Y’all I need to know if this is justified. I have an ninth grade class that is constantly damaging school property. Damaged books, broken pencils, highlighter caps thrown across the floor. On the one hand, I really should just stop providing them with supplies. But, that’s also not a battle I want to fight every day. I also don’t want to punish the kids who aren’t doing anything wrong. And I don’t know exactly who is responsible ruining things. So instead, I’m considering a number system.

The books are already numbered 1-25, and every kid has an assigned book based on where they fall in my list alphabetically. I plan to use that number and just number everything I give them. Pencils, pens, highlighters. That way, I know who is responsible for the damage. I’m conflicted because this feels very elementary. But, at the same time, if we’re ripping pages out of books, coloring in books, and breaking pencils in half, the consequence seems to fit the behavior. What are your thoughts here? Does anyone else have a better system for this? My administration has noticed this pattern also and wants a list of kids who are damaging supplies so that they can send invoices home to parents. So I do need a way to know who is doing the damage.

Hi yall, I’m wondering if I should quit my job or not. I work as a high school art teacher.

Last week on Wednesday, a student left a note on my desk talking about how much he wants to kill me because my voice is annoying. He has multiple incidences of violent and highly inappropriate behavior in the past. I sent it to the principals, and he was suspended for the next day. The principals didn’t let staff know he was suspended. The next day, while suspended, the kid shows up in the middle of the day, enters the building, is able to visit another classroom AND have lunch, and makes his way to my classroom after. Nobody stops him because nobody knows he’s not supposed to be there. The SRO even told me that he was eating lunch right in front of him and he didn’t know. Of course when he shows up at my classroom I’m freaked out because I think he’s come back to actually try to kill me. I run to the teacher next door and he calls the principals and security and he’s taken away. Apparently he came to apologize. That evening the kids device is flagged because he is writing this long and graphic email about how much he hates me, how I’m a bitch and a coward and I ruined his life and how he’s not going to kill me but someone else will one day. He doesn’t send it, but it was flagged because the words he was using. He does send me an “apology” email instead, which still insults my voice and talks about how he hates himself and a lot of people. Tomorrow they are going to have a meeting to see IF he can be sent to the alternative school for 30-60 days, and then after that hope he transfers to a different school. If not that, he will still be at my school. He was removed from my class, but I don’t know if that really convinces me that he’s not gonna find his way to me again because he did while he was even suspended.

I kind of feel like I should quit. Would you?

I can't get into too many details but they said something very disrespectful to me and then proceeded to interrupt my class. Its been 1 month of warnings and principal visits and contacting parents for this disrespectful student with NO conditions/diagnosis of any kind. I stopped class and told them they were no longer welcome in this class and could finish out the rest of this course in the main office under admin supervision. I told my principal they have to figure it out and supervise that kid for this class period until June or i'm leaving. The principal agreed for now but i'm sure they'll try to weasel him back in. When they do I'll put in my two weeks notice.

ETA: This went down earlier in the week and for the rest of the week lol you could hear a pin drop in class. Even the talkers and kids who interrupt have been just doing their work and being quiet as a mouse. They dont want to be permanently kicked out of class too 😭

I had a student last year whose behavior was ridiculous. Getting into fights, bad language, disruptive in class, asking to go to the bathroom and then playing around on a different floor of the building…

He spent time in the principal’s office. He spent time with the counselor. All of us were constantly in contact with his mother, who chalked it all up to impulsiveness. We even held an SST.

This year I was approached by his teacher (new to the school) who asked if I had ever been in contact with the family last year. Apparently they had a meeting and Mom claimed she was shocked and had never been notified in the past about behavior issues.

Our district and admin have overused the Parent Square communication app to the point that parents have silenced it. When I used Class Dojo I had a lot more engagement because parents knew I was sharing cute photos of class projects, monthly awards, and weekly homework tips. They could also teach how many homework bells their kid got per week. But our district banned us from using Class Dojo because of the app using parent emails. Ok. Fine. We can use it but no patent contact. We can print their awards still. I can track how many families see my Parent Square posts. Only 2 per month. Useless.

For starters, I teach high school and it is my 3rd year teaching. I have roughly on average 8 kids with accomidations per class, with one class being 11 kids but I have a para in that class.

I was worried at first because of the amount of kids and accomidations but my admin have been looped in and told me that I do not have to attend all of the meetings cause if I did I would not have a break at all.

Ive been going to meetings either once or twice a week (the other teachers rarely show up...) and I am exhausted. I just got a new kid on my workload and was informed that they have a 504. When I looked into it, they havent updated the 504 since the kid was in elementary school, meaning the accomidations are for elementary kids.

