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Hey, New Teacher, Don't Quit. It Will Get Better

Starting a new job is always tough — no matter the profession. But the first year for a new teacher can be brutal.

Research shows that roughly one teacher in 10 will quit by the end of that first year, and the toughest time — for many — is right now. In fact, this season is so famously hard on teachers that it even has a name ...

Here's a recent excerpt from the blog Love, Teach:

"Hello. Sorry it's been so long. I seem to have fallen into DEVOLSON ... an acronym I invented that stands for the Dark, Evil Vortex of Late September, October, and November. It's kind of a homophone for "devil's son," which is intentional. I discovered that it's the time of the school year where teachers are the busiest, craziest, and, usually the saddest."

We first mentioned DEVOLSON a few weeks ago, when our colleague, Meg Anderson, wrote the post below and struck a chord with lots of teachers — and not just newbies. The response was so great that we decided to make a little DEVOLSON radio. Just click on the little triangle up there and let the fun begin.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Cory Turner edits and reports for the NPR Ed team.
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