r/teaching

So i've employed at a charter school here in and got the job from a staffing agency. Today, my recruiter calls me and he says, do you have time for a quick phone call? I say I sure do. It turns out they are having budget problems, and they are going to cut my salary in half if I return and i'm like, yeah, no. For that kind of money, I would be a paraprofessional teaching and i'm not gonna do that. Advice? Tips? Anybody says, I must be a terrible teacher: i'm not. This is my twentieth year, and i've always got an excellent observations. I have never late with my paperwork and i'm never out of compliance. I'm'm a special education teacher.

I’m a first-year middle school ELA teacher teaching 6th and 7th, and grading writing is taking me forever. I have 4 classes a day, so even a simple writing assignment turns into a huge pile fast.

I keep spending way too long on each paper because I want to give real feedback, but it’s bleeding into my evenings and I’m starting to dread it. I know I’m probably overdoing it, I just don’t know what “enough” feedback is.

For other ELA teachers, how do you keep writing grades manageable without feeling like you’re shortchanging the kids?

Hello everyone, Long story short, I was placed on admin leave due to a student lying to their parents to get out of being trouble. The student claimed that I stepped on their hand while they were on the floor. (All other students and the other adult in the room said otherwise) parents were talked to about this students behavior the same day by my manager and the manager was never told about this incident. The next day however, the student did not return and my manager was contacted by parents who stated their student was “traumatized” that I stepped on his hand supposedly. A few days later, I was brought up to the from office with my manager and got talked to by both the principal and two officers. During this conversation, they made accusations that I hurt the child in question yet I would do no such thing. I’ve been on admin leave since the beginning of April and am slated to come back, however, the student in question has recently been saying things to other students who, in turn, are reporting it to their teachers. I know what you’re going to say, I shouldn’t be in contact with staff at all. A ton of staff were great friends with me prior to starting this job and are keeping me in the loop. The thing that bother me the most is what exactly this student has been saying to other students. Claims such as “I got him fired” and “my mom and dad say he’s a pedophile and doesn’t need to be here anyway” This genuinely hurts me to my core…I don’t know if I can take any sort of legal action due to this because of my image in the district. My director doesn’t seem to care at all about this and yet my own manager has been doing everything he can to bring me back to this school. I need advice please!

My district insists that we use Pear Assessment for all our assessments at the high school I teacher at. I have gone rogue because my students cheat with it even though it is on  "Complete Test in One Sitting" and "Restrict Navigation Out of Test - Warn and Block after 1 alert" enabled so I only do paper tests. I know they aren't using their phones because I am watching like a hawk that absolutely no phones are out. (I do small group testing).

Students have told me there is a way to cheat on their laptops without getting out of the test. However, I can't get anyone to show me. Are there any teachers out their that is aware of how they can be cheating with these setting? I can be more proactive if I knew how it was possible.

wanted to see how long grading actually takes me so i timed myself yesterday

5 minutes per paper if im moving FAST and not writing much feedback. just checking answers marking things and moving on

i have 95 students. thats almost 8 hours of grading for ONE assignment

and we wonder why teachers are burnt out

ive been teaching for 6 years and i still havent figured out how to make this faster without just not grading things? which obviously isnt an option

what do veteran teachers do? is there some secret im missing or does everyone just sacrifice their evenings and weekends forever

I teach high school U.S. History/Civics, and at some point my job quietly became 40% content and 60% saying sentences that would sound insane anywhere else.

Just this week I said, “Please stop using the Constitution to justify being out of your seat,” which is not a sentence they covered in my teacher prep program. A close second was, “No, watching a conspiracy video during notes is not ‘doing your own research.’” By 6th period, I’m basically a tired NPC cycling through the same dialogue options: sit down, put that away, that is not how this works, and we are not debating this right now. After enough years, you stop being surprised by the nonsense and start being impressed by how specific the nonsense gets.

After 12+ years of teaching, the routines that hold up are usually the boring ones. The one I still swear by is a very fixed start-of-class routine. I have the bell ringer, agenda, and materials on the board every day, and students know the first few minutes are quiet and focused. I greet them at the door, redirect the usual drifters, and then let the routine do the work.

It is not exciting, but it settles the room fast and cuts down a lot of behavior before it starts. I’ve found kids do better when they do not have to guess how class begins. Trendy strategies come and go, but a predictable opening still works.

Hey everyone,

Sorry for long post:

I have been teaching for 10 years (5th grade math) and the most challenging thing for me is to be assertive and have a healthy disconnect between emotions of students. I am going through therapy and working on not people pleasing so much but with the way I was brought up, I naturally want to jump in and help people feel better. As a man in education, it sometimes feels like I’m expected to be the “strict” teacher, which I’ve always struggled with. I struggle with self confidence sometimes and that adds to my challenges.

