I'm starting my creative writing unit with my sophomores. I've had complaints before about students not really having dreams (they talk about how much money they want to have, not who they want to be, in the future) but they also lack imagination and it really bums me out.

The first assignment I gave them for this unit was to write a scene that ends with a secret being revealed. That's it. The goal is to have them build on it over a few classes "Okay, now that that secret's out, what happens next? What's the fallout?" So many kids literally cannot conceptualize making up a story from their imagination. If it didn't literally happen to them, they can't make it up.

And that makes me really sad y'all. It's one thing to have kids who suck at reading comprehension, it's another to have the imagination beat out of them by social media and standardized tests.

I'm a writer first and a teacher second, in my mind, and it's sad to see the next generation not want to try new things in the creative space. I was writing shitty fanfiction on wattpad when I was their age, on my own!

If a kid had a 6, for example, we used to have to override it to a 50 when turning in grades for the quarter. I’m sure many of you are familiar with the lovely grading floor.

My district finally said we would not be doing it anymore. It felt like a win. More accountability for students. They will actually get the grade they earn, and we will have taken a step in the right direction when it comes to fixing the mess that is education.

Ever since then, every staff meeting involves my principal preaching to us about how everything is our fault.

If a kid is failing, it is your fault. You should have checked in with them, contacted home, contacted admin, etc.

If a kid has a 0 in the grade book for anything, it is your fault. You should have emailed home when they didn’t turn something in. You should have sent them to admin’s office to do the work (yeah fucking right), you should keep following up daily and make them turn something in (I have too many students to keep track of all their assignments for them, that’s their job).

If you haven’t contacted home about failing grades, it is your fault that situation hasn’t improved. It shouldn’t be a surprise to parents when they get a progress report sent home and their child is failing (You’re right it shouldn’t be a surprise, because parents should be checking their kids’ grades online them fucking selves).

Yes, it is true that you shouldn’t just do NOTHING if a kid comes to class, puts their head down everyday, doesn’t do any work, and is failing. But it still isn’t OUR fault.

It is a student’s responsibility to do their work. It is a student’s responsibility to keep up with their grades. Especially being a high school teacher, these kids are old enough to keep track of this shit. I don’t need to hold their hand and move the pencil across the page for them. I don’t need to check all 90 of my students’ grades daily for them. It is a parent’s responsibility to check their child’s grades and notice when their kid has missing assignments or is failing.

None of this is our fault as teachers and this new attitude now that the grading floor is gone just pisses me off. I get where some of this is coming from. Again, we should be making an attempt to help struggling kids, but their actions and choices are not our fault in any way whatsoever.

My coadvisor had a massive line so I was doing conferences in line with people, joking with kids, talking to parents, etc. I get to one kid who is failing 7/8 classes and after I stated I can’t get him to do work (including a test essay today where he wrote NOTHING) the dad started saying I’m disrespectful by throwing papers (the kid admitted I’ve slid papers across the table twice this semester) and need to learn how to do my job or get a new one. I told him straight away “let’s try that again because I don’t appreciate being told I’m not good at my job, I know I’m super good at my job. Your kid won’t do work.” He kept interrupting me and when I warned him “you get one more of those and I’m walking away.”

When he told me his kid has never been disrespectful to my face I said “he started day one being disruptive, talking loudly, pushing tables around, and talks every day when I’m lecturing.”

His response “man I know you’re disrespectful, I’ve seen you today”
“Give me an example”
“I know how you are, and my kid has ADHD, here’s the diagnoses.”
“Yeah, I do too, so I guess I’m not being disrespectful, huh? Tell you what we can do about this then…”
He interrupted again so I just said “have a goodnight” and walked off. Gave my principal a heads up and the dad later went to complain to him. I doubt the dad will like the daily PDF he gets tracking every single interaction to “maintain an air of respect and understanding” that details moods, posture, etc.

I also had a mom, who’s daughter is in the same class, tell my principal “you know, I had problems with him a couple years ago with her older sister but I’m so glad he’s the teacher. She doesn’t talk about any other teachers but she loves going into his class and thinks he’s so great. I’m really thankful he’s the one teaching her.” My principal told her “please don’t tell him that, it’ll justify him.” Hilarious.

Time for day 2 of conferences.

31 year veteran here. I will retire for the 2nd and last time from this job come May. I am about effin' tired of every year a new guru consultant comes to kill our time in PD sessions. They tout these grandiose pedagogical cure-alls that are just largely plagiarized from other so-called gurus.

Isn't it safe to say if there were any silver bullet to achievement that it would have been found decades ago?

