This happened in 2003, and the story still makes my blood boil, and I wanted to get teachers inputs on the story.

As a freshman in high school, I took a guitar class. The teacher was the choir director who did not actually know how to play guitar. He spent most of the time teaching how to read music, which wasn't really the point of the class. As a band kid myself, I knew how to read music so figuring out notes/strings was easy for me. A majority of the class he put everyone in trios that had to work together, and were graded together (I think out of sheer laziness, but I digress).

The original assignment of trios was done by the teacher at random, and students could swap after the first graded performance. My trio was myself, and two seniors who were in garage bands and already knew how to play guitar. Bonus points, they were cute. The set up was mutually beneficial, as neither of them could read sheet music, and I could, while they could both play guitar and taught me. We worked really well together and continued in our trio for the remainder of the class.

Consistently, my trio was the best. Obviously having two previous guitar players was a huge advantage, but I had to teach them how to translate sheet music to guitars. We put in a lot of work, even meeting after school to practice together and make sure we were good. The teacher was consistently annoyed by the sheer terrible ability of the rest of the class and would use us as examples like our ability was his teaching. It was painful to watch and hear - but this guy was trying to teach people something he didn't know, so.. obviously it didn't go well.

The final for this class was an evening recital. We were required to play a piece from the book he was using and also any song of our choice. He organized trios worst to best, us being last. When I say some of these groups were horrible, I mean it. A couple got up and left mid-performance. A majority were told they were playing XYZ song, and you just couldn't tell. (No salt at them, they were blind led by blind).

My trio put together a 3 part round version of Carol of the Bells, and organized our own punk rock version of Eleanor Rigby. We had chosen the most difficult song in his guitar book to play and nailed it. We covered a Beatles song and made it our own in a completely different style and nailed that too. We received a standing ovation from the parents that had to endure that recital. I have never before or since felt like I nailed something as well as I did that day. I felt so cool 😂

He gave us a 99% for our performance/final grade.

When asked why?

"Because nobody is perfect"

So... what say you? 22 year grudge warranted?

I’m Harsha M, a preservice teacher from the School of Education (2023–2025) at Christ (Deemed to be University). I’m currently conducting research on "Exploring the Correlation Between Teacher Motivation and Perception of Effective Teaching Strategies of EFL Teachers."

As part of this study, I’m collecting data through a Google Form, and your valuable insights as in-service teachers would greatly contribute to the research. I kindly request you to take a few minutes to fill out the form.

Here’s the link to the form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd1HMaDayb0TjpvJ6PzBs6z9K-64rPa7UjeiddDAOliM4nXWQ/viewform?usp=header

Thank you so much for your support!

Hi all! I am looking to collect data for my dissertation about teachers' perspectives and classroom interventions regarding girls with ADHD. If you have 5 minutes  spare I would be very grateful if you could please fill out this survey https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=MH_ksn3NTkql2rGM8aQVGzbUGRJ1NUpEtEygVEg4ektUMDZDMkhKQUlHWU82V1BGRzAzODFETUIzQS4u . Thank you so much in advance to anyone who helps me out!

Hey fellow educators!

I’m starting a new podcast dedicated to the wild, wacky, and downright unbelievable experiences we’ve all had in the classroom. From surprising student antics to bizarre admin decisions, we want to hear your most unhinged stories!

If you’re comfortable sharing anonymously, please send in your tales. Whether it’s a hilarious mishap, an unexpected encounter, or a lesson that went completely off the rails, we want to celebrate the chaos that comes with teaching.

Feel free to DM me or reply below if you have any questions. Let’s shine a light on the unforgettable moments that make our profession so unique!

Thanks for sharing, and stay tuned for the first episode!

#TeacherStories #Podcast #EducationUnhinged

I'm 18 and just finished my last year of school, a few months ago I started dating a boy of my class and we are usually surrounded by our friends. One day at the music class, we already has finished all tests so we were doing nothing and most students went to the atletism class to have fun so somehow my boyfriend, the teacher and I ended alone in the class room. The teacher winked at me and said outloud that he would be back in a few minutes because he had something to do and left, he didnt come back for almost an hour and he winked at me again. I feel like my teacher wanted to give us time alone, even thought we did nothing there besides trying to understand how to play a certain instrument LOL. Do other teachers do this?

Purple teacher lanyard… 🦄

Long post. First time poster. Please bare 🧸 with me.

