In my first period class, I’m supposed to have 13 students. I regularly have 3, and I never have more than 5.

How do I deal with this, emotionally?

(Educationally, I don’t care. I put the shit online. You either do it or don’t, idgaf.)

But what are some ways to handle this? I try going in with the mentality that I’m not there to teach a class; I’m there to teach the two sweethearts who actually care to learn.

It’s pretty draining and it makes it hard to care when the majority of my students never show up.

Tips for coping?

I’m a GSA advisor and teacher in a blue/red suburban Ohio district. Currently drafting an email to my district admin to ask how the process is going on creating local guidelines for staff and students. I want to “manage up” so they create policy that protects kids. Would love any advice or questions I should ask. To be clear, I’m generally happy with their work. Their ICE letter was about as good as they can do given the 50/50 split of the district. They know what best practice is and they are limited by local politics.

TIA

Hello educators, I am a highschool senior who got accepted into colleges for social science to become a teacher, this way I get my credential during college and am teaching right away. I just don't know for sure though, I like teaching others, and I like social sciences, but I just am worried I am setting myself up for meh pay for the rest of my life, pay that will force my future wife to work and not just me. I also am worried that I am biased as someone that goes to school and sees teachers everyday and whose dad is a teacher, I see their lives and feel good about them, but I just don't know. I see my friends be like "I'm going into finance!" and I get being good with numbers, but how did they get the inspiration to be like "wow I just wanna look at spreadsheets everyday and talk about profits" how did a job like that seem good to them, because I fear that there's a job I have never heard of that's just gonna pop on my radar in 30 years and ill be like "that's the dream job, good pay and its the stuff I love doing" but by then I have already decided my life for the most part. How do I know this is for me and there isn't a dream job around the corner. Does anyone have any thoughts about their personal experience or want to tell me what life is like as a teacher.

For specifics: I am currently working towards being a highschool social science teacher in California, and although I would be going to school in San Diego, I would likely have to move to a smaller town (unless I find a sugar mommy.) I hate math, like the facts and stuff about science, but not the math, I like computers and tech, but none of the coding behind it. But, I also like history and psych a lot, but don't love research or case studies so psych major would not be fun in that regard, I am good at economics although it takes a while for me to learn, because its fairly confusing at times. Yeah I like teaching my peers, family, friends, I am the go-to free school tutor and I love caring for my little siblings. My dad is a teacher and is successful but I am worried because he was being paid early wages of a teacher in a time where things were much cheaper and he could get a house, whereas for me that kind of purchasing power wont come until I am towards the end of my career and I would likely have to rent for most of my life.

Idk I feel like teaching has always been a passion over pay thing, but we are at a point where I will NEED another income to have a family, and I don't want to kick myself in the future for something I decide today.

Thanks to any help

Yall, when are we finding the time to work out? and what does that look like for you? Personally, I really struggle with this because i push it off to the weekend and then on the weekend i’m so burnt out i just want to nap all day! i’m an elem specials teacher for context, i have to be at work at 7:15 and i wake up at about 5:45 to get ready, take my dog out and drive to work

im student teaching and wondering if i could even make it as a first year teacher…

Hello. I'm a newcomer today. I’m currently majoring in special ed and elementary eduction at university.

I would like to know how this community has helped in professional development.

I would like to know how current teachers and teachers who teach young children led their concentration when they started talking during school activities.

I want to know when it was the best and hardest time to be a teacher.

Lastly, I would like to know what determination you have made you walk the path of a teacher.

Hey everyone. I am a 4th grade teacher in Ohio. My Fiance and I are trying to move to Edmonton, Alberta. I was wondering if anyone has any experience trying to get certified to teach elementary school after emigration. Will my credentials transfer, or will I have to start from scratch, or maybe just take a few missing classes etc.

My Fiance is a Canadian citizen, so we are expecting getting permanent resident status for myself should not be a major hurdle, although I imagine it will still be difficult and annoying as all immigration is.

I love teaching and I don't want to switch careers or do corporate training.

Thank you to anyone who is able to offer some help/advice!

Basically title. I'm a teacher. Wondering if anyone could share their or their school's experiences with banning phones (especially if it includes lunch and passing periods). What were students' and parents' reactions? Was it hard to do it? Was it manageable? Were the logistics worked out? What are the consequences? Was it strictly enforced, and is it still strictly enforced? How are students and parents handling it now?

