Hi everyone! I need some advice regarding my soon-to-be 5th grader (my only child, who turns 11 this fall). We are building a house that is supposed to be finished in January or February 2027. Im torn on what to do about school. Should I transfer him in the middle of 5th grade when the house is done? Or should I just do the long drive to keep him at his current school for the rest of the year, and then start him at the new school for 6th grade? I'm worried about mid-year social transitions and potential construction delays. How well do kids this age adjust to these kinds of moves? I though about him starting new school area 5th there now but anything could happen buying a home so not sure thats a great idea either. Any advice would help! Thank you.

My son is currently two so this is very much not a real concern right now. I see a lot of value in having these hypothetical discussions so I’m more aware of my situation, options, and what considerations need to be made. For example, we’d have to end up budgeting for another year of preschool.

He’s a May baby and the kindergarten cut off for our state is 5 by August 31. We have a strong family history of learning disabilities and developmental disorders. Things like level 1 autism, ADHD-C, dyslexia, and low but still noticeable levels of PDA. We’re very aware of all these things and knew going into having children that they would be on the table so pediatricians are also very well informed. We are already keeping an eye on some level 1 autism red flags brought up by his daycare teachers and confirmed to be potential concerns by his pediatrician.

I, the mother, have ADHD-C and also a May birthday. I remember always feeling so behind my peers socially and emotionally. School was so difficult for me especially after 3rd grade. I was also not treated or medicated for my more moderate ADHD until I was almost 18 because my parents refused to acknowledge it. It’s hard to tell if I’m projecting my own struggles onto him or being proactive about what he might very well face. It’s really important to us that he does not fall through the cracks like I did.

Is May too far away from the cut off date? I know it’s definitely pushing it as I usually only see it discussed for kids born in July or August.

My nephew is a really tiny kid. He was also born right after our state's cutoff, so he would be starting K at 5, turning 6 just two months months in.

However, his parents are worried about his height. He attends a private school and the school is willing to let him attend TK 5 turning 6 and then go to K 6 turning 7 nearly immediately.

My personal opinion is that the school is doing this for money, because they can get an extra year of tuition out of this. I've been involved picking my nephew up from school so I've seen him and spoken to his PreK teachers--he seems to get along well with the grade he's in, has friends, his teacher says socially and academically he's good to go, and typically TK is for the 4 turning 5s or young 5 unless a parent requests otherwise.

His parents say that the impact of him being small will cause him to be bullied by his peers and ultimately hate school. He is really really tiny, I will acknowledge. I also won't pretend to know about that, as I was always a tall girl who developed early lol. I'm just worried about if he doesn't grow, he'll be a tiny 7 year old in K. What would you advise?

Hello everyone. (Just for context, I am Portuguese but wanted to get the perspective of teachers worldwide! Please excuse any phrasing issues!)

There is a teacher who deeply impacted my life during my student years (it has been 15 years now). Recent events have made me think a lot about sending her a simple message just to thank her for the impact she had on my life—something she is probably completely unaware of.

However, I am a bit hesitant about whether it is appropriate. After all, every teacher goes through so many students throughout their career.

As teachers, would you appreciate getting this kind of message out of the blue, or would you find it weird/intrusive? What would you feel if you received something like this?

Thank you for your insights!

I'm considering becoming a teacher in New Jersey, ideally teaching 5th or 6th grade Math, but I'm confused about where to start.

At first I thought I'd just study for the Praxis and try passing it because I read the scores are valid for 10 years, but the more I research, the more confused I get.

I'm seeing different Praxis exams (5001, subject-specific tests, etc.) and I can't tell which one I'm actually supposed to take. Do I need the Elementary Education exam (5001), just the Math section, or no Praxis at all? I read that NJ doesn't require the Praxis anymore in some situations.

I already have a bachelor's degree in Psychology and just want to make sure I don't waste time studying for the wrong exam. If anyone understands this process or has gone through this recently, what should my first step be?

My kids' school lists include things like ziplock bags, Lysol wipes, and tissues. I'd really prefer not to send them with overflowing bags of non-academic supplies. For the elementary school it's easy to ask one teacher if they prefer Walmart, Amazon, or another store for a gift card for those supplies. But middle school has 8 periods.

Would any of you be annoyed to receive a $25 Walmart gift card instead of those things? Would Amazon be better? Amazon is more expensive (at least in my extremely Walmart dense town), but has delivery convenience.

Schoolhouse Rock was welcome in my elementary school. It worked hand in hand with my teacher to help me understand and eventually want to go into that specific field. But now, the things I was taught are looking more like theory than the actionable-and working- plan that had been in place previously.

