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Teaching in a Pandemic

beatingtheblues
beatingtheblues

I made the mistake of accepting a teaching position at the beginning of August. I thought the position would have a little less stress than a regular classroom teacher, but it turns out that due to a massive amount of "bookkeeping," it's MORE stress. This was not indicated to me during the interview. I can't handle it, and being forced back into the school building recently hasn't helped matters. I like my coworkers, the kids are cute, but the district seems unaware of the toll they're exacting on teachers with their demands. I want to quit, but I know that will cause problems of its own. If I continue as I am, I may well end up on a medical leave, and no doubt my administration will either think I'm crazy or faking.


Is anyone else going through something similar? (And if I'm not back on here for several days, it's because I'm either working or sleeping.)


Thanks for letting me vent, if nothing else. Good wishes to everyone.

Froggie83
Froggie83
I lost my job as a teachers aid because of the pandemic. I would love to have my job back.. Stress or not.
Hang in there. Talk to your admins to see if there is anything they can relax on. Get with the other teachers and see if you can help each other. The 5th grade teachers in my district got together and decided each one would do the work of one subject. So my friend only has to do paperwork and video lessons for the math. Another teacher does reading and so on. It really helped with time management and stress reduction.
Flashreturns
Flashreturns
Give it until the new year. A lot of stress is due to adjusting. You also got to draw clear boundaries between you and parents ,staff. What's the worst they can do ? What's the job market like for teachers where live?
shadowlady
shadowlady
God bless you, beatingtheblues. I'm a retired teacher. The stress at the last school I taught was horrendous. I stayed sick for 3 years. I'll keep you in my prayers.
abcdefghijklmop1
abcdefghijklmop1
I relate even though I am not a teacher.All of the sudden my job became all virtual instead of in person. I had to learn a lot of computer /internet stuff and I am not so good at that. I am thankful to being able to keep my job but the job became harder with a lot more preparation and the results I could be less effective than in person.To sum up, I don't like my job as much as I did before .However, after a few months I have became used to it and just put up with it until I can work in person with other people. Hang in there, it will get better.
Littlechef
Littlechef
It's difficult times for us all with this virus so it's probably going to make your teaching much harder but don't throw your teaching job down the drain it's what you worked for for a long time maybe stick it out till the end of the year then think what you want to do.
Look after your self.
jannytheresa
jannytheresa
It seems like the pandemic has put a lot of people in situations which have led to soaring anxiety, depression and suicidality.
Are there any things that you can take off your plate?
I am finding that more and more, I have to just sit back and
do my best.
I wish you gentle hugs and urge you to take good care of yourself.
Hopefully you won't end up having to take a leave but if
you do, you do. You can only do what you can do.
Prycejosh1987
Prycejosh1987
If you can do the job and work hard and make the job better for you, then keep the job, but if its too stressful then find another job, and then you could quit the bookkeeping job.
beatingtheblues
beatingtheblues
I want to thank everyone for their replies. I appreciate all of your good wishes, advice, and your sharing your own experiences, and I wish nothing but the best for all of you. I found a couple of things this week that have at least made me feel physically and mentally better, so that's a plus. I really don't know for sure what I'm going to do in the future, but for today, I'm focusing on getting at least a little bit of work done and putting one baby step forward.

And yes, I know I probably sound irrational when I say I want to quit, given the number of people who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. I'm trying to keep everything in perspective.

I'm not going to say any more because I will probably start babbling. Again, thank you ALL for responding!
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