Teachers Overwhelmed, Unsupported by Admin

It sure is. Very interesting

“I’m having a rough start too. It’s my third year at my school but I was at my old school for 12 years so I get it. I’m like oh god what have I done? I’ve been losing kids from my class left right and center this year and I’ve wanted to cry every day. I hope it gets better for you, let me know if you need to vent because I’m right there with you.”

Do you not do grade group assemblies?

“Teacher for 25 years, majority in middle school. Current role is 7th grade ELA and have been doing it for 6 years. It's hard. If they aren't pissing you off, they're breaking your heart. And you love them (almost) all. It's not for the faint of heart. The kids don't know how to act like regular people and neither do their parents. It's all a mess.”

“Did not see any Canadian teacher say something different. If you mean the admin might mention it or there might be a reading comprehension page that isn’t honouring it with any consistency or school wide”

“GT is special education. Also, many GT kids have IEPs and 504s. It’s not as though the sort of things that necessitate those magically exclude someone simply because they’re smart. 🙄”

“Hi. I'm not sure if this is allowed but I am a school social worker in a behavioral school. I have a student currently who cannot stop talking. He needs an audience as well. Journaling or talking to himself does not do it for him. He likes to just talk about his interest in cartoons and animation and the lore and history of cartoons for hours on end. People will tell him they're not listening and he does not care he just loves sharing his knowledge of cartoons for as long as people will”

“I am fucked. I started at a new school this year and it has been about a month. I was in my last school for 10 years. I was told today that I have to turn things around in the next week or two. I am super stressed. It is in a new district and a different curriculum and a different batch of kids. I am worried and pissed and want to cry (or worse) and I am just frustrated. I wanted a fresh start at a new school and a new district. OMG. fuck my life. I get advice from my colleagues in my department”

“I currently have a math class of six mostly silent juniors and seniors. I hate it. Class drags so bad when no one participates. Some days I dream of having 30-40 kids just so someone will talk to me, that's how bad it is.”

YES!!!!!!!

“Might be able to press charges on the parents for their kid assaulting you. If not a good workers comp claim might exist. Its interesting being a student teacher and not an employee. I would malinger PTSD from violent school setting with no support. Just document it get testimony from other teachers, where you could keep the identity anonymous. New precedent is being set. The kindergarten who shot his teacher. Parents where charged and got a good settlement.”

“Every month or so there is some report on the news or online about Finland schools. Maybe not on Reddit, but there is more to the world than Reddit. Comparing us to them. How they honor their teachers. Yadda yadda”

“I had a middle elementary student who is pretty much always on devices at home, according to him and his parents. He was ok academically when things had right or wrong answers, but would have no idea what to do if it had to do with opinions or his own thoughts. Writing about something imaginary was essentially impossible for him. If a journal write was about what they did over a school break, hobbies, or anything like that he'd say he played video games on his tablet. But that's it, he c”

“Looking for some advice. I teach first grade and have a student we will call X. X has been showing some really extreme disruptive behaviors since the start of the year that are only escalating day by day. Spends a good chunk of if not nearly the whole day throwing furniture and chromebooks, eloping outside, standing on tables and screaming etc over seemingly small or nonsensical things (ie wanting to use a red marker when he currently has a red marker at his desk ready to use). I suspect it migh”

“I am a fourth year teacher. We started back August 5th so I’ve had these kids for about a month. I still don’t feel completely confident in my classroom management skills. I have one class that is incredibly chatty. I would be more concerned if they weren’t like this in every rotation. One student from that class said “ you know, you’re actually a pretty chill teacher” which both shocked me and didn’t shock me. I responded “ not always!” And the student said “no, not always”. I’m worried that th”

“I’m a 1st grade general education teacher, and I’m looking for some perspective from other teachers, especially those who have experience with behavior support teams. I have a student who has had some pretty significant behavioral difficulties. I have only known this student for 7 school days, and when she escalates, she can scream “NO,” refuse directions/interventions, and at times the behavior has progressed toward unsafe behaviors such as throwing chairs. I have been following the student’s b”

“Hello hello! Long time lurker. I'm not a new teacher but I am teaching a new course this year with some different dynamics. I teach high school art with a blend of 9th through 12th graders. So there's always some weirdness when creating seeing charts. The current setup in my classroom has been working well, except for one table. A table of sweet, soft spoken 9-11th graders. And one pessimistic sarcastic 12th grader. After class today one of the younger students came up to talk to me priv”

“I’ve been in education a long time however it’s been about 10 years since I worked full time in the classroom, I did homebound or part-time for the last few years. I started back full time a few weeks ago and am completely floored by the behaviors. I don’t know if it’s bc I used to have days to reset or if it’s really that bad. I teach preschool and half my students don’t even respond to their name. These are not children with disabilities. I have had to explain that when someone says your name”

“Our PTA is going to give our staff bathrooms a little love. What are some essentials you suggest? submitted by /u/Commercial_Flower_49 [link] [comments]”

“My district seems to relish making major changes, especially at the last minute during Teacher Work Week. Why? Why doesn’t Central Office have everything decided, planned, and together at least 2 weeks prior to Teacher Work Week? Example 1: One of the departments in my district just found out yesterday that they had to use a brand new curriculum with fidelity with NO TRAINING! There had been plenty of meetings the first two days for it to have at least been mentioned. Example 2: Another departme”

“I just recently gave the first quiz of the year to a group of seventh graders that have utterly terrible behavior records. My classroom rule and that of our district, so I thought, was that if students talk during an assessment of any kind they get a zero for potentially cheating. I gave probably 100 out of 172 students zeros because they did not stop talking during the testing periods. We have the option to post a comment about the grade the students received, so I wrote in the comments their s”

Florida teacher of 24 years here. Don’t do it. The pay is unsustainable.

