I straight up told a parent I would not be calling them back in three weeks to talk to them about their child’s grade. I already did that. This is your child and I have 100+ to worry about. You have my contact information if you have any concerns :).

I’m lucky enough to work in a public school that’s generally considered to be one of the best in the state. Despite this, it feels like every single day I’m shocked at how unprepared these students are for the future. It’s gotten to the point I can’t use basic words because students have no idea what I’m talking about. A student yesterday asked me what “aggressive” meant. Oh, by the way, the student is 17 and in two AP classes.

I think the thing that shocks me the most is that students have zero agency within their own lives. If their parents or AI can’t handle something for them, it’s not getting done. Sometimes students will have the entire class period to do a worksheet with 5 questions on it, then spend the entire class staring at it. If you ask them if they’re gonna do it, they always say something along the lines of “yeah I’ll do it at home” then the time to turn it in comes up and guess what, not a single person has done it. So you might be thinking that getting a little more direct with them will get them to do it. Haha. Hahahhaha. Ha. Nope. Instead they go to see a social worker and complain that all their teachers are being mean to them so they get out of doing ANY work for the week. Rinse and repeat.

And again, this is one of the highest rated public schools in my state and students are still running the show, forcing administration to dumb everything down so they don’t have to work.

The average score on a recent test for a class was 58% but since students aren’t allowed to fail tests anymore, they have to be allowed to do “test corrections” to bring their grade up to a C. So why even study? If you can get a 70% on a test despite technically getting an F, why bother? The best part is, not every student that fails actually does the test corrections. So what happens then? Well they’re given a 1 question worksheet as a last resort to bring their grade up to a 70%, and half the time they still don’t even do it. You can get a C on an exam by failing, not doing the test corrections, then answering one question that’s so simple it’s next to impossible to get it wrong.

I’m worried about these kids, and they’re the ones the administration hypes up as being college bound.

Hahahahahhahahaha….ha

Maybe if:

1) Our subs knew English and could actually walk our kids through these assignments while we were gone

2) more than half our kid weren’t 2+ levels below grade level

Then we could have this conversation

8 years in education. I'm currently subbing as I try to land a full time job back in my district.

I can not tell you how terribly difficult most days are as a sub. I have enough classroom experience to know how to handle situations and build relationships even for short snipit's but it's just getting harder and harder for me.

Today in a 7th grade class I tried to get the whole classes attention with a clap call and response and not a single person out of 31 students in class clapped. I couldn't get the class to be quiet enough to take attendance, I couldn't get them to keep quiet long enough to give instruction. I feel like this is all becuse of me but I know that things are really hard across the board. It feels impossible to keep a classroom in controle as a sub in ways it never has felt before.

This district is a mess, they laid off 34 teachers mid school year last January and are 4 million in dept... a lot of us were let go or moved around and now we are stuck subbing.
My throat hurts so badly from trying to talk and nothing I did, clap, count down, class class, NOTHING got the whole classes attention long enough to instruct. I don't know what to do and I'm so scared that if I keep subbing I will loose all the love I have for their career. I want my own classroom again but I'm scared it's not going to happen because my state and district are struggling so much.

I'm k-12 with an endorsement in biology / life science

I teach sewing classes for adult beginners. My previous classes were at private venues. They ran smoothly and I felt I was able to provide fairly equal attention to all participants. This is my second class teaching at a recreation centre. Both classes had 8 students. This should be no problem but each time I have had 2 students (different people each time) that monopolize my attention either because of problems with their machines or just were having problems sewing . So much so that I barely helped the other students. I have 1 more class with this group. How do I provide value to both types of students?

I got my graduate degree, but I want to get some more credit hours to make more $$. Are there any inexpensive non-degree programs to do that?

Hi everyone! I’ve just been hired for my first Teaching Assistant role, fresh out of university! I do not have enough smart clothes for this!!! Where does everyone find best to get professional clothes from? TIA x

If you were tasked with getting someone a binder to do a task you asked them to do (“I need that binder to do the benchmark testing” “oh sure no problem, I’ll get you one”) would you put all the papers and tabs inside the binder WITHOUT HOLE PUNCHING (or fastening them together in any way) and then place said binder in mailbox?! (with no indication that the papers and tabs inside where all loose) no, I bet you wouldn’t. Maybe when people start getting paid the big bucks and have their own office they lose all common sense and forget what’s it’s like to have a very limited amount of prep time?!