From your own experience and from what you've observed.

My class had a great 20-minute convo about this rotary phone I brought in. It was so fun. Genuine organic interest in things like

• remembering your home # forever
• having a shared land line
• listening in on the other phone in the house
• early internet occupying your phone line
• “my grandma had one of those!!”

Then they made me do a dialing demo 😂 anyways, I recommend it, maybe something to open class with.

So I recently found out that a new step 1 teacher is making more than me (ma step 6). I don’t think this person has their doctorate/is MA+30. I’m just confused. How are people able to negotiate to get salaries off the guide? Is this a common practice? How did you do it?

How many of you work in grades K-8 where the school doesn't require you to teach social studies and doesn't include it in the curriculum or daily schedule?

This happened on my first day of being a teacher back in 2018.

I was hired to teach general music and beginning band in a combined school of early childhood learning all the way up to seventh grade in rural Appalachia. The day was going really well, I was introducing myself to the students and explaining my expectations and rules of the music classroom.

After lunch, it was time to have my first ever group of kindergartners. We are sitting crisscross applesauce on the music floor and talking about what we do in music class as I was talking with the students one student crawls into my lap. I didn’t think too much of it, knowing that a lot for a lot of these students it was their first time at some form of school. After about 30 seconds of sitting in my lap with his head on my shoulder, he starts grabbing at my chest and trying to pull the top of my dress down. I continue talking to the other students and put his hands in his lap and scoot him off of my lap. He crawls back into my lap, still grabbing at my chest and trying to pull the top of my dress down I look at him and tell him that we do not do that with our hands and we don’t touch people like this. He looked at me with such an angry face and told me that he was hungry and that he wanted booby! I told him that he was just ate lunch and we are not going to talk about this anymore.

When his teacher came to pick up the class, I let her know of what happened, both of us getting a really good giggle over it. She told me that she would send a message to the parent so that the parent could have a conversation with her student .

About 45 minutes later, I get an email from the principal saying that she needs to sit down and talk with me after school. Again, I didn’t think too much of it because it was my first day ever of teaching and I thought she wanted to ask me about my day and see if I needed anything. When I get into her office, she said that we were going to have a phone call with the student’s mother. The principal puts this child’s mother on speakerphone, and I’m expecting a mortified apology from the mom.

Needless to say, I was dumb struck when this mother told me that I should have let her son try and nurse from me in the middle of class in front of 15 other students! When I told this mother that that was not going to happen in my class, She told me I was denying the rest of the students a scientific education on what breasts are for. When I responded that even if I were to let the student try to breast-feed from me in the middle of class, he would not be successful, she proceeded to continue saying that it would’ve been a learning experience for her son that not all breasts contain milk. The principal was sitting there open mouth and stunned when I continued to tell this mother that no one in this school was going to breast-feed her son. She started to get very upset And asked how is he going to eat in the day? The principal finally chimed in saying that public schools do not offer a wet nurse program and that at five years old what you feed your child is your own business however, if they are at school, they need to either eat the school lunch or have a lunch packed with them. The call ended shortly after that with the mother still shocked and surprised that teachers in the school would not willingly offer to breast-feed her five-year-old kindergarten.

I thought in this timeline, we could all use a giggle! Stay safe out there!

Who are some lesser-known Black Americans that made medical, technological, social, etc. advances that changed history? I specifically want people that impacted life today. While I recognize there are tons of “first African-American to…”, I’d like to shine a light on “Thanks to them, we are now able to…”

I’m doing my own research, but thought some of you may know some off the top of your heads! All ideas welcome!

Can someone with an expertise in education help me understand how this is so drastically different from the east coast to the west coast.

In New England you commonly see student to teacher ratios of 11:1 at the top public schools. On the west coast the top public districts are 22:1. How can schools on the west coast be ranked highly nationally with such drastically different ratios? Am I interpreting this incorrectly?

Do you think special education will remain funded and legally enforceable if the DOE is dismantled? I’m in my third as a sped teacher. Got my masters in special education. Is my job going to disappear?

I teach 5th grade with 3 other teammates. One of my teammates is the teacher who can “handle it all” so their class is always rough. This year has broke her. Out of her 19 students, roughly a quarter have already been suspended for behavior including physical fights and language. The class has had to be evacuated due to students loosing their temper and throwing things.

