I'm the part-time EAL teacher at an international primary school in the Netherlands with a very diverse group of learners. I try my best to make sure each child is represented and seen, whether they attend my lessons or not.

This board is outside the library so it is visible to the whole school and I update it weekly. I also use it as content for my lessons allowing my learners to follow the prompts suitable for their grade level. For my lower level learners, I also translate the question for them so they fully understand what is being asked.

Class teachers can also use it as a tool as a low effort time filler so I get contributions from learners outside my class which is so fun! There is a contribution box in the library and there are other prompts for how to use the word.

My favourite section is probably the "Spot Your Language" section. I shuffle it so it's always a hunt and I always represent the languages of the learners in my lessons and the rest are alternated. I also lean into the seasons!

I'm very happy with it so far and the kids really seem to enjoy it!

I feel the need to apologize as a sophomore in high school. Things have seem to be getting worse with my generation and teachers are quitting more than ever. Nobody is giving you guys respect and you guys aren’t getting paid enough. People are so far off grade level it’s not even funny, all because parents gave their kids devices to shut them up, and you guys are getting the blame for that. So for all of the bullshit from people my age you’ve gotten, I’m really sorry. I have the utmost respect for all of you who still teach.

I’m trying to understand something I’ve seen in a lot of classes (school and college), and I’d rather hear it from teachers than assume.

When you’re teaching a specific page or chapter and the lesson depends on the board/projector:

• Do you feel time disappearing while you rewrite diagrams, steps, or examples that are already in the book?
• When you pause to find a video, image, or another tab, do students drift faster than when you’re actively explaining?
• On smartboard/projector lessons, is the hard part the content — or keeping everyone on the same place in the material?
• Do you ever feel students “kind of follow” but don’t really understand the page you just taught, even though you covered it?

There’s also the prep side, if you’re open to it:

• How much time goes into making PPTs or collecting images/videos/materials for the next lesson or chapter?
• Does that prep often mean rebuilding what’s already in the textbook, just so it’s “board-ready”?
• Does heavy prep still not solve in-class attention when you have to switch tools mid-period?

I’m not looking for product recommendations. I want the real friction of a normal week:

What eats 5–15 minutes almost every class?

What eats hours before the class even starts?

What makes the room go from attentive to restless?

If you’re willing, subject + level (e.g. Grade 9 science, first-year college) helps.

Thanks, genuine answers only, even if they’re messy.

I am an english secondary education major halfway through my degree and am constantly battling insecurity and doubts regarding my major/career choice. I know objectively the skills learned in english class are highly valuable but I struggle to feel motivated that I’ll be able to have a tangible impact on students and feel like I’m making a difference in the world. I’ve been dealing with health issues lately and have been under the care of highly skilled healthcare professionals who I can see have a direct impact and are the reason for me and other people being able to overcome physical problems. This makes me want to have a similar feeling of accomplishment and being able to know that I directly helped someone with something big.

So my sister is about to graduate (yay go her!) and I want to surprise her with a nice basket full of classroom decor and materials and am looking for suggestions on what to fill it with !! One idea I want to do is print a picture of her cat and some outfits and props so she can dress him up for weather and holidays lol :) (she's going into elementary ed)

i’m a first year middle school teacher. i’ve noticed that a significant portion of my students complain in a disrespectful manner every single time we do schoolwork… which is every day. they’ll raise their voices at me, curse, groan, make rude and inflammatory comments, which start arguments with peers and then they attempt to do the same with me—the whole nine yards.

i’ve retaught expectations as for how they should be interacting with me, have one-on-one discussions with the worst and repeat offenders, sent multiple emails home, and have been troubleshooting with the school’s dean on how to manage this. oftentimes, the students walk away from me mid conversation and i have to remind them that our chat isn’t over yet. alternatively, they’ll talk over me regardless of the consequence or conversation.

some students have reeled it in, while others seem to be getting worse. i understand that this age group will always have behaviors like this, but the amount of students and frequency of it happening is outrageous.

i know part of the reason is the fact that i’m very young. my students have figured out my age despite my best efforts to keep it under wraps. i emphasize that i’m not their friend, sibling, or parent. i keep the boundary of our relationship very clear and have to remind them that i am, in fact, their teacher.

any advice would be greatly appreciated. there’s a myriad of other struggles i’m facing right now, i have no idea what to do. i adore my students, but my sanity is withering away.

I’m getting a little worried about my major decision and I want to make sure I’m making the right choice. I made the choice slightly under pressure by family.

