This is my fifth year as a middle school math teacher. I've reached the point in my education career where I always thought I would be a little more put together. Half a decade? Check. Tenure? Check. Waning sense of sanity? Check.
Wait a minute! Waning sense of sanity? No one mentioned that in teacher school.
Right. They didn't. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not so naive that I expected teaching to be a world full of puppy dogs and rainbows and unicorns. But I also didn't expect to be at at the burnout phase in a measly five years. Let me be specific - I'm so far into the burnout phase that I could spontaneously combust at any given moment. That's about as far from puppy dogs and unicorns as you can get.
What happened to make me so ready to burst into metaphorical flames? It must have been that deadly combination of ignorant meddlers (aka politicians), ridiculous expectations (aka the state department of education AND my own district office), and the most apathetic group of 13 years I have ever met (aka my lovely classes).
And so here I am, venting to a non-existent audience on the internet in a mad attempt to bring both meaning and an emotional outlet (besides ice cream) to my life.
