Teaching history WAS for me. I didn’t mind the work, it was a second career. I didn’t even mind financing my classes. Gave it my all. It’s the crap that went with it. The horrid admin, the hostile teachers horrible to students, the horrible students hostile to teachers, parents who didn’t care and were liars. I was first to school at 6:30am…..I gave it 100%. They gave me nothing. Not kindness, not appreciation, not one good thing. I quit. The end.
@edubwalter3179 After retiring, I found a job at the local airport and I've never felt so valued! My teaching skills and habits have really helped me in the post-teaching world. I realize now I should have got out long before 30 years. I enjoy working with adults and really enjoy actual teamwork.
Great video! Agreed, once in the classroom educational theory is almost worthless. Teaching is baptism by fire! I am in my sixth and final year of teaching. Afterwards, I will look for work within education that more aligns with my introversion. Good luck with your journey.
Be glad you found out only six weeks in! Lots of people in the US don’t figure it out until they’ve invested four to six years and have the equivalent of a 30 year mortgage in debt.
Same. I kept trying and trying, not wanting to fail, but then finally realized that teaching wasn’t for me. But it took me nine years to realize it. I will never go back. I am a full time Christian missionary to Honduras now. Been here almost eight years. I love it and it’s my calling. Thanks for your video and sharing your reasons for leaving teaching.
@@willhawkins9806 Thank you. Our time is up here now on the mission field. We are headed back home soon. God is calling us to do something in Texas. God bless. I hope you are doing what you love.
What you’ve said resonated with me so well. The character traits are so spot on, and I’m just now coming to terms with it. It can come across as failure, but as long as you tried, you haven’t failed. Thank you so much!
I just retired in June. The system is crumbling: no zeroes, no consequences, no respect, crazy colleagues ... so woke. 😮 I rarely had any problems after 32 years. If you gain your kid's respect you will do well. In addition, I was openly gay and thrived.
I have wondered how teachers do it...dealing with students, parents and administration breathing down their neck then going home to do paperwork....ugh.....I would tell people run from that profession.
Absolutely. It is so toxic (overused word, but it is the right word here). I long to be a dishwasher in the back of the restaurant, going home to my playstation after an honest day's work. People smile at you, too. I miss being smiled at.
@@alicelaybourne1620 Teaching has become something else other than teaching....they no longer focus on the 3 most important subjects Reading, Writing aRithmatic....they have so much different subjects that bombard and overwhelm the students as well as the teachers....so much paperwork load that is uneccessary.....the last greatest generations and the founding father nor the builders of Rome had such crap and they were highly intelligent and got along in life very well without all that mumbo-jumbo....that I have concluded is definitively to dumbify and stupify the population.....it HAS to be for that purpose.....and they seem to have succeeded and are succeeding.
From my experience in schools, they either concentrate on moving up the career ladder when the money starts getting half decent, they become numb but too financially entrenched to quit or they exist in a fixed smile delusion that “I’m OK”. Rarely, there is an absolute powerhouse of a teacher who just thrives, achieves and progresses the profession. They are super human, and deserve the utmost respect.
I've been teaching for 9 years and am a total introvert, have been my whole life and because of that it is so incredibly exhausting. I love the middle schoolers I teach, but they literally suck the energy right out of me because when I'm around them I can't be half assed and thus I give them all of me because i want each one to know I care for them and I see them. I literally do nothing else in my life other than veg out on TV and watch the political news and pet my cat and also talk to my husband about our school where he is also a teacher. He is a total extrovert, so it is much more natural for him to be in front of people and have tons of social energy around him, but he is still completely exhausted as well because the kids are getting worse and are so much more needy...needy for discipline, attention, repeating everything I said already a bunch of times, etc. Basically I make my classes a lot of fun by making the history interesting and bringing a lot of humor into along with a variety of videos and readings, but I'm also strict and make them work hard w/assignments and homework. I think they appreciate (deep down) that I push them and that I try to make class fun and make them laugh. It is like I am preforming every dam day in front of an audience because the persona I put on to keep their attention is not how I'd be if I didn't have to be. I hate talking to a small group of people, let alone 28 wild children along with the many observers our school has since we are a curriculum lab school partnered with a university. I think the kids think I'm an outgoing confidant person, which I am not at all. I don't even like going to a dinner with two other couples. It is sad because before teaching I coached softball at a high level and worked out and got super fit and now I'm lucky if I can find the energy to walk. In the summers, I workout again like crazy because the energy is there. I know the working out in summer isn't just because I'm not working because I had years of being fit and having energy to workout with multiple other jobs I had in the past. It also helps having my husband at the same k-12 school because I can get everything off my chest (and so can he) about the craziness we see and deal with on a daily basis and we know who the other is speaking about... I don't see myself quitting, but I've thought about it, but I really do adore a lot of the kids and I hope I make them feel a little better about themselves because often they put a smile on my face. I hope you find a career that is fulfilling and not too draining!
