On the way out....

No, I am not dying. Although, you might have thought I died by how long it has taken me to post again. Oh yeah, no one is reading this site again. It seems to go through cycles. For a while, all my friends seem to be reading this site, then no one is. I am in a "no one is" pattern right now. Oh well...

So, as those of you who read this know, I hate my job. Well, I am not going to have to hate it much longer. Why? I put in my notice that I am done at the end of the year. I am going to go after that real estate career that I so greatly desire. Now, I put in that I would take a year leave of absense in case I suck at the job. But really, if all goes well, my teaching career will come to a close in 10 more weeks. It's weird. I wanted to be a teacher as far back as I can remember. I figured that my love of kids would be enough to keep me happy. Unfortunately, liking kids is just not enough to like this job. The funny thing is, I am good at what I do. Most of the kids seem to really like me. My state test scores have been near the top in the district. But I do not feel rewarded by that. I think the main thing I don't have is the patience. As much as one likes kids, being put in a situation where you have 30 students creates so many variables. The thought that many prospective teachers have of coming in and changing the world is just so difficult. There are too many factors that make it almost impossible. I remember something a fellow teacher told me my first year, "Your first year, you think you can chage the world. Your second year, you say you will just try to focus on changing a few kids. By your third year, you will say let me at least try to change one kid." And that is how it is. No matter how hard I work, there are so many external factors that prevent me from being successful in my profession.

Example: I have a student who consistently gets in trouble every day and has not turned in homework in a month. The problem is, he doesn't care if I punish him. Why? Because his parents don't care. I have called many times and they just give me the same BS over and over. Look, your kid is failing, he will probably repeat 4th grade, and he is always in trouble at school. Why aren't you doing something to help in this matter? Do you not care if your child fails? The principal has even called a few times to have them come in to talk. He has left messages of the situation and they are not even calling back. Way to take an interest in your child's future! I have tried having heart to heart talks witht his student to try to lay out what choices like this can do to his future. These are the kind of talks that all beginning teachers think they are going to swoop in with and change a direction that a student is going in. It's not that easy. He doesn't care about these talks. If his parents don't care, what reason does he have to care? I don't have patience for this. This is just one of the many reasons why I want out.

So I am going to try my hat at real estate. I love dthe process when we bought our house in September. I've been working at it about a month and have passed by 3 unti beginning class and test. Now comes the big test. I'm scared, but I know I just need to study hard. Think good thoughts on May 19th. If all goes well, my teaching career will be over 69 days from now...