There is another principal at the middle school the kids go to next who is also named Mr. Locke (my name as well). The police officer explained to our grade level that ‘Mr. Locke doesn’t play.’ A bunch of kids thought the officer was talking about me, and many of them were like “what? no he’s so chill.”

I do not like that. I feel that I would be a more effective teacher if my reputation was an authority figure. My colleagues have also called me “nice,” which I hate because I feel it could be perceived as weak.

How can I rebuild my reputation as a structured no nonsense teacher? I do not believe the kids respect me.

TLDR - Should I work on being more strict or embrace the chill persona while working on providing more structure?

I’m student teaching right now and all my lessons have gone completely fine. I’m teaching ELA to high school freshman. But I also spend hours and hours every day planning them and stressing out. I wake up every morning crying and hyperventilating because I am so scared my lesson is going to fail. My cooperating teacher says I’m doing a really good job but I’m scared if I calm down or hold myself to a bit lower of a standard my lessons will not be as good and that I will end up failing.

I seriously can’t calm down. I am now only eating maybe once a day because I am so stressed while I’m at school. I really want this to be my career someone please tell me this gets better or some ways to deal with it? Maybe some things I should tell myself?

Someone also just posted a Reddit post about how people should not become a teacher because things are just getting worse and that didn’t make me feel any better lol. Just pls help I’m struggling

I'm about to finish my 4th year teaching 8th grade.

I have never been this mentally exhausted in my entire life. My 8th graders are off the walls, my admin keeps making excuses for them so they don't end up missing out on the 8th grade graduation ceremony (they can't attend if they have more than one referral). So basically- the act up, I write them up, admin lets them off the hook, they come back and act even worse. I've gotten to the point that I just send the repeat offenders to the hallway at the beginning of every class because I'm going to snap if I have to keep dealing with them. We've been doing state testing, and we don't always get plannings on testing days. I haven't had a planning period this week.

I'm so drained. I've tried everything to make my life easier- meal prepping, setting my outfits out for the next day before I go to bed, etc. I tried to sit down and read a book last night, and my brain just couldn't comprehend what I was reading. I get home and I just stare at the wall because I can't do anything that requires thinking.

I was having a conversation with my boyfriend the other day and I kept saying "what?" because I just could not get what he was saying. I was hearing him but it was like my brain wasn't processing anything he said.

I've slept from 9pm-6am the past two weeks and I'm still exhausted. One of my coworkers asked me if I was okay this morning because I "have Tim Burton character level eye bags going on". I'm so tired.

I don't want to go out with my friends, when I do I end up having to make all the decisions about what we're doing so I leave feeling even worse. I feel like I could sleep all summer break and it wouldn't be enough.

I used to run in the mornings and do pilates after school, I went to a class yesterday and just could not physically do it anymore. I don't feel like myself at all, I just want to be alone all the time.

Not talking about big systems or total overhauls, just small things that actually worked

For me it was greeting students at the door every day. It barely takes any effort but behavior and overall mood improved a lot

Curious what small changes made a real difference for you. Routines, seating, how you start class, anything

Looking for ideas that are easy to try without changing everything 👍

As the title says today in my after school club I screamed at my students and I’m looking for some general advice about how to go forward.

For some context I am a new teacher in a primary school. I started a few weeks and as I am a specialist subject teacher I’ve not done a PGCE or other formal teacher training.

The school I’m in is generally very chatty and don’t listen to instructions well. Not necessarily naughty but certainly a bit difficult.

In my after school club today we were trying to get some activities done but they were running around the classroom. There’s only about 10 of them but trying to get them involved was very difficult. In between and during the activities they were screaming at each other and screaming at me. None of the regular classroom management techniques were working, I’d tried to say we had the same expectations as the classroom and trying clapping games and things to get them to quiet down but none of it was working. I know they were probably just excitable and having fun but it really got to me.

I eventually lost it and screamed at them. I didn’t say anything crazy, I think I screamed “we need to be quiet” but honestly I think I scared them. I did apologise for it but I just saw red in the moment and was completely overwhelmed.

Honestly I don’t know if most of them want to come back, and I don’t know if I’d blame them. I be never screamed at anyone if my life like that. I really wanted just to be a fun teacher where they could come and have a good time and I think I’ve ruined that with my screaming :(

Any advice on how to keep my cool, rebuild the relationship with them, set better standards for them club? Anything would be greatly appreciated thank you so much!!

Hey :)

I’m 24, and Right now I’m working as a teaching assistant in a middle school for special education, and I’m considering making a transition into general education, specifically elementary school teaching. I’m thinking about studying for a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education starting this October, and I’m currently deciding between a degree in Elementary Education or Special Education.

I’ve heard recommendations for Special Education bachelor degree, but I’m leaning more toward teaching in general elementary school and exploring that path.

