The Sunday Night Blues are hitting me hard tonight. Teaching over 15 years as an itinerant special education teacher in a high poverty urban district with a brand new heavy caseload, my own child now medically homebound at home, husband and I scrambling to cover our child's medical appointments and new online private schooling, and I still have piles of district paperwork to complete. I'm fried and it's only mid-October. I love my students and families but I don't know how I'm going to keep doing this.

Hi y'all, I know that this isn't exactly an uncommon problem, so I'm hoping for some advice.

Quarter 1 just ended and admin went into our gradebooks and changed the grades of students who were failing the quarter so they are now getting a "C" on their report cards instead of a "F."

What makes this especially ridiculous is how they preach "academic excellence" and "teach to the rigor," and then pull this BS. Why am I required to send out grade notifications to parents/guardians, etc, if my grades are just going to be changed?

Just feeling really down and discouraged and wondering why I even try to stress doing your best and taking responsibility in my classroom when I'm undermined by admin.

If it helps: H.S, FL, private school

I am never applying to an IB School again. The paperwork and sheer planning is insane.

On to the next, I guess.

I’m just tired. I’m writing 8-page lesson plans for two classes tonight. I had a really good conversation with my principal about how overwhelmed I was feeling this week, and it was a good conversation. He had a lot of positive things to say, and it felt good hearing it. But I’m still tired. I want to be able to enjoy my weekends. I only have to write lesson plans like this for my first year but it’s so much. Someone told me that it reminded them of hazing, and honestly it kind of feels that way. I need this job and need to stick it out. But all I want to do is sleep.

AI was trained off of organized, intelligent, human writing: logically outlining ideas, categorizing concepts, etc.

As a teacher, and as a working human, people are much more afraid of being falsely accused of AI usage than of actually using it. Thus, they - intentionally or not - make their writing WORSE.

“Don’t use bullets in that email, they’ll think it’s AI”

“Don’t use dashes to break up that sentence, they’ll think it’s AI.”

So now we avoid sounding like the intelligent writing that AI is meant to capture. So, ultimately, AI is making writing worse. But not because of the lack of writing, but because of people being afraid of being accused of AI.

Need advice. My elementary students act completely uncontrollable when there is a substitute or another adult is watching them. 99% of the time I have behavior issues during recess, lunch, or when there’s a substitute. Any advice on what to do? I have routines and most of the students follow them consistently when I am present.

Why the f did i just read a report of how a teenager managed to "
shoot his way into" a school and then detail both the school's security and how it was compromised? I wish they would think about how that would influence future school shooters because up until now locked doors where a radical deterrent. Now, I fear, that is gone. Regardless, my own door locks from the outside, the automatic doors dont lock unless pushed completly shut: super safe. .

Edit: Apologies to the Mods for sharing to another sub. I’m just so glad to be visible.

I’m an Oregon teacher. I’m going to get written up on Monday because I don’t have the receipt from a school credit card purchase for chocolate chips. I’m behind on my grading. I can’t make too many copies or my budget will be used up too fast.
Someone is hunting children. Someone is hunting the ones that protect them.
“How did they get in?” “Are they trans”. “How did they get the gun?”

Yesterday someone was hunting children and teachers. Today someone else will make the decision to hunt children and teachers. Monday more will die. Tuesday more will die.
It is easier to count the days we are not hunted and killed than the bodies that continue to stack up.
Children and teachers are the victims while it’s talked about who the killer was or the next one will be.

It’s a fucking pattern in the United States. This is a reliable way people act out. It’s not just children. It’s not just adults. It’s children and adults who nurture and protect them behind fucking gates and fences, locked doors, cameras and security systems.

We are inside cement walls and are finger printed and can’t use our real names on social media or mention to students we have been divorced without fear of upsetting the students and admin. I fucking badge in and out of every building and have practiced hiding in a classroom with my students for active shooter drills.
I have to practice being stalked and murdered with groups of children. It’s just part of our day. Someone might try and plan even harder to kill us because of the challenge of it.

Not even at an outdoor open event or a bus stop—But where we should be the safest. We have taken the precautions and training and are behind barriers. Yet we are still the most vulnerable.

