This was an EXCELLENT article. As a student teacher and later as a new teacher with my first year under my belt , I slowly found out from experience and from asking veteran teachers (rather desperately questioning them, at times) that, no, as you say, it was not my “imagination” that student behavior, and in some cases, parent and administration behavior, went against basic expectations. When I tried to explain to friends and family, they couldn’t understand until I acquired enough anecdotes to paint a vivid picture, and even then they often remained in near-disbelief.

But I love how this article focuses on the right mindset as well as proven practical solutions rather than complaining about the state of things!

Your points at the very end especially impacted me: remembering that God is always there to help, that often character defects often surface in our “trial by fire” as developing teachers (which surprise threatened to hugely discourage me at first), and that we shouldn’t compare our classroom-management progress to others (In my first year I replaced another teacher long-term and initially kept hearing about how effective she had been–not very heartening for a new teacher with tons of new challenges). I kept praying and learning from sites like this one, and received some major compliments from students and colleagues at the end of the year (including some huge behavior turnarounds) , but getting there was a REALLY tough journey at times.

I wish I had been able to read this article back when I was a student teacher in order to be better prepared for what to expect, and thus less caught off-guard. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom!