My Nose Knows I Blew It. A Rough time To Be A Teacher.

[Teacher of the Year]

Pardon my horrible nose joke. It will make more sense later on.

Since Covid things have changed in schools. Staff has changed, students have changed and the system as changed. None of it for the good.

At my school the injuries have gone through the roof. When I used to post on DU (I'm back from a nine year hiatus) I shared some of my injuries on here. I think people are kind of shocked when they hear how much of a beating a special ed teacher takes. I was writing a national column while gone from DU and my essay on injuries had over 100,000 reads. It is a topic that needs to be discussed. https://www.edpost.com/stories/im-a-teacher-not-a-boxer-and-im-tired-of-being-beat-up-by-my-students

In the few years since I wrote that, the injuries have multiplied at a pace that is mind boggling. After three concussions in my old classroom (one in December, one in January and a third on in February) that left me dazed and confused, I was moved to a 3rd grade classroom. Jokingly I was told it would be harder for the kids to reach my head. Truthfully, it was because it would be harder for the kids to reach my head.

But our program of seven classrooms has taken hit after hit. Last year the K-1 teacher, next door to my left, quit just before school. They could not get a replacement. I got half of her kids and suddenly my 3rd grade class had K, 1,2 and 3. Four grade levels are hard to juggle and my class only had half of it's paraprofessional staff for almost half of the school year. This year they hired two conditionally licensed teachers in my program of seven teachers. (meaning they are in school to become teachers and have a conditional license until they graduate (ahem, or, in a more honest term, while they are trained how to do the job they are already doing). These teachers are struggling to work full time and be full time college students at night and on the weekends.

This year, the other K-2 teacher, on my right, quit just before school started, as did the 5th grade teacher. Both classrooms remain empty with no teacher. Once again, the kids were shuffled and this year, once again, I have four grade levels. 1,2,3 and 4. One student is deaf and I am learning sign language as we go.

The day before school started I was giving a tour and the student kicked me between the legs so hard I threw my back out. I started the year with a hurt back and the inability to cross my legs for several weeks. In December I would kicked there again so badly I had to go to Urgent Care for an ultra sound followed by several weeks of misery.

But I don't learn, I guess, and I went back to work. I had to have my arm xrayed last month (metal thermos full of oatmeal pitched across the room) and my foot after it was slammed in a door (multiple times). I had a really pronounced limp so an angry kid started stomping on my foot. I've been in a boot for two weeks and my foot has been attacked all but three of those days. Punched, stomped on, my foot is beyond sad, at this point.

The boot makes the job more difficult, that is for sure. I'm off balance and our stretched-out school means 7-8000 steps on an average day. Now I'm in a boot. I'm slow. The kids are targeting my foot. All reasons I should have stayed home. I could probably have had workman's comp if I asked. I'm a big guy putting a lot of weight on a sad little foot. That keeps getting stomped on.

But there are few subs willing to work in my room. I've had covid twice this year and my staff had to plow on without a teacher on some of those days. My absences put a huge burden on my staff. A lot of the anger is taken out on me-the guy making them work and not letting them go to recess. When I'm not there that anger goes to my staff. Who make half of what I make and who don't get the same workman's comp benefits I do. (they use their sick days when injured, I do not).

My kids also struggle when I am not there. I have a lot of single moms and that means, for many of my students, I am the man in their everyday life. It is unavoidable that my being gone stresses them out.

With all that in mind, I've continued to go to school, even with my limpy foot.

Yesterday I woke up, excited it was Friday. I usually spend Friday nights trying to catch up on paperwork so I can have at least one day of the weekend where I don't have to do school stuff. But last night I made plans. My husband is a 9-11 call dispatcher and works late, he was off though, so I was going to go out and eat and see a movie, then hang with my husband.