I was invited to the 504 meeting (would be 3 that week and two in that day) and I declined the invite. I then received an email saying that I was required to make a write up (i was fine with doing that) and that I need to meet with the parents separately because they are requesting all core teachers be there. I respect that decision but also idk.

When I initially talked to admin they told me to not go to all of the meetings and to go to half since I have 40 kids on my workload compared to the 15 I had last year. I emailed admin asking for guidance and what I should do and there is no response. I dont want to go out of my way to schedule a separate meeting with the parents so I have to suck it up and go to two meetings in the same day.

I know legally I have to be there, im not arguing that. The old school i worked at 2 years ago required teachers to attend at least 3, making the workload a bit bearable. What do I even do here? Everyone i have talked too has agreeded that this is not sustainable

I really never realized until now how polarized students were with AI usage.

One half uses it on a daily basis, unable to come up with their own thoughts and ideas. Because in their eyes; what’s the point of it when AI can do it for you.

The other half however absolutely despises AI and anyone who uses it. To the point where they will insult and despise you for destroying the environment and producing “slop”.

I’ve seen friend groups split up over AI usage. Back 2-3 years ago everyone was on the AI craze. Now within the last year to year and a half AI dropped a lot in popularity with young people. Older people however are all in for AI, at least around me.

Recently our admins tried to present a fully ai generated presentation. A good chunk of the students walked out while there was a lot of laughing and groaning.

Looking at it, this makes me feel a lot better knowing that maybe the popularity of AI with young people is slowly becoming less popular.

Any thoughts?

I'm in Illinois and a tier 2 teacher which puts our retirement at age 67. I graduated collge in 2008 and tier 2 started in 2011. I unfortunately could not find a teaching position until well after the change because of all the cuts during the housing market crisis. So many teachers are retiring in our district age 55-60 and I'm happy for them but also super jealous. What age are you planning on retiring and what state are you in? I'm curious what the new average age is and what it will be in 20 years.

The amount of parent pleasing I've seen from the districts I've worked in is just insane. It's almost as if schools are afraid of parents. And it seems to cross party lines as I've taught in both very conservative areas and very liberal areas and it's true regardless. It's as if the child can do no wrong and the person to blame must be the teacher.

Have you noticed the same thing? What do you think has caused this shift and is it a permanent change? It makes parts of the job very difficult.

In my district we have to do student goals and professional goals.

I get student goals and I don’t mind setting them.

It is the professional goal that gets me. I love being a high school ELA teacher. I can retire in 6 years. I don’t really want to be an admin and I keep up with the research in best practices in ELA. My admin wants to “stretch” me professionally. I truly don’t care about a professional goal beyond push myself to support my student’s success and growth in ELA.

Admin is in her first AP position and has no ELA background.

Just venting I guess.

Female teacher here 🙋🏻‍♀️ My stomach was upset yesterday while I was teaching a class of high schoolers. We were doing an activity, and for a second I laughed then farted accidentally. Luckily, it wasn’t too loud and only two boys heard it. They looked at each other and couldn’t stop laughing for the rest of the session. I just carried on with the lesson for another hour like nothing happened. I could feel the heat rushing to my face. Now I can’t get over it. My brain has decided this is a core memory.
How can I live with the embarrassment?

I've been teaching for over 20 years and I have only seen this happen once. There were budget cuts and I was one that was on the chopping block. I haven't seen it since then. Just curious how often you have seen these in your career. Curious how common this actually is. I've met a fair amount of older and retired teachers who make it sound like it happens all the time. My apologies to any of you who have recently lost a job due to this.

Happy Sunday ya’ll!
I’m sitting here and for the first time in almost seven years, I’m dreading Mondays.
I teach an Honors science course to high school students. Normally this is one of my best classes and one that I build amazing relationships with students in. However, this year, I have gotten one of the roughest groups I’ve seen in over 20 years. Entitled, argumentative, disrespectful, and malicious. This is a group that literally brags they’ve gotten a teacher to quit/retire every year since they started middle school.
I normally try to make my classes engaging, funny, full of discussion and activities. With this group, it’s just, “Here’s the material, any questions? Cool, I’ll be at my desk if you need me…” then just helping the kids who want to ask. The rest of them, IDC. Play on your phone, sleep, talk the whole class about non class related garbage…it’s your time and grade.
Everyone who’s had this group says they are rough and to basically just “survive” or “outlast” them. I hate having that mindset, I hate not being the teacher I want to be, I hate dreading seeing that group walk in every day.
Please tell me I’m not alone and can outlast this group (three more months and they’re gone since we switch classes in spring to new groups). I need all the encouragement I can get before I lose my mind.

