I teach in very high eco dis school (90%). Kids are tough and keeping them and recruiting gets harder and harder every year.
Lots of pressure to keep numbers up. But when I deal with parents and just some of the attitudes, I just don't know how its sustainable while maintaining a program that isn't just full of kids who don't know how to behave.
I'm exhausted.
Re: Motivation
Posted by Respectfully on 2/19/2026, 1:40 pm, in reply to "Motivation"
You're dealing with the Covid kids at this point. This generation of middle school kids had a virtual year during a critical year of "here is how you treat each other" development - so they lack problem solving skills and have more trouble getting along.
This has led many of them toward apathy - any time they display an interest of anything positive towards school, it's mocked by people for whom school is an absolute joke.
What you need to do is to focus on PEOPLE first. Not band. Not "come play a saxophone." Make yourself approachable, likeable, and fun to be around - make yourself visible in the hallway, sit in the cafeteria at lunch, etc. Let the kids get to know you as more than just "the band director" and you'll make a lot of headway into this issue.
Brace yourself - this year's 5th grade is even worse. But after that it gets better - 4th and down never had to go to school on an iPad.
