I teach middle and high school social studies at a private school in Maryland. Recently, the middle schoolers have been acting up, especially at lunch time. The lunch line is horrendous with kids constantly getting caught trying to cut in line. As a result, I have had to raise my voice in order to get kids to listen. 6th graders have taken to calling me “crash out G” (my last name is a long German last name that begins with G) and I heard it for the first time today. What a time to be a teacher.

Why would somebody choose one over the other? If you had a K-6 Elementary Classroom endorsement but decided you wanted to teach say, 7th grade math, which one would you want to add? Which one would middle schools be looking for? Does it matter?

I have been teaching upper elementary for four years and am thinking of transitioning to middle school. I would appreciate any advice and just to hear your experiences! For context I teach in NYC public schools.

I've been fried since the election. I'm doing my best to manage, but my best doesn't feel good enough. I'm depressed as fuck. I took a day off last week to just sit in nature, which kind of helped, except now all I want to do is go sit in nature and never come back.

My students got me at my most mediocre today. Like, I showed up and taught, but I didn't smile, I didn't circle the room to make sure students were doing independent work. I gave pretty short answers to colleagues and students trying to chit-chat.

The biggest thing that upsets me is that I didn't want to answer questions or help students.

I have a few over-achievers who always want to go further in depth about our lessons. Normally, I love that shit and will nerd out hard with them, but today I just said, "oh, yeah, that's just a weird thing you'll learn next semester." I felt like I was shutting down their curiosity, and I feel like a real asshole for it.

I also have some high-needs kids in a project-based class, and I was getting so annoyed at the persistent questions that are clearly outlined in the assignment page. I just kept going back to "check the assignment page" when I normally would walk them through the process of finding the info. I had some kids who were just fucking off on their phones, and I just didn't do anything about it.

I know a few days don't define my career as an educator, but I have no more to pour from my cup. I am also overtaxed at home this week, so I don't see it getting better this week. How do I fake it? I've been using the line "good question" to reinforce that asking questions is good, but I am just so wiped. I don't want to take another day off because we are down so many adults in the building, and I'm not actively in crisis.

I guess also, can someone just give me permission to phone it in this week? Just tell me I won't be destroying the spirit of my classes by just surviving the week.

I have noticed things in my school that make me uncomfortable and I feel are unethical. Attire worn by teachers, things on desk or the board or just general response to certain statements. I don’t feel I can discuss this with my fellow staff so I ask here.

I’ve been having some discussion with non teachers about how ethical it is for a teacher to display religious affiliation. It has been interesting to have civil conversations with people I disagree with on whether such actions are just a matter of professionalism or persecution. That a teacher has a responsibility to be/present themselves as neutral or unbiased as possible or do they have a responsibility to be open and role model for xyz, however popular or unpopular the belief is.

Is religious jewelry such as necklaces or earrings ok?

Is it ok for a teacher to show up in a tshirt that says Jesus Jesus Jesus for example. Be it a tie with stars of David, cufflinks of bathomet, or lanyard from a pilgrimage. Does the size or type of accessory or optional wearable matter?

If not is wearing a head covering for religious reasons different?

Should there be repercussions , positive or negative, if the religious paraphernalia is offensive, interpreted as hostile or otherwise unacceptable?

Is it ok to have a small nick nack religious paraphernalia such as crosses, motivational picture frames, etc on their desk?

Is it ok to keep religious quotes on their front board as motivation

tagged nsfw as I understand but do not intend for possible discussion to be uncivil

My whole life I wanted to work as a chemist or a chemical engineer for most of my career (20 - 30 years), and transition to teaching when I was older. However, I have recently realized that I hate what I am doing right now and want to go into teaching, ideally teaching chemistry at the high school level. I am currently in a Master's in Chemical Engineering program in Georgia Tech and I have an undergraduate BS in Chemistry.

What steps should I take right now if I want to be a teacher? Should I finish my master's degree or drop out and go for a teaching license?

