Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be a teacher. I remember setting up my bedroom to look like a “classroom” so that I could teach my stuffed animals all about the world around them. While what subject I wanted to teach changed several times, it wasn’t until my brother was diagnosed with Autism that I had finally figured out my purpose in life, I was going to be an Autism teacher.
I got my degree in Elementary Education, Special Education, and professional certification in Autism Spectrum Disorders. I was on the exact path that I had always wanted to be. While it took almost a year to find a teaching job, I finally landed one. Thrilled does not even begin to describe how I felt. It is not often that someone goes out into the work force after graduating and quickly finds the job they have been dreaming about their entire life. I felt privileged that I had the opportunity to work in a residential school facility to children with severe Autism. Not only did I get to work with the clientele I dreamed of, I even was fortunate enough to get the exact age range I wanted (the crazy ages of middle school and puberty).
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Hands down I had the absolute best classroom from the students to the staff that I worked with. I had no doubt in my mind that this is exactly where I was meant to be. As with every job, there are good days and bad days, but you know something is right when the good always outweigh the bad. My immediate boss was someone I had become very close with and saw as someone I strived to be as I continued my education. The staff that worked in my hallway were phenomenal and when I had a bad day and couldn’t remember why I kept teaching, there was always someone there to remind me and reassure me the next day would be better.
I had what seemed like the best job in the world and never saw myself leaving but after one year I resigned. I had a lot of doubts and a lot of tears when submitting my resignation letter. So why did I leave the job I had always strived to get? Management. Who can turn an entire group of enthusiastic workers into people who couldn’t care less? Management. When an incident happens from following management’s guidelines, who gets in trouble? Well clearly, not management.
Management are the group of individuals that you look to for guidance and to protect you. Management at my work place no longer “protected” the little people but instead threw them under the bus. Understand that, you cannot have a good work place and employees that want to please without good management.