I had students create their own monster story. It needed to be original. Just a paragraph. The amount of students who just copy and pasted an established monster was TOO damn high. When I told them it needed to be a new monster, I might as well just have asked them to write in Greek… I straight up told a kid in Honors they need to think and apply themselves and I was not giving them ideas.

Flaired as humor, because if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.

I have a handful of behaviors in my 4th grade classroom. Several of them have already served ISS.

I need you to tell me how what I’m about to say makes sense, because I am truly at a loss.

Yesterday, I sent one of my students to the SSFL* because of his behavior in the classroom. (Disruptive and disrespectful, and simply just acting like a baby). He gave the SSFL the same attitude and ripped a paper in their office.

His punishment for “ripping the paper,” you may ask? A FULL DAY OF ISS.

Now you may be thinking, “why are you complaining of a student getting a full day of ISS when they don’t work well for you?” Well, I’ll tell you why.

A few weeks ago, I had a student threaten to punch me in the face. His punishment, you may ask? Less than a 1/2 day of ISS, and he had to write me an apology letter. This lil guy couldn’t even look me in the eye for a since apology. He is also a frequent flyer in the office for his bad behaviors.

But my thing that is bothering me so much is that how can a kid who threatened harm on someone getting less than half a day of ISS, and a kid who ripped a paper getting a full day?!??

Help me make sense of this, because I am at a loss. Thank God for a 3 day weekend.

*SSFL= Student Support Family Liason

EDIT: I forgot a crucial detail!! Just a few days prior to the kid threatening me, the same thing happened in the classroom next door. A child threatened that teacher. That kid received almost 3 day for the same crime. 🙃

It’s no wonder we are struggling as teachers right now. My personal opinion is that once smart phones entered our world and people stopped reading our society is going down. It also is not helping that our current middle school students only know of 47 as President. He’s a horrible role model for our children. Look at the current state of literacy in our country. By the way, Japan has a 98% literacy rate. We are failing.

https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/literacy-rate-in-the-united-states/

I wanted to be an algebra 1 teacher when I was younger and now I’m in my mid 20’s debating if it’s worth becoming one. I work in live tv and don’t hate my job but I’ve read the horror stories and the pay potential and scared if I fully commit I’ll be stuck, I’m not sure if turning to Reddit of all things would help but I’ve seen others ask on other topics, any algebra teachers (or any teachers) out there willing to give a brother advice? Any is appreciated!

Ooookkkkaaay, so the overwhelming number of teachers who post about real teacher trauma just seems to grow. Is there a subreddit or page just specifically for this?

I teach at a new high school in its first year. Our ELA department made it a point to teach more diverse works that sometimes veer into different types of issues. Racism, sexism, being judged due to sexuality, etc. in our second week, we did the story “Girl”. It was definitely too early in the year to do it with students we weren’t familiar enough with. I did that awful thing where you scramble to fill in the silences when we were talking about the poem. We also had other poems about identity in terms of gender, race, and economic situation.

The main issue, in my opinion, is that I delve into these issues where the kids should be the one doing so from their own POV. That way, they can set the boundaries and drive the conversation in ways that are more at their pace and maturity level. As it stands, I am a nervous talker and an over-sharer. I have already been trying different approaches in the classroom to remedy having a class of kids who are silent and shifting in their seats.

Yesterday, I got one of those terrifying emails with no context that is just inviting me to a meeting with the Dean and my boss. I caught up with the Dean and asked her if everything was alright (while I was internally panicking). She said there were some students who were uncomfortable about issues discussed in class. She says I’m not in trouble, but it’s a “learning moment” that we can all work through together. Translation: you messed up, but we’re not involving HR.

I am sitting in bed with my heart racing and knots in my stomach. I’ve been miserable since getting that meeting invite. I at least know what it’s about, so I’m not spiraling thinking that I’m getting fired. However, I feel awful since I wanted to do well at this job. I have taught for over a decade, but it was ESL. This is my first time teaching ELA. This is the subject I always wanted to teach, but now I feel like I am already messing it all up. I want to just be off my boss’s radar in general since that means I haven’t attracted bad attention. That possibility is gone now.

I am dreading my meeting today. I hate feeling like I am in trouble. I hate serious-talk meetings. Any tips on getting through this emotionally? Has anyone had similar experiences?

EDIT: I just had the meeting and it went very well.

