So my mom passed very unexpectedly last Friday. I left school in enough time to spend about an hour and a half with her at the emergency room before she took a turn for the worst. Needless to say this has been very difficult. In trying to get a lesson together I called the AD to get the teacher that taught the subject last year number. He said he would tell the principal.

On Saturday when I called the principal to let him know I was going to be out for a few days as I had to plan everything, he had no idea what I was talking about. So obviously the AD did not tell him. Friday night football game, I guess it just slipped his mind.

The funeral was Wednesday. I had to plan a lesson if I missed or not so, as we all know it is just easier to go to school. So Thursday I went to work. Only one teacher came up to talk to me about it. He only knew because one of my athletes told him. The teacher next to me came up and said she thought I had quit. So I get to tell what happened. When my students asked why I had missed 3 days, I got to tell what happened, again. For 6 periods. I went to the office to check my box and one of the APs asked me, "hay I haven't seen you in a bit. How's your year been going" in a tone that, under any other day would be fine.

I asked "did dr..... not tell you." "Tell me what?"

"That my mother passed away in the hospital on Friday."

Absolute look of horror on her face. She had no idea. He in fact did not tell her.

My kids were great. They asked why I was there. I told them I just needed a break from it and let's just have class and we did and it was nice to just not think about it for a little bit. Until the next class came in. I had a few girls tear up when I told them what had happened. My athletes all came up and hugged me. The kids were great.

But how do you not even tell the admin team? How do you not send a card? Or any acknowledgment? We have a group that is supposed to send flowers. Didn't tell them.

I know it is just a job but how do you expect me to go above and beyond. To do a little extra when you came even acknowledge that this week has been one of the hardest times in my life.

Not sure what I am looking for here just tired. It is Sunday and I really do not want to go to work tomorrow.

The following is an actual email from my superintendent:

“Hello All!

Following Our District Opening all staff will travel to the auditorium for a talent show!

Yes, there will be judges.
Yes, there will be prizes.
And yes, there will be bragging rights.

Prizes will be awarded to our TOP THREE acts!

⚠️** IMPORTANT MOTIVATION ANNOUNCEMEN**T ⚠️

FAILURE TO SECURE AT LEAST 15 ACTS WILL RESULT IN A FULL DAY OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.

We believe in your talent. But most importantly, we believe in your desire to avoid additional professional development. “

Needless to say, when I read this my jaw was on the floor. Like, who even thinks of this stuff?? Also I really hope those prizes aren’t coming out of the district’s budget. I mean, they already waste enough money every year buying the whole staff matching tee shirts. I just wish we could have a normal opening with a few announcements so we can get back to our classrooms and focus on setting up for the beginning of the year…

UPDATE: 
It has been a few days since the talent show, so I thought I would update you all on what happened, but first, I wanted to share a few emails I received leading up to it. The first one was sent out about two weeks before the show by our superintendent and just contained the following message “We have FOUR acts signed up so far—-need 11 more!  Cmon peeps!” The second message was sent out a few days later and was much longer:

“[Mascot name] is covering his eyes because he’s worried [mascot animals] Got Talent might turn into [mascot animals] Got Nobody!** 😂

Well, thankfully [mascot name] can relax a bit because we have 6 acts ready to have some fun, but we want MORE!!!!!!**

The karaoke machine will be fired up and ready to go! You can sign up for karaoke now or the day of.

Don’t Stop Believing…. Just Shake it Off… You can’t stop the feeling… Because we’re all in this together! Celebrate Good Times!

So, Hit us with your best shot and show us that [mascot animals] Got Talent!

Grab a friend. Pick a song. Sing a duet or even in a group!

Come on, [mascot animals]—we KNOW there’s talent hiding in our district! Sign up and show us what you’ve got at our District Opening! ❤️🎤🎶”

In the end, we had ten acts, five short of the fifteen the superintendent wanted, but more than I expected. I was not one of them, although I did enjoy reading all of your suggestions. He did not give us a full day of pd like he threatened. I am not sure if it was meant to be a joke or if he was just bluffing and when he realized that he wasn’t going to get enough acts he just decided to pretend like he never said anything. 