Every year it is the same old routine: go over data, teachers get shamed cuz this group or that group is not performing, we hear the same old gaslighting cliches like "remember your why," get pumped up by some motivational speaker as if we were some suicide bombers ready to sacrifice our lives for a greater cause, then we get a bunch of training from a consultant (probably somebody tight with the superintendent or a board member) getting paid big ass money who herself was desperate to leave the classroom, and all while we normal teachers are failing to pay attention as we have too much to do in our classrooms as it is.

My theory here is this is all smoke and mirrors as we could never have the honest conversation about student achievement so we obfuscate the realities with abstract gobbledygook.

Sorry for the rant. After 31 years (I have been admin, counselor, teacher, college professor, and other hats I cannot remember), I am very tired both mentally and physically.

But I am also morally indignant.

We cannot call ourselves moral people and be ok with this state of affairs.

I teach elementary school. Last week, we had a grade-wide field trip. Another grade level teacher asked if we could have an impromptu meeting to talk about the trip for tomorrow. I was getting ready to leave already, because my hours were over, but it sounded good to all check in and make sure we were on the same page.

We spent way too long going over the schedule with a bunch of meandering bantering, and then another teacher had an idea to bring an activity to the trip that involved cutting out a bunch of things from papers. And that if we all work together it will get done quickly. But we had already been sitting there having this ineffecient conversation for OVER 30 MINUTES. 1) the kids could cut these papers we don’t need to do it for them….. 2) it’s already past contracted hours 3) WE COULDVE BEEN CUTTING THEM THIS ENTIRE TIME WE HAVE BEEN TALKING 4) I have plans after school I need to get to. They made me feel awful for not helping out, but Jesus Christ if this idea was earlier in the week, I would’ve cut them over time if I found a moment. Or had a kid help. Or taken it home and had my friends help. Teaching isn’t my entire identity. I have a rich life that I care about. That helps me be a better teacher and person. And I still feel so guilty about leaving :(

Then I realised there’s soooo many moments just like this one. Over and over again. So many last minute things. So many times people ignore my vast other contributions and focus on the fact I’m leaving when again, this was unplanned. I already collaborate so much outside of contract hours!!!

I don’t have a prep period anymore. I’m assigned to lunch duty and don’t get a lunch. I can’t do this anymore. Idk how I’m going to finish the school year.

I’m an elementary school teacher and between personal tragedies and family health struggles my mental health has been in the gutter. This year at school has only made it worse with pressuring admin and unruly kids. I honestly feel like I’m going to snap. I don’t sleep, I don’t eat. I’ve lost 15 pounds in 7 weeks. I have heart palpitations every morning before work and feel like I’m having a panic attack every morning on the drive in. I cry every single day. The guilt that comes from the thought of leaving the kids only makes these feelings worse, but I honestly think I’m going to pull the steering wheel if this keeps going. Does anyone have any similar experiences or advice for suddenly resigning for mental health reasons? I’ve read my contract and agreement and know there would be penalties, but I really don’t care. I’m willing to pay any fine or have my license revoked at this point because the thought of going back is killing me.

Obvious exaggeration in the title, but as a first year art teacher, Pre-K Art twice a week is slowly becoming degrading, and I’m shouting to the void to get it off my chest.

The kids are so sweet don’t get me wrong, but Pre-K lessons require SO MUCH more prep because they need so much structure and scaffolding. Prepping materials, organizing the classroom, timing out the steps, everything feels like it takes 3X the effort compared to even my kindergarteners.

And after all that prep, I just come into class and try and wrangle thirteen 3-4 year olds for FOURTY ONE minutes.

I’ve been told I have great classroom management, I never have crying/tantrum kids, and everyone participates and finishes the art projects. Parents have contacted me that their 3 year olds love art class, and my principle has been giving me praises for how I’ve handled Pre-K

So WHY do I just feel like a glorified baby sitter every week??

A parent asked me to call about their child’s math grade today. Called at the beginning of my planning period—they were pretty aggressively rude throughout the conversation. And then at the end they go “by the way, I’ve been recording this conversation. Is it alright with you if I share this with my spouse?” Not only do I find this profoundly rude and upsetting, but I’m in a state where all-party consent is required…

I didn’t say anything I regret. And fortunately, I’ve got an administrator firmly in my corner and supportive of me in the situation. But in this day and age with AI, the thought definitely crossed my mind that “great, now they can manipulate that recording to make it sound like I said whatever they want.”

I’m at close to 20 years in teaching. But shit like this definitely makes me think that I’m not going to stay in teaching forever… why would anyone want to with the way parents behave in our society?

Okay, okay, okay, hear me out...