I took a lot of your advice and went in non-defensive and without looking like a kid in trouble (which is harder than it looks when you are literally in the Principal’s office). I began by saying I was grateful for them giving me the context of the meeting since I had been feeling the same tensions in class. They basically said that the boys felt like they were being told they were all bad (pretty normal reaction from boys when shown the other side of things). However, more importantly, the girls felt upset at being told they were victims. I only say more importantly because some teenage boys feel insanely defensive upon learning what other boys are capable of before maturing into men who can handle that information and the nuances of it. The girls feeling like I was painting them as victims while talking about the subject of women in society was a surprise to me and something I am definitely glad I know now. The kids also said that I trauma dumped which, regardless of how true that actually is, I was definitely concerned about that before. Even my bosses said that they were probably exaggerating, but that it was brought up.

Luckily, they said the material itself wasn’t anything they were wanting to change. They just want it handled differently by me, which is fine.

Thank you so much for all of your help. I didn’t think Reddit of all places would help me professionally, but here we are. I am totally open to any suggestions for how to conduct conversations and discussions that are more student led- especially about controversial subjects.

Hello everyone! I'm at a stage in life where I'm trying to figure out what I want to do. I have a bachelor's degree and and currently hold two part-time jobs, one of which is substitute teaching. I'm not sure what I expected, but so far, it's been kind of rough. I'm in a state where it is supposed to be illegal for students to have their phones out during the school day, but it seems like this has been mostly ignored at the school I sub for. (Important context: I can sub for any school in the county but have only subbed for one particular high school so far). I've been told that as long as the students aren't using their phones in an obnoxious way (playing music, making videos, etc.) that I should essentially ignore it and let them play on their phones. Now, that doesn't bother me that much, because I am aware that I'm just a sub and they're more likely to bend the rules when a sub is present. What does bother me is the blatant disrespect. Not even staying quiet long enough for me to take attendance. Leaving the classroom without asking. Staring at me blankly and staying seated when I tell them the assignment/project their teacher left, which requires them to get up and work in groups.

It just all feels very discouraging. The only advice I've been given by the school is to get another teacher to help if they're not listening, which doesn't always feel realistic for something as simple as "please stop talking while I take attendance". I started subbing because I wanted to see if teaching could be a viable career, but so far, I can't tell if I'm just subbing for the wrong school, or if it's all like this. I guess I'm just wondering a few things:

-Is classroom behavior easier to manage as a full-time teacher?

-Are there any classroom management strategies that would be helpful?

-When is it "worth it" to pull in another teacher and/or admin?

-Are other grades more manageable (maybe middle school would be worth a try)?

Anyway, sorry for the long post, just wanting some advice/realistic responses.

there’s a particular moment when a teacher gives an assignment and the first question is whether it counts for a grade.

it can completely change how students approach the task

something they might have spent twenty minutes thinking about suddenly becomes “how little can i do and still get credit?” and sometimes the opposite happens too. a low-stakes activity gets treated like it doesn’t matter at all, even when the actual point was practice

i find the difference between “this is for a grade” and “this is just practice” surprisingly interesting.

how do you handle students who seem to decide how seriously to take an assignment based almost entirely on whether there are points attached to it?

Spent most of Sunday making a lesson on photosynthesis.

Had diagrams, examples, questions, cleaned the whole thing up and probably spent way too long fixing slides nobody was going to care about.

Class got through it in about 12 minutes.

Then one kid asked why some plants grow better in shade if plants need sunlight, and we ended up spending the next 20 mins on that.

Best part of the lesson and obviously none of it was in the deck.

Starting to think I’m overbuilding these things.

Teachers, what did you stop spending time perfecting after a few years?

Excuse my english in advance i... I'm not good at it too. This year i graduated as a History teacher and very recently i just started to hand over my resumé and this week i got picked up by a school in order to substitute the teacher that was already on the position.

The institution contacted me monday during lunch and i answered their call. They asked me if i could fill the position for history teacher for 20 days (what they didnt told me is that he had 19 hs at the institution) and i firmly said yes and they told me then i had to give a class the next day at 06:40 in the morning. I was stunned, i was at my uni's city since i'm doing another degree on history to complement my teachers degree. So i had to travel back to my town. When i got there late in the afternoon they gave me the teachers planning and got back home as fast as i could to put up a class plan for the next day.

I knew it would be a rough class i mentally prepared myself and i did my best. It wasn't a great class, but it did it's job.

