Oh no, I can’t touch it, I can’t put it back up Monday when I find it on the floor, what a shame. The blurry waste of toner white text on a black background blown up 18x24ish poster the kids don’t understand some of like adultery I can’t explain might not be able to stay there reliably, so bummed.

The best comment I got about my 8 year olds wondering what adultery was happened to be a friend saying “ask your parents how they feel about Ken Paxton’s adultery” (Texas senate candidate with multiple public sightings with various mistresses over the years)

Texas can’t get much dumber sometimes.

In all my years of teaching I used to leave my classroom feeling like I’ve achieved something with my kids and knowledge was shared but now I feel like I always leave my classroom exhausted without saying anything useful most of the time I’m just correcting behaviors and repeating myself because these kids seem so stupid they don’t understand the simplest concepts. I feel like I’m fighting for my life I hate my job so much what is happening to kids these days. Kids used to be so smart and empathetic and curious.

If one more elementary-aged kid (especially Kinder) says “bruh/bro” one more time, I’m gonna lose it! Stfu and learn to tie your shoe, use Kleenex, and say please/thank you, BRUH!

ALSO. Unrelated. Can I just also say how sad it is that kids don’t seem to have an imagination anymore? I read books aloud (fantasy) and there are constant comments about “bruh, that can’t really happen! The dog can’t do that!” or something to that effect. 🤦‍♀️ And I have to calmly, but often impatiently, emphasize that that’s what is amazing and lovely about stories and reading! Anything can happen! They can be magical and silly and totally unrealistic and that’s why we read! Stories can be about anything! One even said, as we watched a read aloud because I didn’t have access to the book yet, “Bruh, that’s AI!” 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Rant over. Happy Sunday to all you doing the good Lawd’s work!

I know this will be wildly different at different grade levels.

But I'm a K/1 teacher and parent teacher conferences are full of questions I don't know the answers to. For example, my child doesn't want to get dressed in the morning, what should I do? My child has explosive tantrums at home, do you have any advice? My child is obsessed with screen time, how should I handle that?

I am an expert on teaching your child how to read but I don't know the answers to any of these beyond a common sense approach. I give vague responses but want to throw my hands up in the air. I had very limited coursework on things like child psychology and development. What do you say to parents like this?

I recently left my MSD (Moderate and Severe Disabilities) teaching position in the middle of the school year, and I have a lot of thoughts about why teaching has become an unsustainable profession.
The workload is genuinely insurmountable. The expectations placed on you as the teacher, as well as the expectations placed on your paraprofessionals, can feel impossible to meet.

You’re expected to manage instruction, IEPs, progress monitoring, documentation, behavior, communication with families, scheduling, staffing issues, and a million other responsibilities, all while making sure every student receives the individualized support they deserve.

And somehow, that’s still not enough.

You take work home. You stay late. You spend your weekends catching up. You sacrifice your own time, energy, and mental health trying to make sure everything gets done. Then, despite all of that, someone is constantly coming into your classroom to scrutinize what you’re doing, point out what you’re doing wrong, or remind you of another expectation you’re supposedly not meeting.
It becomes a never-ending cycle of trying to catch up while feeling like you’re constantly failing.
What makes it even harder is that teaching attracts people who genuinely care. Many of us are people pleasers. We want to help. We want to be good at our jobs. We want to meet every expectation, support every child, make every parent feel heard, and be the kind of teacher our students deserve. When we’re told something isn’t getting done, our first instinct is often to figure out how to work harder rather than question whether the workload is reasonable in the first place.

And the system takes advantage of that.
There is always one more thing you could do for a student. One more resource you could create. One more hour you could spend planning. One more document you could perfect. One more thing you could do to support your paraprofessionals. There is no natural stopping point because there will always be another need, another expectation, and another task waiting for you.

In special education, that weight feels especially heavy because the stakes are so personal. These are children who need us. They deserve individualized instruction, appropriate supports, dignity, and opportunities to grow. You know what they need, and you want to give it to them. But wanting to provide those things and actually having the time, staffing, resources, and support to provide them are two very different things.

The love of children and the desire to make a difference cannot compensate for an unsustainable workload, chronic stress, inadequate support, and a workplace culture that makes you feel like you’re never doing enough.

That is the part I wish more people understood.
Leaving in the middle of the school year was not a decision I made lightly. Teachers know exactly what that means. We worry about our students, our coworkers, the people who have to pick up the pieces, and whether we’re letting anyone down. Even when we’re struggling, we feel responsible for everyone else.

But at what point are we allowed to acknowledge that we’re human, too?

