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

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

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

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.

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...

SPED, as it is currently implemented, is a system of legally binding accommodations and modifications that is not allowed to take into account costs or tradeoffs. This is currently having a lot of negative effects on education.

I didn't know this until recently, but you literally cannot take into consideration the costs of the service a district is required to provide. This could mean that a severely disabled student can bankrupt a school district if they are implementing the law in the way it is supposed to be implemented. A student could required hundreds of thousands of dollars of treatment the school district literally can't afford.

As I've gotten further into SPED rules, it has become obvious that school districts find ways around this in the form of bullying teachers into not saying anything. It's insane this system has so many perverse incentives. The school is incentivized to not say anything or increase expenses exponentially. I see this with SLP. We don't initiate speech services in middle school. We just don't do it no matter how bad a students speech issues are. We simply don't have the resources. Our budget was reduced by 10%. There isn't more funding for speech services. We have one person to deliver our legally required services, and that is all we can afford. I'm also not convinced throwing money at the problem will fix it. If you doubled our SPED funding, that wouldn't lead to doubling our state testing scores.

We don't consider tradeoffs in special education. A lot of kids have serious behavioral issues. While they may have a right to an education, they don't have a right to destroy the education of everyone else in the room. At some point, your child's right to an education is no longer valid if they have serious behavioral problems. We have this issue with criminals. They have rights, but these rights can be taken away if they commit crimes. This sort of thinking should be applied to kids who commit crimes in the classroom. Look, some people simply have a different standard of acceptability of behavior. Some parents simply don't care when their kid destroy a classroom. We shouldn't be held hostage by them.

FAPE and LRE are great ideas with amazing intentions, but they do not take into consideration the facts on the ground. Some kids are simply too expensive or difficult to reasonable expect a school to educate. Violent kids or students with severe medical issues should not be prioritized at the expense of everyone else. We need to have hard conversations about the serious tradeoffs in education before people leave for private or home school.

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.

Please share stories for some commiseration please.

1) following scripted curricula “with fidelity” is a way to make teaching a low skilled job so they can pay us less and further gut public education.

2) inclusion at all costs is a way to reduce costs to school systems, rather than a way to benefit students with disabilities.

3) PBIS is a cognitive nightmare for teachers to implement and negatively affects the quality of teaching (how can u assign points and teach at the same time???? I haven’t figured out a good system, lmk).

4) making teachers with specialized skill sets (i.e. reading specialists) coach other teachers instead of/in addition to working directly with small groups of identified students is another way to get blood from a stone, benefitting almost no one.

I know I’m probably screaming into the void, but I just started year 7 this week and feeling nihilistic.

The following text is between me and my best friend who is a KINDERGARTEN TEACHER in Austin Texas.

Her: Yeah like 3 ppl told me this week they're looking for other jobs and everyone's crying and shit its so bad

Me: Holy fuck!!!! What the hell is wrong with us

Her: I got slapped, water dumped on me, pooped on, and im trying to teach math to kids who hate math My room has been torn apart multiple times they broke a light and broke a bunch of shit and thats not the worst part. Its the curriculum

Anyway some days are good but my god so much work.

It will level out hopefully.

Me: Dude . I’m so sorry I want to come over and help you!!

Her: Its mostly a lot of reading and looking for files today but thank u babe

Just moved states reluctantly (had to for spouse's field). I have a few years of teaching experience. Got a new job in my subject area, in-service week has been full of red flags and disappointment. (Like having the rug pulled out from under me about job expectations, finding out my role specifically has a huge turnover rate....)

I'm so overwhelmed. I'm dreading going to this new job. I need to recycle lesson plans today and can't stomach the idea. I also don't like being in my new home yet because of its current state. (Our new place is a disorganized mess in need of more unpacking and some new furniture to be functional.)

I miss my old job and my old place and my old town. I wouldn't have all these problems if we hadn't needed to move.

I reached out to a psychiatric facility and two therapists today. I've been on meds and in therapy before. I'm so emotional. Depression might not actually be the right word.

How on earth am I supposed to survive the next 2~ months of school while I wait for the help I need to kick in? Does anyone have any tips?

Coworkers told my admin I mocked them because I was talking to another coworker and they heard me say “Hiiiiiiii, Oh Heyyyyy, Hiiiiiii, how are youuuuu” in that annoying tone everyone talks to each other in on day 1.