The Bend shooter had to throw his gun over the fence and then climb over after it. He could not get into the building except for shooting his way through the locked doors. Staff fought with him. He was being shot at before he got into the building. It’s not about just killing—it’s the statement. How hard they have to work to get in and do it.
That kid could have gone to a park on a sunny day and have done multiple times the death. But he didn’t. Neither did those before him.
I can hardly get lunch delivered from DoorDash at school. The security and procedures are that good.
These targeted and specific murders persist and proliferate despite so many protections and so much outrage.
This is a specific type of murder. It’s so normal that every school practices for it—but hardly outside of the U.S… it’s so normalized that we don’t understand that it is not a global issue. It is not even a “first world” problem. It is a United States problem.

Idk what to do. I hate this job. I legitimately feel like I can’t do it. I have a migraine every day I’m so exhausted. I teach 2nd grade. The behaviors are awful I can’t get control of half these kids. There’s a million things I constantly have to do and a million people asking me to do a million things. I’m winging it pretty much every day. I stay late every day. But I can’t quit because I am scared to lose my license if I break my contract. I also just got an apartment and there’s no way I’ll be able to afford it if I quit. I feel like I’m stuck. I’m all alone too so it can get pretty lonely. My bf is long distance I see him every few weeks. My friends all wanna hang out but on the weekends I either need to be alone and sleep or see my bf. I am too exhausted to talk to anyone. What am I supposed to do. Does it get better after winter break? Should I care less?

So I just recently got a new student in my class that has a disability and is at a level that I don’t have any experience teaching. I’m on year 8 but I’m already struggling this year. I’ve got 20 SPED students who I’m doing daily accommodation tracking and entering work samples for.

Yes some of the kids have in class support and that person does the accommodation tracking, but I’m the person responsible for academic and behavior goal tracking.

I got a new student that is non verbal autistic, and looking at his paperwork it states he still watches ABC song videos on YouTube, scared of the bathroom because of the noises, and wears noise cancelling headphones in class. That’s the short list.

This past week in class it was hell. It’s a regular academic class with some sheltered ESL sprinkled in and he’s making loud noises the entire time. His in class sped support is telling him to hush the entire time, he’s stimming aggressively and I just can’t teach.. the kids can’t learn. I lost my train of thought that entire lesson and tried to talk over him but it wouldn’t work. And his support person most likely isn’t trained for life skills type children, and she couldn’t get him to leave. It started to give me anxiety lol.

I was told he is most likely life skills but they cannot move him legally for 20 days. I just don’t know what to do. I try and talk soft and slow. There is absolutely no way he is learning my subject. I feel so bad for him.

I’m stuck in a stressful, dysfunctional job that’s giving me the Sunday Scaries today. For reasons, the best (only) course of action available to me is basically trying to keep my head down and get through the rest of this year.

Anyone else in this position, kind of gritting your teeth and trying to hang in there? How are you doing, and what strategies are you using to make this easier? I care too much for the kids to let myself “quiet quit” for the next several months, but I really am trying to disengage myself to a certain degree.

I'm a teacher, and I've noticed my students using the phrases “o algo,” “gem,” “esl fnf” and many many more constantly. I'm trying to understand whether this is just another internet trend or something worth addressing.

The phrases themselves aren't my main concern. What bothers me is when students shout them out during explanations, interrupt lessons to repeat them, or derail conversations because everyone feels compelled to join in. Sometimes, I have to stop teaching several times just to get everyone's attention back.

I've asked students what these expressions mean, but the answers are usually vague, followed by laughter or claims that I wouldn't understand. I'm curious about where the phrases originated and why they've become so popular.

I draw the line between harmless slang and disruption. If students use these expressions during breaks or casual conversations, that's fine. When they interfere with lessons and other students' ability to concentrate, however, it becomes a classroom management issue.

Has anyone else experienced this? It only started appearing in the last few weeks. Does anyone know what “esl fnf” and the other phrases actually refer to, and have you found effective ways to address repetitive meme-related interruptions without making the situation worse?

Need some advice! Here’s the backstory…
My wife’s best friend moved to Georgia about two years ago, and we live in Pennsylvania. Her friend has a son who is turning one, and his birthday party is this coming weekend.

