New educator feeling a little discouraged

llg, PhD, RN · Jun 6, 2010

Can you get your old hospital job back? If so, I would recommend you go back to the hospital.

1. Teaching is a specialty. Just as you would not expect a nurse with no OB experience to just be able to walk into L & D and be competent, it is not reasonable to expect yourself to be a competent teacher with no experience and no education in that field.

2. The fact that the school hired you for the position and then gave you no special support is strong evidence of their quality. Run away from them as soon and as fast as you can. Just because it exists as a school, doesn't mean it is any good. There are a lot of crappy schools out there, making money off of people desires to become a nurse. It sounds like your employer is one of them.

3. Short cuts into a good career in any field are rare -- and nursing education is no exception. Get a hospital job, finish your MSN, and get the education you need to move successfully into the next stage of your career. With an MSN and maybe a little more experience, you'll have a much better chance of getting a teaching job at a good school and being successful at it.

VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN · Jun 6, 2010

I totally agree with llg. Run, Forrest, run!

If you would ever like to talk, please send me a PM. I am so sorry you are going through such a difficult job ordeal. I was in a similar circumstance years ago.

allnurses Guide · Jun 6, 2010

Dump the job, go back to school. I started teaching clinicals halfway through my Masters (in Ed.) The faculty of my school not only mentored me, but took me on when it was time for my field work as well. Some really terrific people that I'm so glad are in my life now! Many Sunday afternoons sitting in R's kitchen asking, "now what are you looking for with this? What level do you expect them to perform at?", and how to grade papers. We had entire sections in my classes on how to write test questions, chapters about it to read and discuss.

The best thing you can do is find a good mentor to sit down with and just encourage you; if your colleagues are throwing you under the bus, I doubt it will get any better later.

bosnanurse · Jun 18, 2010

'Also the students are pure evil. I feel like I am teaching a group of 7 year olds and not adults that are in college and paying money out of pocket to be there'.

I am little bit worried about this sentence.. Students are never evil because they need something and you have it .. now it is your turn to find the way how to give them what they are looking for and at the same time make them to climb that mountain where you put that precious pearl.

Teaching is not an easy job..All those who say "if you can not do it , go teach" are not realistic or they never thought anyone . I can not help you how to deal with your school people .. one way is to run .. but your ultimate goal is I guess to teach ..So, if you get better in organizing yourself and your system of teaching then you will be more confident in yourself and will not need an approval from any of those "all mighty 18 century teachers" .

So , good way is to define your philosophy of teaching, define what you see in students ( never see evil!) ,define what is your ultimate goal in teaching , see how all that fits with your goals in life before you just run. Running is the easiest part in life, staying and looking into bull's eye is what you might be able to do but you could be scared as every normal person .

I am not saying do this or that but I could feel your confusion .. As some said , in teaching there is always those who would try to belittle you or make you feel stupid haha how else they can feel as "academia" . .. Thanks God there is not soo many of those and I hope we will weed them off from any school. And, I still do not understand , you took position that requires MSN , and then you drop the MSN because you can not do it both?? MSN is what you NEED so that you can run better when times comes, so if you can not finish MSN with them then you do no need them . (They obviously needed your body but not your soul:))

Good luck to you . I love students, I love everything about them when I see in their eyes how much they would like to run but they still stay with me , when they come to tell me that they pass the test , or that their grandmother is dying , when..

I hope you will have strength to connect with them .. Those souls need your guidance.:heartbeat

SewHeather · Jun 20, 2010

Bosnanurse,

I understand what you're saying about sticking with it, but there are times when you have to take your losses and move on. I am at the point where I am considering just taking my losses. Some things are not worth the heartache.

When I say that the students are pure evil, I was really only referring to a few of them and was merely venting my frustrations. I don't actually think they are evil and I truly enjoy teaching some of them. But just recently (this past friday) one the students physically threatened me and another wrote a letter to the Director of Education accusing me of discriminating against her because of the color of her skin so a formal investigation has been opened against me. This is what I mean by pure evil. I am not prejudice now nor have I ever been, and this accusation is completly bogus because this student disagrees with a grade I gave her and has decided to make personal accusations because of this. Also, this accusation was told to me by the DOE in front of the entire faculty instead of in private which I found to be incredibly unprofessional.

Also, this job did not require a MSN, in fact I was the only instructor that was working toward an MSN, while the others still need to get their BSN. I know how much I can have on my plate at a time and right now my plate is full. So yes, I chose to drop my MSN for 2 months while I spend time with my family (my father has cancer right now and I wanted to have as much time with him as possible) and try to concentrate on being the best teacher that I can without having to worry about my own schooling.