Its theme week at the elementary school I work at (1st grade teach). For theme days I usually just call the students that are dressed up to front of the classroom for a quick picture. Students are never punished or called out for not dressed up. I do this because in years past students who are not dressed up are embarrassed. Tuesday was Christmas sock day. I call all students to the front & take the picture before we line up for dismissal. Later that night I get a message from a mom who wants to know why I didn’t let her daughter get her socks out of her backpack. I didn’t respond right away because the didn’t know she had socks & wasn’t sure how to respond. I get busy at home & planned to respond after making dinner. Then I got a nasty message from the dad about how I tied his daughter’s self worth over a Christmas sick picture for an asinine spirit theme week. At this point I realize nothing I say is gonna make it better so I get busy making Christmas gifts for students. I get a text from a coworker with a screenshot of the parents posting on Facebook looking for anyone who has had “experiences” with me. So this is definitely something for admin since I’m just wrong no matter what. Fast forward to Wednesday morning, I email admin with everything that happened. The child never told me she had socks so I didn’t know. Why I took the picture the way I did and that I didn’t even share the picture. I also said I did not think responding to irate parents over a picture was a good idea & what should I do. No response. Today at 3pm I’m shutting down my computer and see an email saying the parent has emailed & called saying for a response and I am in the wrong for not responding. While half true, I did ask for direction from admin. Now it’s been 3 days and parents are still mad their child was not included in a Christmas sock picture that was never posted because I didn’t know she had socks. Admin’s email mentioned why I didn’t let her go to her backpack, I only saw her try to go to her backpack while she was suppose to be cleaning out her desk so was redirected but she never said anything about socks. So I have no idea how I tired her self worth or intentional ignored her. Any ideas on how I respond now?

As a Teacher, what are the sickest burns students have given you?

My teacher is the same generation as me. Gen z. He’s 23 and I’m 13. And kids in class are always like “Mr. (His last name that I’m not saying) what’s a brain rot term??” Like bro what

July 29: assigned a long term project. Read a novel, respond in a three page essay (double spaced), and track 20 vocabulary words. If you submit more than 20, you get extra credit. Assignment is due December 6. You will have every Wednesday to work on it in class.

December 6 rolls around and I am on a self imposed leave of absence. I push the deadline to December 11 at 11:59pm.

Student emails on December 9 at 10pm: you should give us a week extension because you were out. (Grades are due December 20 at noon.)

Explained to the student they have had since July to complete a long term project for an honors English class. Student is still upset. Am I the asshole here??

Spoiler: I am not the asshole.

Primary, Intermediate/Senior?

I’m not not a teacher but in the second grade my teacher was telling us that she was expecting a phone call from her husband’s doctor about him possibly having a heart condition later during the day she got a phone call from the doctor and the doctor told her that her husband has heart failure she Look like she was going to cry the next week we had different subs for a few weeks before she came back pretty sure he lived

I am a first grade teacher, there is a boy in my class that we believe has severe ADHD. He’s constantly talking, getting out of his seat, making noises, etc. no matter what I do he doesn’t stop. I’ve had a meeting with his parents and they don’t believe in disabilities like ADHD. Everything is the other students fault, she asked where is his desk, “who’s around him, because he copies behavior”, the parents refuse to believe that he is the one starting the behavior, sometimes he will copy the other kids behavior, but the majority of the time he does it on his own. They also compare him to the other kids in their family, she told me that his cousin who is 18 had a tutor and learned 5 different languages has a 4.0 gpa and got a scholarship. She wants him to be like that but he just cannot focus, when we do a test if someone isn’t right next to him he will end up not doing the test because he gets distracted. The parents are not worried about his academics because they got him a tutor, he’s consistently getting Ds and Fs on his tests. Can anyone give me ideas on how I can help him in the classroom? Or help the parents understand that their child isn’t his cousin or sister that can learn 5 languages and still do well at school.

If you could teach your own dream highschool what would you want in it from furniture to games?

So there was a student looking for a part-time job. He asked if he could work for me by cleaning my apartment. But he's a smart kid, so I thought giving him menials tasks like that was way beneath him. I said, since I'm preparing for an exam, and I learn best when I teach, why don't I pay him to be my student? It's going to be a win-win situation. Guess what, he declined because it's too hard. Good lawd, the luckiest person in the world is the one who gets paid just for studying. Scholarships are not even as good as that because they will require you to serve a company or the country in return after graduation. Haiz.