Thank you!!!! I'll do this, especially documenting the times

GOOD

“I agree I just don't know what to do 😭 He will not listen if I tell him he may not use the calm down corner. He just won't listen. He's missing like hours of instructional time totaled out to a week. Missing recess or PE (which I hate) are all so far he'll listen to”

Go teach in Asia

“It sounds like these are younger kids based on what you’ve said. If they are, it might just be that he doesn’t understand what he’s feeling (hence the shrug). Instead of asking him what’s wrong (which he may not know), you could try asking more direct, specific questions like: When you go to the calm down corner, are you feeling big feelings? (Start big, then narrow based on his response) When you go, is it because you feel like you need to stand or move? It literally could be that the lesson is”

Ha ha you said virgin!

“So today I had a student throw a marker at me while I was teaching pre algebra and I snapped and sent him to the office and then during recess I ended getting chewed out by the lead teacher because it somehow slipped past me that students were playing basketball during recess (we have a strict no basketball policy) and when I told the kids to put the balls up they kept on playing to rage bait me (in their own words ) why were kids just so darn disrespectful today ? Makes no sense submitted”

“Hi everyone, I spent two decades teaching elementary school, and stepping away recently has given me some distance to look back at things. But there is one specific trauma I don't think any teacher ever truly escapes: Waking up at 5:00 AM with a fever or a stomach bug, feeling completely awful, and realizing you now have to spend your precious resting hours writing detailed emergency sub plans—or worse, throwing together random word searches just to keep the peace because writing rigorous pl”

“I answer most questions. I teach high school, and then seeing that I’m just a girl has helped so much with connections. I aged out of the foster system and experienced a very traumatic childhood. They don’t know the specific details, but enough that a few students in the same situation feel safe to talk to me. They know I fucked around my freshman year of college and got put on academic probation, it’s a warning story, haha! But they know they can come to me with anything and I’ll be upfront and”

“I am extremely strategic with how I respond to them when they ask questions. I want them to feel like they know a lot about me without knowing any actual personal details. I've gotten pretty good at it. I'm a private person but like to connect with my students so I've found this is the way that works for me.”

“in our district weapons and selling of drugs are in the level of our restorative policy that results in immediate expulsion. restorative can work if done right.”

“A bit of a leap to conclude causal effect because of exactly what people are bringing up. Many things have been tried at extremes and despote best intentions things are looking really bad. What is needed is a precise meta across policies over the last 50 years or more contextualized.”

“Silly anecdotes, cats names, where I’m from, how long I’ve been teaching - especially at the start. Relatable stories too. Unintentional operant conditioning - I tell these stories when they’re on task and it’s basically a reward”

“I worked at a charter and they "firmly encouraged" the problem students to leave the school and transfer to a district school for better resources. anything to keep their suspensions and expulsions at 0% shady ass entities. and this is a school that is renowned in the education world, the leaders are writing a ton of education text books. I have zero trust in charters.”

“I have had constant issues with athletes being disrespectful and out of control in my classroom since the first day of school. I have tried contacting the parents- some respond saying they will speak to the child, others don't respond entirely. No matter what, the behavior still persists. Recently, I got so tired of it, that I emailed their coach with a few student names and the coach ended up making them all sit out their first game. The parents are upset and now it's escalated to admin”

“So I just got a job as the new behavior support specialist in my district, it is also something they have NEVER done before. I totally feel like a fish out of water, no one seems to have any clear direction on what I do, and I’ve asked for support/guidance from my principal and she didn’t really help so I told my supervisor and she’s creating a plan for me. Does anyone have any similar experiences in a school setting not being totally sure what to do? submitted by /u/Floridagirl10277”

“Damn that’s so real. I’ve taught both Gen Ed and sped and the only time I’ve ever been respected by Gen Ed teachers and admin was when I was in Gen Ed. They REALLY think it’s easy to teach the kids whose brains and bodies struggle with learning.”

“Are they “internet grooming neckbeards” if it’s the kids in the class? Not trying to be rude or anything but this comes off as I have always leaned into the changing language of each generation until I couldn’t keep up or just naturally fell out of the loop.”

