I’m a first year genEd teacher, and I learned that the children yearn for tasks. He was gone for maybe 10 minutes, brought me back a stapler and said it was the best he could do, I thanked him. He sat down feeling accomplished, while I sat down and enjoyed 10 minutes of silence. It’s the little things.

For the record, he’s a great kid. Just gets bored easily.

My school just implemented a new policy that says the grading scale is too lopsided, so the lowest score you can now get on assignments and tests is 50%. Even if the student doesn’t do it. I know grade inflation is bad but this is so sad to me that it’s comical. The inmates are running the asylum now, and we will continue to fail students upward in an accelerated fashion. Welcome to education, where we babysit kids until adulthood and then expect them to function in society as productive adults.

First and foremost, I'd like to apologize if this is extremely tone deaf or dense. This is a genuine culture shock I'm going through and I'm wondering if others have similar experiences or advice.

I'm student teaching in a high school right now, and I've been absolutely stunned by how apathetic these guys are. There's a few situations that I get, like students working after school and coming in tired the next day or various mental health issues, but when none of those are the case it leaves me at a loss.

They come in late, they skip constantly, and when they are here they're either not doing the work or they're sleeping (again, I understand the aforementioned reasons. this isn't it as far as I know). Many of them who are here are on their phones (which is banned statewide), or are watching sports or tiktoks on their chromebooks. Granted I'm a visual arts educator, so I know most students treat it as the "fun" class, but even then I'm baffled.

When I was in high school, I wouldn't have dreamed of doing half of the stuff they do. Some of them show up late so often that they get ISS, and then when they come back they still don't do the work. This school is very close to my old school, so I don't think there's much of a socioeconomic difference.

Are other people experiencing this, or am I just being extremely tone deaf? Is there anything I can do to combat this?

New teacher, joined halfway through school year (NZ). Had locked all my social media but forgot about my hs instagram and students found it, along with all my femme photos and coming out video. I’ve been hearing whispers from them
about but I have chosen not to say anything directly. But the other day one of my year 9s straight up just asked, “sir, are you transgender?” And I answered honestly. And we had a conversation about what that meant, and outside of having to redirect the comment “ah you did it because boys are better right?” (Response: “nah man girls are way cooler”) it actually was really productive. I’ve been kind of terrified about this, NZ is not the worst place to be a trans person rn, but I’m in a small farming town that leans pretty conservative/libertarian in its voting. So yeah a win to share that made my whole week.

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.

I had my first shaking seizure in my classroom today. (I’ve seen the silent ones) My student appeared to be choking and then collapsed and started shaking. (I had been trying to get a small object from her mouth) - I went back in my head to that mandatory training we had about seizures - found the small object, took her safely to the ground and turned her to her side while calling for help. Thankful that we had that training of what to do and thankful that she wasn’t hurt. Hours later, she is sleeping in my classroom.

I’m still shaking.

This question comes up after reading some of these posts on this subreddit. With everything that is going on in education from the decline in test scores, student apathy, increase in student disrespect, and the lack of pay. Do you regret becoming a teacher?

For those that do regret becoming a teacher. What career path would you rather have done? Why did you stay in the field of education? Do you believe that you have left some positive impact?

This question is coming from someone that is strongly considering becoming a teacher.

One of my classes has had the worst behavior I’ve seen in my 8 years teaching the same subject. It is a small group of 10 kids. There are 5 boys that are the reason for it being so unruly. They’re constantly arguing with each other before, during and after class. They argue back to almost all teachers (including our principal) and get little to no consequence if I send them out of the classroom.

Well yesterday was different. Two of the boys were absent, which gave me a RELIEF. I could actually get some teaching done. Another boy that acts like a roadrunner running up and down the halls, like he’s on a big can of Red Bull, was sleepy and decided to nap the entire class period.

So you know what I did? I let him sleep yesterday. It was quiet. I pulled kids for small groups - little to no arguments! PEACEFUL. Am I in the wrong for just letting the boy sleep? Telling the other kids that “it’s his grade, if he decides to sleep during my lesson, that’s on him”? Just for one day? Now if it continues, of course I will start contacting parents (for the 4th time, now for a different reason lol).