Yes, the papers went all over the ground all willy nilly.

If they close your program, can you draw unemployment? I have tried to unsuccessfully to find another job for the last 3 years. I am close to retirement but not close enough. I was told today they were going to close my program either this year or the next. I really don’t know what to do. The good thing is if another position opens up mid year, I think they would let me out of my contract. I teach an elective and I don’t want to say which one but it will be difficult to find a job.

Hi, I graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor's (& after passing the PRAXIS) to earn my teaching certificate. I let it expire & am now looking to renew. I have the choice to take PRAXIS exams or 6 hours of college courses. The courses would be $2,500+ & PRAXIS would total around $500.

I did really well on the PRAXIS in 2011 & I'd rather save the time & especially the $ by taking the PRAXIS exams this time around. But, I know if I don't pass all of them the cost would be more & I'm wondering if there would be so much to re-familiarize myself with that the courses would be less stressful.

What's your experience/recommendation?

Thanks!

Hi all,

I have my first interview in a SEND school tomorrow after 12 years working in a primary school. I just wondered how you would approach planning differently to a mainstream school interview. The only information I have about the interview is the following...

"As part of the interview: 

You will be required to teach either a Maths or English lesson to a primary class that are working to the current ability of Year 1."

I visited the school yesterday and wanted to ask a couple of questions about the class and the lesson observation but the deputy head had to rush off and gave me his email to contact him, which I did last night. I am yet to have a response.

Any help will be appreciated!

Thanks!

Hi there!
I’m in the works and just about finishing up my presentation to present to my board to create an official school club (grades 6-8) that will be “Next Generation Good Neighbors” and I want to make sure I have all of my thousands of ideas put together so I don’t word vomit random things in my presentation.

The club is simple really:
All kids in the grade group are welcome— only requirement is to want to help our community, learn to find resources, attend events, and help EACHOTHER!
Mental health? Financial issues? Parents divorcing? Need help finding friends? Stress, anxiety, or just shy? Or even none of the above and want to do good.. I want to include it all!!!

Anyone who has made this type of club before, or want to now.. how did it look? Did you have trouble with the kids being able to attend events (walks for cures, clean up days, etc etc)? Also, I’d love to put up flyers with a made email that community members can reach out to for resources and the kids can learn to research them, find the proper resources, and reply! Is that.. silly?

I’d love to hear anything and everything as a general discussion so I can prep the best I can!

I'm doing a long-term sub in 7th-grade Math. Getting students to settle and focus on Math is a struggle. The district is using a new curriculum which I have had absolutely no training in, and meeting with the other 2 Math teachers doesn't happen. We have grade-level pods and grade-level common prep, so there is no time for me to pop over to ask more than a quick, superficial question. (We might as well be in completely separate buildings.)

Perhaps a series of short videos would be helpful. I know Social Studies has CNN 10 and the World from A to Z with Carl Azuz. Is there something similar for Math? Thank you!

So umm here's the thing, I'm supposed to teach english [specifically like how to write narrative essays] to an 8th grader but idk how? I mean my english is good. I got an A* in IGCSE english as a first language even tho english isnt my first language, but idk how to teach it.... Can someone please help me with this?

I have a game I play once every other week so it doesn’t get stale and my students are locked in. If you have any other simple ways to transform basic activities into something fun let me know in the comments.

It’s called Gamble Multiple Choice. Each team starts with $100. I’ll put a question on the board and a 2 minute timer. The team must write down the correct answer and their wager before the answer is revealed. I’ll usually say they have to keep 10% in the bank so they don’t zero out right away or I’ll just tell them I’m giving a bonus $20 to a team that loses everything if they do something. Team with the most money at the end wins.

Then I’ll switch up and tell them they have to make a blind wager without seeing the question but I give them 2 to 1 odds. I usually do this with harder questions like fill in the blank or short answer.

My students (high school) are totally engaged when we play this. The collaboration is strong (I tell each team that every individual must write down answers) and it’s just generally a good time and takes zero preparation.

Any other games like this you’ve come up with that elevate an otherwise boring activity? I’ve got a few more but would love to hear from others.