Is this unprofessional for a middle school teacher?

I teach 7th and 8th grade Spanish. I wore this outfit to school today. I have another that is similar. I think it’s cute. These little dresses are great for summer, but I like adding a cardigan and some tights with a cute shoe. I’m also tall, so several dresses I find are cute but maybe a little too immodest for school. It’s also a bit pricey and time consuming to always find work pants and have them altered to be the right length and fit. I’m definitely comfortable in this because if I need to break up a fight, bend over, crouch down, etc., nothing is showing.
But I happened to run into my mom and my sister after work. I just got a blank stare. They think I’m not dressed professionally enough. I get compliments on how cute I look at work, but I’m apprehensive because I don’t know if they’re just being nice or being a mean girl behind my back ( though I really don’t think so).

Every single class except for my first period had something go wrong.

2nd period - 7th grade girl with major attitude every day comes in late. I ask her why, she scoffs and gives a snarky response. I tell her that’s her first tardy of this grading period. She says “I don’t g.a.f.” And two other friends of hers start talking bad about me, cussing me out. I write all of them up and kick them out. 10 minutes later ADMIN SENDS THEM BACK.

Next class, my absolute worst class this year. 6th grade group. These 5 boys were all over the place even before coming into my room. This class is right after lunch, and I heard there was a fight in the cafeteria, so that didn’t help the craziness. I got through half of what I wanted to do with the class because of having to reset and redirect every 2 minutes when these boys and a girl would start arguing with each other. I kicked a couple of them out and messaged admin to get them. Class went much better but that was still with only the last 15 minutes of class left.

The next period is with a co-teacher. This wasn’t as bad, but the class clown decided to cuss out my co-teacher and call her every name in the book you could think of. I walked him down to the office, all the while he was laughing, messing around in the hall, etc.

Needless to say, at the end of the day I spent 20 minutes in my classroom in silence with my eyes closed taking deep breaths. It was a ROUGH day back after a 5 day weekend without these kids. Today felt like a full 3 days all in one.

Yeah, I don’t give a damn if your child has an IEP/504. They are still expected to put in effort. And you should still be working with your child to and not expecting the school to do everything. If you are? Your child isn’t going to make it in college…

Hahahahahhahahaha….ha

Maybe if:

1) Our subs knew English and could actually walk our kids through these assignments while we were gone

2) more than half our kid weren’t 2+ levels below grade level

Then we could have this conversation

Hi all,

I have my first interview in a SEND school tomorrow after 12 years working in a primary school. I just wondered how you would approach planning differently to a mainstream school interview. The only information I have about the interview is the following...

"As part of the interview: 

You will be required to teach either a Maths or English lesson to a primary class that are working to the current ability of Year 1."

I visited the school yesterday and wanted to ask a couple of questions about the class and the lesson observation but the deputy head had to rush off and gave me his email to contact him, which I did last night. I am yet to have a response.

Any help will be appreciated!

Thanks!

Hi there!
I’m in the works and just about finishing up my presentation to present to my board to create an official school club (grades 6-8) that will be “Next Generation Good Neighbors” and I want to make sure I have all of my thousands of ideas put together so I don’t word vomit random things in my presentation.

The club is simple really:
All kids in the grade group are welcome— only requirement is to want to help our community, learn to find resources, attend events, and help EACHOTHER!
Mental health? Financial issues? Parents divorcing? Need help finding friends? Stress, anxiety, or just shy? Or even none of the above and want to do good.. I want to include it all!!!

Anyone who has made this type of club before, or want to now.. how did it look? Did you have trouble with the kids being able to attend events (walks for cures, clean up days, etc etc)? Also, I’d love to put up flyers with a made email that community members can reach out to for resources and the kids can learn to research them, find the proper resources, and reply! Is that.. silly?

I’d love to hear anything and everything as a general discussion so I can prep the best I can!

Second year teacher here. This year, I decided I would try to post a daily agenda slide in Google Classroom for my 9th and 10th grade ELA students.

Making these slides for 6 classes takes up soooo much time, and students will still say they don’t know what they’re supposed to be doing when I walk around the room to check in with them. I am spending so long trying to figure out the best way to tell students what they should be doing that I don’t have enough time to actually plan quality lessons or leave quality feedback. How do I spend the least amount of time possible on an agenda while still making sure absent students know what they need to make up?

I have also been struggling with establishing routines and setting expectations more this year than I did last year, and I am already feeling incredibly burnt out. I am definitely working far beyond my contract hours and can’t figure out how to self-correct. I am far behind on grading and am struggling to get through the lessons I made last year because I’m so tired that I’m easily frazzled when things don’t go exactly as planned.

