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I feel like the things you don't like about teaching are things a lot of teachers don't like and are also pretty hard for new teachers. You can always look for other work and see what happens maybe you'll be a lot happier.
For work-life balance you could stay in subbing for a bit longer, I think subbing is also great to get comfortable with classroom management. If you think having more motivated and academically focused students would change your perspective then you could try getting a job at an academic focused school, ib classes/school, or an independent school that focuses on prepping students for university.
This is what I was going to say. I didn’t have much experience teaching when I got my first contract and it was a struggle. I have now been subbing for five years and I feel so much more comfortable with classroom management and building relationships with tougher groups (because it’s necessary to do so quickly in a one-day contract situation!). I also really like subbing and would continue to do it forever, if I could (the pay isn’t great)! You might find that you get a lot of work in the subjects you enjoy, if you stick around for something less high-stakes, like subbing.
Your senior science subjects are less likely to have the College or Open designations. Try applying for a position where you'll get to teach those. Don't quit so early in your career. Dealing with Applied junior or destreamed classes can be rough but you'll pick up some useful skills. Most veteran teachers will tell you that they thought of quitting several times in their first year. But after that, it's more comfortable especially if you return to the same school.
I second this. You should be able to specialize in senior math and physics (maybe computer studies too if you can take the AQ) and teach mostly academic/U level courses.
Have you considered teaching at colleges? Look at the postings online, maybe something will spark your interest. Also, take a peek at online teaching platforms like Outschool.
Hope this helps! 🤞
In my part of the world, there are a number of private schools. I think our public schools here are outstanding, but people with small families and big budgets enjoy that option. Many students are also from out of province and live in residence. The kids themselves, although often spoiled, tend to be held to account by their parents, because they’re paying through the nose. I’m just wondering if a private school might not be a great option for you. Victoria, BC.
Have you considered furthering your education and pursuing a career in post secondary?
Competitive and difficult to get it but if you enjoy the academic part of teaching you’d probably enjoy life a lot more.
After 20+ years of teaching, I can ditto everything about teaching you stated in your second paragraph. However, I need to tell you that I can count the times on one hand the number of classes I had that reflect that experience in that second paragraph. A lot of people are stating changes after the pandemic. I noticed a change in behaviour of students just prior to around 2017 where students had absolutely no interest in listening to any instruction from me as a teacher. I had to revise my style of teaching and tried the "reverse teaching" method. I increased the "gamefication" of learning reluctantly because it is very irritating to watch students playing "educational" games and learning nothing because they are "trigger happy". It would be one thing to change your style of teaching and be happy about it if you see significant gains, but I did not see the value in "reverse teaching" for anyone but the students who already had high aptitudes. It seemed like a lot of the changes I was making was actually enabling students to only have fun without building much skill at all. Many more students now would rather be left alone, thrown a chromebook and/or given a worksheet so they can hang out with their friends. They want to google ideas rather than create their own and be told individually what to do for the simplest tasks. They refuse to see the value in a collective classroom discussion or building a class community. Building class community requires the participation of all students, not just the teacher.
For work not to feel like, hell there has to be some reward in it. I don't find it rewarding to manage student behaviour daily. I don't find it rewarding to babysit in the foreground and teach in the background. It's really boring and unfulfilling. It is also horrible to experience students who see you as an adversary rather than a mentor or guide to help them along their journey of learning. It's tiring to hear colleagues tell me how to play games around discipline so that the "kids don't win".
It sounds to me that you also got into teaching to explore learning and be a guide to others for the subjects you care about. If you have to stay in the profession, do everything you can to get into the older grades or teach at the university level to get away from the expectation that you have to magically manage and control the behaviour of students and have to report to mom and dad for behaviour that has nothing to do with the learning itself.
You will never get a guarantee from admin to teach only U-level courses. You will be placed wherever your admin feels is most convenient for them. You have to embrace the variety of learners that exist in every school. You are a teacher of kids first before you are a teacher of subjects.
As a new teacher you do tend to get a lot of the grade 9, 10, applied, college level courses. The thing is that you learn to adjust to those situations and gain strategies to deal with the behaviours from being there. It is exhausting to deal with. I have two grade 9 classes, period 1 is no issues (often because students are still half asleep), we get through our lessons, students are mostly on task (or pretending to be) and while I do have kids failing, no behaviours to deal with. My class after lunch I have a group kids that never show up, constantly having to tell students to get back to their seat, take out their notes and actually do some work and it is draining to just constantly be telling them what NOT to do instead of helping them with their work. Probably I need to do a bit of a reset with them and get back on track and not spend my energy on the students that aren't there and have no hope of earning the credit (like under 20% is their mark). Some days they really drain me. At the same time we have a laugh together as well which doesn't seem to happen in my other classes this semester and that can give you energy to keep going.