I was an American high-school teacher for 20 years. We had to be at school at 7:15 am, classes started at 7:35 am, and we were “done” at 3 pm. Many days I’d stay until 5 pm grading or prepping for the next day. Grading always came home with me for evening and weekend work. Holiday breaks always included work. Summers always included prepping and planning. I did okay. I met wonderful kids and colleagues. I found normal teen-age behavior challenging enough, but after Covid, the behavior was beyond my comprehension. In the first semester back to in class “learning,” there was 60k dollars of vandalism done to our school alone. Students, when asked to conform to basic school decorum, went ballistic…hitting, kicking, biting, swearing. You name it; I saw it. They had gone feral, and the monkeys were running the zoo. I was 62 years old and was planning to work until age 65; however, I had come to believe I was no longer the right kind of person for the students. I was the nice teacher, and they needed a drill sergeant, and that is not who I am, so I retired early. When I think back to my drama teaching days, I have fond memories. When I think of my last year, I have PTSD!
Exhausting! Amazing that you did it for 20 years. Yeah I've heard many people suggest that Covid changed things dramatically. Even in university settings.
WOW!!!! My sentiments exactly! This is my last year teaching , 24 yrs total. suffering PTSD from being verbally and physically assaulted, and administrators and counselors and everyone else piling on our plate. Students being unpleasant is an understatement.
Preach sister! I have had a similar situation since Pandemic times. Though I do think the behavior from being terminally online was already doing insane levels of damage in the classroom. One of my worst classes was 2019, so no Pandemic excuses. I had to keep reminding the admin that this group was terrible before "lock-down". Call it Dopamine withdrawal, but it is getting sooooo bad.
Brilliant video Will, thank you so much for this. We were devastated when you left the PGDE course, I still remember our first day together... I have so much admiration for you- the strength and courage it takes to leave something you worked so hard for is really incredible. I can relate to your experience so much. I first went to study pharmacy, and left the course after only 3 months. I felt like such a failure and disappointment to my family because it was such a difficult course to get onto. I feel sorry for how much of a hard time I gave younger self! I am rooting for you, and whatever path this life journey takes you on !! You should be so proud of yourself
I’m a teacher at an American high school and my training didn’t include Bloom’s taxonomy but later I had a Vice Principal (who later became my principal) and she loved Bloom’s taxonomy.
Thank you for sharing your educational journey and how you realized that teaching in front of large groups of people wasn't right for you. I am also an introvert and I can relate about the feeling of exhaustion at the end of each day, only to get up and do it again the next day. As a single parent of two children, I felt that my career options were limited. I continued to teach for several years. After my children were grown and on their own, I made the decision to resign. I became my mother's full-time caregiver for 2+ years until she passed away. I have no regrets about ending my teaching career, except that I wish I had done it sooner. I now work at home selling jewelry online which is quite satisfying. As a perfectionistic person, I am able to display and describe my items with creativity and precision. Thanks again for sharing your journey and I wish you much success!
Finished 1 semester of pgde. I utterly loathe this 1 year programme so much and I've just come from my master's degree chemistry. The workload is stupidly overwhelming: assignments, assignments and even assignments during the week when we should have been studying for our exams. And already I have problems sleeping at night because of the dread of next semester, racing through my mind. It's actually putting me off becoming a chemistry teacher as a career path. When I am done with this tedious and frustrating programme, I'm off to do my phd in chemistry. Even my Scottish dad, currently in Kuwait says he's fed up with teaching as well.
That feeling of perfectionism is just in the first year, then it becomes routine. I find that a job in finance is the most disconnected from what was taught in school and what that job actually involves.
Imagine requiring a drill sergeant. And even then...not being allowed to enforce any rules.no consequences, no standards,no support.The inmates are indeed in charge of the asylum!!!
The Saving Private Ryan comparison is spot on. I will leave teaching at the end of this year. It’s been a wonderful 35 years but it’s enough. I would continue teaching but the politics and general public perception of education have gotten to the point that it’s becoming more and more unbearable each year.
Congrats on all those years. I am on 29 here out west. It's to the point where I tune out my bratty boys and practice emotional detachment with the job daily. What a mess...but the pension will be nice.
I’m a teacher at an American high school - luckily in New York State. Teaching is challenging. When I student teaching (which is interning with an actual teacher), the 1st lesson that I taught, before I spent 3 days researching for it and then took a 3 hour nap after & I was like that’s not sustainable! The lesson was on something that I didn’t know too much about. In New York for teaching history (which we call “Social Studies“) you get licensed to teach 7th-12th grades which is Middle School/ Junior High through High School. But usually you do not teach students who are at both extremes. Usually you would teach at a High School or at a Middle School/ Junior High School but usually not both. Usually you would have only 3 preps (or different subject matters or grade levels per year - although it could be more but not usually). Also in New York, mostly in public schools you would only teach 5 periods/class of students a day and then also have a duty like lunch duty or having a study hall. I also worked in two non-public schools where there are less protections for teachers and more work (usually for less money!). So I have taught 6 classes straight in a row and then had lunch or recess duty with no break till. I was young then and can’t imagine doing that now. Then I was teaching Middle Schoolers which is also high energy. You might have done better with the oldest level of high school as they are more mature and serious.