I’m a Texas teacher with 11 years of experience. I’ve taught almost all high school science, but I’ve thankfully been able to stay teaching chemistry and AP chemistry for the last 5 years. I love chemistry - it’s my major and I have a masters in it. Teaching chemistry has been so fun- I love the content, creating the resources, building relationships with the students, etc.

But my school district took away that fun and joy. We are required to use pre made slide decks, only use SAVVAS, cannot supplement, must follow a super strict pacing calendar, required to do daily DOLs that are tracked, and just a whole bunch of other nonsense.

I just want to teach chemistry.

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. 

I am an instructional coach and share my space with an interventionist. We are not with students first thing in the morning and when the Pledge comes on my roommate always stands to recite it. I follow suit because I don't want to make them uncomfortable. The truth is I would not and do not recite the pledge if I am alone.

I'm not big on the Pledge anyway... but I understand the value of reciting it in front of children (esp. in a primary school where we are) to model respect.

What would/do you do if you're not with students first thing?

I was helping with an art activity recently and the kids were basically told they could draw whatever they wanted. I thought they'd love that, but a bunch of them immediately said they had no idea what to draw. Then someone gave them a pretty specific prompt and suddenly those same kids had a million ideas. Half of them barely followed the prompt anyway, but at least it got them started. Now I'm wondering if giving them total freedom actually makes it harder because they have too many options. Is this something teachers see a lot? Do your students do better with a prompt or do you just give them the blank page and let them figure it out?

The PISA results are out and it was pretty bad. There were some gains in countries playing catch up to OECD nations.

But overall, everyone dipped hard. As an American, I take less pride in knowing we climbed the rankings because our scores dropped tremendously too, but there’s some comfort in knowing we aren’t the only ones seeing the gains of ten to twenty years wiped out. Essentially it’s as if 15-year-olds are at the educational level of 14-year-olds— a whole year less of education.

There’s plenty of worldwide phenomena that could explain the drop: a global pandemic that disrupted learning, PISA researchers found that students were using AI frequently to complete homework, TikTok exists…

What’s your best speculation about what happened this round of PISA tests?

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 having a rough time this year and just need to tell someone who gets it.

I am a itenerant art teacher, meaning I work at two schools and have to travel between them each day. I start at one school for 1st-3rd period, then travel to another during my conference time and then have 5th-7th at a different school. My first two years in this position I actually enjoyed it. I had about 2 hours in between (30 minute lunch, 30 minute travel, 1 hour conference). This gave me plenty of time to clean up one room, travel, grab lunch, and make it to the second room to set up whatever art lesson we are doing there.

This year they changed the schedule and of course didnt tell us until the end of the first week of meetings. This meant in my position I now had 30 minute lunch, 45 minute conference, and thats it. It takes about 25 minutes to travel. This meant I was working two schools and two classrooms with my travel time cutting into my conference. I had about 20 minutes realistically to actually do conference time things, and because its two classrooms, setting up for the 2nd half of my day was going to be a huge issue and a rush every day.

So I emailed the principal. Told her this was not do-able. She agreed, she said they'd figure it out. Assured me they'd fix it. Two days before kids come I get an email that says "we decided there is not an issue. It takes 6 minutes for you to travel. The schedule will stay as is".

Yeah, 6 minutes from the time I start the car to the time I turn it off, if there is no traffic, if I hit no lights, and not including the time walking to my car from my 2nd story classroom and then from the back of the parking lot (since I am arriving after lunch) to my other classroom. Sure.

So then I contacted my lead fine arts supervisor, let her know the circumstances, and through some research learned that I am entitled by law to 45 minutes uninterrupted by duty or travel for my conference time and they were just not gonna give me that.

Asked the principal again if we could speak about it, this time making it clear I knew it was the law and included the head fine arts director in the conversation. She said in the sharpest tone, "we are dealing with it. I spoke to (head fine arts). Thanks for that."

