Hi teachers! I need some reassurance that I didn’t totally mess up today. I’m sorry this is so long.

I(35 male) work at a high school as a special education aide, and today I feel like I did more harm by calling CPS than not.

Last week one of our students with mild special needs made suicidal comments and also said she wished she could kill a group of people who ignored her.

We got her a psych eval, and while she was deemed not to have a plan to harm herself or others, she was pretty much immediately given counseling services.

I found out today that she (at some point in the last couple years) shared a room with her fam, and at least once they had sex in the same room with her in it. Unclear if they thought she was sleeping, or if they paid attention. I called CPS just to consult about this and give info (the lady wouldn’t consult and said I had to make a report). I stated my worries about sex exposure and overall concerning mental state. I said she was evaluated already and getting treatment.

The CPS lady was so condescending, and told me my concerns weren’t important (that as long as parents assume their kids are sleeping, parents can not only have sex in the same room as them, but even the same BED?) Maybe I misunderstood the same bed part, but I don't think so.

Anyway, she lectured me for about 30 minutes about how we should've handled the threatening comments despite this being over a week ago now. She then pivoted and was like actually, I'm going to stay on hold until you call police or campus police to assess her previous threats. Basically it ended in me having to give a police report and the cops having to stop by and chat with parents at home.

I feel terrible. I'm embarrassed I had to bug our administrators yet again about a low level CPS concern. I just wanted some advice about the sex concerns. They probably see me as an over-reporter. I'm worried I traumatized this poor girl who is already struggling.

I guess I just need someone to make me not feel so shitty about this. It all sucked. My boyfriend told me I'm crying wolf by giving so many information only calls and always checking in about the kids I worry about.

One of the things that struck me in the series that relates to something that I see folks talk about a lot on here is how situations escalate because administration wants to take the path of least resistance and capitulate to the worst parents and caregivers who refuse to hold their kids accountable. Like this whole idea that like 'well, you can't prove my kid did that'. Sir, this is a school and not a courtroom. Especially frustrating knowing how many parents are actually very aware of how disruptive and vindictive and problematic their kids behaviors are but they just shield the child and support the behaviors. Ultimately, they might think they're standing behind their kid, but the thing is no, you're doing what's easiest in the moment for you. Your child is going to have to suffer a very harsh reality one day when they poke the wrong bear and you aren't around to make the consequences go away. And I really feel like School administrations need to stop running scared from these parents and stand on business with consequences like suspensions, expulsions, whatever measures are available to you to regain control and safety in the building. Because right now it seems like a lot of kids with really maladaptive behaviors are being allowed to let those behaviors run amok and it is doing a disservice to literally everyone in the long run. Just something I was reflecting on after watching that series.

I do have the dubious assumption not a single soul will say over the past 10 years, but when do you think peak instruction and learning occurred in the United States? (or whatever country you live in)

First of all, some important context:

1. I’m a third year teacher in a semi rural district.
   
2. I am the only teacher in this building without any real ties to the area (I don’t own a house, I don’t have any kids, family isn’t local, etc.)
   
3. I teach on a semester schedule, so 80 minute blocks daily and then at the end of January we get a second first day of school so to say where we get all new classes.
   
4. I’m aware this is probably just coincidence even if it doesn’t feel like it.

Now to the issue:

Every year so far, my first semester at the school has been miserable. The fall semester is full of behaviors, a draining workload, and no support. I find myself every year saying that this will be my last one and that I’ll find a new school next year. I’m drained. I’m exhausted. I’m shorter with my family and friends. It just doesn’t feel sustainable, and it makes me incredibly homesick (I’m originally from a slightly larger city a few hours away. I moved for the job and so at times when the job is challenging, there’s not much else for me to think about.) And then spring semester rolls around. Every year so far spring semester has been way easier. I have easier groups of students to manage, less preps, just a generally more positive outlook and I love this job again.
Part of me feels like they’re doing this on purpose😅 New jobs in the area are posted around March/April, so my conspiracy theory is that they make me suffer during the fall and make me love my job during the time when I would actually be interviewing and searching. I know that’s actually unlikely. But the fact that it’s been three years of the same pattern is exhausting. And I teach different classes at different times. It’s not like I’ve always taught one grade level in fall semester thatI don’t like. It’s been a mixed bag. But for some reason, I’ve only ever cried in the fall. I’ve only ever fallen significantly behind the grading in the fall. I’ve only ever dreaded my classes in the fall.

