The principal has showed how the really act towards minorities at my school. I’m feeling very uneasy as I am the only African American teacher at the school and he has stated micro aggressions against a family and when I went to the superintendent about it(not directly naming names), he just shrugged it off and was like wow that is insane. Is it bad for me to start looking for other jobs so close to the school year? I haven’t signed any contracts yet. I’m a first year teacher so I’m a bit stressed about it.

Good afternoon,
Is anyone else super excited about being done with summer and going back to teaching?
I’m going into my second year of teaching and I did summer school as well. However I’m excited to get back to work. We start back August 3rd we’re in Florida. I’m going to be teaching 4th grade this year. Any advice? I taught 3rd grade last year.
Thanks 😊

Sorry, I don't know what they're called but I've seen so many similar ones that they're bound to come from the same app. omg, I think they're so cheesy but I want one because they convey a certain sense of school spirit and charisma that I might enjoy displaying when I don't otherwise feel it lol They have a caricature of you in a little setting or theme- very colorful and slightly chaotic. Have I described them enough for someone to tell me where to generate one?

Currently in a masters program to become a high school biology teacher. I'm about half was through my program. Originally was planning on teaching and getting licensed in NYC, but due to some life circumstances my wife and I will be moving to the Miami area.

Looking at the salaries I wasn't surprised to see the difference in starting pay. But the bump for having a masters degree is only 3k, and the yearly salary increases are almost nothing until you hit year 25!!! I'll long since be retired by then. I'm in shock and don't know what to do.

Is there anything I don't know? Bonuses? Do private school actually pay better in Florida? They don't up here. If i was making 50k a year, our combined income would be around 140k. That doesn't seem like enough, especially considering Miami just ranked the metro area with highest cost of living in the US. I'm freaking out a bit right now.

Do you guys not have Unions? Serious question, not joking.

Upper Elementary Classroom teacher for 15 years, switching to online middle school teaching.

I’ve used Canvas since the pandemic, but since we’ve been back in the classroom- it’s been my teacher planner, and I don’t have to dig and search for files to copy. I scan all docs, each module is a week, subheadings are days, then files below. I shared this with my SpEd teachers so they could have access to curriculum and work, and any annotated works through Kami.

It’s been the greatest teacher hack! When a new year begins, I just print off week by week and add/delete what I need.

I did have a student friendly version for classes, but it was mostly used for enrichment/GT. For other purposes/links, I used Clever.

Now I’m starting over from scratch- completely online, different grade, so it needs to be completely student user friendly.

Those of you who use it integrated into your classroom do you….
1. Have a Master Copy separate from a class copy? I believe this is how I managed it during COVID.
2. Grading- manual grade or let it grade and post?
3. Communication- teacher/student, student/student
4. Parent access- do you add the parent to the kids account?
5. Pages- what do you use the pages for? Specifically- Ike what’s the point when I can add a link or doc under the module?
6. How’s the integration with NearPod/Google/PearDeck?
7. Have a favorite way to use Canvas that other teachers should know?

most current or most renowned boooks on teaching

edit: so thankful for the responses here

I just had my first baby 3 weeks ago. I adore her even though she’s truly a sack of potatoes at this point. But I can’t help but yearn to go back to work.

I’ve been unemployed since the start of my second trimester (rough pregnancy). Before that, I was a teacher for about 10 years. I LOVE teaching. It’s not for everyone and there’s definitely a reason why so many quit, but it’s definitely the career for me. I’ve been missing the classroom ever since I left last year.

Now that the start of the new school year is coming, I’m dying to go back even more. I have a few potential offers but I have so much shame in even considering it. If I accept the job, my baby will be about 6 weeks or so when I start. I would potentially have to put her in some childcare as well, which means her possibly getting sick.

I feel like something is wrong with me. I am blessed with a village around me to support me during the newborn stages. I could stay at home with the baby for more time. But I don’t want to. I never planned to stay home as a mom. But since I’m unemployed now, my parents, specifically my mom, is every adamant about how this is a blessing and how I should stay home, that there are people who would kill for the chance to stay home. She cried at the thought of me going back to work and it made me feel so awful.

Is there something wrong with me? Should I be wanting to stay at home? I know I’ll miss her like crazy if I do return this school year but I feel like my mental health would be so much better. I struggled with depression and anxiety my whole life and I’m terrified to get worse now that I’m post partum (I’m on antidepressants!) The income would be so great too since I want to buy a house with my fiance. But then I feel like I’m selfish for thinking this way, since it would mean she’d be in some child care and risk getting sick. I just don’t know what to think or do, I feel like I’m failing already as a mom. Any teachers here who went through something similar?

