First year is unbelievably overwhelming for all of us. You went into teaching for a reason. You need to give yourself a chance to succeed if you went into it for a GOOD reason (not because you couldn’t think of anything else you might like to do). Maybe 2nd grade is not the right fit. Maybe older kids would be better – there’s a big difference between 2nd and 5th graders. Maybe you’re really not cut out for teaching. If you really want to be a teacher, though, you owe it to yourself to give it a chance and see if it gets better.

This is the life of a teacher! You will feel like this every so often. What you need to ask yourself is, “Is it worth it to me, and do I enjoy this enough to continue?” I get frustrated with all this and more, but then I think of the way I feel when I teach something and a student says, “Now I understand!” Or “Thank you for teaching me that!” It makes it worth it to me. Students and parents will come back and tell me the differences I have made in their children’s lives.

Since you are a new teacher you should be able to get a mentor to help you out. These feelings are normal, you just have to weigh the good with the bad. You will have these students for less than a year, but that time can mean so much to a child.

When you get frustrated, just stand back and breathe. You cannot save them all, and sometimes it seems as if you try and try, but still are not doing, “good enough” You are helping them in ways you do not even know sometimes.

After this year you might want to try a different grade, but they all have their problems. I teach fifth and LOVE IT! I still have these days sometimes, but I can’t imagine myself doing anything else!

Speaking as a teacher, I know it is all overwhelming, especially at first. Do you have a good mentor? If your assigned mentor is not particularly helpful (mine wasn’t) find someone in your same grade, or one close who is. IT WILL GET BETTER!!! Hang in there. Right now everything is so brand new, and you’re having to develop all your lesson plans and your strategies for dealing with problem students and parents. And you’ll have to be consistent in dealing with the kids. Especially things like them hanging on you. If you won’t let them do that…and are consistent, it WILL get better.

I would hope that things will get better before long. If you are consistently miserable by the end of the year, though, then maybe you should re-evaluate whether this is what you are meant to do. Not everyone is called to be a teacher, and if you’re not, you will be miserable every day.

Good luck this year, and I hope this helps.

You sound exactly like I did last year when I first started out.

I assume you’re teaching in the US or somewhere where the school year has just started. It’s very overwhelming when you start. You’ll adjust soon enough and start enjoying it.

As for the “surprise inspections”… I had a similar problem. I went to my supervisor explained that I felt I was walking on eggshells and not being given time to get to know my class or develop my own style because I was frequently under supervision. She backed right off, and everyone benefited.

And the kids… well, sometimes you get a good batch, sometimes you get a bad batch. With me, I had done all my pracs on older classes, so I had trouble coping with the younger kids who needed help with EVERYTHING. The best thing I can tell you to do is relax and enjoy it. You getting stressed out won’t make Johnny stop bugging you, but you not allowing yourself to be bugged by Johnny will help you help him.

Oh, and regarding exams: I found with my kids that a lot of the time they would have trouble because they couldn’t read the instructions/questions. So when I gave my kids tests, I would read the questions to the kids. It brought their results up significantly. Remember, at the start of second grade a lot of children have only been reading for two years and aren’t strong enough to do so independently.

I’m not a public school teacher but I drive a school bus for public high school. Some years are better than others. This is my 8th year. I quit, in my mind, about twice a week the first year I drove.

Experience does change some things.

I also think that public school has changed with the “No Child Left Behind” agenda. You, as a teacher, cannot follow your instincts and interests of the students. You cannot take a current event and create a lesson because you have such a strict schedule of ‘required’ learning.

I can’t tell you to hang in there or to quit. I know that I would not want to teach in the public school. I do teach, but in homeschool. We pulled our son out of public school 2 years ago. I enjoy the ‘ah-ha’ moments. I enjoy planning lessons. I will miss teaching when he graduates in 3 more years.

Wow! You have very accurately described what it’s like to be a first year teacher for grade 2.

The average person out there has NO IDEA the stress that you are experiencing. I have taught for over 8 years full-time and it DOES get better, but still requires a LOT of energy and discipline.

Here’s some tips:

1. Be sure to get to bed early each night.

2. Ask veteran teachers for tips on everything.

3. Take a relaxing walk or some other kind of exercise every day. (Yoga perhaps?)

4. Get a therapist to talk to for this first year to help get you through.

5. Eat healthy food during this time.

You are correct, this age group is VERY needy, but not nearly as needy as grade K or 1st.

Be good to yourself and reward yourself every day with something.

Try to have a life outside of work (I know it’s hard)

Join a support group.

Don’t forget that you have EARNED some ‘sick’ days. This first year, I highly suggest that you take some ‘mental health’ days when you need them. Take one on a Friday or Monday to get a 3-day weekend.

