Why is teaching so joyless now?
Strict districts mandate rigid, pre-made curricula like Savvas and ban teachers from supplementing or using their training. This strips all creativity from the classroom and forces educators to push flawed materials, leaving them exhausted, depressed, and ready to quit.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1taking the job year by year and hoping something changes
- 2trying to care less or stop thinking about systemic flaws
- 3Sneaking in unapproved creative activities or crafts
- 4Switching to a different school district or state with more professional autonomy
- 5Putting less pressure on oneself to avoid burnout
- 6Leaving the teaching profession entirely
- 7Being kind and helpful without attempting deep personal relationships with every student
- 8Using sarcasm to maintain sanity when dealing with rude students
- 9Saying hello to each kid at the door and remaining firm in classroom expectations
- 10Waiting for a better day to pass the feeling
- 11accepting the lack of decision-making power due to exhaustion
- 12Constantly redirecting students all day
- 13Repeating instructions throughout the day
- 14Hopping onto forums for advice, tips, and emotional support
- 15Believing that bad days will eventually become easier to handle over time.
- 16trying not to overthink it and focusing on enjoying the weekend
- 17sticking with it for multiple years until it gets easier
- 18leaning on coworkers and using their lesson plans
- 19making teacher friends to vent to and understand what you are going through
- 20switching districts and grade levels
- 21getting a masters degree in a different field
- 22pivoting away from K12 education to a different career
- 23exploring teaching college classes instead of K12
- 24Filing professional conduct complaints against administration
- 25Considering a vote of no confidence
- 26searching for another job
- 27keeping to oneself
- 28trying to implement the work for my class and find work for a different grade level
- 29making a formal complaint to your admin
- 30Document each time this happens
- 31find another school to teach in as soon as you can
- 32relying on seniority rules
- 33department heads letting teachers choose preferences
- 34admin assigning classes based on favoritism
- 35Doing what you can and letting administrators worry about the test scores
- 36Resigning or moving to another field
- 37Pulling small groups independently
- 38Modifying quizzes and tests manually
- 39Switching to different school districts in richer suburban areas
- 40Looking into alternative teaching environments or online programs like WAVA
- 41Leaving the district entirely or seeking out schools in more affluent neighborhoods with better resources
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“We are required to use pre made slide decks, only use SAVVAS, cannot supplement, must follow a super strict pacing calendar, required to do daily DOLs that are tracked, and just a whole bunch of other nonsense.”source ↗
“Kinda tired of being told about in PD about the need to build relationships, to win the kids over, to make overtures to parents for their support.”source ↗
“the 4 years after the pandemic were traumatic and horrible.”source ↗
“I have to sneak crafts bc they have decided it takes away from district criculuum. Removed the joy is a good way to put it...”source ↗
“I’ve come to the conclusion that this job negatively impacts me too much to keep doing it much longer, it’s been 5 years now.”source ↗
“I’m burnt out, and am not giving them my best, even if I had the time and resources to properly teach them.”source ↗
“We are losing our new teachers every year.”source ↗
“All five of our newly hired teachers this year have expressed their desire to leave due to the administration.”source ↗
“Lack of teacher retention is a major problem.”source ↗
“I'm also in year 11 and the state and district have sucked every last drop of joy out of teaching English. Have to follow Savaas, can't pick stories I think the kids will enjoy, and the new initiative of "aggressive monitoring" makes my classroom atmosphere so . . . aggressive.”source ↗
“Another teacher has to leave and I get her class on top of mine.”source ↗
“She has NO work prepared for the students.”source ↗
“Additionally I have lost my planning period most days.”source ↗
“I spend all my time at home planning and I am still behind.”source ↗
“I feel like the pressure in our high school in my district is for students to continue to increase scores in their PSAT tests on math and English.”source ↗
“I believe the blame and pressure get's put on the math and English teachers if students do well on the PSAT.”source ↗
“I work in a non public school and it has been awful so far.”source ↗
“I am beyond burned out.”source ↗
“No help or resources.”source ↗