Instead I spent Friday evening in Urgent Care. I had to restrain a violent kid, but my boot threw me off balance and I had to grab a wall for balance. That created an opening and I took a punch, square on to my nose. I saw stars but had to restrain the student anyway. My ears were ringing, my nose swelled shut, I couldn't hear right out of my left ear. The headache took me back to my one-two-three concussions two years ago. Only this time my nose was making a crunching noise when I touched it.

They sent me to Urgent Care. On a Friday at 3 pm. I cried. Not because my nose hurt so bad, but because I didn't want to go sit in urgent care again. Two weeks ago I left school at 2;45 and didn't get home until almost 9 pm. And then I had to write the incident reports for the injuries before I could go to sleep (must be done by the end of the school day or you can be written up).

When I was sitting in Urgent Care. Masked up and stressed out I might get covid for a third time this year, I was beating myself up for putting my students before the health of my (piñata-like) head. Why did I go to work in this painful and awful boot and put myself at more risk? I pushed on my nose ("crack&quot and muttered to myself, "You blew it."

And there, alone in the corner at Urgent Care, I started to chuckle to myself, (kind of like a madman), as I pushed my nose again and thought, "my nose knows I blew it." Two women nearby gave a funny look, saw my t-shirt with my school's name on it (a specialized school for kids with behavioral needs) and one says, "I'm a special ed teacher too!" And the other woman says, "I'm a teacher!" and another woman who I hadn't noticed said, "I'm not a teacher but I work in a school too."

That's when they called my name and I left but think of that. Four school employees at urgent care. On a Friday. With a 3-4 hour wait to be seen.

And that, my friends and fans of nose puns, is why our communities need to step up and support their educators more. We are blowing it. Our students deserve better and so do our educators.

[lindysalsagal]

1. Take care of yourself. Get a doc's note to stay home. Thanks for sharing, but please put yourself first.

I don't know if you're in a public school or if you're unionized, but if you have the certification, please apply for a position in a unionized public school where there are limits to the abuse you must take.

Your students need to be restrained, for everyone's safety.

You can't go on like this. When the facility can't hire professionals, they need to close.

You are a chronic abuse victim, and therapy wouldn't be a bad idea. Please remove yourself as soon as possible.

[Teacher of the Year]

2. Thank you.

I appreciate Lindysalsagal. I've been doing this type of job for over 20 years and I love teaching. I choose to work with this population and I see, year after year, great progression in my students. I 100% know that reaching these kids, teaching them how to be students, is essential to their well-being. When I was a kid, a lot of my students would have been shuffled into mental facilities and drugged heavily. Nobody taught them how to fit in, instead they were removed from society. My brother was on that path and spent a chunk of his life in a psychiatric hospital followed by juvenile detention.

I am willing ot take some to take some hits and bruises to change the course of a kid's life for the better.

But it isn't always easy, and the system is stumbling. The local ice cream shop pays their counter help more than the district pays our paraprofessionals. The district has teachers on conditional licenses all over because of the teaching shortage. That is only going ot get worse as they burn out. As they burn out, teachers like me get their students, causing our rooms to become unbalanced.

I'm sticking with my profession, it is the only job I've ever had that I love like this. But, I see we need to fix the system and I have long realized that fixing a system from the inside a necessity.

[mahina]

3. This whole post just has me reeling.

Do the kids not get how wrong it is to beat you guys up? I mean, obviously they don’t now…seems impossible to endure Like this. Wishing you safety, awed by your great love for the kids.

[Teacher of the Year]

11. I work in a program to support kids who need a LOT of behavioral supports.

I love my job and it is HUGE when your students make gains in self control. I sometimes get to see the moment it clicks for a kid and their whole lives pivot on that very moment. I sometimes get to see the look on a parent's face after they see their first big moment at home.

There is a funny block of jobs in this country where dealing with violence simply happens. People can be violent and other people deal with them. Nurses, hospital workers, teachers, special ed teachers (I list them as two groups because there is a difference that needs to be talked about) paramedics, police and first responders, so many more. The difference is only a few of those groups are trying to change the behavior. Changing behavior means a long, thought out plan to create the environment where behavioral change can occur. And that means you deal with the behavior, as you lay the foundation to change them.