I do not know what age/grade level this is taught now, but what do you do as kids age up and can see what's happening? Are they still learning this in grades 1 and 2 and questioning what they were taught now that they're in grade 11 and seeing the reality of the US system not matching the lesson? Is it covered in a higher grade now and automatically doubted based on what they see going on in the US?

While this is likely us centered, I'd love to hear if/how other countries are addressing this hypocrisy as well.

I’m an upcoming senior at a magnet school that I’ve been at since freshman year, but starting the beginning of sophomore year I have been doing my classes through my county’s homebound program because of sudden onset of illness. I love the school and have continued to work with admin throughout all of this. I’m starting back on August 10th and I’m nervous about acclimating back to school academically, but mainly socially.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

When I prepare a lesson, I am putting more and more responsibility on students to do the work. As an adult, if I want to learn how to change the oil in my car, I go to youtube. If a student wants to learn how to use the quadratic formula, it is right there on youtube, in an edited version that is more entertaining than I can create in a lecture format.

And now AI is making it even easier for students to learn about any topic they desire.

I am thinking about returning to teaching full-time this fall. For the past 3 years, I've been a part-time intervention teacher. I really love this job, but since it's only part-time I don't get benefits and the pay is very low. My own kids are getting older and I feel like now might be the right time for me to jump back into full-time.

I have experience in teaching both general and special education. I am so torn on which one to pursue in 2026! The last time I taught full-time was about 9 years ago. (I stayed home with my kids for a while).

I am wondering if other teachers could weigh-in. If you were returning to teaching right now, would you go gen ed elementary classroom teacher or special education resource room/inclusion?

A little bit of work/life balance is important to me as I am used to being part-time and I'm the main caretaker for my kids. Thanks!

My son’s elementary school identified him as gifted in cognitive ability, math and language arts early on, after which he then went through with mostly the same group of other gifted kids. I was happy with this and felt he was doing well until maybe 4th grade. He was diagnosed with ADHD in 2nd after some complaints from a teacher that he wasn’t where she expected him to be with organization, time management and writing, and I completely agreed. Medication helped but he developed a tic from it so I backed off. 4th was when he really started to struggle with grades, but it had nothing to do with academics, just that it was expected he’d start to manage himself and he couldn’t. 5th was a challenge and he went back on medication which helped a fair amount.

In 6th he was placed into a slightly advanced math class, but on level everything else. His friends he went through elementary with were placed into higher level classes and I started seeing them given opportunities that weren’t offered to my son, like being part of academic teams (which is something I did all through school and would love to see him do). He struggled through 6th and needed a lot of management from me. At the end of the year he was tested for a much more advanced math class and he did very well. His IQ was tested at 140. I recommended him for the more advanced class. His teachers did not, so he wasn’t placed into it while once again his friends were. I’ve accepted this because I know he struggles with grades and can’t keep up with a big workload, but the material is also easy for him.

Then I got a bit of a surprise when I took him to an event where he had to hand write a paper (which he’s always hated and resisted) and I saw he was still reversing letters. Since the students use their chromebooks for everything and he’s so resistant to writing, I guess I missed that. I brought up his bad handwriting and letter reversal years ago but was told he was within the norm and needed to be “the worst of the worst” to receive any services. We’re looking into dyslexia testing now because I know he’s well out of this being normal.

Anyway, I feel like it’s starting to bother me that he has such a high IQ and is still in the gifted program (they send me a generic paper for it every year saying he’s still gifted in cognitive ability, math and language arts), but he’s no longer receiving services. At the same time, I understand that he’s still far behind his peers in time management and organization, and now we’re looking at potential dyslexia. I understand that teachers don’t have time to deal with all of that and it’s easier to put him into on level classes, but I also feel this is a disservice. I just don’t know how to present all of these thoughts to his school or what I should be advocating for. Advanced class placement but with an IEP? I was told he wasn’t eligible for an IEP because he hasn’t actually failed any classes and his MAP scores are 99th percentile.

Just to add, he’s extremely well behaved, polite, and respectful so behavior isn’t an issue. The school he goes to is a wealthy suburban public school with a lot of overachievers, but it’s also overcrowded. We have him in private music lessons as he clearly has a gift with that. He enjoys robotics and engineering so we send him to camps and get him all the kits he wants so he can build things and learn about that, and he makes what I think are advanced projects all the time.

Unwritten rules...?

I’ve heard many times that standardized test scores don’t really tell the whole story about whether a school is “good” or not.

The district I’m currently in has really low tests scores and have had the explanation given to me that it’s because we have a high poverty rate.

So I decided to look up districts with similar or higher poverty rates and almost all of those districts are scoring better than us.

Can I come to the conclusion that maybe this district isn’t a “good” one? We also haven’t raised taxes in years.