My question: in a school like this, should I look for other opportunities? Or should I just be counting my blessings that half of my school year is wonderful?

No Timmy, Circe didn't tell Odysseus he had to visit "the gift shop" before returning to Ithaca.

I'm the special ed resource teacher and was pushing into a 6th grade classroom. As I mentioned in my previous post, I work at a PK-6;school in NC. The regular ed teacher stepped out for a few minutes to make copies, so I was watching the class.

A brand-new 6th grader reached into his backpack, pulled out a pocketknife, and started showing another kid.

I saw it, immediately told him to put it down, got the other students away from him, and called administration.

My principal somehow turned that into ME being the problem.

She pulled me into her office and began screaming about how I was “responsible for that classroom” and how a student should never have been able to pull out a knife under my supervision.

I defended myself, and rightly so, saying, “What exactly do you mean ‘able to’? He reached into his own backpack and pulled it out. Am I supposed to have X-ray vision?”

She then accused me of sarcasm and making excuses.

I tried to explain again.

She interrupted me AGAIN like she usually does.

So I rightfully raised my voice right back at her.

I said, “NO. You are going to let me finish this time. I was covering that class for a few minutes while the teacher made copies. That child reached into his backpack and pulled something out with absolutely no warning. I saw it, I stopped it, and I called administration. Unless you expected me to search every backpack before she walked out of the room, tell me what the hell you expected me to do.”

She screamed, “DO NOT RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME.”

I yelled back, “THEN STOP RAISING YOURS AT ME.”

Then I told her exactly what I’ve wanted to tell her for months.

“You talk to everybody in this building like we’re stupid. You interrupt people, embarrass people in meetings, and the second anybody pushes back, suddenly they’re ‘disrespectful.’ You were a teacher once. You have completely forgotten where you came from. And if this is how you think leadership works, you should not be a principal.”

She completely lost it.

She regarded me as was "insubordinate" and said, “I don’t give a damn about the SPED shortage. I will write you the fuck up and make sure you never get another teaching job.”

I said, “There it is. You’re threatening somebody’s entire career because they finally stood up to you. And you wonder why people don’t respect you?”

That REALLY set her off.

I finally stood up and told her, “I’m done. You will not scream at me, threaten me, and then call me disrespectful because I defend myself. I’m not meeting with you alone again.”

This is the SAME principal from my last post who lost her mind because another staff member said, “Can I finish speaking?”

Now I understand completely.

She doesn’t want people to respect her. She wants people to be afraid to challenge her.

And during dismissal she kept glaring at me. Like every single time I looked over, she was staring directly at me. She didn’t say anything, but after earlier today it felt very intentional.

I’m documenting everything now because I am completely done with this woman.

Here's the link to my last post giving you more context about the culture of fear and intimidation my principal has created: https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/s/76efXdVfHy

All of my classes are re-teaches for me at this point and I’m looking for ways to keep it fresh for myself and the kids so what’s your favorite activity and what do you teach? Even if it’s a different subject, I’d love to hear!

I’ll share mine: I’m a high school English teacher. My favorite thing to do with students is textual evidence scavenger hunts. For example, I teach a lesson that introduces a new literary element (symbolism, figurative language, theme, characterization, etc) and then the students work in teams to find and explain as many direct quotes that serve as examples of that element as they can find.

It’s awesome to watch kids dig through books and argue about the meaning of individual lines. They get very skilled at it after a while too!

I have a principal that talks a big game about being equitable and having people talk to each other when there's a conflict.

But they don't do what they preach. You asked for a meeting to talk about a hard issue and they say no. They're not going to meet you. Their decision is final and they don't care what you have to say basically.

Has anybody come across this, how do you handle it? Because it's starting to really incense me.

By the by the subject was advocating for a student.

Hypocritical principals are the worst.

Hi, I am starting my substitute teaching job this upcoming week and could really use some advice. I’m pretty nervous because I worked at a daycare back when I was 18 and I honestly never got taken seriously by the kids, but that was also my own fault because I started setting firm boundaries with them a week after starting instead of right away, so those boundaries were never taken seriously. I was 18 at the time and have grown since then but I put that there for context on why i’m so anxious. So how can I go into this job immediately with firm boundaries, and get taken seriously not being that much older than the kids? My goal is for the kids to respect me, and not attempt to walk all over me 24/7. If there’s anything that has specifically worked for you I’d love to hear it

So I just saw the news about the recent shooting in Bend, Oregon. A 16 year-old boy entered an elementary school with a gun, and committed a shooting there. 3 pre-teen children and a teacher lost their lives. 2 other people, one of them a student, are still critically injured. Thankfully a father who was a bystander there was carrying his gun, and he shot the shooter to stop him from doing further damage.