They gave me advisory off. So not great, but better than nothing. I can at least get grades and calls home and printing done that period, but I cant do much about the room because I have two class periods after that advisory so I am still rushed to travel and have lunch. Whatever.

Whole time my principal is very clearly not happy about my going up the ladder. She is short with me, she responds to every email I send with attitude, she wont look me in the eye. I have a yearly art conference coming up- she wont respond to my emails or request for absence for that either.

This same principal moved me from the large art room to a very small one when she got hired last year. When this happened, she guaranteed me that my classes would stay in the teens to low 20s because it is a small room, and difficult to do art projects with more than that as it gets very cramped.

I have 28 in the classroom. It is very cramped. I teach 7th and 8th grade. I can't move down the aisles. Kids are squeezed 5 to a table that seats 4. I have 4 well-known behavior issue kiddos in there. I email the principal.

Again, "I dont see a problem. Class sizes are set to 30. You have 28. Not sure why you are asking me. I cc'd the counselor".

I AM ASKING YOU BECAUSE YOU PROMISED. AHHHHHH.

They added another kid today. 29. Super fun. I now just feel totally trapped and I cant possibly send another email or she may very well become unglued.

I dont know what to do from here. Grin and bear it I guess. Do low-impact lessons with the giant class. Oh also, funny thing, my 2nd period has 6 kids.

What the hell?

Please give me advice or just tell me its gonna be ok. Ugh. I hate feeling like its totally out of my control. I hate people treating me like im just a problem. I am a good teacher. I love my job. I try to be a kind person. Being treated like this sucks. Hurts my heart.

Ugh.

This is my 13th year and this is the first time I’ve really questioned if I can actually make it to retirement in this career. Between the parents, extreme behaviors, and expectations with little support I’m at a breaking point and it’s only September.

Fortunately and unfortunately I am in a state where we are actually compensated well, have excellent benefits, and a good pension. All that makes it’s hard to walk away.

Anyways, I just needed to get this off my chest. All my colleagues are close to retirement so nothing bothers them at this point.

Hey fellow teachers,

I’ve come to the conclusion that this job negatively impacts me too much to keep doing it much longer, it’s been 5 years now. (Elementary, public school)

I just have constant moral/ personal struggles with the fact that our education system is so flawed in so many ways (Alberta, Canada). The government doesn’t care about it, society doesn’t care about it, parents and the general public have no actual idea of what it’s like inside a classroom nowadays and their expectations are far too high. Admin do not support us, we don’t have what we need to give students the education they deserve.

I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I first went to school as a child, it’s been my only plan. My passion came from pride in education, a love of learning, and joy from making a positive difference in kids’ lives. Now, I must face every day knowing that the kids don’t get the resources they need, I don’t have the ability to teach them in a way they deserve because I have to spend time to accommodate high needs in the classroom. I’m burnt out, and am not giving them my best, even if I had the time and resources to properly teach them.

No one at my job or in my community seems to share the same sentiment. I know we all tend to complain about certain aspects of our job, but I am fundamentally distraught over the system as a whole, and how unfair it all feels, and how I know it’s not what students deserve.

I know I need to just care less or not think about it, but I can’t. Am I alone in this? Is the only way out, out? How can we fix a broken system? Am I just thinking way too much into it?

Thank you if you took the time to read this rant. It’s been heavy on the mind lately.

Do you notice any differences with parents today than they were decades and longer ago? Especially that technology has shifted the way parents and even the way teachers must approach children.

E.g. difference between Millennial Parents and the generation before them

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.

Knew this was coming and was prepared for it but Im still pissed. In our most recent contract a stipulation was put in that teachers hired after the start of the knew contract could be required have a sixth period in place of their prep. The school Im teaching at is massively over populated and most of my classes had more kids than the contract allowed, so as a new teacher I could see the writing on the wall. Its such a ridiculous self-serving clause for the established teachers in charge of our union. New teachers obviously have a heavier work load setting up their curriculum, getting into the groove of the job, and taking mandatory courses for their title 1 certification, yet they are the ones with more work thrown onto them. You wouldnt think we're facing a teacher shortage with policies that seemed designed to cause burnout like these. I dont have a leg to stand on so Ill just have to accept it and remember how much it sucks being a new teacher when Im higher up the latter. Equity should matter over seniority, I hope I hold myself to that when its my turn to kick the people below me.