I went to college to get my B.A. in Elementary Education, minors in English and Social Studies. I taught all subjects in elementary school and I could teach English or Social Studies plus electives in middle school. I realized during my education and in my student teaching that there were many problems that had to be dealt with, some I expected, many I did not. I got the degree and I work a corporate job. I did teach after work at a tutoring center for a few years as a second job. It's interesting to hear you say about your personality traits. I am also an introvert, a perfectionist and I have a terrible fear of public speaking. They didn't help me in teaching at all. I told myself I could do it because it was easier to talk in front of young children. And I certainly could but it didn't feel great. I was only nervous sometimes because of inexperience and everything going on. I wasn't afraid to talk in front of them but I really didn't like talking and talking all day. I prefered to go around and guide them in things rather than talk at them. I had found through work experience while attending college that I did feel more comfortable in an office, doing my work on my own, some interruptions from the phone or other co-workers and not having to talk all day. It wasn't exhausting like teaching. So when I graduated and there was a surplus of teachers, I wasn't torn up because I knew I could just do office work and actually be more comfortable in so many ways, get paid more and be able to leave my job at work at the end of the day. Well done video. It was interesting to hear how it was for you in Scotland. It's mostly the same in the U.S. but we certainly have other issues. Such as the good possibility you may be shot at work or have to try and protect up to 30 kids without any weapon or training. That was never a thought when I was a kid. I've been to England but I have always wanted to visit Scotland and Ireland. If I make it over to Scotland anytime soon, would you like to get coffee? Ot if you find yourself in Michigan or nearby. If you are available of course. You are probably not haha. Excellent video.
Thanks for the comment @marniekilbourne - I think when choosing a career you should definitely focus on your character traits as these are hard to change - and while a high extrovert might be miserable in an office an introvert might love it! Personally I love being surrounded by people but in a quiet space (library / cafe) and being allowed to work independently. And you can still help people that way. Let me know if you make it to Scotland!
If ever I will change my career, I will definitely have the same reasons. I have the same traits as you do, and I agree to everything you said regarding introversion and teaching except for one thing. That is why I did the opposite, realizing that I can improve on the third trait. I purposefully became a teacher to train my self to talk in front of a large group of people. I don't have that fear now.
I'm in my 7th year of teaching middle school science. I'm an introvert and a profectionist. What makes me want to quit are the increasing demands, disrespectful students, long hours, constant exhaustion, and several other factors to list. It's not worth it. Education is not what it once was. It's not what it was seven years ago. I'm looking at going back to school to retool and learn new skills. What's scary is that I'm 47. I already feel like I'm facing agism.
I do not think I could be a teacher, as my #1 rule would be to eject any disruptive student from any class. I am also terrible with name-face relation plus i am an introvert, so I totally understand the issue of energy. I have respect for you for even attempting it. For me an orderly class is essential - I suffered when that was not the case when I was a kid - 45 years ago! And that was at a school and a time when this was far less tolerated. Today?
An now retired introvert here, too. I taught university 8 years, then Grade 4 (9yr olds) for 2 years, no contract, trained for a new career in IT, did that 17 years, then got a package, and went into Adult night school P/T, then adult day school. Had to nap at lunchtime to recharge. So, four careers, and the last was the best. Adult immigrants and teachers WANT to learn. Their attendance is also tracked bc of social benefits. I KNOW youll find a career (or several) that are suited to your personality, Will. Very few young ppl nowadays will have only one career in their lifetime.
I’m deffo an introvert. Your definition of too many people = socially draining happens to me. Even when teachers speak in the staff room I lose energy. I need to unplug once in a while. I’m also a perfectionist and I’m my worst critic. But after many years of teaching I have become more aware that you gonna have good days and your gonna have mediocre days and that’s how it is
You could always sub! :) Although you do have to be flexible, you also can choose what job you pick up & what days you'd want to work. That could help you feel less drained, but also allow you to still help out at schools/ in the classrooms!
Thank you. After 2 months of my PGCE, with lots of positive feedback, lovely letters from students, lots of assurances of a rosy future, I am about to tell Uni I am leaving. I have agonised over it, but I am a square peg in a round hole. I don’t fit into the teaching environment; the politics, the undermining, the disillusionment in schools. The very occasional rewards did not outweigh the benefits for me. I love my subject and am passionate about it. Absolutely concur about the saving private ryan analogy. I have never, in all my life, been treated with such disrespect from teenagers. I have successfully brought up two grown children respectfully, had a £70K a year career. I did not accept being so disrespected by teens, and my behavioural management was commended. But here’s the thing….it’s exhausting keeping up the standard. It’s not for me. I love my subject, but it’s better taken elsewhere. The sense of relief I feel having made the decision to leave the PGCE tells me everything.
I am no longer enjoying teaching, but I’m 8 years from retirement. I have gotten my salary to an impressive place, and if I switch careers, I would most likely take a HUGE pay cut that I can’t afford. I really can’t leave at this point.