Ok, I need to rant. I am teaching a 3rd/4th grade class this year, coming from preschool. I teach at a very small private school and the principal moved me up grade levels this year. I am getting my bachelor's degree in early childhood education. I am supposed to student teach in Spring 2025. When I accepted the position, she said we would have regular meetings to go over curriculum and lesson planning. She was also supposed to make regular visits to my classroom. None of which has happened. She has a lot going on right now personally and professionally, which I understand and feel awful for throwing this on her playe too. But I am feeling frustrated, overwhelmed and completely over my head. I sent a long email going through everything, with not much of a response. She caught me on my way out of the building last Thursday, and we had a quick meeting. I voiced my concerns, keep in mind parents are also voicing these concerns. I told her I was thinking about leaving and she told me that if I do leave, she will have to tell the parents to take their kids to different schools. I told her I would think on it, and she told me that she would be in my classroom this week. She has not been in my classroom. I want to leave, but also don't want to let my students down. She is currently out of reach, in a different state dealing with a family emergency. I feel for her, I really do, but I am at a loss. I do not think that I am giving my students a good education. I feel like resigning is what is best for me and them... I am just looking for some outside perspective, I guess.

I am currently on suspension from teaching at my school. I am a 22 year veteran teacher level five with nothing but excellent Reviews.

My current principal has been complained on formally by at least 25 different teachers yet he is still there. I am one of those teachers that complained two years ago.
Recently at the beginning of the school year, I applied for ADA And still have not Heard anything.

About over a month ago, I was suspended for not reporting possible child abuse in a timely manner and unprofessional conduct.
The situation that I was suspended for happened at the end of a school day with a student coming to ask me for advice on their mom coming home, drunk a lot and possibly ruining her birthday. I wasn't sure what to say to her and I wanted to talk to the guidance counselors first to see if I needed to report it to DCS. So I told her to come back by after this next class. So we could talk about it. I immediately went to the two guidance counselors and ask them they both told me I needed to report it. I said I would, I also said it sucked because she wasn't going to trust me anymore and when I said that the guidance counselor said well you just need to explain to her that things reported to teachers like this Or you could lose your job.
I fell asleep when filing out the form. When I woke up the next day, I had totally forgotten about it. My vp asked for the feferral number the next day around 3rd period. As soon as he asked I freaked out knowing I forgot to finish it and I lied saying the number was at home and I would send it to him after school. I immediately ran to my computer and finish filling out the form. I printed the referral number and put it in my bag so I wouldn't forget to take it home but when I got home that afternoon, I couldn't find the piece of paper so I texted my vice principal, asking him if he wanted me to do it again. He did not reply, but I got a Phone call from my Principal Asking me for the referral ID so I explained again and he said to go ahead and file another report so I hang up the phone and I continue to look for peace because I knew I had it. I found it about 15 minutes later took a picture of the ID number and sent it to him. He immediately asked for the email to be forwarded to him. I hadn't received an email so I told him that. He asked me what I took a pic of then. I said the papwr. He then asked me to take a picture of the entire piece of paper with referral ID number on it (that's all that's on that paper is referral # and date/time). I knew at that point he was trying to bust me and something so I told him I had already left my house. I did call DCS again and ask about the email and they said sometimes it would take up to 24 hours so I kept looking for it and as soon as it came in, I forwarded it to my principal.
The next thing I know the next morning and principal shows up in my room, telling me to get my things and leave immediately, but I had to go to central office to to answer their questions and when I ask why his response was just Be honest. He made sure I got my things and walked down to the building before he moved a foot. When I got to Central office, they told me I was being suspended for in a timely manner and unprofessional And then I could get an attorney if I wanted to. I was told I was not allowed to speak with any employee from the county, which meant I haven't been able to talk to any of my friends or my very best friend. Well, that freaked me out and I did call our unions attorney. I have been called in for questioning about 2 weeks ago and now I've been home UNPAID for over a month.
I don't know what is going on or what to do about it. Has anyone experienced anything like this before? I NEVER would have imagined this would happen to me. I'm so upset and angry they have done this especially without pay. If I were a single mom, I'd be homeless by now.

I had just submitted my essay on genres and I was very proud...untili got an email from my teacher saying "I used AI and that is not allowed" after (pleadng me innocence) She has said it was "better than anything she could ever write and that she looks forward to seeing more" BUT THEN SHE PROCEEDS TO GIVE ME A 8/10 WITH AN EXTRA POINT FOR LANGUAGE???

