Job Story: Teaching is tough to troubled kids....5th grade teacher

[joann star_babe2000au@yahoo.com]

i think that your story was great it made me think a lot about what it would be like to be a teacher.
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i would hate to be told that children aint living a happy life.
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[rosie]

I feel for you and I congradulate you. At least you're hanging in there and helping brighten some lives. We really need teachers who care. <br />
I'm an aspiring teacher, I care about children, it's real tough for alot of children, our society is in such a rush all the time. <br />
Blessing to you, I bid you peace.

[inner city fourth grade teach]

I totally understand and agree that my skills will be valuable to another job choice...I feel I will only be teaching for as long as it takes to find another job...it's ashame for you and me...

[Tammy tmp910@aol.com]

Thank God for teachers like you. Please don't ever quit. God called people like you and I to the teaching profession because we see well past the books and papers to the broken hearts that need mending. I have heard many stories from adults who can remember years later a rude comment made by a teacher, but on the other hand I have seen tears in some adults' eyes when they have told me how a sweet second grade or fifth grade teacher hugged them each day and cared for them. Teachers do more than teach, the special ones love from the heart. Hang in there and never give up, God is looking out for you so you can look after his precious little ones. <br />
ps To help you stay in the profession, if you don't realize what a difference you make, please read two books, A Child Called It and A Man Named Dave and you will see the difference teachers with a heart can make.

[Unregistered]

I feel your pain. I teach 5th grade. Being 2 years behind is one of the criteria for being in my school. Therefore my kids are supposed to be in the 7th grade. As I read your note it was looking at myself. I have been teaching for 3 years. The kids don't care about ever graduating. The goal for one of my kids is to eat so much that he can live off of welfare for the rest of his life.

All we as teachers ever hear, are teaching to the standards. We have guest speaker after guest speaker talking to us about how to get our kids to recieve higher scores. I would love to have a speaker come in and tell us how to deal with a kid who lives on the street, or a child who is in his 6th foster home and is only 13 years old. The reason I became a teacher was because i love and care about children.

[Unregistered]

YOU SPELLED "THESE" WRONG? DID YOU SAY YOU WERE A TEACHER?

[lorig@odygroup.]

Perhaps I can get some insight as a parent not an educator. My daughter's teacher called me yesterday. She is in 5th grade and in the past year we have had to move around due to circumstances beyond my control. (in a nut shell we moved to Elkhart in April, found out in August person we rented from couldn't rent the home legally, so were given 2 week notice to move. children and husband went to stay at his parents for 2 weeks (school #2), didn't want to loose my job so I stayed with friends for 2 weeks until we chalked it up and stayed at a family homeless shelter for 2 months until we bought a mobile home) school #3 and #4. So my children have been through hell and it shows of course at school. For the first few weeks in December they wouldn't do their homework 3rd and 5th grader.
We have that corrected but now my daughter's 5th grade is having a problem with everything she does. I'll give an example he called me 3 weeks ago and wanted to know why my daughter wasn't medicated becuase she can't or won't focus on any thing he says. {to give you a background this school is open concept and they have all of the children in little clusters of 5 all facing each other}. I know my daughter; she can focus on anything she wants to and I honestly don't believe him. I could belive that about my son; he likes to contemplate the wierdest things when he should be doing his homework.
But last night he called me again, very mad at my daughter, very unprofessional. He says he just can't stand her, that she is bringing in things from home (she brought in 3 bracelets - had I known I wouldn't have let her do anyway they were my 3 year olds) and was playing with them at her desk with her fingers and put 1 in her mouth and doodles on paper. While this is unacceptable behavior persay (heck my director of technology does the same thing and he's ok)
I don't get it what do I do here?????

[Unregistered]

I just read this letter and I want to say that I empathize with the teacher. I am a teacher in Pittsburgh and I can fully relate to this teacher's comments. However, one thing troubles me. Within the letter, I found at least 4 typos. This troubles me because although this is not a formal letter, I believe that it reflects poorly on educators – the very thing that the author resents. How then, can anyone take educators seriously? Call me what you will but I think this says much about the author and more so given that he or she is an educator to the youth of this country. I would hope and pray that administrators and public service officials don't get a hold of the letter because it can only fuel the negative views that some hold about teaching as a profession. At the very minimum the author could have used a spelling check function that can be found in most word processing software.
Regretfully yours,
Miguel Hernandez – Spanish Teacher – Pittsburgh, PA

[lorig@odygroup.]

While you caught my typos; one might also see that the story was coming from the parent, not the educator. While spell check would have been a simple cut and paste and check; I was more concearned with the welfare of my child/teacher relationship. One might also think I was trying to be quick; since I am at work and shouldn't be taking the time to think of personal matters.

So you can sypmathize with a teacher who states, "I am at my last straw with your daughter!"; however, it was unprofessional and if he is so bothered with a child who doodles and plays with her fingers that he just can't stand it anymore perhaps he should move on with his life.

[Unregistered]

Dear lorig@odygroup,
Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. My comments were referring to the original letter NOT your response. That being said, I still stand by my original comments. I wasn't at all referring to your response. The fact that the teacher who wrote the original letter misspelled about three or four different words can say much about the teaching profession. I feel I can say this because I too am a teacher! This is a PUBLIC discussion, whether formal or not it is just that – PUBLIC. By public, I mean that everyone and anyone can read this. Is there any wonder why our profession is so unvalued by so many? Did you ever hear anyone say, “Well, since I tried everything else I think I'll just teach….” Better yet, “ He is too smart to be a teacher…” As teachers we are supposed to be models for children. I am almost glad that the person who wrote the original letter is thinking about quitting the teaching profession in a couple of years. I wouldn't want someone like that being a model for my child! In addition, I know that many tax payers wouldn't want that person to be near a school.
Miguel Hernandez

[Unregistered]

I am in school to become a teacher. This article gave me alot of insight. This article is very true. How can a child who's mother brings home a new man every night and with a father who told her he never wants to see her again focus. I know for a fact I couldn't, Could you? Honestly! If the child has NO interest in learning and does not want to lear he/she will no learn! LET TRUTH BE TOLD! THIS IS THE TRUTH AND PEOPLE NEED TO COME FORWARD AND FACE THE FACTS!!!!