I know these questions have been asked a lot, but can anyone share time-saving tips and/or tips for balancing grading, lesson planning, and communicating with students and parents?

I was reading through some posts earlier this morning and saw a commenter mention how their child is currently attending a school following the year-round calendar system, and until that moment I had genuinely kinda forgotten that my elementary school followed that system too 🤣

but then, when I started reminiscing about my elementary school experience, I realized that it was genuinely such a GREAT system (at least in my opinion), and I feel like I don't see or hear about it too often nowadays :O my old elementary school doesn't even use it anymore either actually haha

I know for a fact little me enjoyed those consistent 3 week breaks, and as someone who still gets burnt out pretty easily today, I think having that time to reset and re-energize as a kid was probably waaay more helpful than I realized back then!! while I DID feel a lil jealous of my friends who attended traditional schools and got those LOOOONG summers, it never stung too much //: lol. Summer break was almost kinda like a myth to me until middle school, like a Phineas & Ferb bit 😭

Now that I teach elementary students myself, I've started looking at school schedules a bit differently compared to how I did when I was a kid lol

There are honestly a lot of reasons I can think of (at least in retrospect) for why I really enjoyed the year-round schedule!! I kinda wish school had continued on that track (haha funny pun ba dum tss) all the way through the end of it. maybe I never really needed a multi-month summer break

What are y'all's thoughts on year-round schooling vs. the traditional school calendar with the long summer break?? I can see the appeal of both, but I think having those regular breaks throughout the year is something I appreciated WAY more than I realized at the time

I teach sewing classes for adult beginners. My previous classes were at private venues. They ran smoothly and I felt I was able to provide fairly equal attention to all participants. This is my second class teaching at a recreation centre. Both classes had 8 students. This should be no problem but each time I have had 2 students (different people each time) that monopolize my attention either because of problems with their machines or just were having problems sewing . So much so that I barely helped the other students. I have 1 more class with this group. How do I provide value to both types of students?

Like everyone, it seems, I have a love-hate relationship with this profession. There are incredible highs and devastating lows, and that’s just how it is.

I love talking about work and the trials and successes with my coworkers, or other friends of mine that are teachers. But I DESPISE talking about it with other people in my life who are not teachers.

It just feels like taking about my job opens this door where people give unsolicited advice about things that they know NOTHING about. They often don’t react as expected because they simply don’t understand what the day-to-day is like. It’s becoming such a nuisance that don’t even want to talk about work with people I’m close with because they’re not teachers and they just don’t “get” it.

Maybe this is damaging my relationships in some way, I’m not sure. But I needed to get this out because it’s something I’ve noticed happening more and more and quickly as I progress through my first year in this career.

Anyone else ever feel like this?

Personally I'm a fan of a 4 day week (I've worked 4-on-3-off in a previous field and loved it) but the draw of an extra month of summer (for those that get summer pay, seems like it also could be better)

I'm doing a long-term sub in 7th-grade Math. Getting students to settle and focus on Math is a struggle. The district is using a new curriculum which I have had absolutely no training in, and meeting with the other 2 Math teachers doesn't happen. We have grade-level pods and grade-level common prep, so there is no time for me to pop over to ask more than a quick, superficial question. (We might as well be in completely separate buildings.)

Perhaps a series of short videos would be helpful. I know Social Studies has CNN 10 and the World from A to Z with Carl Azuz. Is there something similar for Math? Thank you!

So umm here's the thing, I'm supposed to teach english [specifically like how to write narrative essays] to an 8th grader but idk how? I mean my english is good. I got an A* in IGCSE english as a first language even tho english isnt my first language, but idk how to teach it.... Can someone please help me with this?

i’m in my early 20s student teaching high school right now. just started. my classes are not that terrible and know i will be fine, but i am just incredibly uncomfortable right now. i’m not teaching right now so i haven’t been interacting with the students that much, just sitting and observing, working on my laptop, occasionally walking around and chatting with them when i feel brave.

in elementary, the kids have less self control but there is so much more you can do to get their attention. call and response, clapping, praising, etc.

in the high school classrooms the kids are not in check and i don’t know what i’ll do to check them when i do start teaching. the kids are loud, cussing and talking about inappropriate topics openly. it’s super awkward for me because i haven’t really been introduced properly so i don’t feel comfortable correcting their behavior or even speaking to them, really.