Seeing news about school shootings, specially where most victims are children, breaks my heart. I'm sure that teacher who died yesterday was thinking about how he could make their students learn better, grading his students, and fulfilling his duties as a teacher. I don't think it crossed into their mind that day that some crazy teenager was gonna break into the elementary school to shoot students and teachers.

Now 4 people are gone, and the only thing we can hope is for the recovery of those who are injured, and wish strength to the families of those lost because losing someone like this is something indescribable.

A thought about someone committing a shooting in the school I work in rarely crosses my mind. I'm most of the time worried about planning the learning material for my students, grading assignments, and making sure my students learn and behave in class. I never want to worry about someone doing a heinous act in the school I work in.

I once heard 2 students in my class ages 14 who were making jokes about committing school shootings using the "skills" they've learned in shooting video games, and I told these students that it isn't funny to joke about such things because it's something I never want any teacher, student, or parent to go through. They said they knew school shootings are wrong and would never do that, but that they found grace on making jokes about school shootings and recreating their games in real life. I shut any student up who dares to make edgy jokes about killings.

I pray nothing ever like this ever happens to me or any of my students or fellow teachers. I also hope no teacher ever suffers this, but unfortunately unexpected bad things happen because of evil people. I wish blessings on anyone who reads this.

What does positive behaviour recognition actually look like at your school, and what have you seen work or fail.

Our school is going through a review of the current wellbeing and positive behaviour program that we have and I am wondering what other alternatives are out there?

Hi all! I am going to be relocating to Boston in the next year or two from Texas, where I am a secondary social studies teacher. Through my research on DTSE, it seems I’ll need to pass the MTEL & SEI in order to transfer my certification. Has anyone gone through this process before? If so, is that all I need to do to be prepared? Or is there anything else I should work on ahead of time so I can make sure I get a job teaching right away? Thanks for your advice and help!

(I also posted this to the special education subreddit, but I know this subreddit has more reach, so I'm posting here, too).

Help!!

I'm a first year teacher that will have my own middle school ELA resource class very soon. I am very nervous about this, as I want to make sure that I'm providing the proper services/supports to students. I already have a resource math class, but there's 2x as many goals to keep track of in ELA (writing + reading).

I'm trying to come up with a routine/structure for the class, but I'm not sure where to begin. The current ELA teacher (who will take the other half of the class once we divide up the students) has been using centers to work with each student. They primarily read a short article from Readworks/CommonLit or a leveled book from Fountas & Pinnell for reading, and then work off of a choice board for writing. I want to switch more to novel studies, as I feel that I can get a lot of activities/opportunities to target their IEP goals out of them. However, I don't have any idea how to start it. My lowest reader is at a 2nd grade level, while the rest range between 3rd-4th grade. I will probably split the students in 2 groups, but beyond that I'm lost.

If there are any teachers out there with experience teaching ELA as a resource, I would love any advice/insight as to how you structured your class. I will have the support of one paraprofessional, who is happy to lead a center if I go that route.

Made a post yesterday about how I’ve been struggling with classroom management at my new school this year and a lot of it is due to routines not being explicitly taught as well as they should have been.

Looking for some advice or tips for how to teach these routines and procedures to really get them down

Hey everyone, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a free typing app online that could be used on Chromebook, had a free element to use with it, and most importantly, didn't use student personal information in any way? Because of the last part we can't use Typing Club or typing.com We've eliminated official typing classes in my district and need something that has enough for students in elementary through high school.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Hi everyone

I have a teacher training interview soon, and im pretty prepared in terms of the actual questions but theyve asked me to do a microteach at the start. Im confident with the topic and explaining it but idk if i shld treat the panel like students and ask questions in that short micro teach (under 10 mins) or just aim to teach it really well with a basic approach so its understandable. can any trainee teachers/teachers who have experience with the interviews help me with this?

Thanks

And their children are also the least likely to do the homework.