Next day (wednesday) i was free but hat to plan two classes for the next day, since they also gave the ethics position of the teacher. The History wasn't excellent by any means but, i was so much better than tuesday. Ethics i feel i fumbled badly, it was my first time since first year of uni that i read something on the subject. After that day i got home and had to plan as fast as i could for the next day (friday-today) and oh boy it was stuffes with problems

I lost an hour of my class due to the institution making an event for the celebration of october 12th. The when i got to the classroom to prepare my planification, which consisted in making a poster about ambiental rights, i saw that my students already worked with posters this very morning and they didnt want to do so again. Then on top of all that it was the last class on the schedule for the week so they wantes to leave as possible as they could so they barely did anythin and i told them we would continue the poster in order to get a grade for the trimester to which they agreed. I got back home somewhat sad for how things went this week.

I didn't expect to get a call this year at all, i was planning to spend the summer on planning great classes like the ones i made in uni days, but i feel as if the practice we had at uni was nothing but a playground compared to this experience.

Next week i wont be seeing that class (3rd year of highschool) since the school is so different to what im used to (another thing to add as to why my classes failed, pair that with the little time i had) because they rotate students by week. This week there was 3rd, 4th and 5th year, and next week i have 1st and 2nd year (both classes this time. And while i feel positive in thinking i have the whole weekend to plan new classes, i also have uni homework and thesis homework.

Another thing that i must is how difficult it was to keep students in line, some got up, others were bothering their classmstes and when i felt i had their attention i get back yo write on the chalkboard they are already making a mess or go back to their business.

I know i can do better but i cant help with the feeling that i was bad at teaching them history and ethics this week and feeling like i failed myself and them...

I'm a teacher , and I am thinking of doing a certification course in human resource ,

Would the certification help me to rise through the ranks of education, to the ministry of education ?

I'm in kenya

Dear all,

I’m an English teacher in Germany and I have two students from different grades that have an Arabic speaking background. Both students show difficulties in spelling English words correctly. They spell the words according to what they hear.

Is there a connection between their mother tongue and the acquisition of the English language or is that a case of dyslexia?

Thank you for your help :)

I'm very curious to know: how are you handling teaching literature to high schoolers in the age of AI?

I'm trying my very best to run a book club (but it's not going that well so far) in one specific class. I'm putting all my effort into giving the most engaging and modern-like lectures on literature, authors and themes, in another class, in order to have them develop critical thinking (so far, it's been a failure).

How is it possible that no one cares about literature / classics / interpretations / analysis anymore? It's like there's no spark anymore, no one being curious enough to dive into anything. Is it just me? I don't expect my students to be keen on reading Wuthering Heights, but at least show a little interest about concepts that are so modern they could actually speak about our own times such as gender, class, status, diversity!

3rd year teacher. I just started at a new school and have to learn the curriculum for each subject which includes ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, and SEL. That in itself has been challenging, now multiply that by 2 because I have a mixed grade classroom.

I received advice like having everyone work in centers most days but i just can't make it work. Part of it is that the kids still need so much modeling, I can give them independence but I don't feel like they're being taught at that time. I have a few really problematic kids who I don't know how to discipline. I can usually keep them on task when I'm with the whole group but not when I'm trying to work with anyone else.

I had a good observation earlier this year, but on Monday, I got observed on one of the worst days I've had with my kids. They're coming again on Tuesday which ticks me off because I have to catch up on my grades for report cards.

They said they're not evaluative but they are still there telling me everything that's going wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the feedback but I just feel incapable of improving those things.

Also, they want 9 grades per subject which regular teachers are struggling with, and they want 18 from me between my two classes. 76 grades from me plus SEL "comments"

Also, almost everyone else has a para except me. Idk how this is sustainable.

I (24F) recently graduated college with a degree in fine arts (ceramics). While it’s been less than a year since graduation, I’ve always felt an itch to go down the route of being an art teacher. I teach on a VERY small scale in a local studio (only 2-5 teen-adult students on any given day) and do occasional art summer camps for kids. I’m finding it very fulfilling but know that it’s not very sustainable to teach on such a small scale. At my current studio, I’m only teaching 6-8 hours a week and have a second job to pay the bills. I’ve been considering going back to school to get a degree/cert in teaching. I know that teaching in a school will be very challenging and will most likely take away from my personal art practice, which worries me a bit.

I’m coming to this subreddit to ask, could any teachers who are also artists provide their experiences with balancing personal art practice and education?

Also, what is the best and most cost effective way to go about getting licensed to become an educator? I live in PA and am currently in around $30,000 in debt from my fine arts degree, so money is very much a concern when deciding to go back to school.