I could tell it was a bunch of nonsense immediately but persisted in the training because I wanted to complete my degree. Now in retrospect I have no idea, to borrow a phrase from Rodney Dangerfield. I think it was because tuition was dirt cheap back in the mid 1970s at state universities in Ohio because it was more heavily subsidized by the state back then. Plus my parents were picking up the tab and they were leaning on me quite heavily to finish especially since I was attending my dad’s alma mater or Miami of Ohio. In retrospect I think that Miami sold everyone a bill of goods and that that school in particular is not actually an elite institution. People want degrees because they’re egotistical to a great extent. I ended up being a merchant seaman and then a barber, two occupations which have minimal educational requirements. I now believe that most people should leave school after the 8th grade. All schooling does is prolong people’s adolescence to a grotesque extent.
I couldn’t get into a PGCE in the UK so I went into teaching ESL and fell in love with teaching abroad. Going to the UK to teach in a primary or secondary schools would kill me. I still want to get the QTS on a AO route but would still prefer to teach in China. (The workload is huge) but at least the rent is low and you can save 75-80% of your salary. In the UK you’d be whacked out of your savings. No way to live
Great analogy, attending university classes about teaching kids to teaching actual kids::watching Saving Private Ryan to engaging in combat at Omaha Beach!
Hi George! I run whawkvideo.com, making animated videos to help businesses explain what they do. (Also a little bit of digital marketing stuff!) What about you?
9am to 3pm? How fortunate are you! The contact/lesson times at my school is 8:30am to 4:30pm. Now try to imagine how much more of our social lives are dominated by teaching😅
I’m having trouble finding a job that will match my $50k a year salary. After 18 years that’s what I make. I couldn’t afford (and didn’t want) a masters. What jobs did you get after you left teaching?
Hello! I (eventually) got a job as an Account Executive for a marketing agency - but it did take a little time to re-skill beforehand. It may be necessary to take a paycut initially but, if you're not happy where you are, it's worth it! Best of luck @Tjcp292
4:45 Let me get this right... You teach history in a RANDOM chronological order?! This is so strange! How do you explain logical processes, how do you explain context that way??? How do you jump from the Great Plague to WW I?? History can only be taught in a chronological order, starting from the first humans and ending with present times. No wonder the kids don't like it. There's no opportunity to understand the essence of history - which is CONTEXT that way. When did this silly practice start in the UK? I'm sure it wasn't the case a few decades ago.
The people who go into training teachers are a mixed bunch. The one I knew at Bangor, was a former primary school teacher, trying to teach people to be Secondary English Teachers. She was full of hatred against the English and bullied various English students in the class. I think she thought this immature conduct was proof of her Welsh Nationalist credentials. Her silly teenage-style tantrums, did prepare us to deal with the children in the classroom, who behaved badly, so I guess she did some actual teacher training, without meaning to.
I've been teaching for 6 years now and I am an introvert, a perfectionist and get really anxious with public speaking 😂 It's the worst for me after a break and the only way I get through the first couple of weeks back is by pretending I'm not me, fake it until you make it ahahaha This video has made me understand why I think of quitting so often! I empathise with everything you said and the training for me was the WORST. It's such a rewarding job, but for me it is at the expense of any social life which I don't think friends and family quite understand. It's definitely a struggle!! 😂
Teaching history WAS for me. I didn’t mind the work, it was a second career. I didn’t even mind financing my classes. Gave it my all. It’s the crap that went with it. The horrid admin, the hostile teachers horrible to students, the horrible students hostile to teachers, parents who didn’t care and were liars. I was first to school at 6:30am…..I gave it 100%. They gave me nothing. Not kindness, not appreciation, not one good thing. I quit. The end.
You burned yourself out that’s stupid
Sorry to hear that @sshaw
Same
You are so correct; the work load is enormous and continuously changing and going higher. It’s extremely stressful.
As a recently retired teacher of 30 years, I found your sample schedule very appropriate: start with the plague, end with the plague.
Haha... the perfect bookend!
Congrats on doing 30yrs! I'm in year 27 with 3 more to go!
@edubwalter3179 After retiring,
I found a job at the local airport and I've never felt so valued! My teaching skills and habits have really helped me in the post-teaching world. I realize now I should have got out long before 30 years. I enjoy working with adults and really enjoy actual teamwork.
Great video! Agreed, once in the classroom educational theory is almost worthless. Teaching is baptism by fire! I am in my sixth and final year of teaching. Afterwards, I will look for work within education that more aligns with my introversion. Good luck with your journey.
Thanks! Wishing you all the best for whatever is next!
After 23 years teaching, I can confirm that it is not a profession for introverts. Best wishes to you for the future.
Thanks Lekuns, best of luck to you too!
I wish people truly understood how intense the profession is. The fact that so many quit within a few years is telling.
Without support workers teachers would struggle
@@charleneclark1817 teachers do struggle. I don't have support workers, so I am curious what you mean.
@@charleneclark1817I also have no “support worker”, which I’m assuming you mean instructional assistants, special ed teachers, etc.