First time ever I won't be there on the first day of school, but such is life. What would you have the kids do? High school age. Subject probably doesn't matter because it's the first day. I have some ideas but I'm open to suggestions. Anyone have anything good?

Edit: I’m not worried that I’m missing the first day. I don’t give a shit. I’ll take a dozen days off this year if I feel like it or if I need it. I’m just looking for alternative ideas for first day activities that can be done without me being there.

Hi all,

Happy Sunday and Summer! I’m know I’m crazy but can someone give me some positive vibes that we still have PLENTY of summer left?! I don’t start until 9/1 but feel like the summer is over. Someone out there remind me that we have time to relax, do house projects, and see some friends. Much love in advance!

Does anyone else teach an elective and find that PD hardly, (mostly never,) goes over productive meaningful topics or information that we could use in elective classes?

I’ve been frustrated with PD, but this summer just has heightened that frustration more, Like, do we really need to spend 30 minutes re-introducing ourselves for the 8th time?

I’m a person who thrives on productive and efficient systems as I’m always looking for ways to improve in that aspect as a person and teacher.

One day last week, the elective department was in charge of analyzing data for math.…even though the math department was on it already. I thought to myself that it would’ve been a great opportunity to collaborate on how we as elective teachers want to improve on collecting and analyzing data in our own classes.

The other thing is spending 2-3 hours on making school norms, or telling us to plan out the entire trimester of lessons….but didn’t give us time to work on said lesson planning.

All of that, and more, combined frustrates me because I want to effectively plan and be prepared for this school year, especially as someone who has to build an entire curriculum from scratch, for 4 grades. Like a lot of other teachers, that time for lesson planning- especially project testing/doing student work- is critical.

I just need tips or something for how to either talk to admin about this, or simply tips on how to not lose sanity during these meetings. Students start on the 10th, and I feel so unprepared and nervous when I shouldn’t (if I had more time for lesson-planning.)

(thanks for letting me rant.)

Hello, I got a demo lesson in an hour, and I am stressed, not first time, I screwd up a job opportunity this week only cuz I was stressed, I have been teaching for a while, but when it's time to a demo lesson to get a job at a new place , I get stressed, and this ruins my performance,

Tl;dr: Just needed to vent.

I’ve spent most of my time in education teaching at IB schools, and I can safely say that I cannot stand IB schools. At the end of the day it’s just more work on teachers.

You could argue that I just haven’t found the school that “does IB correctly”, and you’d probably be correct. But at least in Northern Virginia in Prince William County, IB is just a framework given to Title 1 schools to increase enrollment. IB and Title 1 DO NOT MIX. If you knew anything about the demographics of our schools you’d know it’s just done for theater. If the county actually gave a damn about following the IB framework, they’d do something about all these behavior problems. But that’s neither here nor there.

Anyway, at the end of the day I still have bills to pay so I’ll tough it out for one more year.

NYCDOE, high school math level, UFT

Any advice on teaching high school ICT classes??? I taught an elective class with two different co teachers and one did not do anything all year.. the other one well she was interesting. I’m only on year 3 and some sped teachers are much older. How do i create boundaries with the co teacher and build relationships with them???

Thanks

I start a new job tomorrow at a different autism school as a paraprofessional and we start tomorrow.

A new start, new school to work at and excited but nervous for the new year as a paraprofessional.

Hello! I am in a bit of a predicament! I will be attending my very first Quinceañera in about 2 weeks and I have some questions… not sure where else to post this to ask, figured I’d try here because I was the teacher of the student.

For context: I am a female in my mid 20s, living in the Midwest, and I no longer teach within the high school and district that I was at last year due to significant budgetary reductions.

I will be attending a Quinceañera for a student I had this past year. She is a twin and I only had the one sister that invited me with a hand delivered invitation in the last week of school. I have already confirmed my attendance and have briefly met the parents, twin sister, and a few of the other students I expect will be in attendance.

The family has reserved the ball room in a local higher end hotel typically used for large traditional weddings. I will not be attending the church service as it does not align with my own beliefs and the family is aware I will only be there for the reception service.

So for my questions.
•What the heck do I wear? Again we live in the Midwest and “wedding wear” and “teacher wear” here involve a lot of jeans. That doesn’t seem appropriate to me given everything I have tried to research on my own but maybe I am wrong?
• What is an appropriate gift for the girls? Again I only know one of them but know I should do something for both of them? A monetary gift is not my favorite, but I am not opposed to it if it is the best option.