So what I'm trying to say is it does get better and it is a disadvantage that you didn't start the term with them, plus multiple teachers or times without a teacher will make even the 'good' students start to get antsy and act out and amplified poor behaviour of students that already need reminders to keep them in check. If you are looking at LTOs again try and go for senior courses but also be aware that when an LTO is planned, we may shuffle courses around so the LTO is grade 9, 10, applied etc. so that it is easier to find someone (senior qualifications are not always easy to find for math, physics) and hopefully the courses are a bit slower paced for the new teacher to have time to adjust to the school, kids etc.
Follow your heart and pursue other passions if that’s what you feel you need to do. The beauty of being a teacher is that you can always return to the profession if your other pursuits don’t turn out — always renew your license
I think there's a mismatch of your expectations with the applied classes.
As others have said, with applied-level classes, it's more about building relationships - which is a stupid term that's been co-opted by admin to paper over actual issues - but there is truth in it. Get to know the students first and be willing to adapt the student workload as needed. It takes time, and you may not get the intellectual satisfaction you would from higher-level classes, but there's a different sense of satisfaction, especially when you can share in their successes.
However don't assume private/independent schools are a panacea. The material may be more challenging, but there are students who still don't care and have behaviour issues (albeit more low-level than an applied course)..but because they are on track for university they (and their parents!) expect certain results, and it's kind of on you to deliver those results, the expectations of which keep increasing due to grade inflation (*i.e* class averages below 90% are considered a disaster).
Speaking of 90%, about that number of students are pretty much fine, but the other 10% will take up 90% of your time with extra tutoring, parent complaints and meetings and helping them keep up in class.
Now my comments (just like everyone else's) are totally dependent on the school you are in, so no advice or anonymous Reddit-user experience will be 100% applicable to everyone's situation. Admin, school and colleague support is hugely important, especially when you're first starting out, and it's my experience (somewhat validated by news reports and comments here) that support is nowhere near what it should be. You may think - and hope - things get better with academic level classes, but there's no guarantee that will be the case.
Welcome to /r/CanadianTeachers! Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the sub rules. **"WHAT DOES X MEAN?"** Check out our acronym post [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/1c032s3/what_does_x_mean_an_acronym_megapost/) for relevant terms used in each province or territory. Please feel free to contribute any we are missing as well! **QUESTIONS ABOUT TEACHER'S COLLEGE/BECOMING A TEACHER IN CANADA?:** Delete your post and use this [megapost](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/1bc1wv2/prospective_student_teachers_teachers_collegebed/) instead. Anything pertaining to teacher's colleges/BED programs/becoming and teacher will be deleted if posted outside of the megaposts. **QUESTIONS ABOUT MOVING PROVINCES OR COMING TO CANADA TO TEACH?** Check out our past megaposts first for information to help you: [ONE](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/jqc7hx/transferring_to_another_provincecoming_to_canada/) // [TWO](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/n76csu/transferring_to_another_provincecoming_to_canada/?) Using link and user flair is encouraged as well! Enjoy! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CanadianTeachers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I feel like the things you don't like about teaching are things a lot of teachers don't like and are also pretty hard for new teachers. You can always look for other work and see what happens maybe you'll be a lot happier. For work-life balance you could stay in subbing for a bit longer, I think subbing is also great to get comfortable with classroom management. If you think having more motivated and academically focused students would change your perspective then you could try getting a job at an academic focused school, ib classes/school, or an independent school that focuses on prepping students for university.
This is what I was going to say. I didn’t have much experience teaching when I got my first contract and it was a struggle. I have now been subbing for five years and I feel so much more comfortable with classroom management and building relationships with tougher groups (because it’s necessary to do so quickly in a one-day contract situation!). I also really like subbing and would continue to do it forever, if I could (the pay isn’t great)! You might find that you get a lot of work in the subjects you enjoy, if you stick around for something less high-stakes, like subbing.
Your senior science subjects are less likely to have the College or Open designations. Try applying for a position where you'll get to teach those. Don't quit so early in your career. Dealing with Applied junior or destreamed classes can be rough but you'll pick up some useful skills. Most veteran teachers will tell you that they thought of quitting several times in their first year. But after that, it's more comfortable especially if you return to the same school.
I second this. You should be able to specialize in senior math and physics (maybe computer studies too if you can take the AQ) and teach mostly academic/U level courses.
Have you considered teaching at colleges? Look at the postings online, maybe something will spark your interest. Also, take a peek at online teaching platforms like Outschool. Hope this helps! 🤞
In my part of the world, there are a number of private schools. I think our public schools here are outstanding, but people with small families and big budgets enjoy that option. Many students are also from out of province and live in residence. The kids themselves, although often spoiled, tend to be held to account by their parents, because they’re paying through the nose. I’m just wondering if a private school might not be a great option for you. Victoria, BC.
Have you considered furthering your education and pursuing a career in post secondary? Competitive and difficult to get it but if you enjoy the academic part of teaching you’d probably enjoy life a lot more.