Reddit

Hi,

I am writing this post not only from my perspective, but also on behalf of other university students that I am completing an Education degree with. I am a male undergraduate student studying Education in Brisbane, Australia. We are having significant challenges with the Brisbane based university we attend. We are a bit lost and would appreciate any assistance in any way, shape or form, as the university is not assisting us.

My individual story is incredibly long but I will try my best to condense it into dot points.

• I was rushed to hospital with heart arrhythmia. This was a week out from a prac experience starting. I required a heart procedure to fix the issue which was a very traumatic experience. I received next to no support from the university. The “support” I received from the head of well-being was a hyperlink on how to un-enrol from units, as well as notifying me that because I was ill after census date I would be charged for the unit.
• I was falsely accused of using AI on an assessment. To this day I still have never been given access to the material that was deemed artificial intelligence material. I was reprimanded and received an official strike against my name, and also lost 20 marks on the relevant assessment.
• I have had to re-do a prac unit that I completed a year ago. I had an uploading issue with an assessment. Long story short is the assessment did not load properly and I was never notified by staff members of the university that this occurred. This was after a successful prac experience, attending in-person lectures for 12 weeks, as well as being a consistent performing student. A significant number of policies and procedures were never met, and this issue is still ongoing, even after 12 months.
• The outcome of this incident is I cannot teach under PTT guidelines, my degree is likely to be completed 12-18months later than anticipated, I am missing out on experience and opportunities, income, I have a growing HECS debt etc. I also really would like to complete a masters in education but this is being delayed further as well due to this issue.

My fellow students have also had issues with marks from pracs not being returned in time for students to follow their course map. This has delayed their course completion by six-months, again, due to the university not following procedures and policies.

Given the teacher shortage, we expected significantly more support over these issues. These stories make us all so angry as we want to be a part of the industry and support students, colleagues and communities but we cannot because of incompetence, negligence, a consistent lack of effort, responsibility and accountability. There also seems to be no overarching body that holds these private universities accountable for their actions.

I will be passing this information onto the minister of education once the upcoming election is complete. I will also pass this information onto members from ABC, and relevant news outlets to get them to understand the situation students are facing. If anyone has any other avenues of communication that may be of assistance, or anything that can help us out, please contact me at any time.

My friends and I greatly appreciate your support. Thanks in advance!

at the time, I was maybe a 10-11 year old girl, who had recently moved to England from America, everything was all good, I noticed that some of the kids and teachers seemed to treat me differently, but for the most part, everything was good and fine. My sports teacher was the only exception, she was truly horrible to me, she only liked you if you werent any other nationality than Britis, and lucky me, I was the only one who wasn’t British, she would constantly scream at me for not knowing how to play British sports, then scream at me for “mocking her” by asking how to play, leaving Me at the end of almost every lesson in tears, so as you could imagine, I would pretend to be sick at the end of the lesson that was before sports and sit in the nurses office (sometimes the idea of being in this class caused me so much anxiety I would actually get headaches and stomachaches). This worked for a while, and i Just assumed the sports teacher was glad I wasn’t in her class anymore. Spoiler alert!! I assumed wrong, my ‘friend‘ convinced me to come to sports one day because the teacher had supposedly mellowed out, I reluctantly agreed, when I went to go get changed, my parents left a note in my sports bag, asking me to be excused from that lesson as my sports uniform was being washed that day, so when I went to the teacher to explain the situation, she proceeded to back me into a corner and scream at me (her exact words were something along the lines of “your just a fat pig who won’t get anywhere In life” and ”I can’t believe you have any friends at all”) a lot of these comments made comments about my weight, my social life, appearance and financial situation. By the time she had finished, I was on the floor outside with my head in my knees just crying my eyes out, it was at this point I realised how little teachers cared, I had to have been passed been by at least 4 teachers, they didn’t ask if I was okay, they didn’t ask why I was having a breakdown outside the changing rooms, but what they did was scream at me for not being in class (says a whole lot about the school system these days!). but anyways, this continues, I told my parents and they must have sent atleast 30 emails about it, the school refused to have me take out of her class, this continued on for nearly 2 years, even after I had gone to the secondary school as she was STILL my sports teacher, and i was only moved from her class once my parents had threatened a lawsuit, i was only in that class for maybe 6 months then I moved back to America, but ye.

in the end, the morale of the story is being polite and going about things the nice way doesn’t always work, you have to fight and struggle if you want things to change. To anyone who’s going through a similar situation, my words of advice are get yourself a fucking lawyer and threaten to sue them 😜

I am currently a fifth-year grade 1 teacher at an international school abroad. I have an Ethiopian refugee student, whom I'll refer to as Student H, and I'm experiencing some issues with her behavior. She seemed fine at first—very enthusiastic and academically inclined. However, an unexpected tantrum occurred right at dismissal, which was quite frustrating.