Update: Thank you all so much for your insights, encouragement, and just making me feel like I was less alone. I’ve literally been in tears the past few weeks feeling like I was failing as a teacher because of how this group has made me feel.
I’m going to try to tough it out, keep things low key, and enjoy working with the classes/students that do appreciate my efforts.
I appreciate all of you, and I’m rooting for you as well. ❤️

Just found out yesterday that my adult sibling made an attempt and is hospitalized.

I’m dealing with an unexpected surge in emotions, and anger towards my parents (whom he lives with) who are taking away his autonomy by planning for him to move in (obviously this would be after his discharge) with our other sibling (also an adult). This ruins him dreams of someday being independent, and our other sibling is a jerk.

They are planning for him to get ECT, which seems extreme. I’m unclear if that’s doctors reccs or my parents pushing. I’m angry because this all could have been prevented had my own father treated his own mental illness and not causing the family system to collapse and my mother to enable it all.

Listening to my mother sob into the phone is tiresome, I have little empathy for her when she had none for me. Years ago, I had cancer, and my parents who lives 3 hrs away did not visit at all.

I was planning to go in tomorrow to work but my mind is filled with shit. I’m also new to my school, don’t like the school much or my admin. I’m a vet teacher but new to special ed so I’m bad at it cuz it’s new. My job is obviously a lot and stressful.

What to say if taking off? Reiterating don’t like my admin much or trust them.
Any support is appreciated. Yes, I have a counselor and appt this week.

I’m a first year teacher. I am 9th grade biology, and it has been a hectic first year. I am teaching freshman, I am teaching a tested subject, and I’m teaching at a newly built campus.

The end of the 1st 9 weeks is coming up in my district, so I tallied up how many students are currently failing my classes. 47 out of ~120 students are failing.

My test scores are on par with, or slightly above, the district average. I don’t feel like I’m teaching the material incorrectly or unclearly. I feel like I’m doing decently for a first year teacher.

I’ve provided two extra credit opportunities. The requirements were clearly communicated, and students had class time to work on them. If they completed both, they could add up to 10 points to their final class average.

I’ve also provided test corrections for each exam, but only 15 students have taken advantage of the opportunity to retake an exam.

I sent out a parent email asking parents to check their student’s grades and have them work on missing assignments over the weekend before grades are due. Grades are due this week.

On Monday, students will check their grades for my class and receive a sticky note. On the sticky note, they’ll have to write down three things: what missing assignments they have, what test they would like to retake, and their plan for getting those things done. For students who are currently failing, I’ve already done part of this for them. I’ve written their grade, missing assignments, and which test they should retake.

At this point, I feel like I’m at a loss for what else to do.

I feel like I’ve done everything that I reasonably can do to give them opportunities to improve their grades.

Is there anything else I could be doing?

Hey everybody. I’m in TX teaching 4th grade and this year so far is kicking my butt. My data looks like crap, my recent walks I’ve felt were awful, and I just feel like I’m failing miserably. This is year 6 for me. I also have 4 kids who are on the spectrum and need a lot of social support to the point where every second of the day it feels like I’m just calling for help or trying to put out fires myself. I took a mental health day recently and it’s not enough. I don’t know what to do. Part of me wants to get out of education because I know my mental health deserves better. Part of me still wants to be part of children’s Aha moments. Part of me also knows how horrible the job market is and how common layoffs are. I don’t want to risk my license but I don’t know if I can hold on until May let alone December.

It sure is this is the right flair, but I tried:

I work in a very old building and my classroom stinks. I have an air purifier already! I don’t want to use oils or anything else that can trigger asthma, obviously, but my room smells so gross. We’re also right next door to a boys gym bathroom so I know that’s part of it. Our whole hallway smells like butt (literally). What can I do?? Should I sprinkle a crap ton of baking soda and leave it over a weekend then vacuum up? What else can I possibly do that won’t cause allergies/asthma. It just smells so terrible 😭

Hey just like the title says I wanna know what kept you going your first year? What made you stay and continue into your second?

People often describe their first year teaching to be the hardest. So far it’s been exactly that for me and I’m in my first year, as an Associate Teacher. Thinking about making this a long term career is up in the air, so I just wanna know the perspectives of others. Especially because I hear so much negatives surrounding this career.

Hi all. I am a new teacher and in October I want to do a Tim Burton style self portrait lesson. Since kids are always know to be a bit crazy Halloween week, I thought it might be nice to show the movie while they work. This way they get some "fun" and they can see Tim Burton's art style as well. The movie is PG, so I think it will be okay for the most part, but the area I am in can be a bit conservative at times as I am in the Midwest. A different teacher at my school who teaches small group life skills showed it 2 years ago to some of their kids and things were fine, but I want to be safe. Advice?

