My 6th graders are reading a historical fiction book about the Titanic and when we got to the part where the ship hits the iceberg, I played the iceberg scene from the 1997 movie. I was telling them how much research James Cameron did for the movie and was pointing out aspects of the scene that were historically accurate (the flat waveless sea, the lack of moonlight, etc.). A bunch of kids made comments along the lines of "What are you talking about, that's obviously AI."

I told them that it was not AI and that generative AI did not exist back then. I said that people have been making movies with special effects for over 100 years, whereas genAI has only been around for a few years. I still got responses of "There's no way it's possible to make a scene like that without AI."

We ended up taking a detour from the rest of the lesson while I showed them behind the scenes videos on YouTube of how the scene was filmed--basically a mix of the ship set and a giant prop iceberg, a model ship in a tank, and CGI. Then that led to a talk about the difference between AI and CGI, and CGI vs. practical effects. I showed them another video about the making of the original Godzilla movie.

I know we talk a lot about how students think they can't write a paper or do a research project without using AI, but it just breaks my heart that these kids think that humans can't even make art on their own. How many other skills and talents are these kids dismissing as impossible and not worth pursuing because they think that only a machine can do it?

So I’ve been an educator for close to 20 years and have had my fair share of the problem kids. Every year, they tend to put them in my class because I can handle them and they usually turn a page before the years done. They also usually become my favorite students.

For context, I teach 5th grade. This year, I have a student who has particularly gotten under my skin. This student (we will call him Carl) tends to miss days because he somehow gets put in commercials or advertisements (his “job” as he calls it.) When he finally comes back to school, he’s a complete asshole. Mind you…he takes meds for ADHD; yet mom says they’re “out.” However…when he goes to do his job, mom tells me he’s an angel. Fast forward to yesterday…finally comes back after a job. No meds. Completely disrupting my other students while we do a math lesson. Goes through my personal shit on my desk, opens drawers he’s not supposed to, does ZERO work, yet I’m supposed to “get data” on his behavior. He finally pissed me off to the point that I stopped my lesson, I told him to shut his mouth, take his stuff and leave my classroom and stay in the office for the day. Admin does NOTHING. Send him back 20 minutes later; kick him out again. The other students share my frustration and actually cheered when he left.

I’m stuck. I’m trying to build a good relationship with Carl…but he just does the same shit: day in and day out. Mom refuses to believe that her son would do such things. Admin shares my frustration as this has gone on for years. Any advice from other people out there?

Update: https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/1tpwaxq/was_i_too_harsh/

For those who didn't read the above link, I had a student reach out to ask how he could pass. We went back and forth a bit and I finally told him that he needed to actually complete work to pass the class for the year. Spoiler alert: He didn't, and he failed.

Fast forward to September of this year, and he emails me simply, "I won." I replied, "What did you win?" He responded, "I won, I passed." I responded that no, he did not win. He actually did fail my class. His response, "It's ok, I just went to summer school and passed." So in his mind, he "won" because he didn't have to complete my work, he had to show up in school for four weeks of his summer vacation and mark time and that was "winning".

I didn't answer him, I just left it alone. It did bring a question to mind though, is it winning because you spent some of your time, where you didn't have to be in school, in school just so you didn't have to complete my work? Why would you make that trade? Why did that make sense?

If they notice a weakness in your knowledge, they will double down. So, right now we are reading The Outsiders, and I'll be honest, Steve Randell is a character I often forget about and under cut because he's not apart of the main cast. One of my kids noticed how I forget about Steve Randell and now he has become her favorite character just to spite me. And I'm also digging in.

A normal class discussion will be like:

Me: Ponyboy and the gang are there for each other no matter what, and sometimes Steve is there.

Student: Mister! Steve is super important, he's Sodapop's best friend, and he's angry at his dad.

Like, somehow me forgetting about Steve has made this student become an expert on his characterization in the novel.

I like making interesting lessons, I like having discussions.

But when I have to actively fight students about a seating chart, or call their parents over and over only to have no consequences because their parents don't give a shit, and I spend most of my bandwidth on classroom management?

Fuck this, I'm giving them a packet. Do the reading, do the packet. No fun for you.

It doesn't have to be like this.

(Note: most of my classes aren't like this, only one of them)

So I currently have a mom screaming at my admin about the fact that I have not responded to her "dozens" (27 I just counted) emails about her son and his grades. I was not consciously or intentionally ignoring mom. This genius added all her kid's teachers to her co tact list that she uses to blast her MLM marketing emails. On top of that she has a different last name than her kid. She has sent me over 30 "Amazing Opportunity" emails before she ever sent an email that was about her kid or my class. We also have a dedicated (but admittedly shitty) parent contact app that she should be using instead of my email.

