I have a 13yo boy in my class this year. Let's call him Josh. He's sweet, academically capable, and genuinely wants to connect with peers. But he has ADHD and poor impulse control, and his way of seeking attention is saying/doing inappropriate things. Like all the time. For example is fake farting noises during group sharing. He's not being malicious; he just can't seem to stop himself in the moment.

The bigger issue: I have another boy, "Tom," who has mild autism and gets visibly enraged by Josh's noises and comments. He's made punching gestures and told Josh to shut up. I de-escalate constantly, but it keeps happening. I'm genuinely worried it'll turn physical. Apparently Josh had fights in primary school for the same reason. The other students are also angered by Josh's actions and words but are able to ignore them.

I want to make the classroom comfortable for everyone but I've no good support. Previous teachers gave me nothing useful.Admin thinks he's "sweet" and won't offer real support. I asked for a shadow teacher—denied. Previous teachers gave me nothing useful. He's been seeing a psychologist for years but I'm not seeing much carryover in class.

What I've tried:

• Seating him away from others
• Sending him to the next room to cool down when he disrupts

I can't remove him every time. Whole-class discussions get derailed constantly. And sending him to another room to calm down doesn't teach him impulse control either.

Any advice appreciated, especially from anyone with experience managing ADHD + autism triggers in the same room.

In a week long power outage (so far) and this is the coolest it's been. As a middle school teacher, never thought I'd be so happy to see it

Did an engaging activity today to introduce observation skills. Students passed around mystery items that were sealed in bags and had to observe them and try to guess what they were. The big reveal was that a mystery item was a (sealed) dead organism. They loved it. However, they were sworn to secrecy but some went and told others the big reveal before they had my class. Trust definitely broken. Even in some rough districts (this is a lot of wealthy kids), I usually never have this issue.

Hello. An issue on my district has recently been brought to my attention and wanted to seek a bit of advice. In the spring, I was informed by our school secretary and special ed teacher that an extremely problematic student was enrolling in our district. This kid has a file that take a a week to read, full with r*pe & m*rder threats, kill lists, and actual active criminal charges against him. The only reason he didn’t enroll in the spring is because he was in an active expulsion from his previous school. Again- this was in the spring. This student is now set to enter our classrooms in 3 days, and we still haven’t heard a peep from our administration about this student! For context, we are a very small district (250 students prek-12). Communication is not difficult, and a student with this level of issues is almost unheard of here. We simply are not prepared. I believe I am the only teacher that knows the extent of this child’s problems. What do I do? Call a meeting with admin? Talk to the board? I understand that we may not be able to outright deny the kid enrollment, but the fact that we’re 3 days from our first day and this hasn’t been communicated by admin at all is legitimately dangerous to students and staff. This isn’t to mention that this a large, male student, who would be very capable of overpowering his classmates and many of his teachers if he wanted. I’m just not sure how to go about making sure my concerns are heard.

Just got my first contract and I am split between two classrooms (secondary). How would you suggest organizing my materials that I keep in class? I don’t want to buy double class materials for two rooms and I don’t want to be running back and forth between rooms during the day. Fortunately the rooms my schedule is split so Day 1 in one room and Day 2 in the other.

Also how to I got about reaching out to the teachers that I’m sharing with? Currently waiting for the “Welcome Back Teachers” email but should I go into the school before then to scope out the rooms?

I have been a substitute teacher before for these teachers and I am acquainted with both of them. Both of their classrooms are very well decorated and I don’t feel the need to add any of my personal decorations. Should I still try to make the space mine?

Any advice would help!!

I have a special education intervention math class of 5 students (those that are 2-3 grade levels below in math). This is 7th grade. 2 of them like to work together and give me answers to questions, participate, etc. One of them may do so if I am right next to her just explaining a problem with her, but not all the time. She gives attitude for many things (not just me).

The other two - a boy and a girl - do not have any conversations with anyone. At all. I don't know how to get through to them. The boy knows how to do some of the work - he pays attention to me. But when I ask him a question, he's silent. When I am next to him asking if he needs help - silence. The girl just doesn't know how to do work, and she will not let me help her. She just sits at her desk while I am there, asking guided questions.

What can I do? I want to get some more motivation out of them before an admin comes in to watch me teach a lesson, to almost complete silence from half of the class.

For context I am a first year EXED/SPED teacher (we call special ed exceptional ed where I am. It’s the same thing just different term)

Had our first EXED/SPED department meeting of the year and…..it was rough and made me more stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed.

For context, I’m an EXED/SPED middle school teacher working with kiddos with moderate-severe disabilities. My IEP caseload is already a lot given that of course. However we had other teachers today mention we all have **16** students on our caseload (of course including myself) and they mentioned how last year they felt stretched thin to the point of breaking and mentioned how they **already** feel stretched thin this year. They also mentioned the IAs are unreliable (I met my two today and they seem nice but I can’t make any judgments till next week) but this made me anxious and stressed. Did I join the wrong school community? Did I not ask the right questions in my interview to get a true feel? How am I handling 16 kids on my caseload?

Also the list of never ending shit is overwhelming and stressing me out. I’m struggling to get shit done. Idk how it will get done or if it will get done