Be glad you found out only six weeks in! Lots of people in the US don’t figure it out until they’ve invested four to six years and have the equivalent of a 30 year mortgage in debt.
Same.
I kept trying and trying, not wanting to fail, but then finally realized that teaching wasn’t for me. But it took me nine years to realize it. I will never go back. I am a full time Christian missionary to Honduras now. Been here almost eight years. I love it and it’s my calling. Thanks for your video and sharing your reasons for leaving teaching.
Thanks for the comment @reachhonduras, I'm glad you found your calling!
@@willhawkins9806 Thank you. Our time is up here now on the mission field. We are headed back home soon. God is calling us to do something in Texas. God bless. I hope you are doing what you love.
Your point about `what the profession looks like from the outside and what it really is on the inside` is most valid! James Deagle
Thanks James!
What you’ve said resonated with me so well. The character traits are so spot on, and I’m just now coming to terms with it. It can come across as failure, but as long as you tried, you haven’t failed. Thank you so much!
Thanks Jessica - it's okay to be an introvert!
I just retired in June. The system is crumbling: no zeroes, no consequences, no respect, crazy colleagues ... so woke. 😮 I rarely had any problems after 32 years. If you gain your kid's respect you will do well. In addition, I was openly gay and thrived.
Omg! It’s Ron Desantis! Woke! Woke!
SO wOkE . You have no idea what is coming out of your mouth, do you?
How tf is that "woke"?💀 Yk who's advocating for those kids to not get 0s, right? Cuz it's not "woke" people
How tf is that "woke"?💀 Yk who's advocating for those kids to not get 0s, right? Cuz it's not "woke" people
How tf is that "woke"?💀 Yk who's advocating for those kids to not get 0s, right? Cuz it's not "woke" people
I have wondered how teachers do it...dealing with students, parents and administration breathing down their neck then going home to do paperwork....ugh.....I would tell people run from that profession.
I do tell them to run. And to those that are in it I tell them to do whatever they have to do so that they can get out as soon as they can.
Absolutely. It is so toxic (overused word, but it is the right word here). I long to be a dishwasher in the back of the restaurant, going home to my playstation after an honest day's work. People smile at you, too. I miss being smiled at.
@@alicelaybourne1620 Teaching has become something else other than teaching....they no longer focus on the 3 most important subjects Reading, Writing aRithmatic....they have so much different subjects that bombard and overwhelm the students as well as the teachers....so much paperwork load that is uneccessary.....the last greatest generations and the founding father nor the builders of Rome had such crap and they were highly intelligent and got along in life very well without all that mumbo-jumbo....that I have concluded is definitively to dumbify and stupify the population.....it HAS to be for that purpose.....and they seem to have succeeded and are succeeding.
From my experience in schools, they either concentrate on moving up the career ladder when the money starts getting half decent, they become numb but too financially entrenched to quit or they exist in a fixed smile delusion that “I’m OK”. Rarely, there is an absolute powerhouse of a teacher who just thrives, achieves and progresses the profession. They are super human, and deserve the utmost respect.
I've been teaching for 9 years and am a total introvert, have been my whole life and because of that it is so incredibly exhausting. I love the middle schoolers I teach, but they literally suck the energy right out of me because when I'm around them I can't be half assed and thus I give them all of me because i want each one to know I care for them and I see them. I literally do nothing else in my life other than veg out on TV and watch the political news and pet my cat and also talk to my husband about our school where he is also a teacher. He is a total extrovert, so it is much more natural for him to be in front of people and have tons of social energy around him, but he is still completely exhausted as well because the kids are getting worse and are so much more needy...needy for discipline, attention, repeating everything I said already a bunch of times, etc.
Basically I make my classes a lot of fun by making the history interesting and bringing a lot of humor into along with a variety of videos and readings, but I'm also strict and make them work hard w/assignments and homework. I think they appreciate (deep down) that I push them and that I try to make class fun and make them laugh. It is like I am preforming every dam day in front of an audience because the persona I put on to keep their attention is not how I'd be if I didn't have to be. I hate talking to a small group of people, let alone 28 wild children along with the many observers our school has since we are a curriculum lab school partnered with a university.
I think the kids think I'm an outgoing confidant person, which I am not at all. I don't even like going to a dinner with two other couples. It is sad because before teaching I coached softball at a high level and worked out and got super fit and now I'm lucky if I can find the energy to walk. In the summers, I workout again like crazy because the energy is there. I know the working out in summer isn't just because I'm not working because I had years of being fit and having energy to workout with multiple other jobs I had in the past. It also helps having my husband at the same k-12 school because I can get everything off my chest (and so can he) about the craziness we see and deal with on a daily basis and we know who the other is speaking about... I don't see myself quitting, but I've thought about it, but I really do adore a lot of the kids and I hope I make them feel a little better about themselves because often they put a smile on my face.
I hope you find a career that is fulfilling and not too draining!
I'm sure you're an amazing teacher - certainly sounds like it! Hang in there - you're doing great.
Get to the gym.
Nah, quit to have a family, health, and peace.