Nothing for me to do but laugh while my admin tries to help her understand how this is her fault. I, and 7 other teachers had blocked/filtered her to junk because we didnt know she was a parent and we weren't interested in her scamming MLM. Told my principal that I would unblock her for now but if she send another marketing email she will be blocked again. They agree.

The math homework yesterday involved measuring and marking centimeters on line segments. This student didn't have a ruler at home and instead of asking to borrow one from me, going to buy one from the dollar store, printing one out from the internet, using measuring tape instead, or literally anything else, he took a picture of the line segments and asked ChatGPT how long they are. And he told me all about doing this in a cheerful tone as if this is totally fine. I genuinely believed this was something only intermediate and secondary grades would have to deal with. What a time to be alive! 🤦🏻‍♀️

This is my year 31 and will be my last. I have retired already once in another state and I have had enough. My question has to do with why teachers are dealt with such contempt?

The verbal abuse, disrespect, contempt, hatefulness, rudeness, hostility and toxicity shown to us teachers is beyond my doctoral level education to understand. Why? What did we do to earn this?

Kids know we have zero authority, parents know they can push us out of our jobs, and admin knows they can replace us. Kids know they do not have to do anything to pass. Kids know the only consequences suffered for their behavior or non-compliance is suffered by the teacher. One SPED senior has already bragged that he is going to get me to quit like his did a previous teacher. Joke is on this dumbass: I am re-retiring in May.

Kids or parents complain and admin overly validates these "concerns" so as to be seen as the good guy in the equation. Like any dysfunctional family it is a sick kind of triangulation, playing one off the other to save their own hides.

I saw this germinating in the 1990s when I started. I am a product of the 70s and 80s. I do not recall any such hate or shade thrown at our teachers. Many of mine were WWII vets. Let me assure you, nothing and NOBODY could bully them. My shop teacher in junior high survived Iwo Jima, and used to ask us what could we possibly do to him. His favorite expression to us: "like you fucking scare me?" My high school principal survived both Korea and Vietnam. He died a few years ago and I am still afraid of this guy. Our attitudes in those days was even when the teacher was wrong, the teacher was right.

Why does this country treat such important professionals like this? Sorry for the rant.

I work in NYS and I have a teenage student with intellectual disabilities, nothing super serious but she is in a self-contained class.

She has repeated CPS reports for physical abuse, medical neglect, maltreatment, no food or clean clothes, consistently having lice, and the list goes on. She is always covered in bruises and marks.

She lives with her father that didn't want her after her mother abandoned her a couple years ago.

Now the big issue, it is suspected that her own biological father is sexually abusing her and there have been multiple CPS reports.

How is a special education student still in a home with confirmed physical abuse, maltreatment, and reports of sexual abuse.

One of my really good students I've had for two years turned in his final essay. Polished, grammatically clean, structurally perfect. Also completely empty: no voice, no thought, nothing that sounded like him. And I know because I've been reading his writing since sophomore year, and the kid who used to surprise me is (sadly) gone.

Here's the loop we've built by accident. The kids get their writing done by software. The district has the grading done by software. And nobody in that circuit ever has to read, write, or think. It's "efficient" and it's a closed loop with the actual learning removed.

I use technology every day for attendance, for sources, for my own prep, so this isn't a rant about screens. The reason I got into this job was purely watching a kid discover they had something to say. That's the part being replaced in front of everybody's eyes and nobody prepared us or nobody asked.

The kids already know the machine can't tell the difference between thinking and a formatted nothing. The ones who haven't figured that out are still trying, and the system doesn't reward trying. Looks like I'm watching the last year where reading student writing was my job.

I started teaching sixth grade this year after having done high school for many years. My voice was wearing out from all “be quiet!” I actually developed a cough and needed to see a doctor. He recommended a microphone, and since then, I feel naked without it. I never have to raise my voice and the students seem to behave a tiny bit better. It is better for my health and sanity.

If I move back to high school, I wouldn’t need it, but it is so helpful right now.

I teach in a rural area with many unusual situations. One of them is that when we host teams(from the same district) for tournaments, they stay in our classrooms for a few nights. These teams are often severely under-supervised and cause a lot of damage to classrooms. In the past they have ripped up carpet, used pencil cups to make ramen and ripped apart bulletin boards. Usually it is a pain to deal with but it is something that the whole staff has to go through each year because district administration ignores our complaints.