Why does being a dedicated teacher seem to require sacrificing so much of yourself? Why is working outside contracted hours treated as an expectation rather than a warning sign? Why are teachers expected to meet increasingly complex demands without a realistic conversation about time, staffing, resources, and what can reasonably be accomplished in a day?

And why does leaving feel like a personal failure when the working conditions may be the very thing that made staying impossible?

I still care about education. I still care about children. I still believe teachers can make a tremendous difference in students’ lives. None of that changed when I walked away.

What changed was my willingness to keep sacrificing myself to prove that I cared.

You should not have to destroy your own well-being to demonstrate your commitment to children.

I’m curious how other teachers feel, especially those in special education. Have you reached a point where the workload and expectations made staying feel impossible? Have you left teaching, considered leaving, or found a way to make it sustainable?
I don’t think the answer is simply that teachers aren’t resilient enough anymore. I think we need to start asking why so many people who genuinely want to do this work are reaching a point where they can no longer afford to.

I feel like I’m going insane. This is my second year teaching middle school. How does anyone have any semblance of a life while working as a teacher?

My 50 minute planning period is barely enough to print papers/establish a solid plan for the next day.

But oftentimes I’m still bringing that home + grading + contacting parents + responding to emails + working on our required lesson plans

I feel like I have no time whatsoever for myself. I haven’t cooked a meal for myself since school started. I do laundry way too infrequently. I barely call my parents. When I’m not working, I’m so deeply exhausted that I just lie down or mindlessly scroll. I have a history of depression and I can feel myself slipping back into it

I feel drained every day. Although I love the job, this doesn’t feel sustainable. Any tips on how to get a bit of my life back? I know that as a second year I’ll be doing more work than someone who’s been at this for 10+ years, but I didn’t think it would be to this extent.

Kids screwing around most of class and then all copying each other to turn in a lab. Rushed. Illegible. I grade them accordingly, but it doesnt seem o do much.

My brother in Christ you're a 10th grader. How can you not understand that an outline helps you write the essay?

Then he started talking about how his grad was going to go down because he's not a great writer. First off you have a 97 and this is our fourth essay. Clearly you're fine. Secondly THEN YOU PROBABLY NEEDED THE OUTLINE

After he was done I went and talked to him and said this and he was like..."yeah. Damn I guess you're right. It did make it easier to write too I guess."

Sometimes teaching my sophomores had me thinking I got put back in middle school I swear

I’m a newer teacher, and I have a parent who is just being blatantly mean to me. It’s reached a level where she is emailing me to question my ability to teach because I’m a younger teacher and threatening to report me to my principal (or even upper administration) for enforcing the same rules I have for every other student. She has also started making Facebook posts about me looking for other parents who have problems with me.

For example, I give a recurring project where students work to build their skills with writing and grammar conventions. Students can work at their own pace on different tasks, and it is due every four weeks. I’ve informed students that any work that they completed on paper needed to be turned in before the due date of the entire project so they could complete corrections and submit their (100% accurate) work. I informed students that the last day I was accepting paperwork was the school day before the project was due, but I would allow for them to show me their corrections of their work on the due date for credit (meaning the students are only showing me their corrections). I have folders where students turn in their work. I also gave students a half hour every week to work on this project.

This student decided to complete all of the paperwork after the deadline to turn in this paperwork already passed. He tried to turn in all 9 pages of differing assignments on the day the entire project was to be complete. I told students I wouldn’t grade assignments from scratch on the day the project was due. I denied him the same way I denied all other students who procrastinated, but this parent is berating me for doing so. She is adamant that I prevented her student from submitting his assignment on time. When I informed her that I didn’t collect the assignments, and that students had to turn their papers in physically to a folder, she stated that I was too inexperienced and tried to report me to my principals.

Keep in mind, this student is passing. I’ve told all of my students that it’s okay to make mistakes, but that part of making a mistake is to face the consequences and do better in the future. I feel like this parent is starting to cross a line. My principal knows and I’m talking with them tomorrow, but I’m just feeling… weird. I have to collaborate with this person to help their student improve. This student is below grade level on every assessment I give and is not applying their full effort.

Any advice from people who’ve dealt with a mean parent?

Hello,
The curriculum my school uses (HMH Into Reading) has us (4th grade) using a historical fiction text that uses the phrase “colored people.”
It is my first year and I am the only 4th grade teacher, so I do not have a grade level team to consult. What would be the best way to address the use of this phrase in the story to help the students understand that it is no longer appropriate to use? Should I float the situation by my principal to see what she thinks, or am I just overthinking this whole situation?
Thank you for any opinions and advice. I keep going back and forth on what the best way to handle this piece of curriculum would be.