We were working on a worksheet, where students were only expected to write two sentences by copying from what I had written on the screen. Suddenly, Student H began crying at her desk, and her tablemates brought it to my attention. I asked her to come over so we could talk about her feelings. However, she was mumbling and mentioned that my instruction to "finish" upset her. I found this confusing, as I never said “finish.” I gathered that she might have been frustrated because everyone else was finishing early, as she can be a bit competitive.

I invited her to sit next to me at a table and offered her my paper to copy directly from it. She seemed to calm down, and I thought everything would end well. However, she suddenly threw her pencil hard against the table, sending it flying across the classroom. She started crying again in anger and refused to do her work. At that point, I felt upset too, so I told her that throwing her pencil was “bad behavior” and that she needed to pick it up. She stood up, gave me attitude, and said she wouldn't pick up the pencil or do her work, speaking in a very aggressive tone. Her eyes were glaring at me, and the crying seemed more like whining—very attention-seeking. I sensed a lot of frustration, but she couldn’t manage her feelings.

At that moment, our lower primary coordinator walked in to help with dismissal. She tried to calm Student H down with a gentle tone, encouraging her to clean up and get ready. Even then, Student H closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around herself, refusing to move or speak. We explained that she needed to get on the bus and that everyone was waiting for her, but she continued to ignore us, making crying noises and keeping her eyes shut. The coordinator spent ten minutes trying to convince her to get up and pick up the pencil. Eventually, she picked it up for her and placed it in her hand, then helped her pack up before leaving with the bus-riding students. We ended up extremely late due to this tantrum.

I called the parents afterward to explain what had happened and asked them to discuss her behavior with her. I also mentioned that I would be speaking with her on Monday morning (this incident occurred on Friday afternoon) and that she would need to finish her work. I did not hear back from the parents. Should I leave them a message to remind them?

Additionally, what could I have done differently during the tantrum? Normally, I would send her to the calm corner, but this was dismissal time, and I didn’t have that opportunity. What should I say or do as a follow-up on Monday? What kind of consequences should I implement?

Critter started out in my freshman creative writing class at a public art school. He was in a class that met on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 110 minutes each day. That was the same class where a freshman girl would pretend to be a cat and crawl under the tables rubbing her face on people’s legs, but hers is another story.

Critter was about as close as a human being can come to actually being a squirrel. He was skittish, unable to sit still, unable to keep his mouth closed, and unable to leave everyone else in the classroom alone. Incidentally, the cat girl was his friend.

Other teachers will understand this: when Critter (what he asked to be called) was in the classroom, pandemonium ruled, and when he was not there, class was productive and enjoyable. Unfortunately, he was almost always there.

Eventually, though, the gods of knowledge intervened. During class I asked Critter to use an adjective. He did not know what that was, nor did he know any of the other parts of speech. When I suggested that he must have learned them by the eighth grade, he told me that he had never been in the eighth grade, that he had gone from seventh grade directly into high school.

During my planning period, I asked our student database administrator to check Critter’s records; sure enough, he had been so out of control in middle school that they decided to get rid of him by bumping him up to high school. It is important to understand that Critter was at an age appropriate for both eighth and ninth grades.

Soon after, Critter was sent back to his middle school, and class, but for a bit of mewling and ankle contact under the tables, was productively engaged in the business of creativity.