“Let me find you a quick imperfect analogy. You're sitting in a house and the kitchen catches on fire. It's the city's job to send a firetruck. But you know a firetruck isn't coming. Do you walk outside and watch the fire burn the house down while asking where the firetrucks are? Or do you grab the garden hose and throw it through the window to start soaking stuff down yourself. Public education is on fire. Decades of this, that, and the third has turned many schools into piles of”

“I have a student who does not speak English- at all. My school does not have the necessary supports for a student like this and we've never had an ELL student before. This has come with a lot of struggles on my end... My current stressor is I translated all of our guided notes into their language, but I have no way of translating the textbook or online assignments. The only translation available is Spanish which is not their language. I don't have time to Google translate the entire text”

“As a male teacher, I just try to counter balance it. I won't stop them from hearing these types of influencers, but I can show up and show out every day. I'm very open with them about my schedule. I wake up at 3:30, get to the gym at 5, get to work by 6:30, prepare for them at 7:45, teach all day (while trying to kill them with patience and kindness), and then go home to my wife and kids who I talk about often and bring my kids to as many events as possible. The idea is that they can see”

“Ugh, I hate admin with no spine. Your third scenario reminded me of a time when I was out and a kid decided to touch himself in front of the sub and other female students. The VP told me if I had prepped them before the sub had come that wouldn’t had happened. I literally responded with “because all the conversations you’ve had with students stop them from doing erratic, inappropriate behavior when you’re not there?” He at least acknowledged how crazy his comment was, and apologized.”

Sounds like a new principal trying to establish their authority.

“Admin bowing down to every parent is what is ridiculous. Admin should be the buffer between parent and student.”

“Genuinely hate having other staff members kids in my classes. Some are chill, others will put out every policy code in the literal book for justifying the difference in a percentage change for their sweet baby angel’s grade. And yet, my favorite thing is when they do the latter and are a shitty teacher themselves who doesn’t follow quite policies or really care much other than to regurgitate slides line by line. Of the 4 kids (whose parents were in my building) last year, 3 were the first type o”

““I’m not omniscient. Should I be perfect and know every action of every student, or act only on that in which I can observe?””

“I need to rant because the last two days at work have been absolutely ridiculous. I’m a teacher in an elementary self-contained classroom, and while I’m new to this school, I am NOT a new teacher. I’ve been teaching SPED for five years. Yesterday both of my paras were out, so I asked administration for additional coverage in my classroom. I have seizures, and this was not a “poor me, I have to work by myself” situation. My concern was that if I had a seizure and ended up on the floor flopping ar”

“Must be appropriate for the student AND their parent. submitted by /u/pyesmom3 [link] [comments]”

“I’ve had major issues with other teachers spreading rumors about me to administrators. I set the record straight and got my union involved. There were no repercussions for the teacher starting the rumors, which was really frustrating for me. I no longer work at that school”

Sadly not surprising

“I teach German. I have to explain parts of speech in English before they understand the functions of parts of speech in German. I'm a total grammar nerd, so I enjoy it, but I'm still flabbergasted when they don't know what a verb is.”

“I’m a middle school teacher and this is a good move. Everyone freaked the fuck out when my state enacted a k-12 cell phone ban in the schools. It’s fine. The kids get used to it and are better for it. I’m not stupid enough to think it’s foolproof, but if it’s even 50% effective maybe the alphas will be better off than Gen Z. It will be the same with AI bans. Schools are far too quick to adopt and allow the latest trends without any sort of valid data about their effects. And yes, I use ChatGPT a”

“Hope everyone’s school year is off to a good start for those who have started! I am in my first year as a librarian at a title l high school in a rural area. It came to my attention today that one of our students is in the 10th grade but cannot read or write. He doesn’t qualify for SPED because of his IQ. This shocked me and I didn’t understand how this child had made it so far in school without these very necessary skills… is this happening all over ? It’s become apparent to me that the school”

“Hi all. I'm a female lecturer. Today My students were spending some time doing some work on their drafts and I was walking around the room. I stopped by a student who hadn't started working and started asking some questions to hopefully prompt some ideas. As I was talking to him he started squirming around in his seat (seemed maybe high?) and he put his hand in his pants. I was kind of shocked by this so I stepped away. Is this a thing that guys do sometimes? I am hoping that it was inno”

“This year, our schedule changed and our time after school for about 1/2 hour is now being hijacked by regular meetings twice a week??? In addition to the regular after school meeting we have once a week that extends beyond the regular school day. Administratively, this may seem like a good idea for productivity; however, on a pragmatic level, morale is interrupted and it feels like teachers time is not being honored. ***yes, it’s allowed per our contract. But, to paraphrase what a scared man onc”

“I always wanted to ask this to fellow teachers. How do you deal with rumors about yourself that is spread via students or even fellow teachers esp if they're untrue? submitted by /u/MewTwo94 [link] [comments]”

“A student before I came in had left his phone plugged in next to my desk. I always give them ten minutes to fifteen minutes to come in before I call the register and begin lecturing ( I have to call the register by my university ‘s policies ) I begin, I’m explaining the material, well into the class , and in the middle of the fucking lecture and he comes over and unplugged it and I said “do you come here interrupt me to get this. Are there aggravating circumstances?”and he says “yes, I came for”