Today while monitoring student computer use I witnessed a student having a “conversation” with chatGPT in which it was giving him responses with strong positive reinforcement to drop out of high school. It was agreeing with him (while calling him Big Dawg) that truancy laws are unnecessary and that if he just goes to school and that the school ultimately just wants him to attend for funding purposes. It dove into strategies in which he could just show up and serve as a “warm body” (put his head down and refuse to engage with his classes) until he was of legal age to drop out. Needless to say we had a discussion on how chatGPT/ LLMs function and he was also referred to our family service liaison. Our town is the site of a future 400 acre data center that is supposed by the school board because we will get “monetary kickbacks” and the district in general seems to be all in on AI 🙃

Sold A Story Season 2

“In Sold a Story's second season, Emily Hanford investigates what happened to Direct Instruction — and why deeply held beliefs about education often triumph over evidence.”

So what we have been screaming about FOR YEARS.

I predict that the pendulum is going to swing too hard in the opposite direction as it always does, but for now I am going to enjoy the high that comes from finally fucking feeling seen.

A girl fight broke right out in front of me today in the hall (high school). I walked right past it and went around the corner into the ROTC room and told the male teachers, “There’s a fight.” They, being ex-military, went straight into action. I decided about 2-3 years ago that I was done putting myself at risk with fights. It’s not part of my contract, and I could get seriously injured. While I’m in good shape, I’m only 5’2” and also 56 years old. Felt proud of myself for not engaging. Back in the day, I was always willing to pull kids off each other.

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!

I teach kindergarten. My principal and I had to put a kid in a hold today. He punched and kicked me multiple times. He told me he would "bring a knife to school next time and stab me and kill me." He also told me he'd bring his taser and use it on me.

We had a student try to stab a girl with scissors two years ago in my class so I figured this would be taken more seriously.

He was not removed even for 5 minutes. No consequences. Not a lunch detention. Nothing.

Today I felt like I was having a psychotic break while listening to my admin justify why ChatGPT is not blocked on students devices (7-12 school)… What ARE WE DOING?!

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.

What is wrong with this country? School shootings didn't happen when I was in school. Now I have to run active shooter drills twice a year. I literally have body armor in my office.

Now we have four dead innocent people in Oregon. And why? Because we allow bad people to do bad things in the name of freedom.

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.

High school here… does anyone have classes who stand and wait by the door for the last few minutes before the bell rings? I try so hard to make class enjoyable, engaging, and positive… but the blatant counting the seconds till I can leave breaks my heart a little.

Has this ever happened to you? I had a substitute teacher yesterday that apparently was in my desk drawers, eating my pretzels and chewing my gum. I was starting to eat my food today and the kids looked at me like maybe you don’t wanna eat that. They then said the sub was sitting at your desk, casually eating all your food.

it basically goes like this.

1. parent reaches out with concerns about their kid.

2. you give them genuine advice/steps for improvement/observations of their kid.

3. all of a sudden, they’re not so interested in being supportive…

ughhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

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’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.

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’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?

Anybody else think this is the case? Kids have so much curiosity about science and Amplify kills it. It's excruciatingly boring. I stay on topic but have been using my own materials.

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.

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?

I’ve spent a lot of time posting here about how overwhelmed I am by my new teaching position. This week I’m been so stressed and exhausted that I felt like it might actually be starting to affect my work. I set up a meeting with my principal to ask tell him where I was at and ask him what I could be doing differently. Overall all he is a really nice guy, but he was so caring and honest during our talk that I feel a lot better. He let me know that what I’m feeling is completely normal for being a first-year teacher and that I’m doing a great job. He also told me that I shouldn’t be afraid of making mistakes, which is something I’m petrified of! It was nice to be acknowledged and I’m happy that I decided to talk to him. It made me feel proud for the first time in a while. ☺️

Really a bummer when cliques begin forming in a school site... thankfully, it doesn't affect my day to day!

But, to be a site long enough to experience a "culture shift" from positive-utopia-like setting to a debbie-downer climate can be a pain.

I'll continue trying to be a positive influence and hope it all blows over. But, definitely sucks that just one small group can really start to erode an entire campus.

What's your favorite way to distract yourself from drama at work? Or even better, what's your favorite way to uphold or influence a positive culture?

I think happy hours after work only do so much. I really like simple things like putting fun stickers in everyone's mailbox.