I posted a couple weeks ago venting that my Graduate program was making me reconsider teaching. Post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/s/ixe0zczwUB

My original post got a few comments and I appreciate the responses. The responses made me sad, honestly. I felt like I was failing and wasting my time.

I realized I was extremely emotional, dealing with a lot of unrelated issues, and also had just been told a class I needed to graduate was being canceled. I’ve since resolved the class issue, things are looking up in my personal life, and I’ve seen a doctor about my extreme emotions. (Turns out hormones are a hell of a drug, and imbalances are detrimental.)

I re-explored why I’m pursuing teaching in the first place and that’s given me a burst of motivation. I’m a good teacher. I’m a passionate person. And I love kids. Teaching has its pros and cons, but how can I be an efficient teacher if I haven’t taken care of myself first?

Today, it was announced the Department of Education will be gutted in the next presidency. My boss at my part time job came up to me today, a little too gleefully, and asked if I had a backup plan. “Do you really think art class will exist in a year or two??” He was extremely shocked by my response. “I don’t know. But I’m going to encourage it and be there for students while I can.”

Part of me sees that and wonders again “why am I doing this to myself?” But the greater part of me knows: “this is exactly why I’m going into education.”

So thank you for the comments on my last post. I needed to see those and I needed to feel that sadness.

Just have to keep telling myself it will be okay, no matter what happens, I’m going to make the best of it and fight for what I believe.

Love and care to you all 💙

15 years ago, I gave my sister such a hard time for taking on debt to go to medical school, and I felt like I was so smart by managing to graduate debt-free with an education degree.

I make 65k/year. She makes 450k/year + bonuses.

Don't get me wrong, I have a passion for teaching and wouldn't trade this career for anything. In the same way, she has a similar passion for medicine. It's just been on my mind lately that our passions led us to such different incomes and statuses. I'm not jealous, I just wish following my dreams led me to that kind of salary too.

Hello everyone! Sorry if this is not allowed, but I am unable to post in AskTeachers yet, and would like an answer soon.

I am a parent to a kindergartner, and I volunteered to read a book this Friday to their class. They chose the book, “How The Crayon’s Saved The Unicorn,” and we made goodies bags to pass out to the other students. I wanted to gift the teachers as well so I bought another HTCS book, and then wanted to purchase some crayons. I saw a bulk package of 900, and I wanted to know if that would be too much? Should I dial it back a little and look for something with less?

But also, do teachers actually enjoy getting school supplies as gifts? I wanted to wait until the holidays next month to gift them something more personal. Is it okay that the students get to have fun goodie bags, while they get school supplies?

Update: I did report this to my admin through our system. Took me a bit cause I didn't know if I should do it through the system or wait to see one face-to-face but I decided to do it ASAP after reading yalls comments

I am a 1st year teacher btw

So I had a group of boys (teenagers) gushing over a video and being like "yo what a nice watch. you should show the teacher the watch" and so I, being the curious person I am, walk over and the kid willingly shows me a video of a watch but it zooms out and its on a penis. I'm pretty desensitized to this stuff so it didn't scare me but I have so many questions on how to handle this???

Hi Teachers! Im currently a second year paraprofessional. I have a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. Being in a classroom/school, I’m completely rethinking my future. I don’t think I can do this in the long run. I love working with kids and want to continue, but not have my own classroom. I feel incredibly stuck, especially having veteran teachers telling me to not continue in the field. My college experience was terrible with almost zero classroom experience, if I had seen how it is years ago I probably would have switched my major. As someone who’s exploring options, what do you think is a good way to stay in education but NOT have my own class? Or advice??

Hello, I'm currently teaching in NJ and thinking about moving to Massachusetts next year. Right now, I'm teaching computer science (which I love), even though my degree was in music and I'm also certified to teach music.

