My fingers are disgusting! I use the whiteboard a lot. My fingers get disgusting, and my teacher's edition textbook has black fingerprints all over it. Then, when I hand out copies of the assignments, everyone's sheets has black fingerprints all over them. We aren't allowed "cleaners" as in "bleach wipes". Do any of you have a trick or tip that would help? Also, the whiteboards the kids use mark up my tables, and I'm kinda tired of that too....

Apparently it’s become common in the US for administrators to mandate that teachers give a percentage of points for work, even when not attempted/submitted.

They argue that it’s too hard for a student to raise their grades after zeros are given.

I suspect this policy is perceived by students as a reason to do even LESS work, as they know they are getting credit even for work they never attempt.

Schools’ efforts to avoid negatively impacting students’ mental health is also given as a reason for this policy.

But…

Parents and students are receiving an inaccurate view of their performance.

Parents are satisfied with the inflated grades, and are not requiring their children.

Schools are inflating their grades and lowering their standards, which drags the problem to schools of higher education, and into the workplace.

The “real world” doesn’t work this way.

I feel the US is setting itself up for a MAJOR fall from our previous status as a respected world nation, in order for parents to feel good about their (lack of) parenting, and for students to feel good about themselves.

We’re all about the shiny participation trophy, and no longer about the achievement.

Other countries will eat us alive.

My kindergarten class is great, but I have a few kids who constantly tattle on whoever they can (it’s not targeted at certain students). The tattling is usually petty (he didn’t push his chair in!) and I am struggling to find the right verbiage to handle it. I have heard of people using tattle phones in their room so that kids can get the tattling out of their system without disturbing the teacher, but that doesn’t sit right with me, as the other kids would likely hear it. Also, what if they are tattling about something legitimately harmful (like a kid hitting another kid, etc.)? Ugh I’m just at such a loss here.

ANY advice is appreciated. My background includes being an ECE director. I am trying to figure this out the best way I can.

I have to take the accuplacer exams in order to be accepted into to bachelors of special ed program? Can anyone recommend any books , tutors in order to prepare thanks

This is my first year teaching. I teach 9th grade social studies. I would say about 90% of my students have either some form of a 504 plan or an IEP. These students are not my issue. My few students who do not have any sort of accommodations are making my job incredibly different. There is just no other way of saying this, but they are just rude. To me, to other classmates. And I feel like I am not getting support. Here is a list of everything I have done to try and improve the behavior of my trouble making students.

Spoken with them one on one after class and offered to modify things like the seating chart in order to make them feel more comfortable in my classroom

Asked them to stop sternly while being disruptive during my lessons

Spoke to parents over the phone about student's behavior

Spoke with the guidance counselors of the respective students to which I was told " you're doing everything you can"

Spoke with former teachers of these students to which I was told "you just have to allow some of this behavior, its a matter of choosing your battles (these students straight up will call people slurs during class as well as getting physical with other classmates)

Wrote up each of these students several times, to the point where they have been served multiple detentions

Had an intervention meeting with the principal, student, parents, guidance counselors and the respective students, with each of these students getting their own meeting.

Spoken with my mentor as a first year teacher.

None of this has even remotely improved the environment of my classroom. I love teaching, I really do. But with this class I have I feel like im spending more of my time resolving conflicts and micro managing students rather than actually teaching. It makes me feel like I'm a horrible teacher. My first observation was in this class and I was terrified. Luckily I did ok, but I'm terrified of future observations in this class. I don't know how to fix this beyond what I'm doing already.

I always hear to avoid first grade at all costs and how 2nd is a lot better. Why is this?

High school Biology. It has been extremely simplified for students these days, but they had spent the previous 3 days learning about what the kidneys do. The unit was being taught through the story of a marathon runner that fell into a coma and we were slowly piecing together evidence to figure out why it happened. Very well-designed lesson overall. Over the course of 2 weeks, students only needed to know 12 different terms. Electrolytes was not one of them.

On Friday, after we finished talking about the function of the kidneys and how they filter blood (including the removal of extra salt), the teacher asked, "So, let's circle back to that marathon. Why do runners drink sports drinks?"

Complete silence for about 5 seconds. Finally, a brave student says, "It's got electrolytes!". The teacher says, "Ok, yes. And what are electrolytes?". Two students say, "It's what's in sports drinks!". Teacher again tries to elicit that electrolytes are things like salts, you know, the term we've been learning. First student, getting a bit frustrated, says, "They're electrolytes! Prime has more than Gatorade!"