Just this past week, she discovered “letters” that her students were writing during free write time. One letter was written by a boy to girl in class. The girl is African American. He used every hate speech word you could think of. It was 3 pages long, line after line of racial slurs, hoping for her death, including her casket being dropped and her face being “fixed” by falling on the ground. Another letter was written to a teacher. She was called a ct in the letter, insults were written about her 4 year old son, and the student said she needs to “shave her puy because it’s hairy”.

Both students got 1 day ISS and two days OSS. When admin talked to my teammate (who has 25 years experience and has been named teacher of the year multiple years) she was told “the letters were never meant to be read, they weren’t going to give them to the recipients.” Then the principal told her “Well you tell them to write about their feelings if they can’t find a topic to write about. Did you explain the expectations clearly enough 🙃.”

Another student in another class also made a TikTok account impersonating one of our teammates. He took her profile photo and made a new account with her name and was liking, commenting and following students pretending to be her. Admin did nothing because it “didn’t happen at school.”

Wtf can we do? We don’t feel safe or supported.

Good morning,

I am completing research in puppetry in education and therapy. I have a few questions that I need a quick answer to if you wouldn't mind:

1. Do you use puppets in education? Why or why not?

2. What types of puppets do you use? Why that particular style?

3. Do you think puppets that teach social skill lessons would be important to primary students?

4. Do your students respond to puppets?

5. In what subject do you think puppets are most useful?

I’m trying to understand the new voucher plan passed in Tennessee but don’t quite understand what it means for public school teachers. Does this mean smaller class sizes because students will be awarded scholarships to attend private school? Does this mean less funding for public schools and, therefore, no more after school programs and extra curricular programs? Lower teacher salaries? I know I can Google all of this but figured it would be easier to ask here.

In the average day in the classroom, when your students are present and not at specials and the like, how much time do you actually have with them? Of that time how much do you designate as explicit instruction, guided practice, and free choice?

In my 8:30-6 classroom we have 2.5 hours in the classroom not having meals/snacks/naps/specials and of the 2.5 hours, i have 30 minutes explicit instruction, 30 minutes of guided practice, and 1.5 hours of free choice between designated learning centers. In reference i am a Preschool 3s teacher that focuses on preliteracy, fine motor skills, and procedural understanding to help prep them for PreK and Kindergarten

Thought you all should know-

H.R. 899 was introduced on 31JAN2025 by Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) in what I can only imagine to be another attempt at destroying education throughout the U.S.

While the text is not yet available on Congress' website, I would love to know everyone's thoughts.

Well, the official bill to terminante the department of education has been introduced. How are we feeling 😀

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/899?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22Education%22%7D&s=2&r=3

Edit: actually… everyone go check out the recent posts on the DOE’s Facebook page it’s flooded with propaganda!!! what is going on???

Are your work clothes vastly different than the rest of your wardrobe, or are they largely the same? Makeup wearers, is your school routine similar to your off-duty look?

Just curious to see how much of a teacher “uniform” we all employ.

I’m not a new teacher, but I’m at a new school. I was assigned to work with the instructional coach for half an hour during my planning period every week. The things I am telling her, she’s running to the principal with and now the principal thinks I’m incompetent. The thing is, she’s not supposed to be evaluative of me. Now they are requiring more detailed lesson plans of me than any other teacher because they think I can’t do my job. I don’t trust this woman at all, but I have to meet with her for 30 minutes every week for the rest of the year. On top of it, I have to submit lesson plans at 7:45 Monday mornings for every subject now and the other teachers at the school don’t have to do that.I’m so frustrated right now

Hey all! This happened yesterday. In my first period class, I have this girl who usually raises her hand and answers questions I ask during lectures. There are also times where I call on her and she will answer questions as well. However, yesterday during a lecture on capitalism and communism during the Industrial Revolution (I teach social studies), I called on her once and all she said was is “I don’t know.” Roughly 10 minutes later, I called on her again and she said “I don’t want to answer. I feel awkward answering in front of people. This is my boundary.”

I thought it was weird because it had never been an issue in the 6 months that we have been in school. I had a private talk with her and she said she doesn’t like to talk in front of people. I asked my mentor teacher what I should do and he thinks that on Monday I should have another talk with her tell her that I am not here to embarrass her, but rather see what you know and if you are paying attention (which I don’t think she was).

