do you ever feel like " why do i bother??"

i'm a speech therapist at an elementary school...granted, i work with a lot of kids that have a lot of "issues" and special needs. but, man! ... some of them lack the most basic listening/attention skills! in a lot of my groups, the kids are working on different things... so i have to do a lot of activities where the kids take turns answeing questions that relate to their goals. and these kids just have no ability to wait their turn without like getting up and walking around the room, interrupting... no ability to just sit and listen!! and its not like these questions take a long time-- they are short answer questions! so i'm not asking them to wait like 10 minutes-- its MAYBE 3 minutes tops until their next turn! i've tried giving them them blocks or things to play with while they are waiting their turn, but they can't even handle that without getting loud!
ugh! its days like this when i feel like " why do i even bother??"

Re: do you ever feel like " why do i bother??"

YESSS I SAY THIS EVERYDAY!

This week I have especially felt that way!

I went to a meeting held by the principal of my school and most of the staff attended. She complimented many of the teachers, by name, for their hard work she has been noticing. I HAVE BEEN WORKING MY TUSH OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And does she mention my name?!?! No. And the others were absolutely RAVED about for all their effort. How unprofessional! We all are working VERY hard in my school WE ALL want to be recognized.

Re: do you ever feel like " why do i bother??"

Its funny but someone gave me good advice once and said young children really have no concept of time. So waiting 3 minutes for some seems like an enternity.

Then again some days kids just do things that are irriating in the classroom all at once.

Many hopefully tomorrow is better!

Re: do you ever feel like " why do i bother??"

EVERY SINGLE DAY

I get to the point where I feel, if they don't care, why the hell should I? They don't shut up, they don't study or try, they're there to socialize (I have high schoolers)... I can only help them so much before they need to help themselves!!! I can't learn for them, I can't pay attention for them. It's really discouraging.

So I know what you're saying.

Re: do you ever feel like " why do i bother??"

Re: do you ever feel like " why do i bother??"

Re: do you ever feel like " why do i bother??"

YES! This entire week!!! I do so much for these kids and try to give them my all and bring them things and what do I get in return not so much as a thank you! Their behavior has been out of control and I was ready to quit this week!

Re: do you ever feel like " why do i bother??"

Re: do you ever feel like " why do i bother??"

i could have written the OP myself. I work with severely impaired children and as much as i love them... some days it's so hard to have the patience i need. they just don't get it ... and some of them just don't care. it can be so frsutrating!!!

Re: do you ever feel like " why do i bother??"

I feel like this everyday.....today we talked about "common sense" in my room