vacation to PR where there were so many stray animals. I’ve always had a passion for animals & feel more & more compelled to go into a career along those lines each time I see a behavior problem.

I am a 21 year old college student. I am in an an elementary education program, so I have plenty of experience working with children. I also have been working as a substitute teacher at one particular school for over 2 years.

At this school, one of the Kindergarten teachers called out for the rest of the year. The school hired me to be the new teacher. At first, I thought this was a great opportunity. However, I now realize I was wildly under prepped.

The amount of behavioral problems is insane. There are children who throw chairs, punch paras, mouth off, etc. I was not warned about any of this. Each day has been a struggle to rein these kids in. There are temper tantrums every day. Paras and other teachers warned me that it is due to the previous teacher not enforcing consequences while also letting children skip doing work, allowing them to just draw or play with toys. Since this is not acceptable in school, I hold firm on making them do their work and saying no, which just leads to more tantrums. They have said it is not my fault, but in fact the classroom is still better under my lead than hers.

Today, I had to leave the room because I was crying. It started because there was an argument where two kids got physical. I broke them up, but one kid could not calm down. He proceeded to swing and punch me in the head. It was a surprisingly hard punch coming from a kindergartener. 5 minutes before that, a different child threw chairs at me.
I told the principal I cannot come in to work tomorrow due to "recovering from today, as well as having a headache from being punched." I feel bad that I am calling out as I know the school is short on staff and this is a huge inconvenience to them. But I truly reached a breaking point after having chairs throw at me and being punched in the head. Was I wrong for calling out because I didn't want to go in? Or should I have committed to my responsibility?