We can easily out compete drug cartels.

We can produce safer and higher quality.

And we can finally partly fund our classrooms again. Maybe even replace that SPEC-20 from 35 years ago with a Vernier probe!

Just make sure our TA isn't dating the child of an air traffic controller.

I see no problems with my plan and I will not be taking questions.

Not retired yet but getting close. I am about to be 60 and do not feel ready to be done but not sure I want the daily grind of all this stuff. What are suggestions for part time jobs? I have grandchildren in school so I am spoiled and want their schedule.

The long short of it:

Spent my first six years, teaching in a low cost of living majority-minority area with children whose families were constantly struggling for financial and social resources to keep food on the table. Were there behavior problems? Yes. But mostly it was a one-on-one (fighting) sort of thing. I’m not saying that is better, but it’s definitely its own sort of problem/solution situation.

These families lost loved ones and living situations to storms and covid hit extremely hard- we were a safe space for them and their children.

Now I am in a different state (Michigan) at an NHA school and last year I fucking killed it. Every child grew because I set clear structure and boundaries. Were the first few weeks with a mean 1st graders teacher hard for some high flyers? Yes. But those kids come visit me every day and their parents requested me for siblings.

But OF COURSE admin saw this as an opportunity to load me up with all the behavior problems this year, and I’m fucking drowning. I’m talking DAILY screaming outbursts from 2-3 kids lasting all day, tables and chairs flipped. Eloping. All of it. Last year I basically never called for behavior support, this year I’m forcing myself within an inch of my sanity to make them stay in the classroom bc leaving them becomes a reward.

Yesterday I thought I was going to walk out and quit. Had a kid teasing others and being genuinely mean to peers twice in an hour. So he gets a “think sheet” to go home to let family know this is a problem. Kid loses his shit and flips a table. It’s 2:25pm. I call for behavior. My admin sends a messenger to ask me “what interventions I tried before requesting support”.

No. NO. you do not get to bend over backwards telling me what a great teacher I am and then question me when I’m in genuine need for safety support. The audacity to say “well was it Child A? He always lashes out like this so you need to intervene THEN document it before calling.” It wasn’t even that child! You didn’t even think to ask!!! Just “well how did you attempt to close the circle before getting help?”

I can’t do this. I love teaching. I really like my school! But I have never been in a situation where there is violence in a 1st grade classroom and I’m asked to legitimately take the hit as the one adult among 30 kids.

I’m thinking about looking for a full time sub role in a better local district and packing my bags. I’m devastated.

My own child has health issues and is at a different school than me this year. I cannot carry all of this for $57k a year. I am so stuck in what feels like a shrinking room.

I didn’t know what flair to add… but any teachers work in a district with no union or a union that is basically does so little that you hear NOTHING about them?

I’m just curious because my district has a “union” but they do nothing. Many teachers stopped paying their dues because the union doesn’t show up for us at all.

I am a fifth year teacher. I have one class this year (high school seniors) that I can’t control for the life of me. It is just the wrong combination of students in one room. They always talk when I am talking. I have one student who lacks impulse control and makes faces at others. The other students get irritated by it. It doesn’t matter where I sit everyone. I have done the following:
1.) Contacted parents, given teacher detentions
2.) Kicked students out of class
3.) Moved seats
4.) Stopped talking when they were talking
5.) Stopped half way in the middle of class and told students they will work by themselves and I wasn’t going to keep talking over them.

What are some other strategies you recommend?

Looking for advice on how to handle a shitty situation. Background--I'm a 20 plus year teacher, teaching math in a medium sized pretty decent school. Kids are mostly good, I am considered one of the better teachers in the school and pretty well respected. Been at this school 4 years now.

Here's the story: One of our math teachers is out on maternity leave. When she left another teacher offered to pick up two of her classes for her---the teacher that offered is the math interventionist and is an incredible teacher, and good person too.

The school declined the offer and got a long term sub in for her. The deal is though that this was decided by our "sub manager" who is a history teacher here and he decides who gets the sub jobs for some weird reason. He's been here 33 years and is a complete idiot. He is the decider though and he chose the sub.

Now the sub is our old department head who retired 10 years ago. She hasn't taught since and is, well, suffering I think from early dementia. She also has no clue about systems like powerschool or google classroom or just the basics of like how to take attendance. She has been coming to me and the rest of the department every day to do her attendance and put grades in powerschool for her. She also has forgotten the geometry material she is supposed to be teaching.

The problem though, is this. I have heard from kids who I have had in class last year that she continually screams at her class (she has one that I had last year in algebra that has some discipline issues) and swears at them, calling them stupid and telling them they are idiots.