I am 4th year history teacher in middle school. First three years had its ups and downs, but mostly I felt good about my job. I really thought that this is perfect place for me, because I love working with children, love my subject and so on... But this year started as a one big shithole - I took on an increased workload by becoming a class tutor (form teacher). Then, trying to implement MYP standards in my lessons became an increasing headache (my school is currently a candidate to become an IB school). It feels like I can't keep up with anything anymore, the quality of my lessons is constantly dropping, and I’m no longer that cheerful, relaxed teacher that I was before. So, it's Sunday now, and I'm sitting here wondering what on earth I'm doing at tommorrow...

Hello everyone. First things first, I am an at-will employee at a school in California. I have a specialized teaching credential in DHH, and I’m currently in my 5th year working at my school. Do I like it here? It’s okay, but it is not my forever home. I would have been perfectly content to stay through the end of the school year and start looking for a new job after that, if a mid-year position hadn’t just opened up at a school district in a neighboring city. A friend of mine works there and told me about the position, so I also know the circumstances surrounding why it opened up mid-year, and there’s nothing concerning about that.

I’ve made a list of pros and cons. The biggest pros are that my commute would go from 27 miles on the busiest freeway in CA to just 10 miles. Right now, my commute is usually 1h15m to 1h30m, and this new commute would be about 30 minutes. I would also be making more money. I already know two teachers there with the same credential who were in my credential program, so I would have a built-in support system. Because I have this credential, positions so close to me don't open very often, and I have had my eye on this district for the past few years! I’m also tired of working for a school that families have to pay to attend, because it means we end up catering to the parents/families more than I’m comfortable with. Sometimes it feels like the school is more concerned with admissions than with paying their teachers enough.

The biggest con is that it feels like leaving mid-year is a shitty thing to do. I really love my supervisor, and I would be putting her in a difficult position by leaving. I just feel like a crappy person for even applying for the position, even though objectively, it would put me in a much better position financially and would make a difference in my quality of life because I get home every day so irritated by the traffic. Everyone I’ve talked to about this has told me that I need to do what’s best for me and that I need to take care of myself, especially in this economy. So, despite the amount of anxiety it has caused me, I applied yesterday.

I guess I’m posting because I feel like I should tell my supervisor that I applied so it doesn’t completely come out of left field if I do get an interview or an offer. But is that a bad idea? I obviously don’t even know if I’ll get the job, so if I tell her now and nothing comes of it, things could just be awkward as hell.

What would you do? Should I tell her tomorrow? Should I wait? Applications close in a couple weeks, so this will probably move fast.

I’m not sure what to do. I’m in my 5th year of teaching, and I want to leave midyear for a different school. My first three years were with a Title I public school in a different state. It was hard. But I loved it. I connected with the community and was very good at managing behaviors. The school had its issues, but I thrived. Majority of my students faced poverty, the population was systemically oppressed, and many students faced trauma and violence that showed up in behaviors at school. Despite this, I felt alive and that my job was making an impact. I was tired, but would leave school still energized and able to participate in hobbies and socialize. Now, I am a private school zombie.

After my third year, my husband and I decided to move out of state to be closer to family. I struggled to find a new teaching position and ended up at a private school. I am very anti-private school, and this has likely impacted my experience. The student population is EXTREMELY wealthy and entitled. Hearing about everyone’s nannies and maids and tutors and horseback riding lessons and constant international travel is exhausting to me. I’m from a low income background myself, and it is a huge culture shock. I struggled to get through my first year, but kept telling myself it was only temporary until I could find my footing in my new city’s public education environment. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find another job going into this school year, so I returned. My husband is currently between jobs, so I felt more pressure to continue with the private school for a second year.

Previously, I taught one subject at the public middle school, now I’m teaching five subjects in elementary school. On paper, things should be great. The school is extremely well funded and I have at least two preps a day with a protected 30 minute lunch (never a thing in my previous school). But I hate it so much. The curriculum situation here is such a mess and I am working so many hours outside of school. I am on three unpaid committees, my admin is in love with AI despite teacher pushback, and I am so exhausted. I also know there is extreme inequity in work hours between this private school’s elementary and middle school teachers. I have never been so burnt out in my life, and it’s October. My mental and physical health is deteriorating.

I recently applied to a public middle school position, just to see. But can I leave midyear? Am I being dramatic? If I continue at the private school, I know I will never return to teaching after June. If I go to public school midyear this year, there’s a chance I’ll stay in the career. Maybe I’m putting too much pressure on this job change. I don’t know.

What should I do? Is it worth it? What other things should I consider before making a decision?