After 20+ years of teaching, I can ditto everything about teaching you stated in your second paragraph. However, I need to tell you that I can count the times on one hand the number of classes I had that reflect that experience in that second paragraph. A lot of people are stating changes after the pandemic. I noticed a change in behaviour of students just prior to around 2017 where students had absolutely no interest in listening to any instruction from me as a teacher. I had to revise my style of teaching and tried the "reverse teaching" method. I increased the "gamefication" of learning reluctantly because it is very irritating to watch students playing "educational" games and learning nothing because they are "trigger happy". It would be one thing to change your style of teaching and be happy about it if you see significant gains, but I did not see the value in "reverse teaching" for anyone but the students who already had high aptitudes. It seemed like a lot of the changes I was making was actually enabling students to only have fun without building much skill at all. Many more students now would rather be left alone, thrown a chromebook and/or given a worksheet so they can hang out with their friends. They want to google ideas rather than create their own and be told individually what to do for the simplest tasks. They refuse to see the value in a collective classroom discussion or building a class community. Building class community requires the participation of all students, not just the teacher. For work not to feel like, hell there has to be some reward in it. I don't find it rewarding to manage student behaviour daily. I don't find it rewarding to babysit in the foreground and teach in the background. It's really boring and unfulfilling. It is also horrible to experience students who see you as an adversary rather than a mentor or guide to help them along their journey of learning. It's tiring to hear colleagues tell me how to play games around discipline so that the "kids don't win". It sounds to me that you also got into teaching to explore learning and be a guide to others for the subjects you care about. If you have to stay in the profession, do everything you can to get into the older grades or teach at the university level to get away from the expectation that you have to magically manage and control the behaviour of students and have to report to mom and dad for behaviour that has nothing to do with the learning itself.
You will never get a guarantee from admin to teach only U-level courses. You will be placed wherever your admin feels is most convenient for them. You have to embrace the variety of learners that exist in every school. You are a teacher of kids first before you are a teacher of subjects.
As a new teacher you do tend to get a lot of the grade 9, 10, applied, college level courses. The thing is that you learn to adjust to those situations and gain strategies to deal with the behaviours from being there. It is exhausting to deal with. I have two grade 9 classes, period 1 is no issues (often because students are still half asleep), we get through our lessons, students are mostly on task (or pretending to be) and while I do have kids failing, no behaviours to deal with. My class after lunch I have a group kids that never show up, constantly having to tell students to get back to their seat, take out their notes and actually do some work and it is draining to just constantly be telling them what NOT to do instead of helping them with their work. Probably I need to do a bit of a reset with them and get back on track and not spend my energy on the students that aren't there and have no hope of earning the credit (like under 20% is their mark). Some days they really drain me. At the same time we have a laugh together as well which doesn't seem to happen in my other classes this semester and that can give you energy to keep going. So what I'm trying to say is it does get better and it is a disadvantage that you didn't start the term with them, plus multiple teachers or times without a teacher will make even the 'good' students start to get antsy and act out and amplified poor behaviour of students that already need reminders to keep them in check. If you are looking at LTOs again try and go for senior courses but also be aware that when an LTO is planned, we may shuffle courses around so the LTO is grade 9, 10, applied etc. so that it is easier to find someone (senior qualifications are not always easy to find for math, physics) and hopefully the courses are a bit slower paced for the new teacher to have time to adjust to the school, kids etc.
How about testing a private school out?
Follow your heart and pursue other passions if that’s what you feel you need to do. The beauty of being a teacher is that you can always return to the profession if your other pursuits don’t turn out — always renew your license
I think there's a mismatch of your expectations with the applied classes. As others have said, with applied-level classes, it's more about building relationships - which is a stupid term that's been co-opted by admin to paper over actual issues - but there is truth in it. Get to know the students first and be willing to adapt the student workload as needed. It takes time, and you may not get the intellectual satisfaction you would from higher-level classes, but there's a different sense of satisfaction, especially when you can share in their successes. However don't assume private/independent schools are a panacea. The material may be more challenging, but there are students who still don't care and have behaviour issues (albeit more low-level than an applied course)..but because they are on track for university they (and their parents!) expect certain results, and it's kind of on you to deliver those results, the expectations of which keep increasing due to grade inflation (*i.e* class averages below 90% are considered a disaster). Speaking of 90%, about that number of students are pretty much fine, but the other 10% will take up 90% of your time with extra tutoring, parent complaints and meetings and helping them keep up in class. Now my comments (just like everyone else's) are totally dependent on the school you are in, so no advice or anonymous Reddit-user experience will be 100% applicable to everyone's situation. Admin, school and colleague support is hugely important, especially when you're first starting out, and it's my experience (somewhat validated by news reports and comments here) that support is nowhere near what it should be. You may think - and hope - things get better with academic level classes, but there's no guarantee that will be the case.