Bouncing back?
I've posted here several times before and you guys have given me great advice. I'm a first year teacher in a high poverty school, teaching 8th grade. I have struggled a LOT with classroom management.
The past few weeks have been a nightmare. I found out that I'm being RIF'd and the kids have been worse than usual. I have also been sick, and my dr. told me it was purely brought on by stress, not from a virus or anything like that. I missed two days this week and when I came back, it was like hell on earth. Of course, it has mostly been that all year. Today, I couldn't teach anything. I would start talking and then they would start talking. Back and forth, back and forth. Everyone I called on, no one knew the answer or even where we were. At the end, instead of giving them five minutes to talk before lunch because we had extra time, I told them to write a letter to me explaining how they could be successful in class and what they would do to improve their behavior.
Long story short, the letters all told me that I'm a shitty teacher, "too nice", "not aggressive enough", "need to yell more", "take control of my classroom". My teammate is awesome, but she has been teaching 20 years and she screams at them all the time. However, they act great for her. She is intimidating, but she has them in line. I have tried being tougher all year, but nothing I do makes a difference. I've been drowning for months now. I took them to lunch and my teammates told me to sit in the break room and take a moment because they knew I was upset. I sat in there and cried and cried. When I came out, I'm sure my face and eyes were red and several kids asked me "Have you been crying?" . I said no.
I feel like now they know they've gotten to me and it's going to be even more impossible now. I have 30 more days (not counting weekends) and I'm honestly shaking about the thought of returning to school.
How do you guys back bounce from a humiliating/rough/terrible day?
The past few weeks have been a nightmare. I found out that I'm being RIF'd and the kids have been worse than usual. I have also been sick, and my dr. told me it was purely brought on by stress, not from a virus or anything like that. I missed two days this week and when I came back, it was like hell on earth. Of course, it has mostly been that all year. Today, I couldn't teach anything. I would start talking and then they would start talking. Back and forth, back and forth. Everyone I called on, no one knew the answer or even where we were. At the end, instead of giving them five minutes to talk before lunch because we had extra time, I told them to write a letter to me explaining how they could be successful in class and what they would do to improve their behavior.
Long story short, the letters all told me that I'm a shitty teacher, "too nice", "not aggressive enough", "need to yell more", "take control of my classroom". My teammate is awesome, but she has been teaching 20 years and she screams at them all the time. However, they act great for her. She is intimidating, but she has them in line. I have tried being tougher all year, but nothing I do makes a difference. I've been drowning for months now. I took them to lunch and my teammates told me to sit in the break room and take a moment because they knew I was upset. I sat in there and cried and cried. When I came out, I'm sure my face and eyes were red and several kids asked me "Have you been crying?" . I said no.
I feel like now they know they've gotten to me and it's going to be even more impossible now. I have 30 more days (not counting weekends) and I'm honestly shaking about the thought of returning to school.
How do you guys back bounce from a humiliating/rough/terrible day?