I was an American high-school teacher for 20 years. We had to be at school at 7:15 am, classes started at 7:35 am, and we were “done” at 3 pm. Many days I’d stay until 5 pm grading or prepping for the next day. Grading always came home with me for evening and weekend work. Holiday breaks always included work. Summers always included prepping and planning. I did okay. I met wonderful kids and colleagues. I found normal teen-age behavior challenging enough, but after Covid, the behavior was beyond my comprehension. In the first semester back to in class “learning,” there was 60k dollars of vandalism done to our school alone. Students, when asked to conform to basic school decorum, went ballistic…hitting, kicking, biting, swearing. You name it; I saw it. They had gone feral, and the monkeys were running the zoo. I was 62 years old and was planning to work until age 65; however, I had come to believe I was no longer the right kind of person for the students. I was the nice teacher, and they needed a drill sergeant, and that is not who I am, so I retired early. When I think back to my drama teaching days, I have fond memories. When I think of my last year, I have PTSD!
Exhausting! Amazing that you did it for 20 years. Yeah I've heard many people suggest that Covid changed things dramatically. Even in university settings.
WOW!!!! My sentiments exactly! This is my last year teaching , 24 yrs total. suffering PTSD from being verbally and physically assaulted, and administrators and counselors and everyone else piling on our plate.
Students being unpleasant is an understatement.
Preach sister! I have had a similar situation since Pandemic times. Though I do think the behavior from being terminally online was already doing insane levels of damage in the classroom. One of my worst classes was 2019, so no Pandemic excuses. I had to keep reminding the admin that this group was terrible before "lock-down". Call it Dopamine withdrawal, but it is getting sooooo bad.
Brilliant video Will, thank you so much for this. We were devastated when you left the PGDE course, I still remember our first day together... I have so much admiration for you- the strength and courage it takes to leave something you worked so hard for is really incredible. I can relate to your experience so much. I first went to study pharmacy, and left the course after only 3 months. I felt like such a failure and disappointment to my family because it was such a difficult course to get onto. I feel sorry for how much of a hard time I gave younger self! I am rooting for you, and whatever path this life journey takes you on !! You should be so proud of yourself
Thanks Jade, that's so kind of you to say! Congrats on finishing and see you soon!
Love this video!
My university years was worthless
Thanks Mr. Dale!
I’m a teacher at an American high school and my training didn’t include Bloom’s taxonomy but later I had a Vice Principal (who later became my principal) and she loved Bloom’s taxonomy.
Thank you for sharing your educational journey and how you realized that teaching in front of large groups of people wasn't right for you. I am also an introvert and I can relate about the feeling of exhaustion at the end of each day, only to get up and do it again the next day. As a single parent of two children, I felt that my career options were limited. I continued to teach for several years. After my children were grown and on their own, I made the decision to resign. I became my mother's full-time caregiver for 2+ years until she passed away. I have no regrets about ending my teaching career, except that I wish I had done it sooner. I now work at home selling jewelry online which is quite satisfying. As a perfectionistic person, I am able to display and describe my items with creativity and precision. Thanks again for sharing your journey and I wish you much success!
Finished 1 semester of pgde.
I utterly loathe this 1 year programme so much and I've just come from my master's degree chemistry.
The workload is stupidly overwhelming: assignments, assignments and even assignments during the week when we should have been studying for our exams.
And already I have problems sleeping at night because of the dread of next semester, racing through my mind.
It's actually putting me off becoming a chemistry teacher as a career path.
When I am done with this tedious and frustrating programme, I'm off to do my phd in chemistry.
Even my Scottish dad, currently in Kuwait says he's fed up with teaching as well.
That feeling of perfectionism is just in the first year, then it becomes routine. I find that a job in finance is the most disconnected from what was taught in school and what that job actually involves.
Imagine requiring a drill sergeant. And even then...not being allowed to enforce any rules.no consequences, no standards,no support.The inmates are indeed in charge of the asylum!!!
Fair play. I admire your honesty. I struggled with some of early teaching practices. I had to adjust my teacher persona to actually succeed.
So funny your analogy about Private Ryan!!
The Saving Private Ryan comparison is spot on. I will leave teaching at the end of this year. It’s been a wonderful 35 years but it’s enough. I would continue teaching but the politics and general public perception of education have gotten to the point that it’s becoming more and more unbearable each year.
Congrats on all those years. I am on 29 here out west. It's to the point where I tune out my bratty boys and practice emotional detachment with the job daily. What a mess...but the pension will be nice.
I’m a teacher at an American high school - luckily in New York State. Teaching is challenging. When I student teaching (which is interning with an actual teacher), the 1st lesson that I taught, before I spent 3 days researching for it and then took a 3 hour nap after & I was like that’s not sustainable! The lesson was on something that I didn’t know too much about. In New York for teaching history (which we call “Social Studies“) you get licensed to teach 7th-12th grades which is Middle School/ Junior High through High School. But usually you do not teach students who are at both extremes. Usually you would teach at a High School or at a Middle School/ Junior High School but usually not both. Usually you would have only 3 preps (or different subject matters or grade levels per year - although it could be more but not usually). Also in New York, mostly in public schools you would only teach 5 periods/class of students a day and then also have a duty like lunch duty or having a study hall. I also worked in two non-public schools where there are less protections for teachers and more work (usually for less money!). So I have taught 6 classes straight in a row and then had lunch or recess duty with no break till. I was young then and can’t imagine doing that now. Then I was teaching Middle Schoolers which is also high energy. You might have done better with the oldest level of high school as they are more mature and serious.