I'm starting the process of getting my Mass educators licence, which field do you think is most likely to get me a job? I also love math and would be confident teaching that too. I'm planning on moving to the Boston area, though I'm prepared to commute at least an hour.

Hello, I am not a teacher but an associate and I just wanted to ask about issues with school principal. Our first grade team is having issues with some of our building subs not following IEP or doing the job they are subbing in. We have tried to help coach the sub,and give her our feedback, but nothing changed. So we scheduled a meeting with our principal. Who had continually ignored our feedback and issues. And keeps putting it back on us that we should be the ones to be giving constant feedback and support of the sub.

Are we wrong in thinking this isn’t our job or place?

I follow this sub from the UK, it's interesting to compare and contrast and find similarities and ideas from conversations, joining in on occasion.

I hear a lot of mentions of "admin" but I can't really get my head around who they are in your school set-up.

For comparison, we have:

• Support staff: teaching assistants working at the teacher's direction.

• Teaching staff: teachers, basically.

• SLT (Senior Leadership Team): subject and year leads, deputy head, headteacher (who you would escalate behaviour matters to, for example)

• Admin staff: back-office staff supporting core functions like finance and coordinating timetables / registration /absence etc. but definitely nothing to do with behaviour.

• Other: SENDCO some other roles

Can somebody explain how your admin fits in? It seems like they don't seem to understand the classroom but have quite a lot to do with it?!

Thanks for any explanation!

Do you sometimes feel guilty when a student from your class broke school's property?

For context, my student poke his computer screen and broke it. I was inside the classroom, everyone is sitting down and waiting for the dismissal bell. He was throwing tantrums because the internet was out. I didn't see exactly how he got it broken but I know it's not by accident because everyone was sitting down. He's saying he slipped.

I feel bad as a teacher whenever things like this happen. This is the second time that this happen in this same class. I feel so incompetent that I want to give up my teaching career.

Do I want to be part of Admin? Absolutely not! I'm a first year teacher, i want to teach, i enjoy teaching. So why might I consider becoming an admin down the road?

SO THAT I CAN SHOW THEM HOW TO PROPERLY COMMUNICATE!

I work in Arkansas, and my school is currently doing rhe ATLAS Interim Testing. Here's the thing, I didn't know ow we were doing it, till the Friday before of the testing week. Most of the teachers didn't even know about it!

This week, I'm supposed to have the 10th graders in my classroom, taking the test. I didn't know that the 10th graders weren't taking the math portion of the test today, till 10 minutes before school started. 10 minutes! And I didn't even find out from my principal, I figured it out from the counselor, who sent an email out saying, Hey since 10th grade isn't testing today, I'm going to take the ones who had their permission slipped signed with me today. Some of the other teachers didn't even get an email, and didn't find out till I told them 5 minutes before school started.

Our poor counselor has been planning events weeks in advanced, and then the school tells her last minute that something is happening, and she has to work around the school. Like yesterday, she had a career fair planned out for the high school, had that planned since the 2nd week in October. Then Friday comes, and now she has to readjust the entire fair and schedule because Admin doesn't know how to communicate with her either. Is there not enough socially anxious people in admin that feels like they need to communicate any little thing that may or may not inconvenience the teachers or other staff?

So anyway, do I want to be admin at all? HELL NO! But will I just so i can plan things accordingly for everyone, I would try my best to do so.

I have a fair amount of English language learners, and I’m noticing a trend that is concerning me.

While their speaking is improving and getting strong from being immersed, they cannot understand the written language at all.

The students use their phones for google translate and translate everything by using those scanners that translate entire pages for them.

Then, for assignments, they are using google translate, Grammarly, and AI.

What am I supposed to do? What should I do instead? It all feels wrong.

I loved school as a child/young adult, and I always loved helping my classmates who struggled. I’m a mom and I’ve loved teaching my kids over the years and I enjoy the sharing of knowledge and watching someone acquire knowledge and it skills they didn’t have before.