So I found this video that helped me a lot with teaching vocabulary to my English language learners but I need more strategies for the classroom. Any other strategies that work well for ELL students? https://youtu.be/MNUeKy8d5Vw?si=exTYRDBLj9IWm6yD

I had a teacher who taught me in both 4th and 7th grade. We’ll call her Miss Erica. Miss Erica was my teacher back when I was still an awkward little kid and trying to figure life out after my parents’ fighting worsened. I didn’t feel safe at home. But I didn’t feel safe at school, either. My grandparents or friends houses felt like sanctuaries. I had been bullied up until Junior High, but I was never aware of it. That was until Miss Erica. There had been multiple occasions that I had overlooked. The time a kid threw a broken brick at me in third, the time I was the only kid no one would let join their groups in second, the gossip in second, the religious harassment in preschool to first, the lack of inclusion and the destruction of my property in fourth. Fourth is when she changed my entire outlook in life. Fortunately, she got to see the outcome of her words three years later. The day she changed everything was typical at the start. One of my only friends dragged me to play the Silent Ball game with a ton of our other classmates, I was getting made fun of, purposefully hit, the norm. I thought that was normal. My friend made a comment, and I jokingly pretended to elbow her in the throat. Miss Erica had been watching us. When she saw that, she called me over. Everyone went silent, and looking back I can swear at least a few of them were praying I’d get in trouble. She pulled me aside and told me to explain what I had processed was happening. The interaction goes something along the lines of what’s below. Me: “We were playing Silent Ball and Evie made a joke, so I pretended to-“ Miss Erica: “I know that, I was watching. What I saw was that you almost hurt your friend without even knowing you were in pain.” Me: “Pardon?” Miss Erica: “You’re being bullied, (Real Name).” When she told me that, it seemed so obvious. I couldn’t say anything to deny it, either. She was right. I just started crying. And I couldn’t stop. I stayed in her class for the rest of the day, and Evie brought me my assignments for my other classes I missed. Miss Erica told them to count me as present. She never told my parents, never told my sister, never told any other teachers. She just kept it between us. I started to rebuild myself that next year. A lot of those people who bullied me stayed, but I had completely changed. I was even quieter than before, I got all good grades, and my parents grew nearer to their divorce. I was a mess, but working to get better. I only cried again in school when neither of my parents had the nerve to watch me get my A Honor Roll certificate. But who was there? Miss Erica. My parents both grew more towards alcohol and yelled at me more often, but I didn’t care anymore. In sixth grade, I had to move schools so my sister could advance to High school, and I would enter Junior High. My biggest fear was starting the whole process over again. But I met my friends there. My best friends. The people who will always be there for me. I regained my confidence and my academics only grew. I had Miss Erica once again in seventh, and I couldn’t have been happier. On our open house night, the moment I entered her classroom, she got extremely excited. Her excitement only grew when she learned I was in her advanced class. She would always mention to me how much I had grown, and not just physically or academically. Mentally. Now, I’m living a much better life, and I have only her to thank. Some of my classmates that are in her classes this year dislike her because of how she teaches or who she is, but I don’t think I could ever dislike her. She gave me the cement to build who I am as a person today. Moral of the story, sometimes when you’re in the pits, there will always, and I mean always, be someone willing to pull you out. You just have to stretch out your hand right back to them to get a solid grip. And sure, you may have to tug a little as well.

Hey everyone! I’ve been teaching for 15 years, but there’s one thing I still really struggle with: contacting parents. For some reason, it absolutely terrifies me—whether it’s a phone call or even just sending an email. I know deep down that addressing behavior issues head-on would solve 99% of my stress, but I just can't seem to get past this fear.

Early in my career, I thought it was because I was young and intimidated by parents. But now, at 37, I’m as old as or older than most of my 6th graders’ parents. Despite that, I still feel anxious about reaching out. Meanwhile, I see other teachers who can call or email parents on the spot over the smallest issues without hesitation.

This year, I’m having major problems with disrespectful students: talking back, being defiant, not doing their work, etc. I know I need to call home and hold them accountable instead of just bottling up the stress, but I can’t seem to follow through. I’ll make empty threats like, “I guess I’ll have to call your parents,” but then I never do it, and the students know I won’t. It's a cycle that I know just makes things worse.

Whenever I ask my colleagues or admin for advice, their first question is always, “Have you talked to their parents?” And I always end up making excuses like, “I’ll give them another chance,” or something else to avoid making the call. Meanwhile, I’m being worn down day after day by disrespectful and out-of-control 11- and 12-year-olds.

Even sending an email intimidates me! I know I’m the adult and the authority in the room, and I’m the one who has to deal with this behavior every day, so I should be able to hold these kids accountable. But I just can’t seem to get into that mindset when it comes to contacting their parents.

My big fear is that parents will get mad at ME, even though, logically, I know that’s unlikely. These kids aren’t angels, and their parents probably won’t be shocked to hear about their behavior. Still, I always imagine the worst-case scenario.