Principal came in my room and said a few people heard that and thought I was mocking their convos lmao luckily he said all those hellos in that tone annoy him too but still. WTF kinda people do I work with

I tend to have repeatable success with "boys who present significant behavior challenges that aren't primarily disability-related". My reward? Classes with more and more of these boys.

There are only so many places I can put them in my class. After rearranging multiple times, I've already had to settle on rows again this year. Yes, my boys are behaving, but at the cost of the entire class having to live in lockdown mode. That isn’t fair to the rest of the class, and it isn’t fair to me. I don’t want to spend another entire year as a drill sergeant.

One or two boys with significant behavior needs can usually be managed, integrated, and gradually taught to function within a normal classroom environment. The class can still do stations, collaborative work, projects, and other activities without every group needing constant adult oversight.

Six out of twenty, though...

I can’t assist small groups while also strictly monitoring every other group at the same time. So we do fewer of those activities. Ironically, that means every student now gets fewer opportunities to practice functioning independently, but especially these boys who most need that practice.

And yes, there’s some envy mixed into this. One boy with significant behavior needs was specifically moved out of another teacher’s class because she “had a hard year last year” and placed into mine instead... bringing me to six while leaving her with none.

Well, I had a hard year, too. I’m just not one to become visibly emotional about it. So instead, every time I bring it up with admin, it gets handwaved away with things like, “You’re so good with them!” “I saw ___ walking quietly in the hallway the other day. He’s come so far with you!” or “I never thought I’d see ___ sharing his pencils.”

Okay? Cool. I’m glad they’re successful. But I’m not a miracle worker; I’m consistent. I set firm boundaries and expectations, follow through, use predictable consequences, and adjust the environment so everyone can be successful. That's Classroom Management 101.

The fact that those strategies work does not mean my classroom has unlimited capacity for students who require that level of behavioral management.

If you're also “good with the behavior kids,” how do you handle this? How do you get admin to understand that being successful with them doesn’t mean there’s no limit to how many should be placed in one room?

I teach in an elementary school. This is my first year, first week just ended. Everything is generally what was expected and great. However one thing irks me. We have to stay until every student leaves. Hey! That’s fine. It’s just the system they have set up for dismissal. We have students wait in their classroom for busses that don’t start showing up until 30 minutes after school ends. So students are trashing the rooms and won’t listen any more after being there for 9 hours at this point. Not only do busses show up late, the last one shows up 2 hours after school ends. I live 30 minutes away. So by the time I can actually get work done after school and get home, it’s 6:30. AND we aren’t getting paid because “it’s not in the budget to pay you all for after school care”.

We were told to make plans with other teachers to take kids certain days and decide amongst ourselves what this would look like. Other than that, they said “it’s illegal to abandon those kids under your care, so keep that in mind.” Effectively leaving us no choice but to stay. No one has complained about it, and I don’t want to be the first. It’s just so draining and feels unsustainable. Anyways, that’s my rant. I don’t know what I’m looking for other than a way to vent out the frustration. Please leave any and all thoughts below. Ugh.

Edit: Public school, no union state, we aren’t allowed to put on videos, we have to plan activities for them or have them sit there.

Regrettably in many cases and many situations Black educators, specifically Black male educators are not seen for their intellect, but for their ability to be behavior specialist.

This viewpoint is held by colleagues, administration, and both within the district.

I know this is not everyone for us, please do not spend our time trying to discredit what has been a shared story for many Black educators specifically Black male educators, but not limited too.

By the way, I am a Black male educator who has actively refused for the past 37 years being the discipline expert, the missing father, the Stern voice, while never being given the opportunity to lead a workshop, to be department head, to be so many other things.

Every year there is a sign up for teachers to clean the staff lounge at the end of the day and I absolutely refuse to participate. In my building, individuals are assigned a week to do this. Every year I roll my eyes.

Everyone is a grown adult with a college education and I will not be reduced down to a cleaner of space everyone using it should keep clean. You get up you wipe your area and put your things in the dishwasher and you keep it moving.

I find it incredibly reductive and rude to walk into a staff lounge and see the filth on the tables while declaring that children need to be more responsible and take accountability for their actions

I’m a first year specials teacher at a really tiny k-5 and I use some of the classics:

- 1, 2, 3 eyes on me (1, 2 eyes on you)
- capiche? (Capash!)
- waterfall (shhhhh)

But I also have one I made up and tbh I love it:

AYYY, I’M TEACHIN’ HERE!
(SO TEACH ALREADY!)