“Mentally and physically I do not know how to stay afloat.”source ↗
“there are some teachers, in the same department, that teach the same subjects and roughly the same number of students, but one teacher has 50 students with IEPs and 50 EMLs... while the other has…ZERO.”source ↗
“They require us to get so much education, and then they don't want us to use it.”source ↗
“Don't get me wrong, I love my job. I'm a high school math teacher in my fourth year, and primarily, it has been great. That being said, do you ever have those days where you're just so over it?”source ↗
“Maybe a student says something that makes its way under your skin and sticks with you, or you're just inundated with work?”source ↗
“3rd year full time teaching in Alberta and I feel so depressed thinking I might not be able to stick this career out, even though I love it in a lot of ways.”source ↗
“I just started at a new district in Texas that does this. They strip all joy, creativity, and happiness from the classrooms.”source ↗
“It’s been particularly bad this year. I’m stressed out by the extra work Savvas is giving me, because as is it’s fucking unstable, that I’m like May exhausted already.”source ↗
“not every student wants a relationship with their teacher, and 2) even if they did, I have 190 kids. I'm kind and helpful to my students, but no, I'm not building a relationship with every single one.”source ↗
“I have no autonomy but I'm so burnt out that I really have no desire to make decisions anyway.”source ↗
“I’ve been a bad teacher this week and don’t know how to bounce back.”source ↗
“Mental health fully in the gutter since I’ve cut contact with my estranged father AGAIN after realizing he’s still an asshole.”source ↗
“And then today, I’m still just doing a bad job.”source ↗
“How can I come back stronger next week and be able to go back to my old routines and procedures?”source ↗
“I’m a first year teacher and I already am considering quitting.”source ↗
“I come home and have a nervous breakdown nearly every day and it’s only been two weeks.”source ↗
“my mental health feels like it’s starting to go out the window.”source ↗
“I am a first year 4th grade teacher and the “curriculum” is a bunch of hyper links (many of which are locked or deleted.)”source ↗
“They talk over me in every lesson and then get upset when they don’t know the directions for an assignment.”source ↗
“The student who can’t read starts crying because i’m not helping her meanwhile the other 24 students need support that I can’t give them because i need to 1 on 1 support her.”source ↗
“I feel drafted everyday because of the lack of support and empty words I hear everyday. I truly feel like I am so jaded and don’t believe anything admin says anymore.”source ↗
“I can type an essay on the lack of support for special ed, and the absolute neglect that happens within my school, but I’ll save that.”source ↗
“I was so overwhelmed and now have an appointment with the student and his classroom teacher next Monday.”source ↗
“When I was at home I just cried. I feel so incompetent and like a failure for the students.”source ↗
“I pull small groups and modify all of my quizzes and tests, but how do I follow an IEP with no support in my room?”source ↗
“How do I do whole group instruction and answer questions for students during independent work and pull small groups each class period each day?”source ↗
“My school doesn’t give support to any of their social studies classroom. I can’t support all of my students needs.”source ↗
“We just switched to SAVVAS math and told not to supplement. It’s joyless, but the worst part is that almost every other slide the math is just…wrong.”source ↗
“I was burnt out at my last school that had plc meetings. It was so stressful.”source ↗
“I just started teaching PRE-K and i have 15 kids on certain days. I have no extra help. No TA. it’s really hard and i’m getting so nervous especially this being my first year.”source ↗
“i’m just very overwhelmed! first year teacher here. lol”source ↗
“I have 30 kindergarteners. Imagine that. It isn’t much you can do. I repeat myself all day. There is no help. I wish I could be encouraging but it is tough!”source ↗
“It’s so true, i was mostly redirecting all day. I was thinking… how are they going to learn anything without a TA in here to help me??!”source ↗
“Math, English and SPED teachers always get blamed for the dumbest shit they have no control over.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 16Why am I so tired and burnt out teaching?
- 4How to handle students falling asleep in class
- 24Why are students coming to class missing basic foundational skills?
- 3How to handle too much work without project engineers or coordinators
- 2Special education pull-out services during core instruction time
- 5Why am I too exhausted and overstimulated to parent?