My program takes kids in crisis, and the goal is to change the behavior, then send them back to their neighborhood school so they continue on with their peers, but now with the skills to succeed.

It's an honorable job, but on the more rough-and-tumble side that most people don't really see so they don't even know it exists. When you say "I'm a teacher," people picture their own classroom experience and imagine my job to be like the rooms they remember from their own childhood. My room is not like Miss Williams' room, 2rd grade, Lake Tahoe, circa 1971.

[erronis]

14. I am in so much admiration of you and your dedication. Thanks from me and most of society!

[Teacher of the Year]

24. It's the paraeducators that get my admiration.

They get paid so little for what they do. Seriously, a popular ice cream store here was advertising $22 an hour while my district is asking people to work for $19.75. The pay is also the same for a kindergarten aid in a wealthy school with lots of supports and one of our paraeducators who are working in some of the most challenging classrooms in the state.

I would like to see that reflected in their paychecks.

[Teacher of the Year]

7. Left this out of my reply:

I am in a union state and have had amazing support in the past from my union. I was their Teacher of Excellence a few years ago (the Union's version of Teacher of the Year...kind of).

We had a month-long strike this year to address safety issues, support and more. Our school has filed grievances to address these issues. I use my platform as a pretty well-known educator to advance the discussion on this topic. My list of injuries is a bit more extreme, due to the nature of the type of programs I have worked in, but every teacher has a list. Nobody talks about that, but every teacher has a list.

That becomes sickeningly clear when I publish on the topic. The essay I linked above led to hundreds and hundred of messages from teachers who would not speak publicly but shared heartbreaking stories of physical abuse. I'm a big guy. My arms are bigger than a lot of people's legs. So is my neck, come to think of it. But when someone writes you saying, "I'm 5'2"..." it scares me. I can barely do this job with my size and strength behind me.

The public does not know what it means when a kid, in "fight or flight" mode, chooses fight. It means they are fighting as if their life depends on it. My size is what has kept me safe. I'm the only male teacher in my K-6 program and I'm getting the stuffing knocked out of me at times. Our coaches even take worse.

I can say that almost all of my injuries have occurred because of a lack of staffing, a lack of experienced co-workers or a lack of a proper physical space to help disregulated students. So, I remain a squeaky wheel doing crazy things like publicly demanding that the US Government FINALLY fund IDEA. That great piece of lawmaking has never been fully funded by the government and so has never been fully implemented. Instead they are spending their time writing bills that protect dishwashers from having to be energy efficient.

[dutch777]

4. It's a wonder anyone works under these conditions although saw similar in ER in the hospital I worked at.

One has to wonder where it will all end as school administrators seem to have their hands tied. And those of you in the classroom trying to do your best for the kids but under resourced for staff, having too many kids per class and inadequate pay and other funding.

It is of course different when it is special needs kids that may not fully understand the harm and hurt they are causing. But in a 360 bed hospital in an affluent suburb, we had on average at least one violent incident against medical staff daily that required police response and our staff member to be treated in our ER. Sometimes it was just an out of control drunk patient, sometimes a druggy angry that he couldn't fake his way to a fix and sometimes it was family of the patient that was angry at a diagnosis or negative treatment outcome. We lost good nurses and techs to doctors' offices and other roles where they had less intense or even no direct patient interaction due to their experiences on the front line.

[Teacher of the Year]

22. My program also houses the home-tutoring program.

Several of them have come from classrooms like mine who shift over to tutoring 1:1. Kind of similar shift of talent after they need a break. I have medical friends and know that my worries carry over into the medical field.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Special Ed Is Tough

My wife did it for a few decades.
I spend 60-70 days a year in schools but I do regular Ed, and only grades 7 & up.
I don't have the innate empathy that it takes for SpEd. Obviously, you do.
Hang in there.