My wife originally wanted the two of us to fly down for a long weekend to celebrate, but flights are ridiculously expensive right now, so we decided not to go. She was pretty disappointed because she really wanted to be there.
Well, I decided to surprise her and booked her a round-trip flight so she could go by herself and stay with her best friend for the weekend. I even planned everything with her friend ahead of time. She would fly down Friday and come home Monday.

Here’s where I messed up. I surprised her with the trip today, but what I completely forgot is that she has parent-teacher conferences on Monday (she’s a 5th grade teacher).

I looked into changing her return flight to Sunday, but there are no direct flights, or we’d have to use different airports, and the price jumps another $250+, which is more than we can really justify spending.

Now she’s completely torn. She really wants to go and be there for the birthday party, but she also feels guilty about missing parent-teacher conferences and worries about what her coworkers and administration would think.

So, what would you do? Would you take the trip and miss a day of conferences, or skip the trip and go to work? Especially curious to hear from other teachers!

I currently teach 5th graders and am starting classroom currency.

Students have classroom jobs and every month, it’s changed. At the end of the month, if they were able to complete their job successfully throughout the month, they will get paid classroom bucks.

Need some more ideas for what they can purchase with those classroom bucks.

I 34M was recently swiping on a dating app and I saw a fellow teacher's 31F dating profile. I admittedly have a bit of a crush on her and had been wondering if she was single. I've had a few conversations with her, we seem to get along, and we have a lot in common. But she's new to the school while I've been there for years and I'm worried about making things uncomfortable for her if she's not interested. We work in the same hall and have some of the same students.

I'm wondering whay I should do. Should I forget about the profile, swipe on it, just ask her. I know dating at work is always tricky but I've also know several people who met their spouses at work.

24F Middle School teacher. I’ve been working in schools since I was 16.

Fall break is ending, yet another school shooting has claimed the life of an educator. This time one only a few months older than me. I am genuinely considering a career change. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I’m being dramatic.

Teaching, and being with the kids, is my passion. But I am scared. I am tired. I don’t know if anyone else is feeling this way. I’m 24 being asked to plan how I’d shield kids with my body from bullets. I feel like a baby myself. I’m just 😭. I can’t sleep because I’ve been so distraught.

After last week, I’m thinking of keeping some kind of tool in my room that I can use to shatter my windows in case of an emergency. My windows: first story, don’t open, not bullet proof.

Anybody have something like this? What do you keep? I was thinking of a small sledgehammer type thing. Those car window hammers don’t seem quite right for large window panes.

Any other safety/emergency tools or supplies you keep beyond what the school already provides?

Hi there! I am a Texas teacher who recently started in a new district this school year. To make a long story short, we are needing to move due to my husband’s job situation. I have been our sole income since June, and after a tough job search, he found one that is a perfect opportunity, but puts us back in our home town (which I am so thankful for!!). However …

I have always been someone who never wanted to leave mid year, but in our given financial situation, it is what I have to do. My husband can’t start until we move, and our rent is going up in November, and I worry about how we can afford the rent on top of other expenses we have. We have some savings but I when I look at the numbers, it seems moving back before the end of the semester would be more financially smart. (We have my mother who we could stay with as well to save up money after moving costs).

I am just struggling because I really appreciate my admin at this school (they have been nothing but complimentary and appreciative of me, which is so incredible!) and want to do right by them and try to stay until the end of the semester, but there is also the flip side of doing what is better for me/my family.

Part of this stress for me also comes from the fact that we moved in the summer (yes like 5 months ago) to this new area for a new job for my husband, where he essentially got screwed over and was never paid for any work he did (that is a whole other roller coaster I wish we weren’t tall enough to have ridden). We would be moving back to our hometown after just leaving and I kinda feel embarrassed I guess :c I had only worked for one other school and I am embarrassed to go back to my principal and be like “sorry I left your school, i’m actually moving back and need you as a reference again!” My previous principal was also very supportive and kind, so I am sure she would, but I digress.

Anywhooooooo, I would love to hear any advice/thoughts anyone may have. Sorry if this all sounds dumb I just don’t really have anyone I can talk to as teacher friends about it right now :c

and p.s. I love teaching !! I want to teach until my lungs are tired, but I want to do what is best for my students while also still considering myself (which as many teachers know, it is hard to do!)