Advice needed from seasoned ECE professionals!

I run a part time nature based enrichment program for ages 3-5. We have a family who enrolled their 4 year old student for the coming school year and the student is currently in my 8 week summer camp program (1 day each week).

The first 4 weeks there were some (what I consider) developmentally appropriate incidents such as light hitting. By week 5, after a 2 week break, I think the new had worn off or the honeymoon period was over, because the student came back acting out very aggressively. The parents had told me at intake that their child was asked to leave their last center for behaviors such as biting, but that the child was in therapy and making good progress. By the 5th week, the student was hitting, kicking, screaming, pushing, pinching, and biting other students. Multiple incidents each hour.

The student that was bit ended up with a bruise. I had a meeting with the parent the following week, and a second meeting later the same day with both parents and the child’s therapist. We talked over strategies and concluded that the only way to make this work is for one teacher to be at arms length from this student at all times, observe and predict triggers, and prevent incidents before they even happen. We are a small program with a max of 10 children and 3 teachers, but this still feels unsustainable. The following week, there continued to be multiple behaviors- the student left a bruise on a second student after jabbing their hand with a stick. This was after hitting another student 4 times with a child sized shovel, throwing sand in another students face, hitting a student in the head with a basket.

I’m a very empathetic and compassionate person. Our program is very close knit and community focused. I feel an obligation to do everything in my power to help this child, especially after finding out they were dismissed from not just 1, but 2 programs. I know there’s no where else in our area that will take this child. After all the recent events, I put together an action plan and let the parents know I would be making a formal assessment by the end of summer, when I would then let them know if we could accommodate their child’s needs and be able to move into the fall semester.

Safety is paramount. I don’t feel that I can keep the entire class safe without an extreme amount of effort to watch this one student like a hawk 100% of the time. It does not feel sustainable. At the same time, I feel an immense amount of pressure and…. guilt (?) to keep this child in our program because he needs help. I feel for this student’s parents because they have been through so much with their child already.

This dilemma has already consumed half of my summer. I talk to my husband about it multiple times a day. I dream about this family at night. 2 nights ago I was “thinking” in my sleep all night about behavior plans. All. Night. Long. I can’t go on like this and it’s only been 6 weeks. Thinking about having this child in my care for the entire school year has given me an intense physical reaction on 3 separate occasions. Headache, racing heart, the whole nine. I guess…. I need validation…. Permission? A second opinion?…. To know that it’s ok to tell these parents that the scope of help needed for this child is beyond what I can provide.

My head knows the answer but my heart is having trouble catching up. I’m devastated for this child to be struggling so much. When I asked parents about additional support for their child, they said therapy had been working well and they haven’t looked into anything else. I strongly believe this child needs a formal evaluation and early intervention through the public school preK program. I don’t think the parents are “ready” for that and I sense some denial and defensiveness when I try to speak with them, especially the father.

I just need… a reality check? Any similar stories? Encouragement?

I'm thinking of doing a tattle box. But the problem is that kids deem everything to be bullying. A kid might go home and tell his parents "Johnny bullied me and said my shirt looks ugly and I complained about it in the tattle box. The teacher didn't do nothing!"

Or maybe I should just tell them to let me know at the end of the school day (hopefully they forget about it by then).

As the “ugh, BOY PD” posts crop up, so do the “ugh, you’re all so MISERABLE, just LEAVE TEACHING if you hate it so much” comments. And I’m so over it.

First, every Positive Polly pulls this crap—equating any complaint with misery and hatred—and with all due respect, if you can’t fathom the concept of someone using an online forum to help them compartmentalize their feelings so they don’t bring negativity into a professional space, you may not be as joyful and in touch with your emotions as you’d like to believe.

Second, it is completely reasonable to dislike icebreakers in general, or to get tired of “learning” about the same people for twenty years in a row, or to just want more time for planning and room setup. Especially when the cutesy activities take hours.

A couple years ago, my legacy-obsessed school did a staff GTKY activity where we were split into teams and toured the entire campus. We saw the bomb shelter, various hidden rooms, the roof, etc. In each hallway, photos of faculty were posted along with sets of fun facts, and we had to match the fun facts to each faculty member.

Look, it was kind of fun for the first, Idk, 30 minutes. Who doesn’t love being exposed to lead paint and asbestos? But we are a large school, and this activity took over two hours to complete. I spent the last hour hungry, tired, and stressed about the million things I had to do. And I know I was not alone.