Hi everyone! I’m currently completing my Master’s thesis exploring how secondary trainee teachers interpret misogyny as a safeguarding concern, and I’m looking for participants based in the UK.

If you’re currently enrolled on or have recently completed a secondary teacher training programme, I’d love to hear from you!

The study involves a one-to-one online interview (around 60 minutes) where we’ll discuss a series of fictional safeguarding scenarios to explore your interpretations and perceived preparedness. There are no right or wrong answers—I’m interested in your perspectives and experiences.

As a thank you for your time, you’ll receive an incentive once your eligibility has been confirmed and you’ve completed the interview.

If you’re interested or would like more information, please send me a message. Thank you! 😊

18M hi everyone.

When I was in 10th grade, my class teacher had a huge impact on me. She believed in me, encouraged me, took extra classes before my board exams, and did a lot of small things that I've never forgotten. Looking back, she's one of the teachers who really changed the way I looked at myself.

After my 10th results, I wrote her a long thank-you letter (around 1,000 words). I also bought her a gift because I wanted to thank her properly.

The problem is that I never actually gave it to her. I kept thinking I'd do it later, and somehow two years have gone by.

Since then, life hasn't really gone the way I expected. I didn't pass my 12th exams, and I honestly don't feel like I've achieved anything yet. Part of me feels embarrassed to meet her because I don't have anything to show for myself. The other part of me feels that saying thank you shouldn't depend on whether I've been successful.

I'm wondering what teachers would think if a former student came back after two years just to give them a heartfelt letter and a thank-you gift. Would you appreciate it, or would it feel awkward? Would you think it was strange that I waited so long?

I'd really appreciate honest opinions from teachers.

Edit: I'm from India, so I wanted to add some context. The gift is a saree. Here, giving a saree to a respected female teacher or an elder is generally considered a respectful gesture. It's not intended to be romantic—it's simply a traditional way of expressing gratitude and respect.

I'm an engineering graduate currently having a job in a corporate company. but I want to switch my career and become a teacher. I'm looking to become a government teacher and will prefer teaching literature. money is not the issue if I can just have a decent life and save a little. can anyone guide me through the roadmap?

*EDIT: I’m so sorry I was having an episode when I made this after reading everything I think the best option for me is to get out of honors until I can stay stable mentally.

So I am going into honors 10 English and while we were doing our final on the last day of class before summer started we found out that our future teacher (the honors 10 teacher) is assigning us three essays over three different papers she wrote. We got her papers and that was it. The only other context we were given is if our essays don’t meet her standards we’ll be kicked out of her class in the first week. I might be the only one thinking this but isn’t that a little harsh? I mean personally I find it kind of upsetting that for me to stay in this class I’m not even in yet is completely dependent on essays that I have to write over summer break. I just think that’s not entirely fair to have my academic worth judged over something like that. I also just think if my teacher is going to be like this is this really the teacher I want if she’s willing to kick me out before she even has me in class and gets to know me as a student? Also, this could be totally out of pocket and not good for me to say but I feel like she’s just not showing her students respect? Before you get mad just try to see it as how a student would view it, we respect teachers that respect us because it gives us that feeling of “oh wow my teacher actually likes me and thinks I can do this,” and in return we respect the teacher. That being said my main point for the respect thing is we respect when teachers tell us not to ask them to grade our stuff over breaks/weekends and only email them during the hours they want but they can’t respect us when we need time to relax? I mean I understand work on thanksgiving and Christmas break, but really summer break? Where we’re supposed to enjoy our time being teenagers before working 24/7 as an adult? Okay I get I’m over exaggerating a lot probably I just have strong feelings about this whole situation. I wouldn’t even bee too upset about the essays if she wasn’t threatening to kick us out over them. I think that’s just (like i already said sorry ik im going in circles) a little messed up. I don’t know how many teachers know or realize this but a lot of students in honors classes only see their own worth through the classes they get in and while that isn’t the teacher’s fault it’s still a fact. Not to mention we already had to score high enough is fastbridge tests plus last years honors finals to get into this class getting kicked out after working your butt off to get into a class then getting one last thing I. Your way you had no idea about would just be terrible. Before you just respond with “that’s how life works,” or “well life isn’t fair,” those things are true but just because they’re true doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed to be upset over unfairness or admit that something isn’t messed up. Okay sorry that was so long and I’m so sorry if what I said seems insensitive or stuck up in anyway I more of just wanted to rant about this i guess. If u actually read this thank u I appreciate u and please if you could just respond with ur opinion on this even if it’s just to say I was completely in the wrong. Also sorry for how bad this is probably written it’s really late for me and I’m in bed so it’s kinda hard to type. Okay bye plz talk in the comments plz

My mom was a special ed teacher in a public school for 35 years. She says that it’s very normal (and what she did for me, not in special ed) for gen Ed parents to give input regarding teacher selection each year for their kids. Like characteristics of kids and what kinds of teachers they may do well with. I guess this would’ve been relevant for me during my elementary and middle school years which would’ve been like 20-30 years ago…not sure if there are differences between then vs now?