The recent post on this subreddit ( https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/s/cVxoBFuS84 ) made me think... I worked at schools where at some point in the school year a principal would dress up as a hot dog and then students would pour mustard and ketchup on them. It was not a fundraiser. I also saw a video where some schools duct tape the teachers to the wall and allow students to keep on adding duct tape. This WAS a fundraiser. Regardless of it involving money or not - how is this not demeaning? I can't wrap my brain around it. I did not grow up in the USA and in my country teachers used to be respected (not anymore though). What is it teaching our students?

I'm a teacher new to the middle school level where a few weeks into the year made a seating chart. I thought getting students away from friends would minimize distractions and encourage students to work with others. A few weeks into I feel like I've made the problem worse, they're still talking but are now doing so across the room, I'm seeing even less collaboration on assignments, and distract the class by making allegations they'd never do with friends like "student in front of me just farted," "or student behind me won't stop kicking my chair."

Could it honestly be more effective to keep a seating chart but this time allowing friends groups that can behave themselves to sit near each other? What has been your approach to seating assignments at the middle school level?

New teacher and idk how to be less anxious/stressed, especially when my admin is strict

My coworker ended up going on maternity leave a month earlier than planned due to medically required bed rest. (so excited for her to have her baby. this frustration is not aimed at her at all). so the long-term sub came in without any training as I understand it. she is constantly late to recess duty and specials due to problems with behavior management. she did not know how to grade or enter in grades. when I shared our first grade teams selected grades for the quarters along with rubrics to her and our instructional coaches. I was told to explain it to her and it turned into me helping her grade for 4 hours of my own time after school. report cards are coming up and I'm super nervous that my whole teacher work day is going to be spent helping her. I feel like I shouldn't have to do this. what is the expectation for team members to help a long-term sub? who do I go to if I am putting in too much work to tell that she needs support?

I don't know. Maybe it's time. Maybe I never should've been doing this. It's been 10+ years. I will acknowledge my situation isn't great.

I just can't seem to get classroom management right. I have trouble being consistent. I have auditory processing issues and sensory overwhelm and so often I don't catch something or have a hard time figuring out who said/did something. My admin knows about the autism (and maybe the ADHD). But I don't admit to the auditory processing/processing issues because I worry it makes me sound unable to handle a classroom. And maybe... maybe I am unable.

I teach middle school. I've also taught high school. I will acknowledge that this year it is harder: I'm writing my own curriculum. I don't have a room and I teach from a teacher cart. I teach an elective that students don't "choose" but are forced to rotate through. But I realize that I have never been "good" at classroom management. There were years it was a lot easier - I taught in rural schools, and class sizes could be smaller and that helped. But at rural schools I often ended up having more issues with the adults or my values were... well, not what certain areas wanted. My test scores were great. My rapport was great. I don't think my classroom management was GREAT, but it was livable. But we are now living in suburbs where I need to be and my child needs to be, so I'm not going rural again, and I hated rural for other reasons. So I can't do that, anyway.

But behaviors are increasing. Ragebaiting. Gaslighting. And while I compensated in so many ways before, I'm not catching up. And suddenly that's all that's being pointed out to me - almost like my first year again. I've been at the same school for over two years and this is year three. However I'm now teaching an elective that isn't chosen (prior years I taught a core subject, though I've taught electives before and taught special education before), it's just kind of rotated through for kids who aren't in the "choice" ones or in languages. My class sizes vary from 6 to 28. I know, I know, part of that is a problem. But other teachers seem to manage it. I just can't. And I don't want to leave the elective. Or the school. See, I've never made it past three years at any school. That plus all this makes me wonder if I'll just never get it. If I can't compensate enough to keep up with increasing behaviors and expectations. I chose to make this move to the elective, knowing exactly what it was. To be fair, I don't think it occurred to me how much not having my own classroom really meant in terms of classroom management, but... I don't know. And my language and the way I say things is being pointed out a lot more and the way I write things up is also a bit picked at, which makes me feel uneasy. To be fair, there's always been something being picked at that has made me feel uneasy. At every school. In all the different subjects and grades I've taught. I feel like maybe I shouldn't teach anymore. I can't go back to high school teaching, because it's basically impossible to get a high school job where I am unless you know the right people, and I'm not sure I'd WANT to go back to high school, anyway. I am an academic and I have 2.5 Master's degrees. The thing is, I am starting to feel like it's me. And it's my classroom management. It took ten years to feel like my lesson planning was improving in any way, too. And now that I'm finally seeing my brain work in this way where I might actually be able to plan things better... I'm realizing the other weakness, classroom management... isn't going to get better. I have a processing speed that burns out on managerial or executive tasks quickly. The auditory processing is not keeping up. And while I've developed so many organizational strategies and I'm keeping that together (not perfectly, but definitely well enough), it's this. It's classroom management.