[kimbutgar]

10. I took over K-2 special Ed class because the teacher was having a nervous breakdown.

She returned in January and we split the job with each other 3 days me 2 days her and the switched the next week. We finally got the class under control and they were able to work on their goals.

I won’t do the 3-5 special Ed class anymore because of the abuse I got . It got old real quick being cursed at, threatened and hit. All while trying to be calm and de- escalate the situation during meltdowns.

[Teacher of the Year]

12. I've filled similar shoes before too

I used to do long-term subbing-I'd take over a class, get it settled, back in shape, then they would bring in a new hire and move me to the next flailing classroom, rinse and repeat. I will say it was hard, but no two days were ever the same so it was also an amazing learning opportunity.

Thank you for what you do!

[ProfessorGAC]

16. I Don't Blame You

Too many self-centered parents.

[kimbutgar]

23. Who use the computer and iPads to raise their children !

I can recognize the kids who have parents that are into them and the others who are babysat by computers.

[ProfessorGAC]

28. Even As A Sub, I Can Tell Too

Often, it's pretty obvious.

[Teacher of the Year]

29. LOL....I've met four year olds who use the iPad better than me.

Can't read yet but they can find their games in a few finger swipes. zip zip zip

[Teacher of the Year]

25. I work with my families as a team.

I find if I take those extra steps to teach parents how to implement using teaching strategies at home and how to advocate constructively with the system to get what they want within that teamwork frame. I have had very few parents who have not been happy to have their student in my class.

[Teacher of the Year]

26. It's funny--when I was subbing I really dreaded some general ed classes.

I do a lot of individualized education, based on the needs of the student. Teaching 30 kids algebra in gen ed is a whole different can of worms.
The two roles take really different skill sets.

After my awards subbing became kind of different. I have a portrait with President Obama so after I introduce myself and get the class settled, I introduce myself, depending on the grade I show them pictures of my white cat, who is deaf, and my cat who is extra fluffy (with a photoshopped photo of her in a princess dress and crown-my husband's gag gift a few years ago) and our big black dog snuggling Pepper the kitten. Then I share the picture with President Obama and tell them if we have time later, I'll tell them all about that day at the Whitehouse. The reaction is incredible and the kids want to know everything.

After that conversation the kids kind of bond and, honestly, think I'm a little bit cooler than I was, and they have a pretty good attitude about getting the work done. If it is a middle school or high school with classes, by second period kids are coming in asking if it is true I know the President. As a sub, to have kids bounding in to sit and listen, almost like you are a special guest rather than a sub that they have completely forgotten they meant to give a hard time to. Kind of magic in some ways!

(The flip side? About a minute after I shared the picture in a middle school science class, a hand shot up. A student holds up her phone and says, "It says here you were fired for being gay." LOL... I had not thought about that part of social media and. phones in the classroom but I'm an expert now.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. Good Story

Thanks for sharing.

[Goonch]

6. Special Education Faces Additional Challenges With In-Person Learning During COVID-19

https://www.kunr.org/education/2020-08-25/special-education-faces-additional-challenges-with-in-person-learning-during-covid-19

[Teacher of the Year]

30. Teaching in a mask.... miserable!

Especially when you work with students who can't read facial expressions very well. Taking away my smile was the hardest part of teaching during masking.

[kimbutgar]

8. I feel your pain Teacher of the year

I have been a substitute teacher for 10 years A few times I’ve taken over classes for teacher that needs to take leaves. But I also noticed a change in kids after the pandemic. It seems all classes have at least 1 violent out of control kid. I hurt my shoulder months ago subduing a kid (1st grader) that was hurting multiple other children. Luckily, I have has a good massage therapist who put me back into shape. I have been thinking about quitting being a sub but a few weeks ago I had a lovely 4th grade class that made me reconsider. Yesterday I was in that class being a resource teacher for some of the strugglers. Before I took my 3 kids out to work with them on a writings assignment. The teacher had a full class discussion about a comment I made about children changing from the pandemic. It was so insightful, the kids opened up about their struggles, missing first grade not liking doing zoom classes, missing socializing etc.