Like most things students tell me, I listen but take it all with a large grain of salt. We all know students exaggerate and embellish. But I was concerned.

Just an hour ago, I hear her (at the other end of a long hallway) screaming "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU IDIOTS?" among a lot of other things for the first 5 minutes of class. The kids in my class were taking a standardized test, and I always leave the door open, so I went to shut it and while I was up I hear more of the same. The kids in my class asked me to leave the door open so they could have some entertainment while they tested, to which I chuckled and just shut the door. They then told me "we told you she always does that".

My dilemma is this--should I take matters into my own hands and go to admin and demand she gets removed from the building? I feel like I am now a witness to child abuse and have to report it. The problem with this is that she is very good friends with the rest of our department who worked with her as department head for decades, and the sub manager is also very close with her.

Am I being a drama king? Should I run this up the chain? I feel like I am liable if I don't!

The Brewers Jake Bauer claims he got back into baseball because his teacher wife got pregnant and they were going to need the health insurance. This is being treated as a heart warming story. Is it though? Or is it a damning case of pathetic teacher compensation and the joke of health insurance in general?

High school science, year 11 teaching. I can get students to copy almost anything. Cornell format, guided notes, two column notes, vocabulary boxes. Compliance is not the issue.

Two weeks later a large chunk of them look at the same page like someone else wrote it. Meanwhile a few students who barely write half a page can explain the concept cold because they actually stop and retrieve it.

I am less interested in prettier notes and more interested in a routine that makes the notes do something after class. If you have a best note taking app, retrieval routine, or classroom structure that students kept using past the novelty week, I would love specifics. Thanks for any recommendations.

I’m only in my 3rd year teaching but have noticed how bizarre administrators are. I would love to know how those who have been in education longer than I have feel about this.

In my district, most seem to have started out as teachers, then became instructional coaches, athletic directors, testing coordinators, or something similar. Basically, a non teaching role without administrative power.

Then, they become admin, and then they move on to being a principal or go work for the district.

I assume some people out there have great admin, but that isn’t the case for me, or for most people, it seems.

Mine say all the usual shit: Creating a seating chart will solve all of your behavioral issues! Have you tried forming relationships with the kids? What small grouping strategies will you be using during “FLEX to success” time? Remember your why!

They will talk about when they were classroom teachers. For some, it’s been so long that being a teacher is something completely different now than it was when they were teaching. For others, it will have been more recent, but still not recent enough for them to understand what the job is like currently.

They just seem so fake. They act like they are sooo busy and important, and I do believe they have a lot of work to do, but I just know it isn’t like what we teachers do. They want us to believe that they hold kids accountable for discipline, that everything is fine, etc. I see through it all. They seem unwilling to acknowledge the state the education system is in. It is just so much constant bullshit that it makes you think maybe these people really are just delusional and detached from reality.

So I’m wondering, how long do you think it takes a former teacher turned admin/instructional coach/principal/district person to become this way? Why do they become this way? DO they become this way, or were they like this all along? How many do you think started well intentioned, hoping to really make a difference in education as admin, versus just wanted to “escape” teaching?

considering all the ways to communicate, and the ease of keeping parents informed, why are conferences still a thing? .... tradition?

Hi all, new teacher here. Thank you to everyone who has been helping me along with some of my posts! This is kind of a vent.

I have a parent that I have been greatly warned about. She complains about everything, and "threatens" to homeschool her child. The student is super sweet and never an issue in class. She definitely has some learned helplessness, but overall does a great job.

The mom however is a nut. Admin has dealt with her the last few years. I received an email from her and I am feeling like I fucked up. I had to leave the class for about an hour for an IEP meeting, and when I came back the para, who was subbing, had a bad review and said that most of the kids were not following expectations.

I was stressed as it was already a stressful day. The special education teacher I work with suggested that we give everyone a strike, and I said we could take away Fun Friday. We have been working well together, and as a new teacher I have learned that maybe I have been a little too lenient with the kids. I didn't think on it much and just made that decision and kind of felt like this was my chance to lock down. She agreed, and we told the class when they came back from lunch. In hindsight I wish that I just left a paper for the para to write down specific kids instead of punishing the whole class.

Anyway, the mom sent me an email saying how unfair it was and that the psychological damage is irreversible. She pretty much said that teachers everywhere are problematic and her kid hates school (which I don't think is true). She also scolded me for not replying to her in an email about something else that we verbally connected about months ago.

I may allow fun Friday for some kids if they can get it together tomorrow. In the moment I kind of just made a rash decision, but I think the parent was way out of line with her email as well.

