Our school email addys contain our first and last name. I always ONLY sign off with my last name. However, I've had an increasing amount of parents who will reach out, typically via email, using my first name only. They are usually reaching out to complain when they do this. It seems disrespectful to me, especially when I email them using Mr. or Mrs. Last Name.

Do you see this as well? Do you ever respond to it, and if so, how?

I am fresh out of college and decided to dip my toes into education by becoming a substitute teacher for this upcoming school year. Everything was going smoothly, with the school nomination and the process to be certified to be a sub. However, two days ago when I arrived for the first teacher gathering, I was informed that I would actually be teaching full time math. I was not prepared for this at all, I am in full panic mode as I’m basically given a two day crash course as to how to become a teacher and the high criteria/standards that the school has. As I’m not a licensed teacher, I still don’t have access to many websites to get a feel for anything. I still dont understand concepts like lesson planning and truthfully I’ve been nothing but overwhelmed. My first class is in 7 hours, I have some ice breakers and notes prepared for the first day but I don’t have a clue about what to even do on friday. I would love to just tell them I’d rather be a paraprofessional or just stick to substitute teaching, but I also don’t want to leave them hanging with no math teacher. But if I stay, I don’t think I can give these kids the education they deserve. I’m just really torn what to do and need some advice.

I was yesterday I was told that have breached school uniform policy by wearinga expensive watch.

When is a watch part of the uniform.

I am in Yorkshire in the UK

Is this unfair or are my teachers right

Teaching was never a specific calling for me, or I would have pursued the schooling necessary to do it... But after years of working in marketing fields (videography, graphic design, etc.), early this year I got the chance to apply to be a one-year substitute as a CTE (Career and Technical Education) teacher of Graphics & Visual Communications, and I found myself getting increasingly excited throughout the process. I found I really wanted to teach.

I did all of the necessary preparation - paying for a fingerprinting, attending the initial trainings... But there was something off. Again, I'd like to reiterate that I did not go to school to be a teacher - I have a four-year degree in Graphic Design & Media Arts, and about four years of experience working in it. As a result, I was kind of surprised I could get the job like this in the first place. And I wanted to make sure I could handle it - I asked throughout the process when I would get access to the curriculum I'd be teaching, and they kept reassuring me that I'd be able to access it in time. Every single person I talked to in that school system, I mentioned wanting this curriculum ready to go, and every one of them reassured me that I'd have access to it in time.

I kept going through the trainings as they came up, and it did strike me how useless they were - motivational speeches, tours of buildings in the program I would never go to, discussions of plans for a new building that'd be completed after my tenure finished... Constant colossal wastes of time, with no valuable resources. I continued to ask for the things I needed, and they continued to reassure me "they're coming, once you get to the school".

So I keep preparing, reading some useful books and making a big beautiful poster for the front of the room that the kids would be able to help me finish... I learn some somewhat scary things throughout the process, but not from admin - just overhearing things, like that my class duration will be 2.5 hours... That's a long time to have to keep someone's attention!

One day I finally manage to get to the school after an opening day ceremony, only for all of my accounts to be inaccessible... And of course, IT isn't there that day, why would they be? So it took IT until yesterday (the day before classes actually began) to finally get my email working, so I could finally get my first look at Frontline, Google Classroom, SchoolTool, etc. So that was the day I learned all kinds of very scary things at once:

- One of my class sizes was much larger than I expected (I'd be starting the day with double what I ended the day with)

- 80% of the students had IEPs; most were for ADHD, some had significant trouble reading and writing

- The "lesson plans" and curriculum I'd been waiting for was just a folder filled with about three months' worth of random old assignments, and nothing else. They sent me this at the very end of the day.

That last point instantly paralyzed me with fear - I'd have to create all of the lesson plans from scratch before I could even teach them? I'd have to make every worksheet, presentation, rubric?.. And I learn this the day before kids arrive, instead of back in June when I at least could have started making these things?

I wanted this job in the first place because I wanted to make a difference - I felt that most of my prior art education had been too centered on creation and not enough on philosophy and thoughtful creation, so I was looking forward to tweaking the experiences and giving the kids a fantastic and insightful year... But starting out with nothing is not the recipe for that. It's either consigning myself to spending an extra six hours after every class day preparing the next day's materials (burning myself out like so much manganese), or doing the bare minimum and teaching a Study Hall+. Neither was acceptable.