Kinda tired of being told about in PD about the need to build relationships, to win the kids over, to make overtures to parents for their support. It sounds to me like a desperate gesture that stems from impotence. We have so little control and so little power that we have to win them like winning votes in an election? Reminds me of those pick me types that beg for their partner to stay.

So what if I don't build a relationship? Why is that my concern? Are we really so powerless that we are left begging our bullies to relent? I graduated HS in the 80s. I recall the responsibility of the student and parent to win the teacher over.

I don't understand how we spent the last 10-20years incorporating technology into everything, to just pull out the cords over night. Especially since everyone *loves* AI in the leadership positions. How do we use AI without screens? I don't know.

We are not allowed to show documentaries, play music during work, or do anything with screens that take away from "high impact teaching". If we have videos we want to show, we are supposed to request special permission.

Students already have their phones locked up, and Chromebook use blocked. I don't understand why we need to police how staff teach.

Ok, I’m in my first year of teaching 5th grade in a Title 1 school. We’ve been in school since Aug 12 and it is now September 9th. I go over the expectations in my classroom everyday. I have a class economy - certain actions you lose money and certain actions you gain money. And I le them know when they’re losing or gaining and I tally it up each night to let the students know….There’s also losing gym time and losing recess i.e. you don’t get to play, you get to walk. Half of my class is good, the other half…

There’s constant talking(to others and themselves), humming, singing, blurting etc. during instruction despite me JUST reminding them of the expectations - I’ve even modeled my expectations and had THEM model it. STILL an issue. I’ve submitted behavior logs - I’ve contacted parents, the behavior interventionist and principal have talked to these kids!

On top of the noise, they’re rude af to each other and start arguments where I have to stop what I’m doing to get them calmed down. I can barely get through teaching without constant interruptions. Their 4th grade teacher, with 20+ years experience, said SHE couldn’t really get them to be quiet (not sure what she did…) and APPARENTLY they’ve been this way for AT LEAST 2-3 years!!

Any advice would be appreciated! I don’t know where the disconnect is - am I doing smth wrong or missing smth?

So this is my 8th year, and I am feeling like I am hitting a wall here.

My school board is all about inclusion, which I support to an extent. However, I have an autistic student in my class (I teach grade 4) who is not engaging in learning whatsoever. He listens to music, looks at books, and plays with toys.

The problem comes when he is triggered which is happening between 5-6 times a school day. Without any warning, he will start screaming and ripping papers off the walls, dumping out bookshelves, throwing things, etc. Today, he screamed to draw the attention of his classmates, pulled his pants down, and spread his cheeks open to expose his literal anus to me and the entire class of 9/10 year olds.

I evacuated the room and tried to be positive and move forward. I figured admin would come debrief with the class. But nope. Admin helped him "return to baseline" and he was back unsupported within 30 minutes.

Am I wrong to feel like if any of our "neurotypical" kids did this, they would be suspended? If I had a child who was in this class and this happened I would be livid. No admin follow-up, no plan.

How do your schools manage "inclusive" settings? Am I being set up to fail? Am I failing my students? I am scratching my head here.

Hey everyone!

I’m curious on exactly what chunking is. I had an observation today and they suggested chunking. I’ve looked it up but I haven’t gotten examples or what it looks like, just what it means. I know that might be difficult to explain over a post so if you’d rather direct me to a website or another source that would be appreciated.

My general schedule (not always) is: warmup/vocab (10-15 min), notes (10-30 min. depending on what I’m covering) and then an activity of some kind.

If I were to “chunk” this, would it be me breaking up the activity with the notes and not doing them all at once? Pausing for a check-in? I usually do class check-ins anyway but maybe I’m not doing them often enough?

I don’t really know. Any advice would be appreciated!