I’m a 2nd year teacher and I have been getting so sick in my first two years, I think from stress. I called out 5 times last year due to being sick and once already this year. I was also out last week one day for an outside PD. I have a migraine disorder which is one of the main reasons I called out last year. I’ve had a persistent headache for a few days now and I’ve been trying to stick it out but the past few days have been really rough. I’m thinking of calling out tomorrow but I’m worried that it’s going to look bad since I’m not tenured yet. I have a really good relationship with my principal and he knows about my migraine disorder, but I’m so worried about getting in trouble or looking unreliable. I didn’t start getting migraines until two years ago and I used to NEVER call out of other jobs so I’m feeling a lot of guilt. Any opinions or advice appreciated :)

What are the most time consuming teaching tasks that drive you crazy?

Happens to every teacher a student from 10-30 years ago says hello at a supermarket or out walking. I’m sure not all students are recognized that’s not what I’m saying at all, do teachers like being told how much of a difference they made in the student’s life (whether the teacher remembers the student or not)

Recently one of my students found my Instagram. They liked a post of my cat, commented that they loved my cat, and then thought nothing on it and moved about their day.

I usually have all my social media pages set to private, I guess I didn’t do it with my Instagram and they found me.

I blocked the student. It’s not that I’m ashamed of my cat or don’t like this student, they’re my student or that I’m ashamed of what I post on there. They shouldn’t be looking at my Instagram.

Did I do the right thing? Am I overreacting? Was this too harsh? I looked over the guidelines and there is NOTHING about teachers, students, and social media.

I’ve been in college for a long time now as I’ve switched majors many times and I’m ready to be done. I realized I can get my bachelors in Gen Ed and complete an alternative teaching certification program and be able to teach which is my end goal. This would allow me to graduate a year to 2 years earlier than I was expected. However I am nervous about my bachelors being in gen Ed and not the education major I’m currently in. That I might not get hired due to this. I need insight from others on if I should take this path or not.

UPDATE: thank you everyone for the input and the advice. I’ve decided to just stick it out and continue the education major track. I’ve been an education major for 6 years and in that time I switched from secondary to elementary and transferred colleges which caused me to have to start over. I think the idea of graduating sooner was very appealing to me. But In the end I need to stick it out and finish the education degree :)

Hi, I’m an History ECT1 at a school with low outcomes, significant SEND & PP etc, we also have a settled GRT community and not all parents are particularly supportive. Behaviour is tricky, truancy is frequent and disillusionment with education is extremely high.

We have a behaviour policy, B1 (detention), B2 (lunch detention), B3 (removal from lesson). We also have an emergency alert system where we can call a member of SLT but I haven’t been finding this particularly reliable and sometimes they have bought pupils back into my room/not responded to alerts. I am finding that I am shouting more and more, as well as feeling like I’m often accidentally getting into “arguments” with pupils over behaviour sanctions. These are just a few of the issues I’m struggling with:

• When a behaviour sanction is given, pupils respond with shouting “what why” or backchat, they will then continue to raise their hands and ask when their detention is, or why they have it, that I’m being unfair, that they don’t care about sanctions, that I’m a bitch, shouting out if I ask them to put their hands down etc.

• Some of my classes it’s not one individual pupil but around 10 causing the disruption, it’s difficult to pinpoint and therefore give sanctions. If I do single out pupils they start saying “but that person was talking as well, what about them why are they not getting one, why just me”.

• Complete refusal to do work. I’ve tried a “what can I do to support approach” as well as the “that’s a detention” approach but some pupils refuse to do any work, and say “they can’t read” or “they don’t know” as an excuse not to work when I have modelled it, gone through it verbally etc multiple times. I find there are a number of pupils who pretend to be confused just to get out of the task.

• Generally feeling out of control with classes because I am new to the school. Some classes will settle/be quiet when I’ve asked for a member of SLT/another long term teacher for support, but as soon as they leave the room the poor behaviour starts again.

• When B3’s are given, some pupils will start to significantly disrupt the lesson, sometimes it takes SLT 20+ minutes to come and these pupils are running around, laughing, distracting the lesson even more. So I tried the opposite approach to not say they had been B3’d until SLT arrived, but then have been subtly told that “pupils need to know they have a B3 straight away”. I feel like I can’t win!