After working as a para and substitute teacher for a few years I decided to get my teaching degree. I’m approaching my student teaching, currently in my pre-clinical and preparing for content exams and I am just not excited about my future as a teacher.

I’m sure there are motivated and respectful kids, and I’m sure there are supportive and well organized schools and admin teams, but so far what I’m seeing is rough.

Most of the kids I interact with have no interest in learning and have no focus or stamina. I love teaching when people want to learn, but this is miserable and exhausting.

For those of you who have been teaching for a while (10+ years), has education changed? Am I just looking at my own memories of school with tide colored glasses? What motivated you to become a teacher and are you happy you did?

I work title 1. I teach 7th grade ELA. I took today off because I’m sick. The feeling I have is… indescribable. I worked retail over the summer and everyday was like a cakewalk. I don’t care about the money anymore. I’m a single man in my 20s. Maybe I’ll never make enough to own a house, or to support a family, but this feeling is calling me. This will be my last year. I only made it 3, but the game is over now.

I started working as a para at my local high school this year after 10 years teaching abroad.

At first, I thought it was just me. A teacher would be talking to/at me but would never raise their eyes to meet mine. Then I noticed another teacher doing it, then the VP, then the Principal. I thought maybe they had an issue with me personally (I'm about 20 years older than the other paras and I'm the only male para). So I started paying attention to how teachers and admin interacted with other paras and noticed they refused to make eye contact with them, too. Personally, it makes me feel like I'm some sort of Untouchable.

So I'm just curious if this is something you've seen at your school, or if this is just a weird, local school culture thing. I'm in the US, BTW, so it's not like I'm in a country where eye contact is seen as disrespectful.

EDIT: Talked to the lead SPED teacher and learned that 5 paras last year were arrested on drug charges (in this district of 8 schools, not all at my high school). That explains things a bit better. Imagine going through life selling drugs and not getting caught and then thinking a school full of cameras was the best place to step up your drug game.

Hi, I woke up this morning and I am sick. I was sick last week once too. I feel really guilty about missing two days in two weeks, but I know I shouldn’t. It’s my first year on the job, I’m not out of sick days, and my principal “okayed” it with me. Why do I still feel anxious and nervous? I genuinely feel miserably sick but I can’t get it out of my head about missing. Does anyone else get this way? Validation would be nice. Happy schooling today.

Hi, so without getting into heavy details, I'll give you my background and my current situation. I (32f) am diagnosed with c-PTSD because of the following:

• Domestic violence between and from parents
• Parent in prison
• Murder committed by one parent
• Emotional and psychological abuse from both parents
• Neglect and parentification
• Sexual abuse and sexual assault
• Domestic violence from a past partner

Sorry, that's a lot to read to start off with, hence the content warning. So basically I've been in therapy for a looong time and I was doing a lot better. I'm not currently in therapy because it's completely incompatible with the hours I'm at university and the time I'm working. I had always wanted to be a teacher but I kinda... never wanted to be responsible for a kid's well-being for fear of f*cking up and traumatising them. I've come a really long way, and decided this year to do teacher training (high school and post-high school levels), because I felt like I had worked through everything and could do a decent job of it.

On the teacher training course at university, we have courses in psychology, sociology and pedagogy, and during these lessons we go into depth on these contexts for teenagers and how we can support teenagers, aside from teaching them the subject we're specialised in. It's super interesting and extremely important. I enjoy these classes in the sense that I feel like they are preparing me to be a good teacher and safe/trained adult for kids I teach in the future. It's important to me that I'm fully prepared because my own teachers (for lack of training or knowledge) kinda failed me in some ways.

So here's the problem. After almost every psychology and sociology class, I find myself crying in the car on the way home. I've started to have nightmares about hypothetical students being abused and not being able to help them. I think it's pretty clear that this is triggering something in me that I thought I had pretty much dealt with and it's making me wonder if I should abandon the idea of being a teacher, at least to high school kids. One thing that's clear to me is I probably need to go back to therapy as soon as I can make it work with my schedule. I feel like I'm managing okay using the strategies I've learned, I'm just worried that if I'm triggered like this, am I going to be able to support kids when they need it?