I just think it’s weird how all of a sudden she doesn’t like answering questions and now it’s a “boundary” thing. My mentor teacher even said that as a student, their job is to participate and pay attention to what I am going over.

What do you all think I should do and why do you think all of a sudden she doesn’t want to answer questions anymore?

Other day I sent a message to a kid’s parents about some behavior issues, as well as constantly catching the kid playing games on his laptop.

The next day, he comes to my room during my planning saying how he wasn’t playing games. I stopped him right there. I said I wasn’t “asking” if he was playing games, I’m “telling” him he was. Concluded by saying the matter was closed for debate and to have a good morning (my cue when I need a student to get to where they need to be).

I thought that was the end of that, but later that evening I got an email from the kid basically saying the same stuff.

Is it even worth responding to at this point..?

Hi everyone,

I'm a teacher, and I've recently noticed that some of my students might be using AI tools to complete their assignments. Platforms like ChatGPT have become more accessible, and it's getting harder to tell whether the work I receive is genuinely written by them or generated by AI.

I want to ensure that my students are learning and engaging with the material honestly. So I’m looking for ways to detect AI-generated content.

Questions:

• How can I tell if an assignment is AI-generated?
• Are there specific signs or red flags I should look for?
• Have you tried any tools or methods that work well for identifying AI-generated content?
• What has been your experience addressing this issue with students?

I'm also exploring the idea of building a tool specifically for teachers to help detect AI-generated assignments and essays. If you have any thoughts on what features would be most useful, I would love to hear them!

Thanks so much for your insights — this is becoming a real challenge for many educators, and I want to handle it in the best way possible!

How do you currently check if assignments or CVs are AI-generated?

hi so as the title says the kids I'm tutoring rn are being beaten at home today this kid came n started crying n she wouldn't say what's wrong i tried to just focuse on teaching but she wouldn't answer or interact with what I'm saying n she kept crying silently n then she said her nose hurt (there was no visible marks on her face or anything) I tried to make her feel better but I didn't wanna cross like boundaries n stuff but she js shut off n told me to keep teaching so i did but she wouldn't know the answers to anything n she would get more upset i tried to move on to other subjects but she'd get scared n tell me we need to finish this first then i texted her mom to tell her abt it n she sent someone to take her. my question is how should i engage with them when this happens is there anything i can do before we start studying to make things go smoothly? from what i understand her mom hit her before she sent her to me n when her sister came to pick her up she said if she doesn't listen to you slap her n idk how to comfort her without touching her (hugging) or if i should even do, how should i approach this it's my first time tutoring aomeone so idk should i js ignore things or what but that def is effecting our lessons

edit: guys i can't call cps I'm not from the us n our laws don't rlly protect children like that

I saw it on Twitter, I ran my ass over here to report it here.

I will come out of retirement just to get a front row seat to that shit show.

I will love to watch ai try classroom behavior management. Kids don't respect us, do you think they will respect a robot. What the hell is ai going to do when little Timmy gets upset and starts throwing shit across the room. Children don't respect classroom equipment, you think they are going to respect an ai machine?

Not to mention who the fuck is going to fund this? Sure the district will fund for the latest and greatest machine. But how long will it take district to put in funding for repairs and maintenance?

Not to mention, they are going to have to hire someone to repair machines. Mechanics make more than you guys do, ain't no one taking a pay cut to work to work in this dumb.

Oh and my favorite part is when he said it will be the parents responsibilities to install morals and values into their children. Of all my years of teaching, I can count the amount of times a parent took responsibility for their child's behavior problems on one hand.

I don't know if y'all know this. But Elon had a son name Xavier. Now Xavier is Vivian and she is living her best life. She is over on threads and she is mad funny as fuck. She also confirmed that Elon is a shit parent. He was never there for her or her brothers unless it was to promote his business. And he always bullied her for being a femme "guy" and later for being a transgender teenage girl.

Yeah I can tell this dude is a bad parent for having the grand fucking delusion that parents take responsibility for their childs actions in the classroom.

And yes, he thinks his "son" was turned into a transgender by "his" teachers when "Xavier" decided to no longer be homeschooled and wanted to enter a real high school. So obviously the solution is to replace us with ai machines so we can't make turn our students into transgenders and teach them pronouns.

You know, sometimes I write things out and wonder how the fuck we got here for me to say those. I can't express enough how much I love being retired.