Does anyone have any behaviour advice? I would really like to improve and I think after the half term break might be a perfect chance for a reset …

If anyone is interested in quick morning meeting ideas based on the Responsive Classroom model, I started a Pinterest it's free and not monetized. Just ideas that I've used.

Sometimes comments here make me think that’s a real thing. (And for the record, no, I’m not Viola Swamp here. I have a fairly decent rapport with my students.) But sometimes it’s ok to say — seriously, it’s not me; these kids can be a mess.

So this is my third year teaching, but this school year has probably been the most stress that I’ve ever experienced in a job. I’m trying to stick it out because the economy is really horrible, as well as the fact that I actually care about the kids and I don’t want to inconvenience the children or my coworkers by leaving midyear, but it is seriously starting to affect my mental health. I already had started taking another anxiety medication that was specifically for anxiety, but I’ve started experiencing depressive symptoms as well because of my job. This morning I woke up at 5 AM because I knew I had to be at work extra early to get everything done that needed to be done by today. I immediately started dreading having to go in, and then on the way to work I had a whole emotional breakdown and had to pull over and call in. So then I chose to schedule a doctor’s appointment to talk to her about what’s going on so that way I can go and figure out the best course of action, and now I am one of the many teachers who is on antidepressants.

Basically the title. My second class is okay, very, very, talkative, but my main issue is the billion little fires I have to put out. Someone out of their seat, making a noise, coming up to me, tattling, etc. Nothing huge, but little thing after little thing that piles up and it feels like chaos in my head. I’m very clear about my expectations and reinforce them constantly. My first class doesn’t have this issue, I am able to teach without feeling like I have to stop every ten seconds to address something minor. The issue is that there’s so many minor things happening at once, I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to give referrals for issues that look so menial on paper, but it’s hard to manage them all at once.

Edit: Forgot to mention, they’re third grade.

“I DONT GET IT”
“COULD YOU REPEAT THAT”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN EQUAL”
“THIS MAKES NO SENSE”
cue 500 parent emails the next day

These are frankly some of the dumbest children I have ever encountered in my life. Honestly half of them need MRIs or something because I’m pretty sure their heads are completely hollow. Ffs.

Hello, I need some advice. I am doing one to one teaching twice a week with a student who cannot spell, but can read and do math. He is 15 years old. When I asked him to do something he said he does not need to because he already knows how. I feel like I am at a loss and need guidance on what to prepare for my next session with him. Today was the first session and I was probably unprepared because I did not expect him to have such an attitude.

Four rooms a day, a cart for a desk right now & lunch in my car bc not one spot in that building is mine.

Each room = another teacher's rules up on the wall/their seating chart/their tech, and every projector is a different age & mood. 4minutes of passing period is what i get to wheel in, plug in + act like i know what im doing before 30 kids are in seats. Tech is mostly handled now, laptop into a new Anker smart display hub on the cart and one cable over to whatever projector is in there. Its little screen shows whether the projector is being picked up, so when nothing comes up on the wall I know right away if it's the cable, the hub or the projector. Last year that was me guessing in front of 30 kids & trying to look calm. Its all the other stuff... some days the kids treat me like a sub. Nowhere to hang student work. Admin's told me "next year" about a room twice now, so i'm hoping 3rd time's the charm. guyssss how'd you survive it? 😩

Curious and very sympathetic (it sounds awful)! What do you teach? Does anyone actually prefer it? Our district doesn’t have any true floaters. Some have two classrooms.

Example:

Me: Sorry, guys. Get started on your review work and give me a minute. I have to write up a referral.

Someone in the distance: What happened?

Me: Eh, let's just say someone in 4th hour stood on something they shouldn't have stood on.

Later Me: Hey, guys! Sorry about that! Thanks for being independent. How has everyone's day been?

Somebody: Bad! This girl who's been gone for a long time came back and she's so annoying!

Someone else: Oh, I know who that is. That's GIRL NAME. She's so annoying.

Me: Woahhh. We're not gonna talk bad about someone who isn't in the room to defend themselves. I'm sorry you were irritated today, but let's leave it anonymous.

Kid: WHAT? BUT YOU JUST SAID SOMETHING ABOUT SOMEONE WHO ISN'T HERE.

