My heart goes out to you.  I once looped and quit because the principal put an ED kid in my class and he threw desks across the room at me.  This was 4TH and 5th grades.  I had to have him for 2 years.  It was awful.

However I think it is getting worse.  This year I had 43 students (we are a sudden growth school) and I had 7 difficult students.  Unbelievable!  I did not have enough places to put them.  They finally split the classrooms in February.  I gave my worst offender to the brand spankin new teacher and kept the other naughty ones.  It was a tough decision.  She told me that all he needed was positive attention.  Good luck!  This kid destroyed his front yard landscaping and then proceeded to do the same to the neighbors too.  They were ticked off and I suggested they call the police.  They are now moving!

I also had a 4th grade boy who was a crier this year.  No matter what happened, he started crying.  I talked to mom and dad about counseling or medical intervention but I doubt that will happen.  This kid drove me nuts.  He was the first kid in 20 years I would have liked to spank and then he would have a reason for crying.  I had 35 kids after they split the class.  I kept them so they would not put anymore new students in my room.  I had the typical ADD and ADHD, the "I am too lazy to do my work but I can pass the tests anyway" kids, the "I am too smart to waste my time listening to you, I will just go ahead and do it (wrong)" kids and finally the few and wonderful "do everything right" kids.  They were my favorite (as my 3 year old granddaughter would say).

What is happening to children?  I have been at this 20 years and they honestly seem to be getting worse.  I think it is lack of parenting.

I forgot.  Our district also requires us to take workshops in the summer at no compensation.  It is unreasonable.  That is exactly why I am visiting my Grandkids right now.  I didn't want to go.  They actually REQUIRED me to take the new ELL class and I already have my full endorsement.  I found out that the state PAID them for each teacher that took it.  We made a big stink and the district paid us a portion of it.  That darn class took up TWO of my personal weekends during the school year.  I need my weekends.

Do other businesses require their employees to continue education without pay AND you have to pay for the class yourself?

I agree that kids seem to be getting worse! This year I had an emotionally disturbed child in my class who screamed and pitched a fit every morning for the first three months of school. Every day he had to be taken out of my class because it was impossible to teach under those circumstances. I stood it for as long as I could, but I didn't think it was fair to my other 23 students.  After a while in the office, he was either brought back to me or picked up by his mom.  If he stayed, he cried, whimpered, and refused to do anything.  Every morning as I walked to my classroom, I got pitying looks and comments from the other teachers, and I knew that he was in the office having a tantrum.  He was finally hospitalized and He ended up missing 1/4 of the school year, but his parents really wanted him to move on to the next grade. They even had the nerve to ask me to recommend him for advanced placement!

Most cases aren't this severe because a lot of the misbehaving kids are either spoiled rotten and/or haven't been taught by their parents that there is an acceptable way to behave. ONe thing I saw this year is a lack of empathy for others and a lot fighting and arguing to get what they wanted.  The bickering and physical fighting really wore me out.  On a one to one basis, the kids were fine, but in the group, they just didn't get along.  With the exception of a few children who I really appreciated, these kids just did not like each other. I could not wait until the end of this year!  I am keeping my fingers crossed that maybe my new class will be different, but there are many upcoming students that we're already hearing about as being big problems.

Our district requires us to have "professional development" sessions throughout the school year. (I use the term loosely.) There are planned days for these, and I hate to say that most are a waste of time because they aren't helpful to us as teachers.  If we have to take other classes after school, we are paid, and these are better than the school-based sessions.

Hello, I have 20+ years of teaching.  I also teach in one of the designated special ed schools in my school district.  I was in inclusion teacher for second grade last year, hoping that after having 9 major behavior problems the year before I would not have that problem again.  I had 2 in wheelchairs, 2 autistic, 2 emotional disturbed out of 15 kids... overall not a bad group. One of my kids in the wheelchairs was terminal and just would not do anything and his parents did not expect him too, he also missed about half the school days and failed second grade.

Overall, I love quirky kids... they entertain me so much.  I had fun with my class... got frustrated at times with some of them, but had a good time teaching.

Mostly, my school system is fair about sending us to PD.  We do as much onsite as possible.  My principal lets us vote on what we want to do.  Our Asst. Principal is big on our legal rights, and her husband is a board member, sooooooooooo we really are treated the right way.  We have some teachers that spend a good amount of their summer in PD classes, we also have some that only go to the after school stuff or during school stuff.

We have gone to an extended school year and quarters.  At the end of each quarter we have at least a week break, what a difference that makes to our mental health.  We get one week in October, two weeks in December/January, and one week on March.  Everyone benefits from those breaks. As teachers we need breaks as much as the kids do for our mental health.  We go back to work the last week in July and get out the third week in May.  This is our 7th year with this schedule... and I hate going back in July, but I love those breaks and so does everyone else.

Janet Vines

www.msvines.com