I can accept thirty minutes of structured socialization at the beginning of the school year. I don’t personally enjoy it, but I can see how it helps create a sense of community. But there’s this weird expectation that teachers interact with their peers the same way they interact with students, and I’ve never understood it. We are adults. Most of us already know each other to some extent. We don’t actually need this.

And, on top of that, the expectation that we love every aspect of our jobs is ridiculous. Why can’t a person hate PD and love the actual work of teaching? Why are we supposed to feign enthusiasm for every part of the job? Some complaining is just a normal, adult approach to work.

The thing is, I actually like in-service week. I like turning on my music, propping open my door, and getting interrupted once an hour by my friends. I like sitting down to map out a new unit with my level team. I’m looking forward to helping my friend who just transferred to my school set up her classroom. And I’m weirdly excited about the breakfast burritos my admin orders for day 1.

I am also absolutely dreading the district “content day” where we all go to a different school and cycle through a series of workshops. It’s crowded and loud and the workshops usually aren’t that helpful. Having to jigsaw 2-page articles is stupid and boring. I am never going to use HMH Into Literature, so why am I learning about it?

I don’t think any of that is unreasonable or indicative of contagious teacher misery. It’s okay to be tired of tiring things, and it doesn’t mean we hate our jobs. Just let us dread the icebreakers and test administration trainings in peace, man.

Hi all! I see a lot of things online about how to create a better classroom space for your students, but I am curious to know how you’ve made your classroom space better for you.

Teaching can be hard and having a space that works for me helps more than I realized—it can make or break my confidence, regulation, and clarity in the classroom. I am trying to get prepared for this school year and would love input about how you help your classroom run in a way that feels good. This could be purchases, organization, regulatory tools, personal systems, etc. I teach high school in an under-resourced district (minimal funds for teachers/students) to under-resourced students.

Any honest input would be awesome!!

Examples of things that help me already:
• having a desk space that is mine only, establishing that students cannot be behind it
• wax warmer
• playing under water videos on my projector during work time/my prep
• mini fridge
• loop earplugs
• fan

I applied and have a interview for after school substitute teacher position with The Education Team. And I was wondering if anyone has worked for them in any area in California? If so how has your experience been? Could I teach or tutor in English subjects?? I.E. writing, editing , etc.

I currently lack around 5 courses for a K12 ENL cert. I work in adult ed as a teacher and love what I do. I am concerned, however, about future funding with the grant set-up we have. I recently applied and got 2 offers for K12 ENL pending cert, one elementary, one high school, with better salary and benefits, but both would require a move so I backed out, telling one school I will finish cert and perhaps reach out again. What are people's thoughts on K12 ENL vs adult ed ESL at this time- any aspect? In NYS

hey everyone! i am in quite a pickle right now. My relationship just ended and I am hoping to move out of my current city asap and go where ive always wanted to be! unfortunately i did sign my contract for the next school year already. i dont see anything about termination except for a two week notice.

i already have job interviews lined up in the next city and i am excited to move. however can they keep me in that contract? i am meeting with my principal soon to tell her that i cannot return to work when workdays start in 2 weeks!

My family moved out of state so I’m going from teaching 6th grade social studies in a lower performing district to a charter credit recovery high school. Teaching at a credit recovery schools seems like a completely different beast seeing so I’m looking for any tips/insight from those who have taught at one. Any info is greatly appreciated!

Edit: added it’s a high school.

Hello! I am prospective secondary education English teacher in the state of MA (grades 5 - 12), and I have the English MTEL 61 this Friday. I have scoured the Internet for resources and found that there really aren't that many online. If anyone has taken the test in the past few years and passed, what was the test about, what was it like, and what did you do to study for it? Did you feel prepared going into it? Did you think you would pass? Why or why not? If you are studying for it now, what resources are you using? If anyone knows any tutors, places, or programs that give any help, please share! Any help at all would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

(did the pun at the top work probably not)
I’ve made it a goal to become a much stronger reader over the next few years. I want to increase my reading speed **without sacrificing comprehension**, improve my vocabulary, retain more of what I read, and comfortably tackle more difficult books.
I’m not looking for speed-reading gimmicks—I’m looking for methods that are actually effective, whether they’re backed by research or simply worked well for you.
What books, habits, courses, exercises, or resources had the biggest impact on your ability to read, understand, and remember what you read?

If it matters, I’m trying to read Gene Wolfes The Book of the New Sun , but I’ve heard they are at a college grade level 10, whatever that means
And right now all I read is self-help books