Almost all of the homework my coworkers and I assign is just leftover classwork. It's only leftover because the students wasted their class time. The well-behaved students never seem to have homework, because there's more than enough time to get everything done in class. It's the students who waste their time--usually by disrupting the students around them--who end up with the most homework. And it's those students' parents who complain about the homework.

And those same students usually don't do the homework anyway.

"Please excuse my child from last night's homework. He said he had two hours' worth of homework, but we didn't get home from travel football until 10pm, and he needed to sleep."

That "two hours' worth of homework" is the accumulated classwork of 20 wasted minutes per class, for six classes per day. His classmates who use their class time wisely had no homework. And today's classwork just builds off of yesterday's work. So now he can't do today's classwork. So it will just become more homework for him.

I have one of those red-yellow-green light-up things. Voice level 0, voice level 1, all the way up to voice level 4 for presentations. I have used it maybe four times this year before giving up.

The kids do not care. They see the red light and keep talking. They see me switch it to yellow and keep talking. I say "we're at voice level 0" and they look at me, nod, and keep talking. I have tried making it a game, tried consequences, tried the whole "this is for you to self monitor" speech. Nothing.

I walked into a colleague's room during their prep and saw they had the same chart, same brand, still in the packaging. They said they unboxed it, looked at their roster, and put it in a drawer. We both laughed but it was that tired laugh.

I think the chart works in classrooms where kids already know how to regulate. I do not have one of those classrooms this year. The chart is now just a colorful thing on the wall that admin can point to and say I have established routines.

Today was the second day of Fall Break, and I got a call from my AP. Right off the bat, I knew this wasn’t good. We’ve been working on a project together to help another teacher who has been having mental health issues, so I figured that was what the call would be about.

But she told me a student I taught last year died by suicide last night. He was in 9th grade this year, and I loved having him in my class last year. He was a bright kid with a great sense of humor and an even better taste in music. He was one of those kids who made your day better just by being in class. Out of all the students I taught last year, he was the last I would expect to be struggling.

This is the first student I’ve had who has died, and it’s tearing me up. I’m trying to keep my mind off it, relax over break, and enjoy the time with family that we’re visiting, but that student is all I can think of. I wish I had the opportunity to tell him how much he brightened up my day each day when I was going through a difficult time.

I know the statistics surrounding suicide and the age group I teach, so I know this won’t be the last time I’ll have to attend the funeral of a student who died by suicide. I don’t know how I’m supposed to go back to class Wednesday after the grief counselors address it with my classes (I have a sub the first day back from break, so admin is having a counselor come read the school’s statement to my class). Do I talk about it when I’m back or just move on? I want the kids who are struggling and hurting to know that their lives are precious and worth living, even if they are hard. I want them to know if they feel uncared for or unloved that I care about them and love them and that if they are having similar feelings, they can come to me, I will ensure they get the help they need with the correct people. I just… don’t want any more of my students to die this way. This isn’t the first suicide my school has had, but it’s the first one of my students. I don’t know how to best proceed forward. Does anyone have any advice?

I work for a very large district.

"We have to do the best with what we have" is how my literacy coach explains it.

In past districts, we had access to Pearson item banks. They weren't perfect and this was pre-AI so maybe they've changed, but I'm gobsmacked that my district has no ELA item bank. It's all just AI. Allegedly there is a protocol they run the generated items through, but I've run into several items egregious enough over the last two assessments to reach out to the assessment department and submit a complaint about item alignment.

Then they make us sit in PLCs twice a week to review the data we've gathered. AKA, how students performed on these generated items. What does this data actually tell us? What are we measuring?

The distractors are terrible, often just factually wrong, and don't require the actual skill the standard is supposed to address. A kid can read the passage and just process of elimination their way to a correct answer. The questions all follow a similar pattern. I wish I could provide examples but I don't want to identify myself too clearly.

Our assessment department, our ELA program specialist... Certainly, these are our brightest and best? We should trust that they will maintain assessment item integrity/alignment through their AI usage?

I have a masters in Special Education and work full time…You’d think that would be enough to secure financial security but not in this economy. So, I’m just wondering how many of us in this community work part time jobs and what exactly everyone is doing for work?