Thank you for reading, any 2 cents is helpful especially when dealing with this kind of parent.

I’ve worked as a substitute teacher, and I’ve seen and overheard some things involving paraprofessionals and assistant teachers talking about regular teachers behind their backs when the teacher isn’t around. Today I worked a half day assignment in a classroom with a paraprofessional, so I actually got the chance to meet the teacher, who was actually very nice.

At one point, some administrators and specialists came into the classroom, and the paraprofessional started talking about how the kids are always out of control, don’t listen, and can’t get their work done. She then started talking about how she has worked in other classrooms throughout the building and doesn’t have those same issues in those rooms. One of the administrators asked her whether she thought the problem was the students or the “adult” in the room, obviously referring to the regular teacher. The paraprofessional didn’t answer and told them that she would talk to them about it later.

This isn’t the first time I’ve witnessed something like this. I worked in a very small school for students with special needs where a paraprofessional was actually reporting back to the principal about the teacher. They would complain to the principal about things the teacher was doing or not doing in the classroom. Experiences like these have made me genuinely curious: Do teachers actually like having other adults in their classrooms? I understand that assistants and paraprofessionals can be helpful, but I wonder how comfortable teachers really feel having another adult in the room who could potentially be discussing their performance with admin behind their backs.

I teach high school (11th grade). I’ve noticed that this year’s group of students are a lot more collaborative in terms of group work, and have really good relationships with each other. But they do not read long blocks of text at all when I ask them to work independently after teaching a mini-lesson. There’s a lot of avoidance. They apparently did not have to do this in English class last year. I have them working on a handout/note catcher as they read, but a lot of them still don’t (my lower performing students try to copy off of their friends).

I get not liking reading, especially since we have a canned curriculum this year. I’m trying to make it interesting. But they just don’t. This is the beginning of my fourth year teaching (I started in 2023, so I suppose it’s my third calendar year). I’ve never seen anything quite like this before though.

Are there any strategies that help?

Somehow Reddit started sending me r/Teachers posts in my feed and I can't help noticing a lot of frustration. I just wanted to share what my favorite teacher taught me one day that I used my entire career. When I express my fondness of her, please understand that it wasn't because she was our buddy or sweet, matronly teacher. In fact, when I first saw the Harry Potter movie, I was shocked by how much she reminded me of my teacher. She was tough and very demanding. She had high expectations of everyone in her class. She taught from 1959 until 1991, I had her for Honor's and AP English between 1988 and 1990.

As an undiagnosed ADHD student, my General English teacher told me at the end of 10th Grade that she had pushed for me to be in Honor's English the next year to challenge me. I shrugged and said, "okay." The next year I sat about midway back in a room full of the smartest kids in my grade and felt like I was in the wrong place. Shortly into the first week or so, Mrs. Roby asked the class what the definition of a "participle" was. Most of the class raised their hands, some of them bouncing. I did not.

As you can imagine, she called on me. I told her that I didn't know. For 10 years, that reply worked and the teachers would call on someone else, but not that day.

She replied, "yes, you DO," with the word "do" in a higher pitch from the rest of the sentence.

I was confused. Politely, I explained that I did not know.

"Yes, you do," she repeated, but with each word stretched out.

Obviously, this poor elderly woman did not understand what I was trying to communicate. "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but I don't know what that is." All the other kids sounded like howler monkeys trying to get her to pick them and I was really uncomfortable.

She directed me to stand up at my desk and pick up my Grammar book. She explained that she would continue with her lesson while I found the definition. Once I did, I was to interrupt her and read the definition out loud. It took me a bit, but I complied.

That day I learned what the definition of a participle was and I never forgot. More importantly, in about 15 long minutes, I learned the answer "I don't know" was unacceptable. If you don't know something, you look it up. Throughout my military and civilian careers, I took that lesson to heart by reading every relevant policy, regulation, style guide, background research, or related document. People learned they could come to me for reliable guidance or instruction. It isn't because I was smarter than anyone else, but because in 11th Grade English, I learned that "I don't know" was never an answer.

I know the profession has changed over the years, but don't ever think your not having an impact on your dullest student. We're paying attention and learning more than you realize. Thanks for all you do.

I am currently on sabbatical to pursue a masters degree and have been out of the loop for 2 years. While this is not technically a long time it feels like a really long time given how quickly trends and slang appear and get replaced. I missed the whole 6-7 craze and just witnessed it from teacher accounts on social media. I now am trying to create list of roles that teens would be able to relate to today. I know aura is widely used (aura giver or aura taker??).

If you can list some of the slang/roles, I would be most appreciative!