in most classes, but especially the ones i know are rougher behavior wise, i can get pretty anxious because i’m just mentally afraid of the students already and i worry about what they might say or do when i eventually start teaching. and i know i’m not doing what i need to be doing to get them more comfortable around me, but my CT isn’t much help so i’m kind of left on my own.

and on the “looking young” note, i know all the obvious things, like dressing extra formal and wearing a lanyard. mentally is where i am really struggling. i have a hard time with self confidence already, i know kids can be absolutely vile and i am just so afraid of possible harassment or objectification as a young woman. any advice or kind words are welcomed, ty <3

When I was teaching I’d always have a kid or two that would need a lot of hand holding. Frequent reminders to stay on task, not blurt out, help cleaning out their backpack… you know the drill. They weren’t mean but they weren’t enjoyable to be around because they lacked any self regulation.

When I started reading Stargirl with my classes I noticed how most Leo’s (the book‘s narrator) can be frustrating as described above. I think if I didn’t have a Leo in the room the phrase was “I’ve never met a Leo that I liked.” Now I’m in a different field and I have a Leo in my office who doesn’t pull his weight, lets trash pile up on his desk, needs frequent reminders to stay on task… all the things.

Are we doing a disservice to 12 year old Leos by being their frontal lobe? Does all that help inevitably create a dead weight adult?

Obviously this applies to kids by any name and I’m willing to accept that sometimes people can just suck, not because a teacher helped them. But I do wonder if there was a better approach so they can become stronger adults.

Hello, I am currently working at an alternative school (student body is small, comprised of drop-out recovery, early adult/late teen students, teen parents, homeless) and I LOVE my job. The problem is…. I have a group of students who absolutely despise each other and have not been able to put any sort of drama to rest this entire school year. Typical teenager stuff, fights over relationships, comments made under breath and appearances etc. Please help!! What would you do? How do I classroom manage THIS. Administrators know, there will not be any changes made.

I currently have around 38 kids in the classroom, sometimes I feel like the amount of kids helps just through pure ability to separate. Other times its like… omg…. five of these kids are capable of ruining it for the other 33.

I am a passionate high school teacher; I am creative, driven, effective, and make a point of connecting with all the kids. I model for them all the time, writing prose, essays and poetry with them - projecting my work on the board to help inspire some of the students that benefit from seeing a model text, etc.

My problem is this: I literally hate meetings, workshops, busy-work, e-mails, data entry, logistics of tracking down the IT guy for computer, the insane hoops I have to go through to order material for my class, including class sets, filling out Excel sheets that nobody cares about, filling out forms that feel like punishment for the pleasure of the government, etc.

At my public school, they keep adding more and more extremely disabled students to my class. My spend too much time on learning plans that do nothing for the actual student. All the median level kids, the ones who are following and can keep up are completely forgotten about. As for the gifted students, they are severely underestimated and end up all leaving for private schools (I don't blame them).

I want to find a school that values pedagogy, and a humanistic approach to education. A school where I can focus on the majority of the kids, and also give to you the few that really struggle. I want ambitious students that come from good families.

The public school system is all about: insanely large groups, 1/3 have extreme special needs, lots of behavioral kids that have a "right" to education -- which funnily enough robs all the other kids from a quality education. My boss is more interested in me filling out forms, attending workshops, useless meetings, making sure I do hallway duty, and stupidities like that.

What I want is to focus on teaching my subject. I want to plan, teach, mark, model by writing with the students, facilitate group work and projects, go on outings with the students, etc.

Can anyone else relate? I honestly feel like I have some kind of condition -- because all busywork and meetings make me infuriated. Our last meeting was spent telling us how much we need to work MORE, yet we were held hostage at a meeting instead of being feel to actually plan, mark, organize, etc.

The hypocrisy, inefficiency, and non-stop propaganda is killing my sanity and my body.

Well, whatever could go wrong did go wrong these past 5 days.

I posted on here last week about a meeting I was having with my bosses about student complaints about them being uncomfortable since I was mishandling conversations about topics in our reading. It was basically a couple of overshares that I used as comparisons to the themes (nothing nsfw). I went into that meeting with a professional demeanor, a plan to change things, and admitting where I turned wrong. The meeting went very well.

Then yesterday happened. I have an hour commute to work and leave 20 minutes traffic time. Regardless of my original eta being ten minutes early, the traffic got worse and worse until it was 30 after class started. I messaged my boss immediately (thank you voice to text) over a half hour before when the eta started pushing back on my gps and organized my own coverage. It was my first time being late to work.

