Hi I am a teacher in training, 25 yo and finishing my masters. My students are 5th to 6th graders so ranging from 10 to 12 yo. Today I had probably my worst class ever, I have taught for close to a year on a rural area without much issue and as part of my masters I am on an internship as a teacher to the class.
Today they were especially unruly, it was a class where we were painting 3d models (that i managed to print on my uni for free) with acrylic dyes and while I expected it to be messy it really overstepped my expectations in a bad way. The kids (not all of them at all) are genuinely rude and have no respect for authority and even if I give them the hardest consequences they legit don't care.
I feel like I have my hands tied because I don't wanna just kick them out of the classroom, give up on them and actually treat them like people and not animals to be managed like I would do to a dog. I don't exactly feel like giving up but it is legit making me have doubts for the future (my tutor teacher from the internship after class was reinforcing that she hopes I don't give up because our country in desperately in need of young teachers).
It makes me wonder why some kids are even there, it makes me doubt the whole system because they are not learning much for whatever reason in their life and school doesnt seem to be helping them develop and they dont care/ dont understand the weight of losing a year of your life because of putting a bit of effort. (I know a few of them are at very high risk of failing the year).
Next class I am thinking of having a zero tolerance approach but it genuinely leaves such a bad taste in my mouth. Thank you for listening to me.