However I feel like I am on the first Titanic lifeboat. I am just sitting in the lifeboat watching the ship go down while hearing y'all running and screaming for help. The ship is going to go down and there is absolutely nothing I can do except watch and pray to God that some of you make it out.

I don't know what I'm asking for as far as advice but I just need to write out my story and feel supported. Or tell me to run away. IDK what I'm feeling sometimes.

I'm currently 36 and in 2022 I quit my job in the tech sector to start a small farm to fulfill a dream of my husband's. I thought it was my dream too but it really wasn't. He wanted a diversified farm with produce and raising animals and, and, and. If you're familiar with Richard Perkins that was my husband's vision.

I limped the business along realizing that I really don't like being a farmer and I just wanted out of tech. In 2024 it became clear that I am insanely passionate about butchery - both the slaughter side and meat cutting.

However, in fall 2024 my husband and I separated leaving me needing more income that I can get from the farm and butchery at this time.

In the 22-23 school year I did some subbing in the winter as the farm is seasonal. I did really like subbing and we're in a very rural, ag-centric community so I fit right in at the school.

In December 2024, my friend who works at the local high school let me know that there was a vacancy midyear for a freshmen science teacher. My college degree is a BS in logistics (business) but I had spent my first two years of college pursuing engineering and have tons of science/math/engineering credits.

I got the job! There was only one other applicant. The district got the ball rolling and I received the Letter of Electricity for my emergency teaching cert this week.

I started the job this past Monday and it's been a whirlwind.

I have the broad units to teach but no plans whatsoever. I totally understand energy, outer space, and radiation at a 9th grade level but not how to teach it to a 9th grader.

The district has a wonderful teaching coach who is teaching me how to teach as best he can in such a short amount of time. This week I observed some other classes and according to the coach I picked up on some valuable strategies such as chunking and scaffolding. Side note: could the person who named chunking not have come up with a different name?!?!?

This week I met some of my students while the interim sub, a retired gym teacher, conducted the class.

This coming Monday I'm solo but with continued support of the teaching coach and so many other folks in the school.

I'm just so overwhelmed. Lucky it's a small district and I have about 80 students all taking the same class split into 6 sections.

My experience with butchery, while not directly pertinent to content, will help me connect to A LOT of my students. I'm guessing at least half hunt deer so we have some common ground.

Some students remember me from subbing two years ago and are excited to see me again. There is one boy in particular who melted my heart when it clicked where he remembered me from. When I got the job I was really hoping he was still in the district and the feelings of excitement were mutual. He'd grown up so much in two years that I didn't even recognize him at first!

About 50% of seniors in the school go on to continued education after graduating but approx 60% of them drop out by the end of their first year. I was raised in a school district with 99% matriculation rate and of my class of 300 students a lot went on to get PhDs, Mds, or JDs. The cultural difference around education is something I'm struggling with.

I have students who are very intelligent and will absolutely succeed in getting four year degrees from great universities. I also have students who spell enough as enuf or have trouble reading "you" because they're still reading phonetically. There are tools to help these students such as text to speech but with so many IEPs it's overwhelming.

There are already a few troubled students who trust me to open up which is amazing. On the flip side there are students that I worry have a vendetta against authority and will try to misconstrue every word I say and I'm nervous to teach their class without another adult present to corroberate.

I'm a nervous talker and infamous over-sharer on a crash course trying to listen more, speak less, and speak more concisely

In my personal life I'm unpacking some CPTSD. My traumas are traumas with a lowercase t and I'm realizing how many of my students are going through the same things I'm working on overcoming from my childhood. I also have students going through traumas with a very uppercase t and I want to be able to help them but I'm so unprepared.

The principal, other teachers, paras, interventionists, etc are all being as helpful as they can be but we're a small, rural, underfunded district and there is only so much they can do. I feel so unqualified to be doing this but the district doesn't have other options. As many of my friends in the school district have pointed out my love for the community and ability to connect with students, butchery or otherwise, IS what qualifies me for the role.

I love my community and I really am excited to be on this journey. I'm still doing some soul searching but I'm 95% sure I'm going to go for a provisional teaching license and return in the fall but fuuuuuuuck this is difficult.

Like I said to start I'm not sure what I'm asking for but I just wanted to share.

I'm overwhelmed but excited but overwhelmed but excited but overwhelmed but excited....