Realizing that students weren't getting it, she tries to ask a more direct question. "I know that sports drinks have electrolytes, but what specific thing have we learned about the kidneys? What is one of those three things that I told you the kidneys filter?" Complete silence, even as the labeled diagram of the kidneys is sitting right there in front of students. Finally, the teacher says, "Salts. The kidneys filter salts. That's what you need to know. That's the word that will be on the quiz, not electrolytes." This statement causes a misfiring in the brains of some students. One asks, "So... sports drinks should have salt and not electrolytes?! I thought salt was bad for you?" (as he eats a bag of Takis and drinks a Prime).

"Salt is an electrolyte. One of many. We've spent the past two weeks learning about how the body regulates the amount of salt in the blood, specifically.", replies the teacher. Students, more confused than ever, "How does the body regulate salt, though?" Exasperated, the teacher says, "That's what I've been teaching you for the past two weeks!"

Making Christmas chemistry ornaments....told students to make a pipe cleaner into any shape they want. I gave a n example of a heart, out of 25 students 20 made hearts. Then, told them to a string into a loop and attach it to the ornament and then demonstrated. 20 students couldn't tie a loop. How many days till winter break...

This is high school.

Picture it. Friday afternoon, 4:30, I’m about to walk out the door. It’s been a hard week with the students, I’m exhausted, and I’ve got a busy weekend ahead of me. Christmas party Friday night, two get togethers on Saturday, then hosting a party on Sunday. My plate is full.

Just as I prepare to leave I get a class dojo message from a parent. They’re awfully sorry, but they forgot their daughter has a doctor’s appointment with her psychiatrist on Monday and needed me to write a statement about her behavior and include information about grades and test scores and any concerns I might have (I have a lot). She needed this, of course, on Monday.

Writing this will take a good hour and I don’t know when I’ll find the time. It pisses me off that she expects me to find the time to do this on a holiday weekend. So I write back that I am sorry but I require 48 hours notice for letters to the doctor.

Unsuprisingly, my principal stops me as I’m heading out the door. The parent had, of course, called to complain. Here’s where the miracle occurred….my admin told her that 48 hours was a reasonable request and she would get the letter on Wednesday. I had my principal’s full support.

I could hardly believe I’d gotten away with not only saying no, but being a little cheeky about it too. Shout out to my principal for upholding boundaries!

Posting for my wife…. She’s a teacher of 8 years at a rural low income elementary school which means she has extensive classroom behavior problems and lower than average pay. She has reached a breaking point and desires to seek a career outside of traditional teaching.

Primarily 1 question: Have any of you done this and what careers have you been successful in?

Thanks in advance!

I am a parent of 4 kids, elementary, middle and high school. Two kids on an IEP. The teachers give no homework so I have no idea what my kids do all day so how can I help? I also don't see graded work, it's all online nowadays. I have mentioned this to all the teachers and they say they send a weekly newsletter but it is vague on what skills they are actually working on. Any advice on this ? Is it rude to ask the teachers for homework for just my kids?

This week, my first graders took their standardized test on iPads, and it was a nightmare. Here’s just a sample of the chaos: • Kids thought they were done but were actually kicked out after the practice. • Images didn’t load for some questions. • Audio failed on others. • They couldn’t go back to fix answers without being kicked out. • I couldn’t monitor screens, so kids clicked through without reporting issues.

Oh, and we tested them on iPad 7s from 2019—nearly same age as some of the kids (definitely the same age as the kinders who took the test with us!). Meanwhile, brand-new iPad 10s are sitting in an office waiting to be processed.

What really gets me? Teacher evaluations are tied to this mess.

How is this fair to students or teachers? Anyone else dealing with outdated tech and broken testing systems? What’s your experience been like?

Hi. Might be a dumb question 🙈. I'm a foreign teacher and one thing I noticed about American students is that most of them are hugger. Question: Is it okay if I don't allow male students to hug me? Because some of them might be taking advantage. I'm in MS btw. Some of my students are taller than me and I look like 20ish but I'm 30yrs old. When I told my male students that I don't give hug, he told me I'm racist because he saw me allowing others to hug me. Though, I have some male students that are sincere and respectful to give me a hug. But these students who ask for a hug are disrespectful, rude, and pervert.

I've seen a couple now where students are sobbing because they failed a class. The most famous is probably the guy talking about how he failed math the second times. He says he did this assignment, did that assignment, what else could he do? I can't help but think "did you pass the exams? Did you do those assignments correctly?" To me it seems like a kid who got used to doing the work and not much else mattering. Sur he doesn't understand the concepts but he kinda tried so he should pass right? This is the way we're preparing kids for college and all it's doing is kicking the F down the road until they're paying money for it.