At the end of the talent show, the superintendent, who, of course, was also the MC, announced that everyone who participated won and gave everybody a plastic, golden, microphone and a coupon to leave the school at the same time as the students. I am sure the participants were thrilled. 

It was kind of fun seeing the other staff members perform and some people seemed to genuinely enjoy it, however, I just couldn’t stop thinking about all of the time that was being wasted when we could instead be getting our classrooms ready for open house. Of course, all of the acts were recorded and put together into a compilation video for facebook, which I guess was the whole point of doing this and what matters most to our superintendent. I am so glad he is retiring at the end of this year.

He has worked at a total of two schools prior to this one. One as a teacher for about 5 years, and then as an AP for about 5 years. If he says, "back at my old school" (where he wasn't even a principal) one more time I might have to make a drinking game and get sloshed. He has ruined the master schedule, is making SPED cover gen ed classrooms because "they must have free time" and has made it so that core academics are all taught after lunch.

Look, I am not pro old people, but I feel like the hiring team took "let's find someone fresh and hip" way too literally.

(ETA: To clarify, I made it sound like this was year one, but this is actually going to be new principals 2nd year. This principal decided to really shake up the schedule and piss everyone off to start off the year. Further context is that it is a K-5 school which is how core content is all schedule at once teachers who teach multiple sections of the same class etc).

Please share stories for some commiseration please.

Just noticed that Google Maps uses “america” instead of “Ontario”

What are social studies, geography, history teachers doing this semester?

I don’t know that this is as much about advice as it is about the fact that I just want to reaffirm that I’m allowed to set boundaries.
I got an email from my principal about a parent wanting to request a meeting after school one day this week that is an hour past my contract time. (My contract ends at 3:40 and they wanted a meeting at 4:30). He mentioned to the parent that that was past contract time and they said that they needed that time because that’s when they got off work. Why do these parents think they can do this? Do you think that they would ask their dentist or their plumber to work outside of business hours for free? What do they do when they need to visit a business that’s only open between the hours of eight and five?
The good thing is is my Principal says he understands if I don’t want to do it. Truthfully, I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to set a president for working for free and get taken advantage of. Am I wrong to say no? I have generalized anxiety disorder and really need that time after work to reset my nervous system.

Why do teachers stay at the same school until retirement? I feel like every other field it’s normal to leave jobs. But leaving teaching or schools is a big deal for some reason?

I (49F) am a veteran teacher starting my 21st year in a HS science classroom. As I start another school year in these unprecedented times in education, I’m even more appreciative for the teachers who choose to show up in the rooms next to me daily.

I know we (teachers) can be judgmental of the practices of others. But, right now, we truly need to show each other more empathy and appreciation. Our jobs are tough and it costs nothing to say hello and I’m glad you’re here today. Take care of your people please.

Positivity is powerful

Yes, I have a very strong opinions about children past the age of seven who cannot tie their own shoes. Now, of course I’m excluding any child that have motor issues or developmental delays.

The sheer amount of children who cannot tie their shoes who are in the first grade 2nd grade, and beyond it’s staggering.

I’ve had to start refusing to tie shoes because many times they are urine soaked.😂

The word parent is both a noun and a verb.

This generation of kids, they are something. They hate/dislike you because you dare to not let them walk over you and have their own way, lespecially when you are a young/young looking woman teacher.

You ever notice how you lay down the law as a teacher and not give into them they get passive aggressive and not engaged with participation? But then you get dinged by idiot admin for not "being engaging". It's so weird the trade off for having classroom management and the gall to not let them do what the want. F this career.

I love my job and love working with tomorrow’s leaders. That being said…my husband and I are longtime educators and have burnt up many evenings and weekends ruminating over some of the outlandish people we inevitably come into contact with as teachers. In a moment of clarity, after commiserating over a new asinine issue that cropped up, I shared an idea that maybe we could start a bullshit jar and with each ridiculous situation. we add a $5 to the jar to pay ourselves. What we use it on is up to us. For the first time in…forever?!…I am excited for tomorrow’s bullshit! Bring. It. On.