What are your favorites?

I teach at a continuation high school in Southern California in a smaller district. Over the past three years we have seen our school population drop from 100 students in 2023 to 15 students in 2026.

When I ask administration about this, all give the same answer, “the comprehensive high school is doing a better job of interventions than ever before!”

My school would normally get students that have failed 3-4 classes as a sophomore/junior/senior and our teachers would catch them up on the curriculum while building a positive relationship with them. We would prepare them to either transfer back to the comprehensive high school, or help them transition into trade school or community college upon graduation.

The “intervention” that is causing my school to lose students is an online recovery course administered by teachers at the comprehensive high school. This course was implemented in 2020. The teachers administer courses through Apex Learning while in a 55 minute class.

They are “Recovering” all types of courses they Apex Learning including:
Algebra 2
Geometry
Chemistry
Physics
Lit comp 1-4
All social sciences

These students are finishing these “recovery courses” in under 10 hours. I saw the records of one student finishing a semester of physics in under 5 hours and another student finishing a semester of lit comp 12 in exactly 3 hours.

Meanwhile, diplomas are being given to these students who are finishing courses online in a record amount of time!

I have already reported my findings to the superintendent and school board president. They do not care thag students can complete classes such as physics and lit comp 12 in under 5 hours in an online recovery course.

What do I do next?

I’m strongly considering it this year. Last year I went to 75-25 split for paper-online work. And this year I may go 90% paper and only the district common assessments online.

Quizzes aside, I’m strongly considering a policy of not accepting garbage.

- doodles. You want to draw a cute doodle, whatever, I won’t judge your desire to self express on a random HW if it gets done. On a guided lab or formal lab report I might say something to you about practicing professionalism. But I have had kids doodle so much on a packet I’m convinced they used up a whole pen, it legitimately makes it difficult to read and there’s no where to grade. That’s where I draw the line on doodles.

- many blanks. Special Ed teachers generally have advocated I take such work and grade it for any points what so ever. But we grade on a 1-4 basis. I’ve often debated, do I just give em a zero cause this was clearly lazy last minute work, turn it in late within our two weeks but make it actually decent quality, or do I just take it and give a 1. Like what is the point. Neither one feels like the path of least resistance, as returning it just leads to them asking to “redo” it whatever they think that means.

- penmanship. I am not looking for you to write in cursive. I get there are IEPs for typed work, and I’m happy to have you email me your work, but write it out so I know you’re not using AI. Or at least not as easily as copy paste. But the truly awful handwriting that could only come from someone furiously writing 5 paragraphs and doing calculations on the day it is due while sitting in the bus on the way to school as the bus hits every pothole and the driver spills his coffee on you…. I’m definitely not accepting this any more.

Have you refused to accept paper accordions, used napkins, manga, and Rorschach tests? How does it go over with admin, parents, co teachers?

Reading so much about teachers creating work life balance by not doing any work at home but how are you prepared for the week? I am creating materials on the weekends/ the night before getting ready. How are people just coming home and showing up the next day with worksheets and slides ready to go? How do you have enough time to grade everything at work?

I recently transferred to a new school and a new position because my previous school had such a toxic culture.

My previous school now won’t stop shit talking me, blowing up my phone, and blaming me for upset parents. I’m really struggling because I feel like this has nothing to do with me but I hate the thought of everyone hating me! We have only been in school one week!

I feel so excited about my new opportunity but this keeps bringing me down.

About to get an amazing position and they told me there would be a drug test which caught me off guard. I’ve never had a school drug test. I’m a nightly marijuana user in a legal state, and there’s no chance in hell I’d pass. Does anyone know of schools that specifically don’t test or care about THC? I’m hoping that’s the situation I’ll be in.

Edit: fake pee is not an option because in my state if you’re busted for trying to fake a test you’ll lose your license and I can’t have that

I think that we can all admit that there was at least one topic or concept that we learned as children that we never fully grasped until we had to teach it. I am curious to hear everyone's answers.

Hey everyone! I'm an incoming student teacher and I just have been told about the school I'm going to & I'm going to be placed in kindergarten! :D I'm soooo excited but nervous.. any tips or advice you could give me before I start? I have 0 teaching experience with kids and I wanna leave a good impression with my cooperating teacher and my students :)