Are you a Tired Teacher ?

I've read several places on education blogs about how tired teachers are....and it is just towards the end of September! Whats going on?????

School just began; teachers should be charged up and zipping along in fifth gear. But it seems that is not the case? Did that wonderful "pep you up stuff" in coffee disappear? Are we just so beaten down by testing? Beaten down by being repeatedly told "its teachers fault those students are not learning," your school is "under-performing," you are a "program improvement" school. In the mail today, we, (Mrs. Polski and I), received a letter from one of my son's schools telling us that it was in "Program Improvement, Year 1," and that if we wished, we could talk to the school district about moving him to one of the "non-program improvement schools." Is it the lack of accountability for students and their parents?

Is it the demand to do more with less resources, more students, more student needs? Is it the frustration of ever rising cost of living and paychecks that are ever being reduced by multi-years of no COLA, more taxes, ever increasing "employee contributions" to pay for health insurance (about $5000 more from my take home pay this year! Yes, $5,000.00!).

So we are tired. Is it sucking the life out of us? This used to be the UNITED STATES, the country of power, innovation, discovery and the best life on the planet. Who is doing this to us? Any ideas?

On the other hand, how do you insulate yourself from all this negativity? I am trying.....without resorting to "recreational chemicals" or lots of liquid beverage that helps some forget for awhile....which I shouldn't do anyhow with my diabetes.....But I've never been one to stick my head in the sand....

Teachers, we need to deal with this. There are still months and months of teaching to do for our students! Any thoughts?