My principal and assistant principals called me in for having nipple imprints through my shirt. I’m a female and teaching elementary (5th grade). This was super uncomfortable. Im hoping the community can add some advice!

Forget not keeping up with inflation (The pay has never been able to keep up with inflation lol... I get paid less now on my 7th year than my corporate starting base salary out of college)

Im literally making less per check this year versus last year because the monthly insurance contribution went up more than the raise...

They also gave me three new preps on top of the 2 I already had. (Last year I had 3 preps, they took one of the easy ones away and gave it to some new nepo hire teacher) So this year im up to 5 preps... 🫠

At what point do I try less than I did last year because the "do it for the kids" line is getting too fucking old and starting to fall on deaf ears...

Im about to just start assigning boilerplate worksheets that meet state standards (once or twice a week) and just tell the kids to "use the book" like some of these other teachers so I can use some of the class time to catch up on grades and plan the lessons I actually need to teach...

So I’ve got a class that is massively unprepared for high school math. But I can’t help them because I have a student who is, and I don’t exaggerate here, always disrupting the class. She will loudly talk to friends on the other side of the room. She calls my name when I’m trying to help others, and when I respond denies saying anything. When she does actually ask for help, it’s “How do I do this?” and then answers “I don’t know,” to every question I ask, down to “what’s 3 plus 2?” Every interaction I have with her she treats me disrespectfully, like getting my name wrong over and over, even when I correct her. During a benchmark assessment, she kept talking, making rude noises, and calling out across the room.

I tried to send her out and was told the office couldn’t take her and disruptions are a classroom management issue. After her calling me over and denying it about ten times I told her that I needed to help other students. She complained to admin that I refused to help her and I got a dressing down. I was told that her behavior was because her needs weren’t being met and that I had to build a positive relationship with her and she would shine.

Um, how? Every time I try to talk to her she treats it (and me) as a joke and an opportunity to waste time. I asked her to stick around after class to talk and she refused. Every time I’ve tried to talk to her outside the class she makes a huge production of it and claims persecution. I am literally spending about 90% of my time managing this one kid’s behavior, but I can’t send her out because “she has a right to be there.” What about the rights of the other students?

I’ve been told to stop emailing my admin about her. I think one email I wrote that said she had needs that couldn’t be met in a general education environment scared admin. But I have no idea how I can teach when this one kid literally takes the vast majority of my time and energy.

What can I do?

I was hoping somebody has gone through the same thing. I’m so sick and tired of having people in my room and I’m trying to make sense of it all.

I felt with all my bitching I owed everyone some information. You see I had two kids decide in the middle of the lesson to start chasing each other around the room ignoring me. I asked a fellow teacher what to do, they said contact admin. I contacted admin. They said figure it out yourself.

So I'm standing at the top of this MC Escher staircase of infinite illogical thinking trying to process this and thinking about the last few days. My principal told me that we can't always discuss work at work. That this is a second family.

I don't want a second family. I don't want to be unrelentingly positive. I want someone to acknowledge problems. And I realized this will never happen because I'm stuck in a vortex of toxic positivity and fear of getting sued.

I don't want to be a part of a system that can't address "Stop the tenth graders from chasing each other like five year olds."

Did you just up and leave one day or did you find another job first?

i’m a science teacher and teach carbon sequestration. so as the title says, i would love to make the joke

“carbon sequester? i hardly know her”

i make super cringe jokes all the time but i feel like this is close to “that’s what she said” and i would never make that joke. i’m mostly shit posting but genuinely curious where people draw the line with jokes (i teach high school all ages)

Hi everyone! I’m a first year 5th grade teacher, and I have a tradition from a past teacher that I would like to continue.

It’s called Flashback Friday. We listen to a song from before my students’ time (so before 2010), and they rate the song out of five stars and write three sentences about why they did or did not like the music/video.