Thank you to those who wrote and gave me your advice and support, it has been truly appreciated.

Heather

bosnanurse · Jun 21, 2010

Hi, I am really sorry for your situation. I think that you are totally right. All what you are writing about that school seems as it needs Duracell battery to run but not normal people who are trying to make it right. I can see your frustration with student's accusation . It is a hard one for sure. More what is soo wrong is act of your supervisor. I would not tolerate it even for a second. You see how hard is sometimes to see from a different perspective. I hope that you will overcome these difficulties and find your place. But, as everyone else said..., "dropping" that interesting school is way to go. :redbeathe

EvelynRN-BSN · Jun 21, 2010

Hi All!
I am a RN with 3 years of experience in OB and have recently been hired at a for profit college with the vocational nursing program. I was originally hired for a per diem clinincal intructor position but during the process of being approved, a full time position opened up and it was offered to me and I decided to take it.
It had always been my long term goal to get my Masters degree in nursing and then start teaching, but I never expected to be hired while I was in the process of getting my MSN. I decided to take this job because it would 1) get me in the education field 2) it was a daytime position that would alow me more time with my family 3) there was virtually no change in how much money I made. It seemed like a no-brainer.
Now that I have been working there for about 8 weeks, I am beginning to wonder if I have made a terrible terrible mistake. They hired me knowing that I had no experience teaching, but yet gave me absolutely no training or orientation. I spend hours and hours of my own time making lectures and exams for areas of nursing that I have never worked in, thus I have very little idea of what I am talking about. After spending hours on my lectures, the DON came to me 5 minutes before starting my last lecture and informed me that I have had several complaints and my test scores are not good and that I needed to change my way of lecturing today. The other teacher keeps throwing me under the bus because I'm low man on the totem pole and don't know any better.
I'm used to working with a group of nurses that know how to work as a team and will help each other out. This is completely foreign to me and I feel so isolated and alone. My mother and aunt (both teachers) keep telling me that the first year is the hardest and it gets better, but I'm really having my doubts. I have been thinking of lookin at getting back into the hospital. Does anyone think I'm overreacting? Is this the norm and I just need to stick with it, or is this completly OK?
Also the students are pure evil. I feel like I am teaching a group of 7 year olds and not adults that are in college and paying money out of pocket to be there.
Signed,
Completly overwhelmed and bewildered.
p.s. I have also had to drop out of my Masters program because I cannot do both at the same time since I am spending so much of my own time on grading and lectures.

I am so sorry you are dealing with such ignorance in your profession. They knew you were knew to teaching clinical and knew you were working on toward a Master's Degree and then offer you a FT position in teaching lecture, which would have been great if they offered you some support, guidance, a mentor to help guide you and support you along the way, and an orientation to teaching lecture. Then to hear that the same faculty that hired you knowing that you were knew are now throwing you under the bus (or maybe just the one faculty member) is terrible. Students can by tough and challenging at times and the students today or not like the students back when I was in school (respectful, appreciative, excited to learn), mind you there are still some great students out there, but there are some that are very challenging, argumentative, disruptive, and overall rude to faculty and their fellow peers and you wonder why they ever decided to go into nursing with such an attitude, one that seems like they are hating the world and think that everyone is out to get them and the world owes them everything. But for the most part a lot of the students are wonderful and great to work with and teach, but you do have your challenging ones from time to time. But to think that you have this within your faculty with whom your suppose to work with and help teach, guide and mold the nursing students are acting this way and unprofessional at that. Do you have a Faculty Team for each semester group. I think you should have a meeting with the Director and then the faculty group within the semester that you are teaching. Speak up for yourself, professionally. Maybe they don't realize how they are treating you and forgetting that you are new to this and do need some help, guidance and support. Then if they still act in this nature, then I would leave. The last thing you need is stress. You gave up your Master's Degree at this time to help with teaching lecture and for what? They are treating you terribly and not respecting you as a person. You are more important than that and her dreams and your career goals are what is of most importance to you. Getting your Master's Degree is of most importance because this is what you were working toward and then you took on to much for this college to get what? Nothing in return, but stress and disrespect and no time for anything because nobody has offered any support, guidance, or help along the way. Set up that meeting and talk about it. Get it out in the open and lay it out for them on the table so they can understand and feel what it is your feeling and going through and experiencing as a New Instructor with no support or help and feeling lost....Especially, when you mentioned that they came to you and said that you needed to change your teaching style because of bad reviews....this was a good time to bring up the fact that you are new, took on this position thinking you were going to have full support, guidance, etc and you were left to fend for yourself and figure it out for yourself and then you had to give up your classes toward your MSN this semester because of all the stress with lecturing. And the last thing you need is for someone telling you that you need to change your teaching style when you really have not been able to establish one because your busy trying to figure it all out and put lesson plans/lectures etc together. Again, I am so sorry that this is happening to you. I really wish you had a "TEAM" there, but it does not sound like that at all. Our group is called "The Dream Team" because we work so well together and we all support one another. We have each others cell numbers, home numbers, office numbers, email accounts (different ones) and are always available for any problems, issues, help that we need etc or just someone to talk to. And as a new instructor they give you a mentor that helps you along the way as well, but still have your faculty team phone numbers to contact if needed. That school of yours sounds like it is lacking in this and if that is the case you would be better off teaching at a different school or going to the hospital like before if this is what you really like to do. If not, look into the education department at your local hospitals as well or other teaching institutions/colleges. Best of luck to you. You truly deserve better!