I despise those who say teachers have it easy and get 3 months off when wah wah they have work the full year. They don’t realize you come home, grade papers, work on lesson plans etc.

I applaud your dedication to teaching. As a sub the teachers I like I tell them if they need a mental health day let me know and I’ll come into even the most difficult classes. I hope you have some of those subs to help you.

[Teacher of the Year]

31. I keep think it will right itself, you know?

But so far it has just remained harder than usual, for pretty much every classroom at my school.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. My heart goes out to you and to your students, my dear Teacher . . .

It's an awful place to be in when you really love your job and yet it's nearly killing you.

Your heart is definitely in the right place!

I'm reminded of the saying "Follow your heart but take your brain with you."

[Teacher of the Year]

13. My husband, very carefully, said something similar to me last night, Peggy.

Along the lines of, "I know you love your job...but have you. thought about a school with a little less violence next year?"

This is the twist Peggy. My husband works in a 9-11 call center and when a call comes in from my school he has a moment of terror. We had an ambulance called to the school yesterday and I texted him right away to let him know I was OK. He was home, but our house is five block from where I work and you could hear sirens converging from several directions on the school.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

15. Your husband is an intelligent and caring gentleman. Listening to him could save your life.

[Warpy]

21. He's right Three concussions is three months is two too many

and you are most likely going to have some problems down the line. Think of old boxers and ex football players. You've exceeded your limit and need to either teach in a helmet or change schools.

You're right that everything changed with Covid, and it's not just schools. The kids are pretty adaptable, so they'll eventually settle back down, but adults who weren't assaulted for over a year aren't going to want to go back to being assaulted.

[slightlv]

17. I feel for all you teachers!

I'm not a teacher, but my sister has been one her entire working life, and at the same school since before she graduated. It's a small
Catholic school in the barrio. They were so poor, when computers were beginning to be "thing" I'd scrounge computer parts from stuff they were throwing away at work. I built an entire classroom of computers for the kids, and with the help of my DNS provider, got them hooked up to the Internet. This was just as "gui" was beginning on the Internet. Ah... those were they halcyon days for all of us, kids included. Suddenly those bottom of the list barrio kids had a class that no one else in the area had. My sister and kids built lessons together on it. The kids, their parents, and my sister were thrilled. The kids grades even went up. They were truly excited, paying attention, exploring, and *learning.*

Eventually, the Diocese got corporate backing for new computers and equipment, but sis told me it never really held the same "magic" that those built from scratch computers seemed to have. The new ones came with all kinds of rules and regulations. They got their own DNS and provider, but by that time the 'Net was getting a little too wild for the kids to explore without a Net Nanny program. These were the days of the old "Whitehouse.com" fiasco.

Hurry on to the last three years. Public schools, as well as other private schools, are kicking kids out of their schools for behavior problems. Like you, Teacher of the Year, my sister was teaching four levels in one classroom, while shepherding the yearbook and doing graduation each year. One year, the school went through 2 principals and my Sis lost her classroom student teachers after they were threatened by some of the older kids. These last two years, my Sister has had kids who have records for stealing, assault, and one was charged with murder. And yet she is still expected to teach these kids... and the kids who have lived their whole lives within the diocese. In fact, she's been teaching there long enough, she is now teaching grandkids of the kids she started teaching when she began teaching! I've met her several times on a Friday night to have dinner and give her a shoulder and an ear. I've been lucky enough to only have to teach computers and tech to grown men (that's a whole other set of stories!), and I told her I could never do what she does. My hat and heart goes out to all teachers. You are grossly underpaid for the amount of work you're expected to do, with a good majority of it on your own time. While making sure your classroom has what it needs, even if it has to come out of your own checkbook. My Sis is about 8 or 9 years from retirement. She's keeping track in order to keep heart, and praying that the R's stay out of government long enough they won't destroy SS before she can draw it. She's one of the very few people I would call a "hero."