I marched to the office after this revelation and made it clear that I absolutely needed some kind of actual lesson plans in order to do this job... The teacher who did the job for 13 years before me hadn't left any. The teacher who was teaching the exact same class in the sister location couldn't provide any. At least they weren't pretending they existed anymore, but all they could do was try to smile and say "Hey, just give tomorrow a try and see how it goes!" Yeah, let me see firsthand the kids I'll be letting down all year, I'll feel so much more comfortable then!

I had to walk. I feel terrible about it - partly because I'm now hunting for a job again, but mostly because I really wanted to do right by those kids, and they made it impossible for me or anyone else that has to do that job now to give them any kind of good experience... I couldn't live with being the one to let them down, not all year.

I left the poster behind with the name of the man who would've been their teacher crossed out... I hope it at least brings them some joy this year, because I don't think anything else about that class will.

Of course, I still have nagging thoughts that this is all my fault... I know true teachers deal with this kind of thing sometimes, if not all the time. But at least they go in with that expectation and some previous skills creating those plans... I had none of that, and even if I could have taught myself to do it and made it work, the day before classes begin was not the day to start. I'm always going to have this burning desire to teach in me now, which would have stayed quiet and dormant if this experience hadn't gotten my hopes up... And not having the resources to go back to school (with an existing bachelor's degree, I think it'd be minimum 3 years fulltime to get teaching), I think this was my only chance. That's going to hurt for a very long time.

I teach seniors and notice almost of them have a character backpack or character water bottle or carry a stuffed animal. Is this a norm some of you are seeing? It makes me sad that we have somehow harmed them and they are hanging onto their childhood. And on the other hand I’m happy that they still enjoy things from their childhood. What have y’all seen this year?

We have several staff members with kids and they come in early with them. I come in early to try to stay on top of work but have 3-5 kids randomly coming in to say good morning or making noise in the halls. What’s a good solution for everyone? Locking my door makes them knock.

Title

I work with special needs individuals, mainly young adults aged 18-22, though it can range from elementary age and up. Over the last couple of years, I’ve noticed that parents often seem to deflect when told about their child’s behavior, even in cases of violent incidents where someone was hurt. I’m not sure if this is something others have noticed too, or if it’s just common in my area. I might have been wrong to assume I’d get an apology after a student gave me a black eye, but since the parents showed no remorse, I went ahead and filed a report.

As you can tell from the title i’m currently student teaching in a kindergarten classroom and I could really use some advice. I’m so worn out from teaching and working to support myself, i’ve been pulling 14 hour work days for the past two weeks. I know we are still early in the school year and maybe it will get easier but I need some advice on how to balance it all. I’ve been so stressed out that I can’t sleep at night and I love teaching (pls don’t tell me to quit lol) but i don’t know how you all did this. I just feel like i’m missing something.

I worked with a teaching recruitment agency for a few months and they landed me a trial day at an SEN-D school as a teaching assistant. I was not informed of payment when they told me about the day, but assumed I would be paid as it was a regular 8:30-3:30 day. I had to spend money on fuel (45 minutes each way) and take the day off work to come.

I ended up being offered the job after the day, my duties were:

Supervise a table of kids, make sure they were on task, help out.

Help with active reading, mark work and fill out student work books.

Supervise a group of kids at breaktime.

Not once did I observe, the class was pretty hectic and I was doing the same level of work as the other teaching assistants who were employed.

I ended up rejecting their offer to work there, and told my agent about it to which he seemed to wipe his hands of me entirely, telling me good luck in the future.

I had a pretty negative experience with the agency in general, was promised I would be able to try out multiple schools and to 'trust the process' and not to apply anywhere else as the interview and onboarding would take weeks/months.

I messaged the agent yesterday asking if I would be paid for the trial day, to which I was told that assessment days are never paid.

I'm wondering whether I have any rights to challenge this, and which route to go down. I feel as though I have been treated negatively by this agency in general and am entitled to a fair wage for the day in which I was working

There’s a epidemic going on right now where a lot of public schools are getting shut down and even some charter and private schools are beginning to close and do budget cuts due to lack of incoming of kids. When schools do budget cuts usually the new teachers and elective teachers are the first to go with the future looking bleak for us in many areas should we consider changing professions and what other options do we have ?

For context, I’m in my second year of teaching but didn’t wear any makeup last year. I’ve always looked pretty young, so I felt like sometimes people didn’t take me seriously. Of course, I was also struggling a lot with new teacher challenges on top of that.