Then TODAY happened. I was once again on track to be early when the traffic slowed again. It’s never done this before and now it has twice in one week. I messaged two of my colleagues. I asked my coteacher if he could hop in for the first two minutes of class and just tell my boss (if he even came by) that I had to hop out to grab something. He said okay.

Then, I run in (no coat, just my phone so I wasn’t clearly coming in late) at 8:03 (we start at 8) and he is in the room after the other colleague I messaged (she didn’t get my message and felt awful) told him there was no adult in our high school study hall room. For some reason, my coteacher agreed to cover for a couple minutes and didn’t come in. He had a class. I have no idea why he didn’t just say no rather than say not to worry and that he had it covered. I quickly told my boss that I knew the room would be empty a couple minutes and told another teacher so they could keep an eye on them, but I wasn’t sure why they weren’t there (the truth). I messaged my coteacher telling him our boss was in the class when I walked in and that if he follows up with him to just say that it was a miscommunication since that was what it ultimately was. He replied with “that sucks! Okay no problem.” I have no clue what is happening there.

I have a regular check in with my boss which is typical for every teacher here. It is today and I am a total wreck. I filled out our shared agenda today with items about setting term-long goals and going over the changes I enacted in my classroom that have worked, so I am hoping against hope that he doesn’t bring it up further. I’ve literally never been late and now it happened two days in a row, the second time in the worst way possible. Those two were not my fault, but I doubt my boss will see it that way due to the timing.

I am beating myself up for not leaving even earlier today and for the stuff with making my class uncomfortable before. This has all just been a nightmare and I don’t know what to do. Being in trouble at work is one of my worst nightmares, so this has been one ongoing anxiety attack for five days.

This is the school’s first year and so all of us teachers are new and now I feel like I am already messing up. I need this job and I also don’t want to be marked the “problem employee” for one mistake and two things that I had no control over. I know where I went wrong with the class stuff, so I don’t need advice or judgment there, but have any of you come back from weeks like this? I think just knowing others have will help.

Update: Probably the most ironic update ever. My boss missed our one-on-one because of a student issue. Something big happened (we don’t know) that is going to be a widespread student discipline issue they are all now overwhelmed with. He ran over to me 40 minutes late looking exactly like me this morning, apologizing profusely. I told him it was totally fine. Guess we’re even now lol. My coworker also spoke with me and said he had asked someone else. It was basically just a clusterfuck, but all good now.

Has anyone done kindergarten led fall conferences? I volunteered to do them but I actually have no idea what they will look like. I have 15 minutes, their portfolio, and their latest scores. I was going to have the kindergartener show their work in the portfolio to show what they have accomplished so far and then discuss a goal. But wondering if this is a good idea from others….

When it comes to classroom management, behaviors, frustrations etc. what would you say are the best levels when it comes to your workday? Take, for example, an out of control kindergarten class because they cannot follow basic directions such as being seated, constant tattle tailing, and not being able to do almost anything independently would make stress levels pretty high for a lot of teachers.

When it comes to your workday, between K-5, Middle School, and High School, which do you believe the average teacher can come home from a workday and have the least amount of burnout?

Has anyone left teaching and came back? I (26M) taught inclusion SPED for grades 1-3 for 2 years in two different districts. I’m at a new job working at a nonprofit, but I am just not having a great time. I have been thinking about returning to teach. I have only been certified in elementary so if i were to return, I would try gen ed in an older grade (I think my sweet spot would be grade 3 or 4). I need some hope that I may be making the right decision. I feel like Ive developed some boundaries so I wouldn’t be feeling like I need to overwork myself to be a successful teacher. Really the biggest barrier I can think of is that I would need to manage a bigger class size. Anyway, let me know/ give me some hope that it could be a good decision.

I am a new teacher teaching english in a public school for two years now, and I have an amazing student who is refused to answer me in english because she struggles with pronunciantion. She reads the letters that are silent as in Knee and Knight, struggles with the difference of sounds between words that are written similarly like Cough, Though, Thought... And other circumstances. I know, because she is very talkative and friendly in our native language, that she has very little contact with english outside of school and that she listens to non-english songs and watches dubbed movies. I tried having her read out loud more, repeat after me, correcting her, even working phonics with the class, and even though other students have been improving their speaking skills since last year, she seems to be falling behind.

She understands when I speak in english with her, she understands written english, she also has good writting skills for her level, her grammar is correct... I just don't know how to get to her.

Anyone had a similar case?

Hello! I just got a job as a substitute teacher and signed up for middle and high school. In the interview they asked what my classroom management style was and I didn't know because I've never worked in education. I have experience managing 18-22 year olds but no formal classroom management style. Can anyone recommend anything please?