Try going into TK or kindergarten class.............yikes!
@@azoreanprincesa8170 TK?
HS more mature and serious....laughing
I went to college to get my B.A. in Elementary Education, minors in English and Social Studies. I taught all subjects in elementary school and I could teach English or Social Studies plus electives in middle school. I realized during my education and in my student teaching that there were many problems that had to be dealt with, some I expected, many I did not. I got the degree and I work a corporate job. I did teach after work at a tutoring center for a few years as a second job. It's interesting to hear you say about your personality traits. I am also an introvert, a perfectionist and I have a terrible fear of public speaking. They didn't help me in teaching at all. I told myself I could do it because it was easier to talk in front of young children. And I certainly could but it didn't feel great. I was only nervous sometimes because of inexperience and everything going on. I wasn't afraid to talk in front of them but I really didn't like talking and talking all day. I prefered to go around and guide them in things rather than talk at them. I had found through work experience while attending college that I did feel more comfortable in an office, doing my work on my own, some interruptions from the phone or other co-workers and not having to talk all day. It wasn't exhausting like teaching. So when I graduated and there was a surplus of teachers, I wasn't torn up because I knew I could just do office work and actually be more comfortable in so many ways, get paid more and be able to leave my job at work at the end of the day. Well done video. It was interesting to hear how it was for you in Scotland. It's mostly the same in the U.S. but we certainly have other issues. Such as the good possibility you may be shot at work or have to try and protect up to 30 kids without any weapon or training. That was never a thought when I was a kid. I've been to England but I have always wanted to visit Scotland and Ireland. If I make it over to Scotland anytime soon, would you like to get coffee? Ot if you find yourself in Michigan or nearby. If you are available of course. You are probably not haha. Excellent video.
Thanks for the comment @marniekilbourne - I think when choosing a career you should definitely focus on your character traits as these are hard to change - and while a high extrovert might be miserable in an office an introvert might love it! Personally I love being surrounded by people but in a quiet space (library / cafe) and being allowed to work independently. And you can still help people that way. Let me know if you make it to Scotland!
If ever I will change my career, I will definitely have the same reasons. I have the same traits as you do, and I agree to everything you said regarding introversion and teaching except for one thing. That is why I did the opposite, realizing that I can improve on the third trait. I purposefully became a teacher to train my self to talk in front of a large group of people. I don't have that fear now.
Yeah I agree - I think that fear would have gone eventually. Glad to hear you got through it John!
That's a heck of a trade-off for wanting to build up ability to speak in front of people.
I'm in my 7th year of teaching middle school science. I'm an introvert and a profectionist. What makes me want to quit are the increasing demands, disrespectful students, long hours, constant exhaustion, and several other factors to list.
It's not worth it. Education is not what it once was. It's not what it was seven years ago. I'm looking at going back to school to retool and learn new skills. What's scary is that I'm 47. I already feel like I'm facing agism.
I do not think I could be a teacher, as my #1 rule would be to eject any disruptive student from any class. I am also terrible with name-face relation plus i am an introvert, so I totally understand the issue of energy.
I have respect for you for even attempting it. For me an orderly class is essential - I suffered when that was not the case when I was a kid - 45 years ago! And that was at a school and a time when this was far less tolerated. Today?
An now retired introvert here, too. I taught university 8 years, then Grade 4 (9yr olds) for 2 years, no contract, trained for a new career in IT, did that 17 years, then got a package, and went into Adult night school P/T, then adult day school. Had to nap at lunchtime to recharge.
So, four careers, and the last was the best. Adult immigrants and teachers WANT to learn. Their attendance is also tracked bc of social benefits.
I KNOW youll find a career (or several) that are suited to your personality, Will. Very few young ppl nowadays will have only one career in their lifetime.
Hi @billTo - there is nothing like teaching those that want to learn. Appreciate the kind advice :)
Thanks for the Video! Very reaffirming. I am hopeful for a better career. :)
Best of luck!
I’m deffo an introvert. Your definition of too many people = socially draining happens to me. Even when teachers speak in the staff room I lose energy. I need to unplug once in a while. I’m also a perfectionist and I’m my worst critic. But after many years of teaching I have become more aware that you gonna have good days and your gonna have mediocre days and that’s how it is
You could always sub! :) Although you do have to be flexible, you also can choose what job you pick up & what days you'd want to work. That could help you feel less drained, but also allow you to still help out at schools/ in the classrooms!
