I’d like to apologize for the state of this blog. This was never the blog I intended to write. This blog started out with my ideals and ideas, but over the past several months, it has deteriorated into a center for ridicule. I’m disappointed in myself.
I have also noticed that a prominent Philadelphia education blog removed me from its blogroll. It could have been a mistake. But I think it is more likely that they felt I was no longer writing anything of substance.
As a result, I am going to close my blog until the end of the school year.
My school has gone through many changes over the past year. The lack of stability has been very difficult for me. I am losing my energy, and fast. I wake up feeling sapped, and I crave sleep by the end of the school day. I no longer smile and skip through the hallway. I’m less creative, less humorous, less engaging, and less loving to my students. I honestly think I was a better teacher at this time last year.
And the little thing that has been nagging me since the fall is becoming a bigger thing: Maybe I’m not cut out for urban teaching. Or urban public school teaching. Maybe. Maybe not.
I plan revive this blog over the summer, when I have more time to write about serious issues in education. But I don’t want to feed negativity to my friends and supporters. My priority is the education of my students. For the rest of this year, I will make a larger effort to reclaim the energy and love for teaching that I know is latent within me. I’ll be back in a few months.
After having burned out in teaching, left for a year, then returned, I congratulate you on realizing this. Your priority is educating your students, but to do that, you must take care of yourself. Best wishes to you, whatever your final decisions about your career.
ReplyDeleteJust an old retired scientist here.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing the most important work there is!
Just read through your entire blog... I have a few years teaching experience on you (and certainly teach in a tamer environment), so I can't put myself directly in your shoes, but just wanted to say "Hang in there". Perhaps changing schools will provide you what you need to regain your love of the game. There's no shame in leaving an environment that only takes and rarely gives. I feel many newer teachers leave the profession entirely, when they should have just left the campus/district they found themselves in. It's not noble and righteous to give all for nothing; it's a short road to burn-out and misery.
ReplyDelete-Texas science teacher