This training also qualifies me to teach adult learners too and to teach in other contexts, so that's maybe what I should aim for, or maybe this is just at first and with time it'll get easier.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if anyone here is a teacher and has experienced this, or still does? Do I need to redirect here or is it feasible to be a teacher in high schools with C-PTSD?

For context, I'm a teacher in Spain, not the US.

Does anyone else’s principal/admins never to your emails? If so, why do they do this? Do they just think we are not worth replying to or is there another reason why they do this because I have been in multiple schools and almost all admins do this?

Can the mods create a sticky post so that we aren't flooded with political posts on this sub for the next 4 years?

I’m a building sub at my old high school (public and part of the state system) and noticed that a few teachers have religious imagery in their classes. They have pictures and icons hanging on the wall next to their desks and are kind of in the corner out of the way, so it’s in no way trying to influence students.

I never noticed it when I was a student there. It’s also a whole new admin, so maybe they are being more lenient. Also, I don’t think anyone would complain about it either.

Is this generally ok? Could I also do this in my potential future classroom?

Received an email from admin saying something to the effect of "having some major issues with student behavior - The students were disruptive and a lot of them were refusing to hand over their cell phones or even provide their names; the students were being outright rude." (There was more info but I abbreviated it)

This is my reality everyday, and people think I joke around. What do you expect when you have 30+ traditional kids and half them dont speak english and the majority have an IEP.

My advice was to remove students one by one until order is restored lol

.....it's literally war everyday

I’m a Virginia based teacher in a small school division. Last year all of the SOL (our state test) science classes switched to a program/question bank called Mastery Connect for our Benchmarks. As a result of our schedule (90 min blocks daily for a semester) these are also the only tests the kids get. As such they are apart of the 60% category for tests and projects. This year, the science division specialist has implemented that Bio use Mastery Connect for quizzes as well.

Admittedly, I’m not a fan of either. In part because they keep using the same questions on the quizzes, benchmarks, and later benchmarks as spiral back questions. I understand that the SOL itself is a glorified reading test but these quizzes and benchmarks don’t feel like they are actually assessing the material. It doesn’t build confidence in their abilities.

I’d almost rather do my own quizzes to make sure they get the material rather than a poorly worded question then drill and kill SOL style questions for review.

I just want to see what everyone else does for their division. Is there a similar level of micromanaging at play? What are your thoughts on these common assessments for everything?

Let me preface this by saying that I voted for Kamala; however, that is insignificant at this point.

What really matters is that teachers need to stop fearmongering and creating anxiety by continuously asking everyone on this sub to speculate about what will happen if the Department of Education is dismantled.

Nobody knows and everything is conjecture.

(Personally, I am trying to keep my democratic mind open because that is all I can do at this point until the wheels start actually turning.)

ETA: u/Snoo-85072 more eloquently stated my point: “Do not worry about tomorrow. Today has enough troubles of its own." And I feel like that's what you are trying to say. Yeah, tomorrow has trouble on the horizon. Should we be aware of that? Absolutely, but why fret about it? We still have kiddos that need us now.

I'm interviewing for a teaching assistant position soon at a local primary school. I've been a teacher before but this was for older kids, age 14 and up, so I'm very new to primary school education. Do you guys have any tips for me, or any idea what they might ask in the interview?

Hi there! Student here working with book club and I’m not sure how to make the group discussions fun and engaging so I’m wondering if any of the teachers here have any advice on that?

So far in my head the discussions will be timeline based like having each student introduce their books, characters, what they’re liking, not liking, etc.

We have done similar discussions before but the problem often time is it either gets boring or some students don’t speak at all. So if there’s an activity you normally do in your class or an idea would be greatly appreciated thank you!!