Thank you. After 2 months of my PGCE, with lots of positive feedback, lovely letters from students, lots of assurances of a rosy future, I am about to tell Uni I am leaving. I have agonised over it, but I am a square peg in a round hole. I don’t fit into the teaching environment; the politics, the undermining, the disillusionment in schools. The very occasional rewards did not outweigh the benefits for me. I love my subject and am passionate about it. Absolutely concur about the saving private ryan analogy. I have never, in all my life, been treated with such disrespect from teenagers. I have successfully brought up two grown children respectfully, had a £70K a year career. I did not accept being so disrespected by teens, and my behavioural management was commended. But here’s the thing….it’s exhausting keeping up the standard. It’s not for me. I love my subject, but it’s better taken elsewhere.
The sense of relief I feel having made the decision to leave the PGCE tells me everything.
The Blooms taxonomy reference 😂😂😂
Comical at best in a kind of good way.
I am no longer enjoying teaching, but I’m 8 years from retirement. I have gotten my salary to an impressive place, and if I switch careers, I would most likely take a HUGE pay cut that I can’t afford. I really can’t leave at this point.
You dodged a bullet, as they say and probably saved a fair bit of student debt by not struggling on.
I could tell it was a bunch of nonsense immediately but persisted in the training because I wanted to complete my degree. Now in retrospect I have no idea, to borrow a phrase from Rodney Dangerfield. I think it was because tuition was dirt cheap back in the mid 1970s at state universities in Ohio because it was more heavily subsidized by the state back then. Plus my parents were picking up the tab and they were leaning on me quite heavily to finish especially since I was attending my dad’s alma mater or Miami of Ohio. In retrospect I think that Miami sold everyone a bill of goods and that that school in particular is not actually an elite institution. People want degrees because they’re egotistical to a great extent. I ended up being a merchant seaman and then a barber, two occupations which have minimal educational requirements. I now believe that most people should leave school after the 8th grade. All schooling does is prolong people’s adolescence to a grotesque extent.
What is your new business endeavour?
Good informative video, and I concur with many things you say.
Thanks Nick - appreciate it!
I couldn’t get into a PGCE in the UK so I went into teaching ESL and fell in love with teaching abroad. Going to the UK to teach in a primary or secondary schools would kill me. I still want to get the QTS on a AO route but would still prefer to teach in China. (The workload is huge) but at least the rent is low and you can save 75-80% of your salary. In the UK you’d be whacked out of your savings. No way to live
A major workload issue is the accountability regime imposed after1988.
Great analogy, attending university classes about teaching kids to teaching actual kids::watching Saving Private Ryan to engaging in combat at Omaha Beach!
Thanks @marinekatherine!
What are you doing now?
I quit training after 5 months. I felt really drained and was out of specialism
Hi George! I run whawkvideo.com, making animated videos to help businesses explain what they do. (Also a little bit of digital marketing stuff!) What about you?
@@willhawkins9806 I work for the council
9am to 3pm? How fortunate are you! The contact/lesson times at my school is 8:30am to 4:30pm.
Now try to imagine how much more of our social lives are dominated by teaching😅
Wow. That's a proper shift!
I’m having trouble finding a job that will match my $50k a year salary. After 18 years that’s what I make. I couldn’t afford (and didn’t want) a masters. What jobs did you get after you left teaching?
Hello! I (eventually) got a job as an Account Executive for a marketing agency - but it did take a little time to re-skill beforehand. It may be necessary to take a paycut initially but, if you're not happy where you are, it's worth it! Best of luck @Tjcp292
can you elaborate on what you had to deal with from kids and parents?
I recommend a person volunteer at a job BEFORE going to school for it.
Teaching is the very best job in the world. I love teaching overseas. However Teaching in the UK is the worst job in the world.
So what next?
4:45 Let me get this right... You teach history in a RANDOM chronological order?! This is so strange! How do you explain logical processes, how do you explain context that way??? How do you jump from the Great Plague to WW I?? History can only be taught in a chronological order, starting from the first humans and ending with present times. No wonder the kids don't like it. There's no opportunity to understand the essence of history - which is CONTEXT that way.
When did this silly practice start in the UK? I'm sure it wasn't the case a few decades ago.
The people who go into training teachers are a mixed bunch. The one I knew at Bangor, was a former primary school teacher, trying to teach people to be Secondary English Teachers. She was full of hatred against the English and bullied various English students in the class. I think she thought this immature conduct was proof of her Welsh Nationalist credentials. Her silly teenage-style tantrums, did prepare us to deal with the children in the classroom, who behaved badly, so I guess she did some actual teacher training, without meaning to.
Hello , did you study History A level at BHASVIC? If so I think I was in your class
I've been teaching for 6 years now and I am an introvert, a perfectionist and get really anxious with public speaking 😂
It's the worst for me after a break and the only way I get through the first couple of weeks back is by pretending I'm not me, fake it until you make it ahahaha
This video has made me understand why I think of quitting so often! I empathise with everything you said and the training for me was the WORST.
It's such a rewarding job, but for me it is at the expense of any social life which I don't think friends and family quite understand.
It's definitely a struggle!! 😂
Seems like same problems all over the world. Do you think it would be any better with older students, like 13+