What is the worst part of your current job?

Grading papers...my current job is pretty easy. A few years ago i complained about a lot more.

Then put the idea out there. I tell the kids they have me for every social studies class there is unless they take dual credit.

my class hardly shrinks, few kids take dc classes, but we are a very small school, I have learned a long time ago that if you worry it only gets worse. if your getting kids in your class and they are trying then you are doing good and that is the ticket

A lack of foresight is the #1 issue with my job. People make emotional decisions without planning, and two days later / after parent complaints, reverse those emotional decisions. If it was up to me you plan for a few hours, decide, then stick to it. However I'm just the dean, not the Principal/AP, so what do I know. Guess who has to call with the emotional decision? ME. Guess who has to call with the reversal? ME. Guess who takes all the parent complaints either way? ME. Guess who makes three times as much- THEM.

This may sound bad, but the number 1 issue with my job this just completed school year was boredom. I had an insanely low number of kids--6--on my SPED roster and, this is good, but none of them were even discipline problems. Now, for the 16-17 school year, but SPED roster nearly triples plus due to cuts in the Language Arts department, I'm picking up a couple sections of a Reading Improvement class. Looking forward to the opportunity!

Without a doubt the worst for me is the "latest new wonder cure method" phenomena. I've worked thru TET, Project Teach,ITIP, 5 Step writing, Learning across the Curriculum, No Child Left untested,Data Dashboard, Electronic gradebook, Common Core, National Certification,and the list goes on and on. Give me a room and a teaching assignment, let me do my job! Administrators are like Hemorrhoids, even a short visit is no fun. Don't get me wrong, I'll stack my students learning against my colleagues students any day. How about this for educational reform? Go back to a national standard test like the IOWA or whatever and test kids every other year at most. Next set hard standards for what a third grader and 8th graders need to know and hold kids back who can't do what they need to do to succeed in HS! With the money saved by ending endless testing we could easily hire more teachers at the bottleneck levels. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Holy {censored} dude! You were in 'Nam & still surviving as a teacher...you must be 1 tough S.O.B.!!!

You know- I say the same thing every day. I ask to be able to do fun stuff like be the college & careers guy or something and lose some dean's roles (lunch duty whatever) and they say no. I came up with some pos programs, got shot down or got to do them 1 time and then shot down. NFL = No Fun Left. 

The worst part is that I don't get paid by the hour.

The worst part about my last job was NOT building a top national program on the smallest budget in the country, but that central admin felt that our success on a shoestring was justification for not giving us any money, since clearly we could do without.

It's bad enough with teachers but when admins don't follow the rules it screws everything up. At one school we had a major problem with tardiness. The solution that they came up with was lock-outs. When the tardy bell rang we all closed and locked our classroom door. Then security rounded up anyone not in a class and took them to the cafeteria where they were written up and assigned detention. It worked but they would announce them, which was counterproductive. 

Worse, the AP in charge didn't like dealing with the paperwork. He'd announce a lockout then check the hall about a minute before the tardy bell. If there were too many kids in the hall he'd announce that the lockout was cancelled. The tardy problem continued. 

Sounds like most of our problems come from people over us. Don't forget it as you all move up in the world.

As someone who works in administration with a wife in it as well and sees things from a different lens (then most) due to this, I find many posts very short sighted.

Sometimes, You don't know what you don't know!

A mentor of mine once said to me be careful if you go into administration to not change as it changes everyone. After a few months it was obvious the root cause of this is because you are making decisions for the best of a different subgroup. When you are a teacher you make decisions that are best for the masses of the students you are instructing inevitably there are some students who don't like your structures or your management style or the pace of your instruction. Administratively it is no different except rather then working with students you are working with a group of teachers. Ultimately, all you can do is lead the best way you know how to and work to support and serve your staff with the recognition that some won't like you, trust you, or buy into your philosophy simply because of your title....

I am a teacher by nature and will always be one! I never had a desire to be in administration nor did my wife however, sometimes life happens and things don't go as planned. I do know every day we both wake up with 1 goal in mind and that is to make a difference in others peoples lives, the circumstances and situations that we currently deal with have flaws as have every job prior however focusing on those flaws only takes away from our mission and goal of creating a positive effect on others. We are imperfect like all others but the fact is rather then focusing on the negatives in our current jobs we try to focus on how we are going to create infrastructure to overcome those challenges thus breeds optimism and hope and create change for our school and program and ultimately make a difference in the lives that you come in contact with.