I was thinking of getting my kid’s (2nd grade) teachers gift cards to Lakeshore Learning for Christmas. I know there are many things they would love to have for their classrooms, but I don’t want to assume. Would you like this or would something more flexible (like Target) that you could use either for yourself or your classroom be better?

Hello everyone! I teach 10th-12th graders. We do a lot of group work. While I was helping a group across the room, a student playfully hit another student. I didn’t see this happen, but heard commotion about it and went to see what occurred. The student was apologizing profusely and was stating that she didn’t mean to hit the other student that hard. The victim student definitely did not seem happy, but was continuing to work. I said something along the lines of “Cmon guys, you are almost grown. We don’t need to be hitting each other. Don’t hit anymore.” And that was kind of the end of it. Now I can’t really get it out of my head, and I’m thinking maybe I should have reacted more sternly and maybe taken more disciplinary action. I would love some advice.

To give some background, this occurred at the end of the day right before the weekend. I am also a first year teacher and am still figuring out discipline. I have never had this happen before.

Hello All

I am a mathematics teacher and I would like to conduct an experiment in my class and I am looking for guidance from science teachers.

I would like teach my students about sin wave function and I would like to do it by recording their breathing inhalation and exhalation phases.

I have thought about water in a bottle and straw, measuring their chest circumference and so on but unsure about what may be the best way to do so.

If any teachers have any suggestions, please do share . Thanks in advance.

Hello everyone! My significant other and I are having a debate on something. They used the word “hyperbolic” and I brought up that I learned it in like 4th grade. They started calling bs saying it’s not an elementary school thing, but a middle school thing (ie. 6/7/8th grades).

So my question is when do you guys teach it?

The Social Security Fairness Act has passed through the house and Chuck Schumer is taking it to the Senate. Please, teachers, especially those affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), please call or write your Senators and beg them to support and pass this. Schumer has said he has the Democratic votes in the Senate but he will need 16 Republicans to pass this bill. Please, please, please, write or call your Senators, especially if they are Republican, and beg them to pass this bill! The WEP affects retirees and disabled workers in all 50 states, but these are the states where Teachers Social Security is severely impacted by the Windfall Elimination Provision. Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, & Texas. As a teacher in Texas, I was 44 before going into teaching, and since I had been working since I was 16, I had earned all my SS credits. I’m now 69 and have started collecting my $1200 in Social Security benefits. Next year, at the age of 70 and after 26 years with my school district, I plan to retire. Because of the WEP as soon as I collect my retirement, I will be penalized and will lose $800 of my SS, so will only be collecting $400. How is it fair that I can collect my earned SS now, but when I retire I’m penalized for being a teacher and MY money is taken away. This is not fair to teachers! Many of us will only have our teacher retirement to live on so that extra $1200 from SS makes a huge difference. Please take the time to write your Senators, I think this is the last chance to get this passed. Please especially contact your Republican Senators. Thanks for listening.

For me basically I found out I failed my practicum 1 class for elementary education with a B and I now that sounds crazy to fail with a B-. But for practicum 1 in my university we need an 84 to pass and I got 80. Now I did the work I practiced and made sure to get the lessons checked by my professor. But when my mentor teacher evaluated my lessons I got a lot of zeros. And my site facilitator says it’s since I need to improve my tone and voice. And for me I wouldn’t mind taking public speaking classes to improve, but I also learned from this semester that I kinda don’t want to be a teacher. This is since I don’t think I have a passion for the teaching field anymore and I’m not sure if I want to teach for the rest of my life. Also I like listening to people and helping others and I’m looking into changing my major into human services. Then I will apply for a master’s program in mental health counseling since I think I would enjoy that more. But I’ll see what to do and I’m just disappointed to fail. But I’ll see and any advice would be appreciated.

Hi fellow teachers,

I’m a Pre-K ESE teacher working with 5-year-old students. I just got my formal mid-year review, and I’m feeling really down about it. The review mentioned some positives, like how I adapt lessons and create a safe, structured environment, but there were also so many suggestions for improvement. I feel like I could have done better and scored higher, especially since I put so much effort into preparing.

My effective score was [75/100]. Has anyone received a similar score or maybe done better/worse? How did you handle the feedback, and how did it make you feel? Any tips for bouncing back and improving would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading—feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. Thank you 🙏

I've offered to update the teachers lounge at my kids school, what kind of things would you like in your teachers lounge or what do you appreciate and use the most in your lounge?

