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Having the parents on board would have made a huge difference for me. They just made a challenging job even harder, and took away a lot of the enjoyment I might have otherwise gotten from it. When the parents stayed out of things, which they hardly ever did, I had a lot more fun teaching. In a way, I guess, you're lucky.

I think that is very true. Once you get past year three things get much easier. The problem that time starts over for even experienced teachers. So 20 year vets are at year 1 when they walk into an inner-city classroom for the first time.