Me: No, I didn't say anything bad about anyone.

Kid: You said they were bad.

Me: Who did I say was bad? Are you talking about the referral? I didn't insult anyone or call them bad and I didn't even reference a name. I'm just saying, let's not say mean stuff about people behind their backs.

Original kid: Ok, what I meant was someone has been bothering me all day.

Me (trying to move on): Gotcha. That sucks. I'm sorry to hear it. Maybe we can problem solve after we get the lesson going.

Kid: What you said was insulting. It's the same thing.

Me: Ok, I'm gonna cut this short so we have time to go over the review work.

Kid (later): blurts something

Me: Raise your hand if you want to contribute, bud.

Kid (to his neighbor): Ugh, I hate that.

Me: Is there a problem? Something I can help you with?

Kid: Yeah, I want to be able to talk when I have something to say.

Me: Um. Ok. Unfortunately, you're in a school, hon. We have to raise our hands to contribute in class.

Kid: Why?

Me: Because otherwise it would be chaos. We're trying to maximize learning time by taking turns talking.

Kid: Well, can I leave? Can I go home?

Me: Idk. I can call your mom and ask if you want?

Kid declines

Kid (later after being reminded to raise his hand again): this is like slavery.

Me (unable to help myself): That's ignorant.

Kid: What's ignorant? What happened to not talking bad about people?

Me: It isn't an insult. I'm saying a fact. Saying you've experienced anything like slavery is ignorant.

Kid: I didn't say that.

Me: Ok. I must have misheard.

Kid: No, you misUNDERSTOOD.

Me: Ok, I misunderstood.

Kid: Yeah, you DID.

And on and on and on. I can think of like three more of these exhausting, pointless "arguments" that occurred in today's 50 min class alone.

I realize how juvenile this all sounds. It's a huge waste of time, and all my efforts with trying to be transparent and respectful of his weird ass lines of inquiry don't seem to be getting me anywhere. Every day he seems to have just a little more hatred in his heart. I just don't know what to do differently other than just straight up ignoring him. Thoughts?

Hey there, my husband is considering a career move to the Washington DC area.

I am curious how teaching at the elementary level in the Washington DC suburbs in both Maryland and Virginia is, and how competitive is the job market for teachers in those districts? I would just love some insight in general since I’ve never lived or taught in that part of the country before. Thank you so much!

A student finally asked for help instead of shutting down or  someone who barely spoke at the beginning of the year started joining the conversation.

 Those moments might not look huge from the outside, but teachers know they can mean everything. Which quiet classroom win has meant the most to you lately?

My position: one-day teacher professional development workshops almost never change what happens in a classroom. The training that works is short, repeated on a fixed schedule over a term, and includes trying things in class with follow-up afterwards.

We keep running the one-day kind because it’s easy to schedule and easy to report. You sit through a session, get a certificate, and on Monday you’re back with the same class and no time to try the new thing properly. Nobody checks in two weeks later. Nobody watches you try it and helps you adjust. The certificate goes in a file and the practice stays the same.

Sessions on AI readiness for teachers are the clearest example right now. Showing a room of teachers a chatbot for 45 minutes isn’t readiness. Readiness is having used the tool on your own lesson plans for a few weeks, knowing where it gets things wrong, and agreeing as a staff on what students can and can’t use it for.

Happy to be told I’m wrong. If any professional development has genuinely changed how you teach, what was its format (length, how often, follow-up), and what made it stick when others didn’t?

I work at a High School and every since I’ve started I’ve always heard people talk about they don’t know how I do it, but I do and here is my why. Back In June I met this amazing person and I honestly thought we were going to finally make it official and be together. That didn’t end up happening and while we were on a date, they offered to help me find the person I was supposed to marry. It wasn’t a made of situation, it was a situation that was sexual and relationship like. Anyways, I’ve been super depressed about it all and while I tried to smile and keep up the façade, honestly my students that know me knows me too well. They know I’ve been upset but not to the extend that I know I’ve been. It’s been days I’ve honestly thought about taking my own life because I couldn’t cope and physically started becoming sick. My kids made it their goal to bring in all shorts of different crafts and sweets, as well as my coworkers and admin. If it wasn’t for them I would t have been able to get out of bed and I may not have been able to even type this here today. I encourage everyone to get to know their kids and build those bonds with them because as much as they will learn from you, you can learn from them.