Today while monitoring student computer use I witnessed a student having a “conversation” with chatGPT in which it was giving him responses with strong positive reinforcement to drop out of high school. It was agreeing with him (while calling him Big Dawg) that truancy laws are unnecessary and that if he just goes to school and that the school ultimately just wants him to attend for funding purposes. It dove into strategies in which he could just show up and serve as a “warm body” (put his head down and refuse to engage with his classes) until he was of legal age to drop out. Needless to say we had a discussion on how chatGPT/ LLMs function and he was also referred to our family service liaison. Our town is the site of a future 400 acre data center that is supposed by the school board because we will get “monetary kickbacks” and the district in general seems to be all in on AI 🙃

I’m kind of in a bad space right now and really just need to rant. I have had a year. This is my second year at this school. Last year was lovely and I felt like I was making a difference. The violent kids I had last year were really manageable besides one but he kind of just stopped showing up when his “girlfriend” dumped him (they’re like 11 mind you). Now to preface our school does serve a lot of behaviourally challenged children as we literally have behavioural specialists and a classroom just for specifically violent students to try an integrate them back into a normal classroom while also teaching them the proper skills to succeed around others and still learn… I don’t feel it’s that beneficial personally. I had multiple students last year that were part of the program and I don’t feel they were any better humans from it, they just lied their way into making them believe they could return to the gen ed classroom.

This year I was given quite a few students who clearly are very aggressive and need more support than I can provide. Including one that never had aggressive tendencies until his year suddenly. Clearly something has happened outside of school we don’t know about but he’s become extremely violent towards his peers. It’s basically been an everyday thing, if it’s not him it’s “Jeff” or “Steven” or “Mark” or so on. It never ends. Literally Tuesday a parent just didn’t pick up her fucking child because she didn’t want to. Her kid sat outside/inside the school for FIVE HOURS before she showed up only because the police called her and made her pick up her son. wtf is wrong with people!!!

Then today we were having what is say was a pretty tame period playing a computer game as a class. Gimkit. I’ve used this before as a reward and study tool. They have a math test Monday, we were reviewing while also playing, and then tomorrow they’ll complete the actual review. But suddenly “Mark” gets upset that “Steven” is “taunting him” in the game and he gets up and starts choking Steven out. So the EA goes to get help. I get Mark to stop. Before I can even handle anything else, Steven just starts destroying the entire room. Like grabbing chairs and textbooks and laptops and smashing everything as hard as possible, swinging it around, screaming at the top of his lungs (which, sort of impressive after you were literally just chocked out gasping for breath). I can’t even try to stop him as I have to evacuate the other students for their safety. Admin arrives and I guess must eventually get him to stop but even when I returned he was punching tables and pillows and breathing like a maniac. And what’s the solution to this? Let’s take him outside and get him some fresh air.

Are you fucking serious?

My room is destroyed. An entire cart of Chromebooks is probably destroyed. While nothing of mine that I bought from my own money is destroyed the room needs to be put back together. Nope, you’re still expected to be at staff meeting. Absolutely fucking not. I made my students clean it best they could including the glass like I’m not staying until midnight I did not deserve this! So I left the second our staff meeting was done even though I knew admin wanted to speak to me about what happened but I said fuck that and went home and immediately once I got home texted I think I have a head cold and will be booking a sub for tomorrow. Their response? “You still need to reach out to parents about what occurred today.” Like are you serious? No apology, no “this won’t happen again” bullshit line or anything! The kids were terrified! Not like their parents will care, they’ll blame me too!

OK, I'm at a loss here. Usually, I can deal with my student's random numbskullery with grace, but this one just seems...odd. I have a student, senior girl, who meows at me when she comes into class. Kind of quietly, but it's always there. Being a responsible 50+ teacher I Googled it. Nothing. Does anyone know if there's any meaning behind it, or is my student just an oddball?

Edit: Ok, to be clear, she isn't neurodivergent (any more than your average high schooler) and doesn't have Tourette's. She is also not a furry or identifying as a cat. She's just a kid with friends and her own thing going on. I thought about meowing back, but I wasn't sure if meant anything so I'm not going to do that. I think the majority of you are right, that I have a goofy kid on my hands. I can deal with that.

I'm a first year teacher. My son is in 1st grade on the other side of the school. I can't sleep.

At dismissal I got the notification about the Oregon murders that happened today. While putting my profoundly disabled students on the bus my watch told me 3 kids were gunned down.

And now I go back to school tomorrow and... Teach math?

How do we do this without worrying ourselves sick? How do I protect my students AND make sure my son isn't taken out of the school in a body bag? How do we stay sane in this awful disaster we've created?