Feeling like I was set up to fail
Update: I’m meeting with her either Monday or Tuesday. Any advice on what to say to her?
Hi everyone, I’m currently pretending not to cry during my planning period. I recently took a position teaching fifth grade. It’s only been 2 weeks now and I’m starting to question whether I can make it in this field. The teacher who left the position previously just let the entire class play games on their Chromebooks ALL DAY. If they didn’t want to do something, they could just go on their Chromebooks instead. I am struggling so hard just to get them to start any task. The attitude is insane, they tell me they hate me everyday and argue/yell over me whenever I talk. There are 4 kids in the behavior program in the class who are supposed to always have a para (they rarely do). I was still feeling optimistic about this situation until today. I had emailed a parent informing her that her son screamed “YOUR MOM” across the room multiple times throughout the reading lesson. Her response was that ever since I have become her son’s teacher, he is upset everyday and begs for a new teacher. I’m not sure why, but this single email made me feel like I made such a big mistake. I just wanted to teach kids but I feel like a punching bag and a joke. I feel like I wasted so much time, money, and effort on this career and now I really don’t think I can do it. I don’t even know why I’m posting this, I just literally do not know what to do anymore.