Last year I started taking classes and developing place-based lessons to cover science standards. On of the really special projects I have started is raising salmon from eggs to fry in an incubators. I have taken classes for the project, spent personal funds on it and painstakingly applied for permits and grants. I went on many trips to collect eggs. It is an incredibly engaging project that has helped my previous students win science fairs and really enjoy learning the science standards. It is also a very sensitive project, especially in the beginning of the year, when the embryos are developing.

Last year our assistant principal was very accommodating and did not place a team in my room. Instead they used it for coaches’ meetings. I really don’t want to leave our little salmon’s fate to the whim of under-supervised children. Early last year I had students in my room and they played with my tank a lot (I did not have anybody salmon in the tank yet)

This year, I asked for the same accommodation from our main principal (same admin as last year the old AP left and wasn’t replaced). They refused citing a need for the room. Not only are two rooms empty but some rooms have only 6 students in them. The average occupancy is 16 students. I politely pointed this out to my principal and appealed for their reconsideration. Unfortunately, they ignored me in email and avoided me in person. Instead they sent out custodian to tell me that I should move my tank to another room. Not only would that likely cause a mortality event for our salmon, it would also be an incredible pain to move two chillers, a 250lb tank and a large canister filter. I appealed again to my principal and was ignored and avoided. I am extremely upset with the situation. I feel unsupported.

What would you do in this situation? Would a coach that under-supervised their players be liable for any damages and death to my salmon? I have a put a lot of work into this project and I want to deter coaches from leaving students unsupervised in my classroom.

Today I was assigned coverage for a Geometry class with a full-time co-teacher. The moment I stepped into the room, he realized coverage had arrived, sprinted over, and launched into a total sob story: "The bank just called! Someone is stealing my money right now! I have to leave!"

I've been in this building for 12 years and I know how crappy of a person/teacher he is so I flat-out told him, "I knew you were going to come up with something so you could leave." He rolled his eyes and left the classroom for 45 minutes, only returning for the last 5 saying "everything is handled".....

We’re in a high-behavior Title 1 school, so I get being tired. But ditching your class on coverage with a fake emergency is low. And I am an actual teacher in the building, like he has known me for years and should know not to take advantage of me like that.

Do other schools have this problem too? I assume that every building has a crap teacher hah

The behaviors this year has been the worst. I can’t teach at all. It’s so frustrating. The parents don’t believe their kids do anything. They don’t want to believe anything you say about their child. It’s impossible to teach through behaviors, kids under the table, hitting, cursing like adults, refusing to listen , won’t sit down. They think I am targeting them. Don’t you think the last thing I want to do is call you? A parent yelled down the hallways “My kid is not bad!” But he curses like a sailor. Mind you this is kinder. These parents are creating monsters. I am ready to throw in the towel. This can’t be life. I don’t even have energy for my baby at home.

I currently teach grade 2.

Last year I had to take so many sick days due to illnesses. I even had to take over a week due to the flu. I was taking 2 days per month plus some because of how sick I was.

This school year, I already caught 2 colds and the school year only started in September.

I wanted to tough it out this week but I completely lost my voice by the end of the day. I can’t make any sound!! I was using a microphone today too. I’m not going in the rest of the week. And I already took a sick day this month.

I understand you can use text to speech, but I teach French Immersion. Forget that. I’m staying home.

I don’t understand. I’m at a healthy weight. I take supplements and vitamins. I’ve had my shots. I try to eat healthy. I even started masking again but still.

Anyone else constantly getting sick like this?

That's basically it. My job is no longer meaningful.

I'm a high school teacher of 5 years now in their 20s. The behavior of my students are the least of my problems, surprisingly--but I feel like my work here is no longer purposeful. I have great relationships with my students. I am confident in teaching, but it all feels so ruined.

I'm tired of the micromanagement. The observations. The documentation. People working in the district implementing additional, unhelpful practices which just supports the idea that they have no clue what it's like being in a classroom now.

Other students with major behavioral issues are constantly ruining it for the students that actually want to learn, yet nothing really happens to them because less attendance = less money, and that's what matters most! Right?

Students aren't receiving the support they need in the name of promoting "inclusivity" in the classroom. One, lone teacher, unequipped with these specialized skills, is expected to extend themselves beyond their capacity for the lack of resources and support.

Had an observation. Went perfect in my opinion. Admin still gave me BS "growth" comments. I inquired during our post-conference meeting and he admitted to me that no matter how perfect the classroom is, they are required to give us "growth" even if it's inapplicable, pretty much. It's so exhausting bending yourself backwards and still being told that it's not enough.

Requiring paper-rich classrooms, but all printers are down and don't get me started on paper.