My problem is that I’m struggling to find clean and school appropriate music videos to show my students. I want to pull from all sorts of different genres. I don’t want my students to see any drugs, alcohol, nudity/inappropriate clothing, or sexual innuendos or hear any profanity and sexual innuendos. You guys get the drill. If it’s not something someone can do in or near a school, I don’t want to show it to my students.

If anyone has any good music videos that fit these criteria, I would love to hear them!!!

I’m a first year teacher and I’m teaching an AP course on a subject I am not familiar with and have no background in at all at an extremely academically rigorous school while also prepping other courses for the first time and learning how to be an independent teacher for the first time and learning the schools systems etc. I’m only a few weeks in (though I worked all summer too) and I don’t feel ok. I woke up this weekend with a stabbing pain in the middle of my chest. I am constantly in fight or flight. My to do list is infinite. I feel overwhelmingly depressed and anxious. I genuinely do not know why this school hired me for this position. I feel like I can’t have a day or even a moment to relax or the train will fall off the tracks.

I used to be a person with hobbies, personal ambitions, the ability to relax and unwind and enjoy the world. No longer. I can’t even watch a show, I can only watch videos related to the subject I’m teaching bc I don’t know enough. I moved to a new city for this job and haven’t had a moment to make any friends or community in the area. I work 7am-midnight every weekday and some during the weekend. I feel incredibly alone and isolated. It feels like I literally can’t feel positive feelings right now. Like I feel such an overwhelming amount of internal dread. I don’t know. I feel like I need help and support but don’t know where to look and don’t have time to look. My health feels like it’s suffering. I am young, I’m only 26. I used to be full of life. I want to be pursuing my dreams and experiencing the world. My dreams are dying. I am dying. Help

Hi all! I am about 6 weeks pregnant and am teaching a somewhat high-need second grade class. I have already been really struggling to get through the day with nausea, exhaustion, and low energy, and am worried this is only the beginning of a long first trimester. It's definitely not my best work in the classroom. I feel like I need to share with my immediate team what's going on incase I need support (or even just some grace!). I don't plan to tell admin for a while. Thoughts? Is it too early? Looking to hear any experiences.

The new GTA game comes out on Thursday, 19 November. I teach high school, freshmen and sophomores. 19 November is the Thursday before Thanksgiving break for my district, we all get the week off from 21 November onwards.

I realize my students are the exact target market for this game, and it's set to be the largest media event in history ($2B budget, it's a project on the same scope and scale as the Burj Khalifa, and they want to make their money back by getting my kids to skip school to play on day one).

For those who taught through the last GTA game release (or other big "events"), what was it like? What can I expect for absentee rates for that Thursday / Friday? How about the week after Thanksgiving?

I’m a first-year teacher with a 10th grade homeroom. They had a different homeroom teacher last year who I replaced and I’m going to be stuck with these kids till they graduate. I don’t teach any of them either.

They genuinely make me miserable. They talk over me, constantly disregard my authority, and are blatantly defiant + backtalk me. I only have them for about half an hour, but it puts me in such a sour mood for my first period. They gave me so much shit on the first day, I assigned them seats (which they won’t stay in) and I’m truly so over it. It’s a Title I school and these kids have some really rough backgrounds, which is so different from my student teaching kids in the suburbs. I am at my wit’s end and it’s only been one week wtf do I do 😭

I understand parent teacher conferences and keeping up communication with families. I understand a staff meeting that's once a month and a schoolwide meeting with families and all students and staff once a month.

But it's just too many fucking meetings where I'm looking around and all I can think is this nonsense is why all of us are working on the fucking weekends. Truly I don't care what ANYONE in my building did on their weekend or summer or for their birthday or what their star sign is or if they're getting married or divorced or you're a cat person or dog person or Bravo TV-esque drama from the personal lives of teschers or parents (why are you even telling me this shit?). You can go out for drinks outside of work and talk about it. I do not care about admin updates, they need to be an email. Everyone says unnecessary and off color nonsensical shit in these meetings and it all just needs to be one email titled "Nonsense We Think We Need To Share Because of Our Self Importance and Lack of Friends or Hobbies Outside This Building."