Perhaps you should try middle school. You do not have to grade all homework. Check to see if it is done, then go over it in class. Do not give another graded assignment until you have handed back what you already collected. Period. Use some rubrics for grading, and some oral assignments that you can grade as the kids do them.

Were you certified before you set foot in the classroom, or are you trying to do that at the same time? If you are, maybe you want a break, or to take all your classes this summer.

Behavior problems are often a direct result of what you are projecting on them. Treat your students the way you treat your own children at home, if you have them.

Second grade should not have exams. However, average all the grades. If the average is 70, average, then you are doing an effective job.

Feeling overwhelmed is completely normal. We have fifty million things to do and do not have the training to do them efficiently during our first few years.

As far as the kids being right by you, you need to lay down the law that they are NOT to leave their seats without permission. Make sure they understand your expectations and make sure there is a consequence if they do not follow the instructions. I have kids all the way up to 5th grade and they will be all over me if I let them. This year, my third, I just made sure I told them and told them and told them what my expectations are and what the consequences to their not following are. One of my rules is that they must stay in their seat and only leave when they have permission. You know, if one gets up and comes to you, five more will follow if you don’t stop it in their tracks. So—-stop it. You are the one who’s the boss and has the final say. Make sure the kids understand that.

I understand about the teaching and teaching too. It’s one of the most frustrating things in the world. You feel like you are teaching and doing so well and then you give the exam. Try to give the information in more than one way. Give the students visual information as much as possible. Continue to have high expectations or the kids will never do well. Be sure to ask if the students have any questions. I forget to do that sometimes and they don’t just ask. Try and figure out who’s struggling the most and talk to them briefly after class in case they don’t want to talk during class.

As long as you are excited about touching the future and empowering students in your class, you are in the right profession. Just think of your first five years or so as more learning years. Learn from the difficult times and know that it’s only going to get easier as you go along. I’m sure you will do fine. Just this summer, during a completely horrific and spirit killing experience with summer school, I was ready to chuck the whole thing too. I’m back to my regular school and my regular job empowered because of all the things I learned during my horrible time this summer. I’m having the best year so far. Trust me—it does get better.

Good luck to you. I hope you stick it out. We need as many teachers as we can get.

Perhaps it is not teaching that is the problem. Maybe you are teaching at a level that is too low. Teaching is a very demanding and difficult profession. All of the state and federal regulations combined with the demands of the parents and administrators are overwhelming at times. Sometimes I just want to tell the world to stop long enough for me to catch up.

Through it all I know that my students are my safe place. I love being with them. I enjoy their ideas and am always learning something new from them. I could never do this job if I didn’t have them to remind me why I do this job. Does that mean they never get on my nerves? Of course not. They have their days. But over all, they keep me young at heart. I teach high school.

If the neediness of the children and the constant repetition is not what you can deal with, a change to a higher grade level might but the answer. Square your shoulders, pin a smile on your face for the kids and then request a transfer to an older set of kids next year.

I am a parent volunteer for all three of my kids classes and I have a second grade child who drives his teacher BANANAS, he thinks outside of the box,and learns in such a different way than my other two kids do, and I think your in one of the toughest grades! I see so many kids with different levels of learning and the teacher recently asked if there were any parents interested in volunteering by taking one child into the hall and help that one understand what the teacher had just presented, sometimes when they have that one on one attention to show a different way of learning in a quieter environment, they focus different. Most parents with kids that age love being at school with their kids still. I say stick with it and ask parents if they’d like to volunteer to help an hour a day, like around recess, the child that is struggling at that point in the day go out in the hall with that parent, I did this last year with my other childs class, what a difference it can make to see a one on one focusing. Some kids learn better in smaller groups, and some fit in fine. You do have a tough grade to teach, it takes a great deal of patience!!!! Teachers are the most amazing people and they can only HOPE that the parents can take the time to read to them in the evenings to help you out. Don’t allow them to freely move around the classroom, give them a special time to ask questions or have them write them down and put them in a box, it helps them learn to write and you can pick a time for answering these questions. We have whats called a tattle box because tattling is not allowed, they write down what they want to tattle about and put it in this kleenex box decorated and labeled the TATTLE BOX. Not all kids learn the same which makes your job harder and more creative. I can see how frustrated you would be at the end of the day. Keep those who don’t finish their work to spend recess with you, but then again that is your break so that really is not fair either. I now volunteer in a class for questions during this teachers hour of what they call “centers”. Its an amazing way she teaches and these kids always do what your saying, asking things the whole hour, so I walk through the class and help them understand some of the math or puzzle or writing assignments they are confused on. Don’t give up on them, I think your AMAZING just for choosing education, it takes a very special person to do it!!!!!