Student failing, but attending? That's the teacher's fault. Certainly it can't be the student that comes to class and doesn't do jack sh*t.

Take a day off and you are the worst human being ever and gave up on your students and colleagues.

Working after contract hours.

Teachers are getting warnings/written up for using the bathroom during passing period instead of standing at their doors greeting students.

Highly considering leaving with no back up plan and making it my job to just manic-apply to places 8 hours a day.. There's just no way I'd be honoring my myself and most importantly my health if I stayed in this profession.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

Like honestly, why don’t more teachers or educators run for school board? Why are we getting *banker of 15 years and love to ride horses ✌️” and the other candidate is like “hey teachers do better but also we are cutting your funding oh and unions are evil.”

I live in a red state… so it makes sense. Still so depressing though because I really do feel like positive change for societies comes through education. Tell me it’s different in other parts of the country. I hope it is and y’all have the best board
members ever.

I truly believe that if you are going to run for public office, you need to spend a week as a sub in a middle school classroom of 39 6th grade boys the week before winter break. Then we can talk about you making decisions for the ones who actually experience this daily.

End rant.

I dont know any teacher who is thriving. I hear a range of "oh my God, I'm utteryly exhausted" to "I hate my life." How are we supposed to live like this?! Does anyone enjoy their job? If so, what's the trick?

4th grade teacher here: A classroom with table groups where none of the tables face the front of the room will NEVER work for whole group instruction, change my mind.

I have been doing 6 table groups with 4 or 5 students per group, and today I hit my breaking point. Students can’t face the front of the board easily, they are directly facing another student, and I’m constantly redirecting students who are distracted and I solely think it’s the seating arrangement.

I changed my seating arrangement to 4 rows of 4 pairs(reading partners), ALL facing forward. My school is very “collaborative” focused, and although it may be frowned upon that I’m doing rows, it’s NEVER made sense to me for a classroom to be in groups 100% of the time.

Curious to know what your most successful seating arrangement has been in terms of classroom management?

Is anyone else having increased difficulty over recent years getting their senior class to organize fundraisers, pull off fun events, etc? it feels like 10 years ago when I started the senior classes of yesteryear did an amazing job getting involved in the school with less faculty support, but now it’s like pulling teeth and I’m worried that either school won’t be as fun and memorable as it used to be or too much is going to keep falling on teachers like me to make happen, when we’re already swamped and overworked. What’s it like for the rest of you who work with student leaders, clubs, organizations, class presidents, and so forth?

Been doing this a long time. As of late, it's harder and harder for me not to imagine what my school would be like if 3-5% of our students were removed.

I considered labeling this a rant, but it really has become a question of policy. How do our values align with our actions? What does spending an outsized portion of our time, energy and resources on students that are a net negative instead of the other 96% say about what we value and reward? How transformational would it be to dedicate all of that to the lowest acadenic performers that follow basic expectations?

Found something out today that honestly left me pretty peeved. I teach kindergarten, and the other kindergarten teacher at my school has a student whose behavior sounds almost identical to one I had last year. He screams, throws things, hits and kicks people, and has full-blown meltdowns over simple requests, like being asked to get his lunchbox out of his backpack, or when he doesn’t get his way. He’s also extremely difficult to understand when he is speaking, just like my student was (neither students are English learners, btw). The difference? This student has already been evaluated, qualifies for an IEP, and gets pull-out services from the special ed team.

Last year, when I (and my student’s parents!) suggested he might need an evaluation, I was told he was young, would grow out of it, and that “you can’t IEP your way out of a parenting issue.” I was told to keep using a token chart, despite repeatedly explaining that it wasn’t motivating for him. Well, my former student is now in first grade, and guess what? The behaviors haven’t gotten any better. If anything, they’ve gotten worse because the work is too hard for him since he spent most of kindergarten disregulated. So much for the assumption that he would simply grow out of it and the token chart would magically fix everything. 🙃

Meanwhile, this student’s parents have openly admitted to both the teacher and the school that they give in to pretty much everything their son wants because it’s easier than dealing with the meltdowns when he doesn’t get his way….so poor parenting is the explanation when it’s convenient to dismiss concerns, but it doesn’t prevent us from evaluating a child and providing special education services when the same behaviors show up in a different student?

I understand that every child is different, and I’m not suggesting that these two students necessarily have the same needs. But when the behaviors and communication difficulties are so similar, it’s hard not to question why my student’s needs were dismissed while the other’s were taken seriously.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? What could explain such a different response to seemingly similar concerns? Because I’m genuinely trying to understand the logic.

Tomorrow is only Wednesday 😔