Out of Ideas

by Erica

(note: I am writing this out of a lot of frustration)

I am at my limit with my students. Thankfully, my administration undestands how difficult this class is. This is not your typical school. These are not your typical children. They come from rough homes. They are more street savy that I am. The most difficult part for me is that I can't do a single thing to shield them from what they have to live with. I can't control what happens outside of my classroom. I can't fix them.

The things that I deal with on a day to day basis, the lack of respect that I get from these kids and the lack of parental support cause me to wonder why I am here. I can't teach a single lesson without 15 interruptions. If I were a parent of a child who was on task, I would be complaining that my child is getting cheated out of a great education.

Oh, and then there are these benchmarks that I am supposed to get my students to? Tell me how a child is supposed to learn when there dad was put in jail last night. Common? In this school it is. I am succumbing to the fact that I don't have what it takes to teach inner city kids. I wish that I could. But I guess that I wasn't made for this population.