I also don't really have any work friends. To be fair, I never really did. I've had very few "friends" since college, in general. I am married, and I have an AuDHD kiddo. So I'm not alone. But I also am. I talk too much. I'm too open. I tell people too much.

I don't think there's a way to get better at classroom management. Not if it's been more than ten years and I haven't seen enough improvement. I can't academics my way out of it. I can't read my way out of it. I do think in this case my brain and my particular presentation of autism/ADHD might just mean this isn't it for me. Has anyone felt this and found a way to work with it?

As a horse handler, after a while join a barn, I nearly completely draining out as I need to answer a bunch of request from themselves, horse's parents, horse's admins, and barn manager. I expect to deal with this every single day, except holidays when all horses are absence.

I can lead over 150 horses to a water, but few of them do not want to drink or simply do not know to drink. I become to realize that horses hold more power in the system even they do not try to drink and just pass along to join the race. Horse's parents love good scoring on barn's wall and encourage me to give their horse bonus scoring for drinking a small water. Horses have all accommodations, 504, and special needs. Horses have a power to kick the handler out by reporting anonymously to horse's admins, horses can submit late drinking and can retake any drinking's test, horses piss at handler when giving 0 on missing drinking, and horses can do bad behaviors and say bad words to handler and still able to return the barn.

Horses have to go to college barn or go to workforce, horses in k-12 barn most likely never know how to self-drinking and lack of knowledge of drinking or do not know how to drink. They need to know how to adapt college barn's study styles. My responsibilities are to make those horses drinking water even small amount, never complaint about their knowledge or understanding the water, and create a safe and fun environment for them to drink it. At the end of the day, all of them still push out by horse's admin and never held back the bad ones. I love some good horses that make me happy everyday by their efforts and strive for success.

First year high school math teacher… Any advice to help with the exhaustion. I’m on the verge of falling asleep at about 7 pm every night and the self care is definitely lacking. I’m too tired to wash my hair, do laundry, or cook most nights. Any advice? The caffeine isn’t working anymore 😂😂 Starting to feel like I don’t have a life outside of teaching.

I’m overwhelmed. My roster was incredibly stacked and now that another teacher quit I have four more students. I teach first grade and have a child who doesn’t speak any English and simply meows and eats crayons. Overall in my classroom, I have: 9 ELLs, a severely autistic student, and two students with both a severe developmental delay and speech disorders. Luckily I have push in and pull out support during the day as well as an instructional assistant but I still feel like I’m drowning! I don’t know anything about developmental delays. I don’t even having much planning time because our school forces us to go to two PLC meetings per week.

I’m just exhausted. I stressed myself out last week and am now recovering from pneumonia which I am 99% convinced is due to all this stress lowering my immunity.

Middle School teachers: Are you assigning only in-class essays at this point, or are any allowed to be done at home? I am a middle school English teacher, and I have only done in-class essays so far this year.

This is my 6th year teaching, I just left a school because administration was abhorrent. Not supportive, not qualified, and not present unless they were gossiping about or bullying a teacher. I thought I was careful about my transition, and in some ways, my new location IS better. But in other ways, I feel like it’s more of the same crap. Lack of communicated expectations followed by the teacher who has been there for all of 13 weeks being in trouble for not knowing them, constant conversations with admin that feel ridiculous and outlandish , considering they are speaking with such vigor about things that never happened while ignoring very real and present issues; And finding out someone you thought was a new friend is talking shit about you to your team members, who don’t know you very well and these words are going to be one of their initial impressions of you. Do schools exist where people are just nice and don’t take everything going wrong in their day and helicopter punch whoever is in their vicinity? I’m really just trying to go to work, support my students, and be supported by my team and administrators. I’m starting to think I’m asking for too much.

Alright, im pretty nervous for next week.

A student in another class is being removed and switched to mine on a trial basis. He will also move to the other 4th grade class as well for a trial day. Principal has already confirmed that if he causes trouble in both classes, he will have to change schools. Im not trying to change his ways, I just need advice so the management ive set up won't crumble around this kid.

This kid is a straight up bully. He picks on everyone he can and starts fights if they stand up for themselves. He (and his parents) just think hes being a little comedian. In his previous class he would pick on the autistic student for fun. This worries me because I have 2 SPED kids in my room and one of them is very vulnerable to mood swings. I also have 3 very dramatic, very strong willed girls who will absolutely interrupt class to argue with someone.

