Just yesterday in the Hempstead SD on Long Island there was a teacher protest because earlier this week a middle school teacher was physically assaulted and knocked out cold by a teenager and a family member, not sure whether mother or aunt. So many teachers care, so many teachers go above and beyond what is expected and required and yet many risk their own health and well-being every day.
There was a young man arrested last year in NY for a particularly violent assault on a fellow student and the teachers who had taught this young man were interviewed or perhaps sent letters to the NY Times (cannot recall exactly) about all the interventions the student and his entire family had been part of since kindergarten, IEP’s, one on one counseling, inclusion programs, pull-out programs, push-in programs, social workers in-school and home visits, nutrition and parenting counseling and so on… the best special ed counseling and instruction that the NYC DOE could offer…
Younger d is teaching yoga in an after-school enrichment program at a charter school in Brooklyn that is considered highly desirable. So first semester there was an evening event/performance in which all the enrichment classes got to either perform or show off their work. While there were many proud families with flowers and taking pictures, we all know that there were children and these are middle school students in which not one human being in that student’s life could come to take part or cared to do so. She said it was heartbreaking to see. Second semester she was with 5th graders (all girls) and because their daily school day is so regimented and they get demerits for numerous infractions- crossing the line while walking, untied shoelaces and so on, they were absolutely wild in after-school and could not function as a group at all. The building administrators are so harried themselves by this time of day, they are practically non-functional.
No matter how committed a teacher, no matter what resources there are in the school or lack of, these kids come to school with so many problems from their daily lives, it is difficult to overcome. For a young inexperienced teacher, it is easy to burn out.