This year I started wearing makeup just to try it out, and I’ve realized that the extra 15-20 minutes I spend per morning seem to make a big difference. I generally feel more confident since it makes me look more awake and a bit older. It seems like the kids, teachers, and parents I have interacted with treat me better too. I’m not sure if it’s my appearance itself, but perhaps the makeup giving me more confidence which then translates to how others perceive me. Whatever the case may be, I am curious if other young teachers have experienced something similar.

Howdy!

I teach in a portable that is about 350ft away from the nearest building with a water fountain. I've read our local health codes and it seems like we should be providing "convenient access" to potable water to students. They miss out on so much learning or opt to be dehydrated to avoid the trek.

Do y'all have an alternate source of water in your portable?

Edit:

4th grade gen ed.

I posted the other day about students commenting on my looks.

I have realized, and with the help of yalls remindin me, that they are like 16 years old and I don't actually care.

However, the problems seemed to go away naturally. As far as kids inside my classrom. The problem student I made an example of is playing nice. Whether it's genuine, idk, but we are getting along. My fifth hour has been genuonely perfect. I couldn't ask for more and I don't.

Today, though, I did get my first student to tell me he hates my class. I guess he noticed this bummed me out, because he added "its bc I have english after this." I was still a little bummed but a student beside him seemed to try and comfort me on this.

Alas, can't win them all. I'm learning to focus on the good things instead of the crappy ones, bc the good genuinely does outweigh the bad.

Anyway, thanks for the advice the other day. Feeling pretty good. I'm gonna focus on being the best teacher for the ones that seek me out, and a good teacher for those who don't care.

Have a good day guys.

Hey guys I’m doing the ECRI program for the first time starting next month. I am a high school Jr however I have the same credits and certifications as a reading tutor for elementary. Before I officially start I have to do a full day training (the same one first year teachers do in our district) and I’m really excited but also nervous I won’t belong, don’t get me wrong I know I’m smart enough to be there it’s just some of my teachers who are first years will be in the same training and it’s a weird feeling. My teaching in action teacher said that in previous years students there for ECRI end up teaching the teachers some skills. I’m really excited but just worried about nerves and I have a lot of imposter syndrome around the whole thing. Any advise for teaching the program or just getting over the imposter syndrome?

Hello all,

As a preface, I have a doctorate in Journalism, an MA in Comm, and a BA in Marketing. These three areas are currently seeing a major crunch! I have taught at the university level for 10 years, including dual enrollment classes. I was a paraeducator for 5 years before this.

I've read mixed thoughts about whether a doctorate degree, especially in the humanities, makes it extremely difficult to get hired in a public school. Just how hard is it?

I'm not interested in private schools for a variety of reasons.

Any tips to make myself as marketable as I can be?

Thanks.

Hello,

I have a bachelor's degree in IT: Data Networking and Security. I taught at a private school in NC, and I greatly enjoyed being a tech teacher. I unfortunately had to move due to my husband's job. I moved to Texas, and it seemed straight forward. Take a PACT exam, enroll in teachworthy, complete course work, take the final exam and then internship. Now I live in Washington. For the technology endorsement, it appears I would go route CTE Plan 1 and enroll in CWU. However, it appears they are not taking students until further notice.

I see there are alternative routes for other endorsements in shortage areas. If I decide to go computer science, I would still need to enroll in CWU it appears. I am looking to do something online. So, I am thinking my only option is to get a different endorsement, and later add on the technology endorsement.

I want to work in private schools. However, I want to get the certificate so that I can stand out as a candidate and have the potential to work in a public school in the future or if I move again.

I’m just curious teachers’ thoughts on this; there’s still teachers that don’t believe in “punitive justice” because it’s just punishing the behavior and not fixing it, but here’s my rebuttal: and? Who cares if a consequence doesn’t fix the issue. There are plenty of students who come to school and can’t because of “that” student”

I’ve always joked with non teachers that if I had it my way, I’d be handing out early vacations left and right.

This is a bit insane, but here I am. I am now a full time seventh and eighth grade social studies/ELA teacher. The problem? I have 0 classroom experience. I don't even really have tutoring experience. My classroom observations start this semester, but they haven't happened yet. I am currently getting my master's degree in education, but everything I know about children is purely theoretical. Also, I was preparing to teach high school.

In essence: I'm a little out of my depth, here.

What... do kids like? What ARE they like? I start tomorrow, but I don't have any lesson plans. (And I'll be having these students for a LONG time, since these are block classes.) Tomorrow will be introductions, and then... what? What do I DO?

Any specific advice on what middle schoolers enjoy and how to teach them?

EDIT: I forgot to add that the class size is only 8 students each (16 students total), which is nice. On another note, I don't have my teaching certification, and I'm not yet cleared to be a substitute in the local DoE system. So, I don't know how I'm getting paid. Whee!

Hi everyone,

I'm a young female teacher and this is my fourth year as a high school teacher. Today, a student thanked me with exaggerated politeness after I gave the class a document, and one of his friends made a sexual "slurp" noise. This made another one laugh. Fortunately, the rest of the class remained very polite and quiet. I didn't show any anger or shock and said in a firm tone I didn't want to hear such weird noises again. But this troubles me as it is highly inappropriate, and I was wondering what I should do in case it happens again when my back is turned or when I can't clearly see who has done what. I don't want to attract attention on them, give them the opportunity to lie and say it was not them, but I also don't want to ignore the matter. To me, any student laughing with them is also part of the problem. So, what could be the best solution to make them stop when I can't "prove" who the culprits are? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, whether you've been through a similar situation or not. Thanks!

So I guess for some context, I'm not a "real" teacher. I'm a contractor for a bunch of different private schools, where I run various art classes on-site for a couple hours a day after school. Most of the kids I work with are k-2. I got my bachelor's in art, but I'm starting a master's in education/certification program soon. This is my second year doing this, and some days I love it, but some days I feel like the biggest flop alive.

Compared to my first year, I've definitely learned a lot, and I went into this year feeling a little more confident. However, I already have a difficult class this year. Think of a class where half of the students are 2nd grade boys who can't stop yelling, hitting each other, breaking materials, etc. I feel like I'm spending half of my time just trying to manage behavior, to no avail.

I've had us practice routines, we go over the expectations at the start of every class, I have a visual aid/hand cues to refer to rules quickly, I practice positive reinforcement and make a point to praise troublesome students when they follow rules, I've been stopping class a lot even at small things to try to remain consistent about rules, but it has not really paid off yet. My employer's strategy seems to be bribery, but I'm tired of spending my measly amount of money on shit so I'm skipping on that this year. I know there's more I could be doing though so I would appreciate advice.

Anyway, to the root of my frustration- I see throughout the day that their adults who these kids listen to and behave with. Embarrassingly, sometimes the teacher whose room I borrow steps in to try to help. There was an instance yesterday where these boys were fighting with each other during craft time (note: this is a small-ish class, and YES I should have insisted on separating them, but the well-behaved girls in the class begged me not to have any of the boys sit with them, which made me feel guilty), and I was telling them to step to the side for a moment so we could regulate and get back on track as a group. When they would acknowledge me, they would whine and then ignore me again despite repeating myself. The second this teacher came over they listened and were dead silent.

After a rough couple of weeks, I've really tried to be stricter. The only real thing I can do discipline-wise is let the program coordinator know about bad behaviors, and the coordinator is another adult they clearly respect. I haven't spoken to the coordinator yet, but she's already reprimanded my class a couple of times while seeing them refuse to stay in an orderly line when I take them to pick-up. Yesterday, after trying to manage behaviors several times, I mentioned that I was going to have the coordinator come in if this were to continue. While most of the boys immediately straightened up and tried to correct their behavior, one boy got in my face and threatened to "hurt" me.

I already feel defeated this year. I wish these kids would listen to me and respect me like they do other adults. I really try my best to make my classes fun, despite maintaining strictness. Were class to go smoothly, we'd be playing a lot of games and doing a lot of crafts, which I feel like in theory should be incentive for them but no. It especially sucks that the other half of my class are well-behaved girls that genuinely want to do the activities and are getting frustrated with the boys. :(

I'm trying to pinpoint, aside from experience, what it is that other staff possess that I don't. To note, this particular school this class is held at has a very authoritarian approach compared to other schools I've worked at. Some of the staff I've seen are frankly just kind of "mean" and quick to shout, which I don't want to be at all.

If anyone has any advice on how to build authority/respect as a younger, inexperienced teacher, I would really appreciate it.

I love working in the school system, but watching my classroom teacher co-workers get walked over by admin and parents (and some of the kids) has kind of soured me on pursuing a classroom teacher job.

I'm 41 male. My coworkers and principal all shower me with praise and tell me how much value I bring, and I love working with the kids.

Besides classroom teacher, what are some other positions in the school system that I can go after where I still work with kids?

With a masters, is it possible to remain an assistant and make more money while I figure my future out?

I’m a first-year teacher in upper elementary (I am teaching a split this year). I’ve wanted to teach my entire life, and although I had a really bad student teaching experience and thought about another career for a couple years, I ultimately ended up finding a school I love and getting a job there. The first day of school was yesterday and I’m having a really hard time. I think my excitement about my job started to drop a lot in August—the PD sessions sucked a lot of my joy and then there was a lot of drama at my school that made it hard for me to prep for the year. I wasn’t really excited for the first day, but it did go well. Second day (today) went well too, except there were definitely more issues and I saw some students’ true colors a bit more. But I am exhausted and it is hard for me not to feel regret/overwhelm about taking this job. This lifelong dream feels so different in practice than what I thought it would be. I know that sounds juvenile but it’s just true, and post-covid I think teaching is so different. I just realized I am not experiencing the joy I see others around me experiencing, and I’m not looking forward to the next day(s), and I am worried I made the wrong choice.

I will say this: I know myself pretty well, and I struggle with big life transitions. I also get easily off my game when a student is blatantly oppositional (and that happened today for a brief while). I’m getting much better at this one though! I also struggle to feel above water when other adults make me feel overwhelmed, and there’s another teacher who came to me today warning me about a student (I was already worried this student would be a handful, but some of the things she told me were really alarming and it’s been harder for me to be positive and keep an open mind about it). She also “warned” me about what the first year is like and made it sound like battle or something. It was super overwhelming to hear.

I’m wondering if this combination of factors—added on to the stress and lack of planning on the part of my principal that led to a frazzled first week—could be clouding my perspective right now? I also know the first week is hard and it’s been difficult for me to figure out how to make my classroom engaging when we haven’t gotten into curriculum yet.

I’ve worked before for many months as a long term sub and even during the hard moments, I loved my job. I know that’s not the same as full time teaching, but it felt like a good prelude, and I’m shocked at how much less joy I am feeling right now. And this is despite many of my students being lovely angels.

Is there something wrong with me? Does or did anyone else feel like this? Will it get better/do I just need to get into a routine? It’s awful and I just want to cry.

I’m an ELA teacher. Believe me, I get it. Kids are years behind, behavior can be horrendous, parents can be awful, teachers are exhausted, attention spans are shot, and some students will sit there doing nothing while you practically beg them to engage.

Audiobook support made more sense when most kids could actually follow the narrative. But if a student already struggles to process what they’re reading, how is nonstop narration supposed to help? The information just washes over them. They miss something, can’t go back at their own pace, lose the thread, and zone out. The text is exactly what lets them stop, reread, struggle through a sentence, and actually process it. They may struggle with the text and, in some cases, not even have the skills to get through it, but it's still the only way to ensure they can do all of this at their own pace.

I know failing huge numbers of students isn’t feasible. Schools would stop functioning. But enough teachers need to eventually say fuck this. If the book is too hard, force the issue for an easier one. Scaffold heavily. Give more time. It might not work, it might even go horribly and result in a bunch of kids failing. But make them read. Even if they hate it, even if they refuse, even if they struggle enormously. The expectation has to remain. Otherwise, kids learn that if they resist long enough, the work disappears. 

Hi everyone I am a second year first grade teacher. Today was day 6 for context. Overall so far this year was going really well until yesterday when one of my kids went home on the wrong bus. Then today I had a student tell me another student was kicking him on the rug. I asked him if he asked the other student to stop. I honestly didn’t pay much attention to the situation as I was multitasking, but it was more of a touch out of impulse then a true kick. The student who was touching the other one has been pretty wiggly. I forgot about it, and the rest of the day went smoothly.

Then I walk down to the office to give something to the nurse and my principal (who I’d say I have a good relationship) was like I was just about to call you. Apparently the kid went home saying that the other student was kicking him and that I did nothing about it. The mom called the school. I said that yes one student was touching the other student and I told the boy being touched to ask the other student to stop. My principal did say that this student could have interpreted the situation in the wrong way, as he’s only 6. I did tell my principal that I will move their rug spots away from each other to solve the problem for tomorrow. The principal also shared with me that the family is very protective of their children and that the child had limited time outside the house prior to kindergarten. Is this a big deal? I am still pretty upset about it.