EvelynRN-BSN · Jun 21, 2010

Bosnanurse,
I understand what you're saying about sticking with it, but there are times when you have to take your losses and move on. I am at the point where I am considering just taking my losses. Some things are not worth the heartache.
When I say that the students are pure evil, I was really only referring to a few of them and was merely venting my frustrations. I don't actually think they are evil and I truly enjoy teaching some of them. But just recently (this past friday) one the students physically threatened me and another wrote a letter to the Director of Education accusing me of discriminating against her because of the color of her skin so a formal investigation has been opened against me. This is what I mean by pure evil. I am not prejudice now nor have I ever been, and this accusation is completly bogus because this student disagrees with a grade I gave her and has decided to make personal accusations because of this. Also, this accusation was told to me by the DOE in front of the entire faculty instead of in private which I found to be incredibly unprofessional.
Also, this job did not require a MSN, in fact I was the only instructor that was working toward an MSN, while the others still need to get their BSN. I know how much I can have on my plate at a time and right now my plate is full. So yes, I chose to drop my MSN for 2 months while I spend time with my family (my father has cancer right now and I wanted to have as much time with him as possible) and try to concentrate on being the best teacher that I can without having to worry about my own schooling.
Thank you to those who wrote and gave me your advice and support, it has been truly appreciated.
Heather

WOW! I just read this posting. Okay forget the group meeting. It sounds like that school is all around not the school for you to be teaching at. I would get out of there yesterday! That is just terrible. It sounds like the DOE is unprofessional as well. This should have been discussed in private and if you felt like discussing in a group meeting after you were informed of this accusation then that is up to you, but for the DOE to openly discuss this in front of your faculty, thus informing you of this accusation for the first time is unprofessional and disrespectful and is in violation of disclosing your personal information. If I were you I would talk with the Dean of the school about this as well. Wow! That is pretty much all I can say about that. There are better schools and faculty members out there that will help you grow and blossom as a great educator. It may not seem like it where your at, but I promise there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Just not the tunnel that your in at this moment. Take another path.......Best of luck to you. Stay strong and your in my prayers, so is your father. My mother-n-law has cancer (liver and hepatic portal vein) and it is hard to see her daily struggles. Just be there for him and focus on your father and yourself and your happiness. The rest will eventually fall in to place. Get your MSN and find a better suited place for yourself.

AOx1 · Jun 24, 2010

I agree, this environment is not supportive of a new educator. Please don't give up on nursing education. There are environments in which you will be supported, encouraged, and mentored. This does not happen to be one of them. You have basically been left to sink or swim.

jlcole45 · Jul 4, 2010

You should probably stick with it through this semester - at least you'd have one semester of teaching experience. Even negative experiences teach you something. Then I'd do two things - find a different job to pay bills and return to school. One thing I did last spring was teach as a clinical instructor at a comm college. I actually taught LPNs at a nursing home. It actually was an excellent way to get my feet wet in teaching clinicals - the students were great as the often are at comm colleges. Most were really focused on what they wanted and were mature.

I was actually on the MSN FNP track, but have taken a sabbatical (because I had to return to work full time to get caught up on bills). But the time away is giving me a

chance to think hard - I personally have really struggled with which track to follow with my MSN. If I am totally honest with myself I always end up with the fact that I love working with less experienced nurses and students and that teaching is the way I should go. My only worry is the money factor but as we all know money isn't everything ....

jlcole45 · Jul 4, 2010

When you are looking for another job - take on a part time clinical instructor job. And maybe find a benefited job at the hospital.