My long-term goal is to move into a leadership role, and maybe eventually become a school principal.

I’d really appreciate any advice!

Thank you so much, and have a beautiful day! 🌿

Hello! I am hoping to get some advice and recommendations for a non-English major to actually feel confident teaching English. Fortunately, I am confident in education and in classroom dynamics. Unfortunately, I wish I had majored in English. I lack that deep and bountiful connection with all these things I find so fascinating.

Perhaps someone on here can offer advice, or at least empathize with these feelings. Next semester I will be student teacher and I want to take advantage of my summer to study content in secondary ELA.

If anyone can help guide me in the right direction, I want to get that flavor of mastery that comes with a completely dependent degree in English, without having to put in the years of time and money.

Anything will help, thank you.

I am having such a hard time teaching at the moment i feel like my dyslexia and (possible adhd) are getting in my way. I am currently a student teacher at a very good school. All the staff are so good at their jobs and i feel silly a lot of the time while teaching.

I struggle to find the right words sometimes while teaching and i feel like i make a lot of mistakes.

It is very difficult for me to also manage behaviour this is most likely not because of my dyslexia but could be more because i get overwhelmed and feel like a i can not manage the class. I am in 3rd year and only have a month left until i graduate. I just feel like a faulure a lot of the time nad like i am letting everyone down.

My counceller has told me to be kinder and more patient with myself becuase these teachers have years of experience over me which i understand. P.s there is also a high amount of send in the class .

Does anyone have any tips for neurodivefgent teaching my teaching is currently 80% teaching 20% planning.

Hey guys I really just need some advice on what to do.

I’m a private tutor which means I work with all sorts of children between 5 and 18, of all different academic capabilities.

I got a new student last week who has ADHD, which isn’t uncommon, i’ve worked with lots of students with ADHD before but nothing like this.

Well, I met this new student and when I first walked in I had a sit down conversation with the mother who told me that all he likes to do is play on his iPad. They’ve tried all sorts of hobbies and sports for him before and nothing has really stuck, he just reverts back to the iPad whenever he gets the chance.

When I finally met him, he wouldn’t even look at me because he was playing roblox. After about 10 minutes his mother finally got him to put down the iPad and we had a short conversation about pokemon which I thought was good to try and build a rapport.

But he straight up refused to sit down and do any sort of work with me. After about 15 minutes he didn’t even really want to talk to me at all actually. So i went into another room with the mother and she told me that if she tries to take the iPad away for a long period of time he threatens to kill himself and jump off a balcony.

I guess I’m just trying to figure out how to do my job. I don’t know how i’m supposed to tutor him if he refuses to sit down with me for even five minutes. My company does 90 minute sessions, and i think that there’s is absolutely 0 chance he will do 90 minute tutoring.

She said that he’s done all the therapies, tests, medications and whatnot and she’s not really sure what else she can do. I’m not really sure either.

I just really want to help this boy. I want him to get the education he deserves. He’s already behind all of his peers, and it seems like the school is no help and says he’s achieving average results but from what I saw, he is not achieving to a grade 3 standard.

please, any advice is welcome.

TLDR: my 10 year old student is addicted to the iPad, and I don’t know how to tutor him if he won’t sit down with me and work.

Hi!

So I have been a special ed teacher for the last several years, working with kids with IEPS in the general education setting. On monday, I found out that I was being moved out of special ed to a new elective course that is supposed to be avid like. Before I started teaching special ed, I really wanted to teach the avid like course. However, I have (somewhat) liked teaching Special ed. One because I liked working with the kids for the most part and two because classroom management was different, instead of having to manage 30+ kids in a setting, I can pull small groups and I would be in different classes each class period of the week. (because I am a support teacher)

This would be my first year of working in an elective with 30+ kids in a classroom setting. I am a little nervous because I've never actually taught this way before since I have been a support teacher this entire time. I am a little relieved because I think special ed was starting to burn me out, and due to all the changes this year that I've dealt with, the break might be a good thing. Classroom management is not a big strength of mine because Ive had to do it differently, and I am concerned about that aspect of moving to an elective. I do not want to leave schools because I love where I work, and I love working with the people I work with. However, I did put in for the transfer fair because I thought I was getting non renewed. For that, I would like to still teach special ed support because I am comfortable doing that at a new school. If I dont get the position that I asked for at my current school, then I would probably leave. I am nervous about that due to the budget cuts that are going around the state I am in at the moment. (however I dont think my district is facing budget cuts as of now). My fear is that I will get pink slipped over the summer with whatever position I end up taking for next school year, at any school I end up with.

I dont know what to do, I am nervous about teaching an elective, but I dont want to leave my school. Any suggestions for me?

I’m finishing up my practicum!

I want to gift a gift to my host teacher.

Any suggestions?

I do a lot of worksheets so trying to change it