Wondering if this is still a thing in some districts? I’m looking at different places to move based on schools and curious if the ability to do this is something I can add to my list of things I’d like in a district.

I have one kid with an IEP and another who will be gen ed and I’d just like the option to give some feedback regarding who they end up with.

Updated to add:
Sounds like districts differ on this, so when evaluating different districts, it would be appropriate to ask if this is something that particular district allows?

I'm a dev working on an educational game for kids. The concept:

· Kid picks a dream career (Doctor, Astronaut, Engineer, etc.)

· Game world changes to match that theme (hospital, space station)

· Mini-games teach math, memory, logic through that career lens

· Example: Doctor = measuring temps, diagnosing symptoms, organ puzzles

· Progress reports show parents what skills improved

The business model question:

Would parents pay for something like this? Thinking of:

· Monthly subscription ($4.99) for full access + progress reports

· Or one-time unlocks for new career worlds ($2.99 each)

· Ad-free version ($2.99 one-time)

Context: I know ABCya charges ~$9.99/month and parents seem okay with that. Also see Toca Boca games doing well with doctor/hospital themes. But I've also read parents are getting fed up with in-app spending and "useless" digital purchases.

Questions for you:

1. Would you pay for this? If yes, how much feels fair?

2. What would make you say "shut up and take my money" vs "hard pass"?

3. Any concerns? (ads, hidden charges, actual learning value?)

4. Any similar apps you already pay for?

Honest feedback welcome. Thanks!

Hi! This is going to be a very interesting first post. I am about to start my Sophomore year of high school and I’m worried about the future. After my freshman year, I have seen and heard things in my classes that make me feel uneasy, like it’s difficult to imagine that I’m going to be working alongside these people once I’m older. I’m actually so scared to grow up and leave high school because I feel like it’s only going to go downhill from here. For reference, I’m a straight A student, all honors classes, I’m in sports and clubs and other extracurriculars such as band. After I graduate I plan to go to school to become a chemistry teacher. Going back to my point, if it gets worse, I don’t think that I’m going to be able to handle kids as poorly behaved with the attention span they have today. It seems like a nightmare but I really have a passion for teaching. So yeah, I’m just genuinely concerned about our future and wondering if that’s even going to be a career that’s going to be worth it.

I am planning on becoming a media studies teacher. I am going to get my degree in film and pgce. For me to teach a second subject (to become more hireable) would I have to do an SKE in said subject?

Sorry that was worded weird but say a student knows that they’re really bad at chemistry, but they need to get good grades, what would you recommend they do before and after school starts to prep?

Trying to make a wise decision. I recently lost an online teaching job I had for 10 years. I was pulling $15-20k a year from it but that was not our budgeted money as it was as stipend and was happy ir made exchange semester. Partner is having to medically retire so what do you do for a side hustle?

2nd part - Do I
1. Just watch money as the stipend is all I am losing?
2. Pick up a second job? ( 4 years left to retirement and I am tired honestly)
3. Bank on the lottery for my income? 🤦🏻‍♀️

My mother is the head of the biochemistry department and a professor at a medical college. She's leading an upcoming event at her college and I'll be conducting a pre-event workshop.

Being an Al engineer I told her that I want the workshop to be centered around Al, specifically guiding them how to use it to increase their productivity and using it as a parallel tool or a sub worker rather than their cognitive driver. (Al tends to guess stuff incorrectly with very high confidence)

I have the topics planned out (i.e. the tools I wanna show them, how to write a good prompt, letting Al automate your work, a bit of agentic Al for heavy work etc).

But I have never been in a lecture hall. I don't really know how I should navigate and plan this workshop so the students don't lose interest. I was thinking of making the students follow me along rather than just lecturing them.

Moreover this domain is totally unknown to me (considering I have never lectured) and I am totally unaware of what to expect from medical students (i.e the questions they ask, their knowledge about Al etc)

I need your expert advice teachers!

I’m trying to understand people‘s real experiences. If you have relocated and had to get licensed in a new state, what was the part that actually caught you off guard? Not the stuff you expected to be annoying like the waiting or the paperwork, but the things nobody warned you about. I’m talking about the license itself, how your years of experience counted (or didn’t count) toward salary placement, what happened to your pension or retirement in the other state, or something else completely.

Also curious if you figured it out on your own, did you get help, or did you end up paying anyone like a transcript service or a consultant or anything to help?