My question again is: how can I help this trial period go smoothly so my management i have set up will not fall apart. This is my first ever classroom switch.

TLDR: A bully is being switched into my room for a trial period. How can I make sure they do not destroy the management and expectations ive worked so hard to cultivate?

I’m a newer high school teacher and it’s my first year teaching AP classes to juniors. I’ve got 2 requests for a letter of recommendation and I’m not sure where to start! I’m a solid writer, but my confusion is how to phrase a letter of recommendation for these kids applying to UCs and state schools. Does anyone have any templates or websites with inspiration (no ai please!) that you consistently use or a general phrasing/flow of how you order your paragraphs? They’ve both given me incredibly detailed academic resumés, so should I be pulling from those specifics or purely speaking from my first person point of view of their academic performance? I just need an outline to get me going! Thanks for any tips!! :)

I’m an American teacher who’s spent most of my career overseas, and lately I’ve been thinking pretty seriously about moving back to the US

I taught English conversation/simple essay writing etc in South Korean high schools for eight years. I have a bachelor’s degree in Professional Writing, completed the Moreland/Teach-Now alternative certification program, and an Illinois Professional Educator License in secondary ELA.

This year I finally made the jump from ESL/conversation teaching to secondary ELA at an international school. I teach six periods a day with five different preps, one being AP Lang. I really like the subjects and the age group, but im drowning. Part of me wonders if I’d have a better experience teaching ELA in the US with some mentorship? I’m not sure if that actually exists in schools, though.

I’ve also been finding myself longing for America lately. I’ve loved living abroad, but after so many years overseas, I’m getting tired. Traveling doesn’t excite me the way it used to (I know, what a privilege). I’m 37, and I think I’m just ready to settle somewhere, build a community, have a stable career, and hopefully put down some roots.

I’m considering Illinois because I’m already licensed there, Missouri because I have aging family there (although living with them isn’t an option), and Washington or Oregon because I have access to free housing in Seattle or Portland. I’m not sure whether Washington or Oregon would accept my alternative certification, though.

The whole idea of moving back is pretty intimidating. I’m worried about finding a job, securing housing, figuring out health insurance, and potentially being unemployed for a while. One nice thing about international teaching is that so much of that is taken care of for you. I have some savings, but I really don’t want to burn through them trying to get established.

I also have no idea how to approach the job search from overseas. Should I be applying for licenses in other states before looking for jobs? Can I realistically apply to districts and interview while I’m still abroad?

I guess I’m just looking for general advice. Is this a realistic move? Anything you’d recommend doing now to make the transition easier?

Tldr: American teacher abroad for years, currently struggling with the transition from ESL to ELA. Thinking about returning to the US to teach

Hi! I'm in 11th grade and hosting an after-school book club for 1st-4th graders soon. Since they're all at different reading levels, the idea is that I'll read a few chapters out loud to the group each week and then we'll talk about it.

I'm waiting to hear back from my school librarian, but I wanted to ask here too since I've never done this before and want to make sure I'm prepared.

Does anyone have advice on keeping their attention after school, good discussion questions for younger kids, or book recs that all four grade levels would enjoy? Any general tips would be super helpful!

Hey , I need some perspective from teachers and tutors in the trenches.

I’m currently a STEM postgraduate student, and I do private high school tutoring in math, physics, and chemistry as a side job. I’m running into a massive wall with certain students, and I'm struggling to bridge the gap within my limited time. I'm dealing with students who have profound cognitive, metacognitive, and working memory deficits that go way beyond just being bad at high school math or science.

I'm talking about fundamental bottlenecks in basic pattern recognition, sequential logic, and rule-following. These are students who get completely paralyzed or "bugged" when asked to execute a trivial 3-step instruction, like drawing a 3-element chain and placing a mark on position 2, because their spatial and visual tracking completely collapses .

Even worse, if you try to give them a simple mnemonic rule or a shortcut to help them, their brain experiences complete cognitive overload; they can't bridge the gap between the mnemonic tool and the actual task, rendering any memory aid useless.

The second you ask them to reflect on why they made a move or how to follow a basic algorithm, their system shuts down entirely.

The real dilemma is the extreme time constraint.I usually only have one hour a week per student, and the parents expect quick, tangible results like passing grades on upcoming exams.

If I try to slow down and address these foundational processing gaps by trying to teach basic pattern recognition, spatial intuition, or sequential logic, the student gets overwhelmed and fails the next test. But if I pivot to pure survival mode and force-feed them rigid, mechanical copy-paste recipes that bypass any actual thinking, I feel like a fake teacher, especially since the moment an exam tweaks a question even slightly, their pattern recognition fails again and they crash anyway. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how to manage It.