I switched from a upper middle class school to a high poverty school. It’s been eye opening

I’m not here to discuss the merits of any specific political party or policy. I’m just here to relate my observations and experiences. Early this semester I transferred from a middle school in an affluent suburb with a 13% fr/lunch rate to a school in a large city with a 78% fr/lunch rate. I wasn’t naive and I saw a ton of videos and read many articles, but nothing experiences the reality. I switched partly out of curiosity: Why do people seem to struggle so much in the inner city? I’m a good teacher, veteran 13th year teacher, with many years of top test scores. I’m also very organized and efficient. <br><br>The kids aren’t abusive. They aren’t bad kids. They just have a lot of issues and needs. I’ve never seen so many kids with disabilities and problems in my life. It seems like 15% of the kids I have are dyslexic. I’ve had 4 kids with hearing aids in the last month. One kid with 2 prosthetic legs who can’t use his arms. A kid who had a stroke and can’t use his left side at all. A kid who is blind and uses an aid. I’ve never seen more kids with visible handicaps in my life. There are usually 2 sign language interpreters at the school each day for kids with parents who are deaf. <br><br>The kids are less disciplined. But it isn’t that they flat out refuse to do things. It’s that they struggle to remember. I give them a checklist to follow and they follow some of it, but not all of it. Sometimes they completely ignore it. It’s hard to hold them accountable for things they have trouble remembering. <br><br>I saw a lot of kids crying in the first month of school. I’ve had 2 kids call ambulances because they were so upset. I’ve had 3 kids collapse in class. I had a kid struggle with hydrocephalus and the pressure of her shunt in class. I have a kid who is a cancer survivor, but appears to have suffered a brain injury at some point. I had a kid get into a fight in my room and end up with a concussion. I have a kid who needs his blood sugar checked regularly. I have a kid who needs regular seizures monitored. I have a kid who keeps his epi pen in my room because he has allergies. I have a kid who has regular panic attacks. I’ve never seen an aide call an ambulance for a kid so many times. I feel like I call the nurse once or twice a day. I’ve had kids ask to go to the nurse for things I wasn’t even aware could be a issue, like passing a kidney stone. <br><br>I am so tired at the end of the day. I feel like I was breaking up fights all the time at the beginning of the year. A kid threw my pencil sharpener and broke it. I had to replace 3 of my chairs in the first week. My room has been ransacked, but I can’t prove it was kids. I’m not sure why kids would do that: steal my lunch and my snacks and break my armed chair outside the room. I have to take a picture of my room at the end of each day because kids will move things around and it will take me all morning to find my things. Early in the year I regularly stopped classes to remind them of the rules. That didn’t really help. I finally got things under control. It’s not perfect, but I’m surviving. I’m not an authority person at all, and learning to become one has been a big challenge. <br><br>The kids are regularly dirty and smelly. The schools has a clothes closet, food pantry, and washer/dryer for them. I’ve had parents ask me for food, diapers, and personal care items. I’ve had a parent ask me to pay for their car insurance. I don’t know how these parents can’t afford basic things. A lot of parents can’t afford to send their kids out for sports because of the cost of equipment. It doesn’t make sense to me as sports equipment is cheap or they can get financial aid from the league. I’ve had parents ask me if they can come by the school to access the washer/dryer. I’ve had to speak to kids about their hygiene and shower habits. I had a kid ask me if he could wash his hands during class because he doesn’t want to get sick. A kid told me he eats supper at 2:00pm because he can’t eat at home. <br><br>I feel like I’m chasing my tail constantly because the kids have a million needs. Most of them are in band or choir, so they miss me once or twice a week. We have to modify their tests to accommodate them. They have accommodations in their IEPs, so we have to make sure we are following those. A couple kids are homeschooled part time, so they miss some school. I call the kids their preferred name, not their given name, and I have to learn the correct pronouns. We have to provide online learning for kids who are quarantined. I have to write progress reports for kids. We have to take kids with disabilities out of class for extra help sessions. I have to create extra credit opportunities for kids who are failing. I have to find ways to reward positive behavior and hand out consequences for negative behavior. I have to keep in contact with parents through online communication systems. It feels like I’m being pulled in a million directions and my time and energy are thin. <br><br>I still love teaching. I just wish I could make the kids’ lives better.