Also looking for good snack ideas to stock in there.

I'd love to hear all your ideas!

My center is trying to become apple accredited. What should I expect during their observation as a teacher?

So, I am finishing my AA in person and have completed: intro to education (including 15 hours of observation), technology for educators and diversity for educators.

I am also a substitute teacher and know what ages I like and don't like (K-2 is it for me). I am confident I like being in the classroom. I was a preschool teacher for three years prior to substituting. I am confident I can teach.

But I don't know where I will be in a years time. My partner will be moving for work when he graduates (he's an engineer) and frankly, I am not willing to seperate. So I need to get a degree online.

Did anyone do this? Where did they go? Any advice??

Hi, I work for a theraputic day school. I'm coming from an clinic background and decided to become a Para to help me get used to the school environment

I'm currently working towards becoming a teacher

I've worked here for about 2 months and it's been, well, not good.

I was thrown into this school day 1 and I didn't receive any training. I was told that there wouldn't be any because it's such a new school.

Restraints are used with the kids I work with. This isn't anything new to me, however there hasn't been any paperwork to fill out which has worried me.

There has been 2 teachers I've worked for. One was a social worker that was drunk all the time and this new one is just a subsitute without much training in being one.

I really could use some advice on just how to navigate the school system because it's really new to me and I'm frustrated that I can't get the supports I need for working with the kids I want to work with.

I’m in Tennessee. Today I went in to my daughter’s HS today. She told me last night she’s dreading going to a class because she’s being harassed. It’s two “jocks” who are making the typical crude jokes, calling her names with a sexual connotation type stuff. The class size is 13. The teacher said she never knew, but my daughter filed a formal incident report about the behavior in class with some friends (who are also being picked on). The principal acted like he knew nothing either, even tho my daughter talked to him face to face and filed the formal incident report in September. She did not tell me at the time she had filed it.
He did finally find the incident report and acknowledged he had investigated it then and spoken to the teacher at that time. Thing is…. I still don’t think either one is taking it seriously…. I did a little digging on my own and it looks like I should have been notified when it was initially reported. And that bullying/harassment is a misdemeanor. I’m not trying to have a kid charged with a crime, but I want the admin/teacher to know letting this continue is NOT ok and they need to take harassment more seriously! Should I send a follow up email and, if so, who would be next up the chain of command?

I'm a first year teacher. That alone should say enough.

There is this kid who sells chips in my class. I told him repeatidly to stop, but he still does. He probably made close to 500 bucks selling in my class.

There was a few times I was hungry, and bought chips from him. (My mistake).

The students made an absolute mess in my class, and I had a heart to heart convo with them.

A few days later class took 15ish minutes to start from him selling in my class. I called security, and he got in a lot of trouble. Now the kids are extremely upset calling my a snitch.

I now feel bad. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Hello :) I’m a German 25y old woman with a master’s degree in education and the subjects English and Philosophy. As American degrees seem to be different - both subject were studied in relation to teaching them in school. I graduated 1yr ago and worked as a teacher for 9 months before I started my current job as a private teacher for a globetrotter family’s children (elementary school, teaching all subjects). I have already read a lot about the credentials and tried to get an idea of what I need to know and do to eventually apply for a teaching job, but it’s even more complicated than our German system lol. Maybe someone can explain?

Is there anybody with a non-us master’s degree similar to mine who wants to share his*her experience? Maybe even somebody working at the Goethe charter school or another International school?

What about the upcoming fees and everything?

*I‘d like to move to the area around Thousand Oaks/Westlake/.. as our current stop is in Malibu and there are a few days left. Should I just stop by a school and talk to schools nearby?

Many questions and the more I read, the more questions arise. So, I think I’m asking for general information, experiences, ideas, … :) thank u x

How does your school address situations in which the parent does not pick up a kid, or is very late for the designated pick up.

I run an evening activity for high school students. In the winter it is dark when students are picked up. We are expanding to include elementary students after the first of the year.

I have had several late pickups. How would you address a situation in which no one picked up a fifth grader, and the adult did not respond to text/phone messages?

It feels like we only able to take longer trips during the summer. Spring/winter breaks are even tricky with professional development days. My partner gets a few personal days. It’s usually more expensive to travel during the scheduled days off and some destinations are just better during dates that don’t align with time off. Question for teachers in our situation. How do you manage to take time off in a way to allow vacations during the school year? My time off is more flexible although I also don’t have the summer off. It can be a tricky subject to discuss, so appreciate any advice.