I’m really hoping to get some advice, tips, or even coaching on how to build confidence with parent communication, handle discipline issues the “right” way, and follow through with consequences. I want to be the teacher who means business, and not someone who’s afraid to call home, email, or write kids up. Any help or shared experiences would be really appreciated!

Me and a group of students have realized how much teachers go thought We are doing a project to bring up awareness and bring positivity to the teachers at our school

Anyone ever have a parent sort of “complain” about something but not really provide any specifics on how to rectify the issue?

A parent in my class complained about the communication. I personally think communication with parents has been a strength of mine and I’ve never had a parent in 15 years tell me that there’s poor communication but I’m of course open to feedback. I send home a weekly newsletter that details what is going on in the classroom and important dates. It is sent digitally and a paper copy. We use Class Dojo to send school wide and classroom updates as well. Additionally, we’re only a month into school and I’ve already communicated with her personally 3 times (2 phone calls, 1 message all of which I’ve initiated). She stated that the teacher last year provided a lot more information and things were clearer “but she guesses every teacher is different”. That was a bit unsettling to me because I don’t want a parent to feel that way ever, but I truly don’t know what else I could do? It’s also frustrating when I’ve spend so much of my planning period creating these newsletters and calling every parent to check in and it doesn’t feel appreciated. I even asked her for some specifics and she said: -She said it wasn’t clear what she needed to do for the homework. It’s a sheet per day and a reading log. I communicated this in a note home and at back to school night. -Vocabulary Flashcards were sent home in a plastic bag. She said she had no idea what it was for and her child couldn’t explain it. I asked her if she has been reading my newsletter/notes home and she said she has. The instructions were listed there but she said she “must have missed that”. -There was a fundraiser sponsored by the PTO the school recently did. Each child was sent home with an envelope packet with a specific note written by the PTO explaining the fundraiser. This note was also posted on Class Dojo. This parent complained that ”not much information was provided besides the packet in her child’s bookbag” but her child did not even participate in this fundraiser. There was a note at the bottom of the flyer with an email address to contact the PTO with questions. I’m not exactly sure what other information she wanted, but I provided all of the flyers and information that was given to me.
-She stated that the teacher last year provided a calendar of events like field trips and school events. I have a section in my newsletter with upcoming dates and I’ve provided every date that I can at this point, but I don’t have many dates to give right now. We have field trips and many fun parent events but those are later in the year, which I explained to her.

I wish I could ask the teacher from last year how she communicated but this child was at a different school last year. Any ideas of how I can make this parent feel like she has more communication without going overboard?

It was my first year teaching Senior English in an at-risk high school. A very smart 16-year-old girl, who was always a bright spot in everyone's day, came quietly in to class. She sat at her desk with none of her usual chatting.

I started the class, did last-minute questions prior to handing out their mid-term tests. She didn't participate like she normally did. When I handed her her test she started sobbing. I whispered to her to meet me in the hall.

After getting a neighboring teacher to monitor my class, I stepped out to speak with her. I asked her what was wrong.

“My Daddy kicked me out last night.”

“Do you need me to call your mom?”

“No. Not my father. My Daddy,” she said drawn out and with emphasis. “My Pimp.” She sobbed even harder. “My parents are abusive addicts. They don't care where I am. My daddy took me in. At least I have control most of the time and I'm making money. I wouldn't work last night because I wanted to study, so he kicked me out.”

I told her the test should be the least of her worries. We could deal with that later. We went to the counselor’s office together.

Working together, the counselor, the girl, and I - we ended up finding immediate help for her and within a month, she was living happily with her uncle, his wife, and two cousins she had never met (the uncle had cut ties with his sister when my student was just 4 years old).

After word made it back to administration about what happened, I was called into the office. Silly me, I thought they were going to thank me or congratulate me on a job well done.

Nope.

Instead I was reprimanded for "stepping out of the scope of my responsibilities." I was told that all I should have done was send her to the office for disrupting class. If I "really felt it necessary," I could have buzzed the office to fill them in on the story the girl had shared. That would have covered the mandatory reporting. According to them, I should not have given the girl a chance to confide in me or accompanied her to the counselors office. They very sternly told me, "You need to look at the students as your job. Not as humans."

The following day, I tendered my resignation. I would not be returning the following year.

For those wondering, she ended up graduating with honors and went on to become a child psychologist specializing in at-risk and homeless youth.