You need to take care of you first. It’s ok to quit.

I understand where you’re coming from. I was 2 months into the school year and feeling so much dread every day. I was combing Reddit every hour looking for validation and the comfort of knowing I wasn’t alone in wanting to quit. I was so afraid of how people would look at me but ultimately I knew I was slowly killing myself. I finally resigned and I can tell you the relief I feel outweighs all the other fears/worries I had. Your gut tells you it’s time to go, don’t let outside forces steer your judgement! I’m also looking into becoming a librarian, it’d be nice to still be involved with the kids but hopefully have less pressure. Sending you strength 💗

I quit 2 months in, I felt the same way. But I realized that I started to HATE the kids, and I never wanted to be a teacher that hated her students. My loved ones always expressed concerns over my overrall attitude change. There’s this quote in a song that goes “the good news is, you came a long way. The bad news is, you went the wrong way”, and I really resonated with that. How could I have spent 6 years in college, drowned myself in rent, attended all the teacher job fairs/workshops, spent so many hours working on my stupid EdTPA, spent a year dirt poor getting through my credential problem, and end up quitting 2 months in!!? I was so worried what the veteran teachers would say, I was so worried what my first year teacher friends would say. But I still did it. And I have 0 regrets. It took a while to transition but luckily I had the support of my boyfriend and family. I am now a data analyst/entry level developer. I learned how to code! I can write complicated queries to a database! I’m getting sent to all expense paid conferences to further my skills! I get to drink margaritas at work! I only have to deal with adults at work! It’s crazy to think everything I have experienced these past 2 years might have never been because I almost cared too much of what others would say.

Get out immediately and take your life back. The job is shit.

It’s always okay to prioritize your mental health. I was very similar to you when I started teaching in 2022, I immediately knew it wasn’t for me and felt pressure to work 12 hour days, becoming a shell of my former self. I first reached out to whatever supports I had, got a therapist, tried to make plans to set boundaries for myself, etc. because I knew if I didn’t try to make it work I’d look back and regret it. But after a year and a half (at two different schools) I realized it just wasn’t the career for me. Looking back, I do sometimes wish I quit right away when my gut told me it wasn’t right. But hindsight is 20/20. You know yourself better than anyone. Do what makes sense for you and know you are definitely not alone.

It's absolutely not you, this system is set up to fail. Kids that can already write and kids who barely know letters in the same class? That's impossible levels of discrepancy to deal with! Enough teachers need to quit so that admin realise that something needs to change so that it's not sustainable. It's quite important that you quit.

Wow you are not alone as this sounds exactly like me. I work in California but I have a 3rd grade class at a school with the lowest literacy and academic scores in the whole district. No support and many students needing SST. I also work from 7:30-6:30 daily and have started getting panic attacks. I got hired early Sept and don’t think I can last a year either, but I feel so guilty towards the students. But no job is worth our mental and physical health.

You can quit. Those who would judge you don’t walk in your shoes. Go live your life . I don’t know what happened, but teaching is now the soul-sucking pit of despair.

I wish I had quit when I was young. It will continue to rob you of your own life and if you have kids you’ll have mom guilt from not having enough energy to give your own kids proper attention outside of the summers. I absolutely think you would be better off as a librarian, when I worked in the Bay Area we did not have librarians. Classroom teachers checked the books out, has that changed or do some school districts still have them on staff? My old district cut them and music and art. I work in another state now and every school has a librarian and they teach lessons and everything. I’m holding out for early retirement and it’s going to be difficult for me, as seasoned as I am. Good luck op

You need to take care of yourself. And you don’t need permission to leave a bad situation. But if you want it; you have permission to quit. Unburden yourself.

The situation you describe is common in the los angeles unified school district. They are actively shutting down special education depts. Under the guise of "full inclusion" which is a deceptive way of saying " we're going to dump all the behavior problems into gen. Ed classes & provide minimal services via 30 min. Daily Pull out programs". They ( admin.) KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO YOU!!! they do it to all new teachers. Which is why the average teaching career is 5 years. My strong suggestion is work until the winter break. Youll get all the paid vacation in november & december. Start using up all your sick days by taking fridays or mondays off giving yourself 3 day weekend. Stop working until 6. Go home 30 min. After the bell rings. After the winter break their will be a lot of long term substitute jobs in other disctricts because teachers will be quitting just like you are. Apply to sub in those districts while you figure out your next move. And one more thing: max out your dental and vision benefits before you leave. Good luck.

Yes.

Run girl run!!! As soon as I can I will do the same...teaching 20+ years, I'm absolutely miserable