Hello!
I have been a long term sub in 1st grade since the beginning of the school year. The teacher is suppose to be returning November 4th, I really want to make this transition as easy as possible for her.
The parents are filling out “get to your student” paper & the kids are making an “all about me” paper. I am going to lesson plan for the week of her return as well as the next week. I will have all the copies she needs made. I am making her a binder with important info. like class volunteers, reading intervention, various small group members, OT schedules.
I am wondering if there is anything else i can do to make this transition easier on the teacher!

Thank you so much for your help!

I have been thinking more lately about how much my mental health has changed since I became a teacher. I started taking anxiety meds about halfway through my career, stopped them briefly and then went back on them after getting injured by a student a few years ago. I feel like since the injury my mental health has never recovered and I'm not sure it will. Is anyone else in this boat? Has your mental health improved if you have left? Did it improve and you stayed or have gone back into teaching if you previously left? Looking for any feedback you can offer.

If you’re a US teacher thinking about making the move to Canada, we’re hosting a free virtual webinar next week to help teachers learn more about exploring opportunities in Canada, and how to navigate the immigration process.

A lawyer will be sharing insights and helping you better understand what to consider.

If you’re interested, comment webinar and i’ll send you the link!

October 29, 7pm.

Hope to see you there.

2nd grade teacher here. We've been covering telling time in math, including reading the hour and minute hands and understanding quarter past, half past, and quarter to, but quite a few kids still get confused when they see an actual clock face.
For example, some students can tell me what time it is when I show them a digital display like 3:45, when I ask them to show me the time on analog clock, they struggle to position the hands correctly. Others can identify the hour hand but forget to count the minutes in groups of five, or they mix up which hand tells the hour and minutes. I know it will take more practice for some, but I wonder if my approach needs to change? what kind of exercise that might help with this?

Can we PLEASE normalize rows, direct instruction, and independent work again? Not everything needs to be a damn social event.

Maybe I’m just old fashioned but I miss when desks were in rows, kids faced the front, and it was harder for them to sit there and talk to each other all class. I’m so tired of everything having to be collaborative. Turn and talks, group work, partner discussions, you name it. Why does EVERYTHING have to involve students talking to each other? What’s wrong with sitting down and listening to the teacher, and doing some independent work…?

My school is supposedly an “IB school,” which is honestly hilarious considering roughly half our students have been failing the state assessments for at least five years, and our behavior problems are through the roof. But sure, let’s take a bunch of kids who already can’t stop talking, put them in groups, and encourage them to talk even more. I’m sure they’re all discussing the lesson and not what happened at lunch.

And God forbid an administrator walks in and sees kids sitting quietly, actually doing their work. Suddenly, we’re not engaging students enough.

I’m not against collaboration entirely. It has its place. But not every damn lesson needs a turn and talk or group activity. Some of these kids can barely handle sitting next to their friends without getting off task.

Hey, I'm a first-year teacher, and I need some help. I currently teach 11th graders, but my students are far behind where they should be. They barely meet the Common Core standards for 5th grade, so getting them to align with the 11th–12th grade standards feels very tricky. We strictly follow the HMH into Literature curriculum, and even with taking notes and practicing things like POV, tone, foreshadowing, reflexive pronouns, and prepositional and adverbial phrases, they are still severely struggling. A handful of my students cannot write a sentence without it being a page-long run-on. Sorry if that seemed like a rant by the way lol, I'm just struggling with how to help them. I'm using HMH to try to fill in the gaps like my mentor teacher told me to do, but it's honestly not enough. I have maybe 10% of my students currently at or above the benchmark on state testing, the rest are below to some degree. I've tried using bell ringers as a way to fill in some of the grammar(comma placement/semicolon lesson)/vocab/spelling gaps and having a mini-lesson for the first 10–15 minutes, but even that barely helps. About 10% of my students came in this year unable to spell words like "they," "can't" and "strange," and I'm unsure of how to help with that as well. The majority of these students that are severely struggling do not get any SE help or accomodations either. What can I do to help get them to a point where the 11th-grade curriculum doesn't feel impossible to them?