[Teacher of the Year]

32. I would call her a hero too!

[CapnSteve]

18. Hang in there, brother! What you do is important.

I keep telling myself that as well. First year as a teacher, leading a Behavior Support Services program at the elementary level. They keep adding students to my roster, the last four in the last two weeks. Currently at eleven and understaffed.

As you know, every change results in increased targeted behaviors. I have to instruct K through 4th grade.

It is a lot, but the reality is that there are very few people like us who are willing to do this very difficult job. Without me, their lives would be a lot, lot worse, and that is not arrogance or hyperbole.

24 school days left down here, not that I am counting!

[CapnSteve]

19. Oh, and I tore my Achilles in my right ankle at school (hopscotch)...

...so the boot part of your story resonates as well!

[Teacher of the Year]

38. Hugs, man

My two new kids upset the apple cart, that's for sure.

[3Hotdogs]

20. Near the end of my teaching career, I transferred to an urban district. High school - It didn't have special ed. Rather,

it had inclusion. That means 30% of kids disrupting the learning environment for 70% of the class.

I got tired of having objects thrown at me when my back was turned. Yes, I "reached" a couple of kids. Most of the kids liked me and I hope they got something out of the class. I still think about some of them and wonder how their lives turned out.

However, January 4th, 2006 is when I had enough. I turned in my pension papers and left.

Years later, comes covid. I could have kept my pension payment and earned a salary, plus S.S. for a grand total of $180k for each of two years,

It wasn't worth it. I stayed home and continued enjoying life with my hiking club. So did the other retired teachers in the club.

Consider doing the same.


Effects of some of those injuries are going to stay with you for the rest of your life.

Boxers and football players have injuries that stay with and shorten their lives or lessen the enjoyment of their lives.

[Takket]

33. my bosses wife teach special ed.......

and i've heard stories of every type of abuse imaginable. she's been hit and had all manner of bodily waste thrown at her. it is tough tough work.

[pfitz59]

34. My friend was a Special Ed teacher

Dealing with a violent 12-year-old child who stood over 6 feet and 200 pounds left her with stitches. My friend is 5' 3" and 100 pounds. teaching is neither safe nor easy.
'

[Silent3]

35. This much physical violence is the norm for special ed teachers?

I wouldn't have guessed. Are there reasonable ways to reduce this problem without making a school like a prison?

[Aussie105]

37. No one would guess.

It is a hidden problem.
Parents think schools will magically turn their children into model citizens, while admin turns a blind eye to classroom incidents.
Teachers soak it up or leave for other jobs.

[Aussie105]

36. Couple of comments from a distance.

Context: Australian general classroom teacher for 40 years, retired for 13.

1. Your employer is legally obliged to provide a safe and supporting working environment.
If you are subject to student initiated violence, file the appropriate reports and nothing changes, then your employer is negligent.

EDIT: In Australia, you file report on an incident involving violence. If you want to bother.
It gets sent to head office.
Freedom of information means any reporter can look at the accumulated numbers, and write a report to go on page 12 of whatever media they work for, if they care enough.
Not a solution to the problem.

2. Teaching is a challenge. Can you make a difference?
Initially you think you can.
But that idea, that need to effectively martyr yourself for the job, the feeling you need to try harder and take on more, eventually fades.
And you realize that no, you have not and cannot make a difference.

EDIT: Inclusion doesn't work, just an effort to hide the problem and make teaching harder.

3. Self preservation, looking after yourself, your family.
After retiring a lot of past events in the job came floating to the surface.
Traumatic events and bad situations I thought I had gotten over and moved past.
I had not, just locked them away.

I also realized that during my working years I severely neglected my family.
Something I will regret for the rest of my life.

May you fare better.

EDIT: I feel better now. Took the better part of my retirement years to resurface as a confident and capable human being who values his own existence, independent of the rest of the world.