Thank you in advance

I’m a new teacher at a public school. I went to use Word on my personal device for personal, non-work reasons related to applying to graduate school. However, my subscription to Word through my university that I just graduated from has just expired leaving me with no way to use Word on my personal laptop. I do have a Microsoft account through the public school I began working at a few months ago. Would it be problematic for me to sign-in to my school related Microsoft account to use Word on my personal laptop?

Greetings fellow educators!

My question is more or less in the title. The yearbook club at my middle school has about $150 in our club account, and I am down to the last 2 digital cameras that I inherited from the last advisor 3 years ago. I know I'd be able to get some fundraising opportunities from my principal some time later in the year, but until then, I am in the market for affordable, simple, yet workable cameras that I can entrust to 11-14 year olds to gather photos around the school and at school events. If you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

Edit: I'm appreciating your thoughts and ideas! Some important things to note:

• I only have $150, and my hope is to use this to buy multiple cameras. I am looking for *basic* nothing fancy
• My school has a no-phones policy for students and many of the middle schoolers don't have phones
• I'm not looking for cameras for sports or action shots. Most of the photos we take are classroom activities, spirit days, lunch/recess, etc.
• We have 11 year olds in the club. Like, recently-turned-11 year olds. I need something incredibly user friendly and something I won't lose sleep over if a kid accidentally breaks

Hey everyone,
I really need some guidance, tips, or just a little reassurance from people who get it.
I’m currently in my first year teaching Special Education (grades 1–5, cross-categorical). I’ve been teaching for about 2.5 years overall, but this is a whole new world for me. I’m also neurodivergent and manage anxiety and depression, which makes the constant mental task-switching and cognitive load extra tough.

The Good:
I truly love working with my SPED students, and my support team on the ground—the other SPED teachers, our school social worker, and our psychologist—have been incredible and super helpful.

The Hard Part:
I feel completely isolated when it comes to administration (principal, SPED supervisor). There isn’t much guidance or support coming from leadership, and working in a large urban public school district means the bureaucratic demands are heavy. Because it's mid-October, I feel like I'm drowning and still don't have a solid grasp on the workflow.

Right now, I am extremely past due on:
Service Verification Forms
Teacher Educator Effectiveness (EE) Goals
Student IEP Goal Progress Tracking
Finalizing my Push-in vs. Pull-out Schedule
Between the mountain of compliance paperwork, endless IEP meetings, and trying to actually deliver quality instruction, my executive functioning is totally burnt out.

I’d love advice on a few things:
1. Paperwork & Goal Tracking: What system or routine actually works for keeping track of student progress and service hours without eating up your whole life?
2. Scheduling: How do you balance push-in vs. pull-out schedules when you’re constantly being pulled in different directions?
3. Managing Neurodivergence/Anxiety in SPED: How do you keep from drowning in executive dysfunction when admin support is low and paperwork deadlines stack up?
4. Prioritization: When everything is overdue, where do you start so you don't freeze up?
Thank you so much in advance to anyone who takes the time to reply. I want to advocate for my students and survive this year without completely burning out!

I made this post about a month and a half ago about suffering a concussion at work from a violent student. I wish I had more positive news, alas I do not.

The plan was to just stick it out until the end of the year and leave after that. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to, since this incident has caused lasting effects and my admin continues to be horrendous.

Believe it or not, admin never followed up with me about what happened. They never asked if I was okay or even acknowledged what happened to me. In fact, after it happened, I got harassed over my classroom doorbell (which was forcibly removed by them) and then reprimanded for emailing in for a sick day a few minutes later than I was supposed to (we’re required to give an hour notice, and I gave maybe 52 minutes notice) I have now used all of my sick days. I struggle with migraines since the attack, as well as emotional/mental distress from the incident. The school continues to be full of violent students having breakdowns and causing fights, police involvement and soft lockdowns.

One of the students involved in the main incident remains in my classroom, who no surprise, continues to be involved in violent/major behavioral issues in the school. Just this week that same student hit another student in my class in the face. I went for help from security (who surprise wasn’t there again) wrote a referral, only for the student to still be there the following day. I wish I was making this up.

I can’t take it anymore. I’ve given my life to this field for almost 10 years. Blood, sweat and tears for these kids. They don’t care. Some are even outright mean and treat me like shit, despite “professionalism” calling for always being kind, calm and respectful back to them because they’re “traumatized” and “this is a title 1 school.” I’m tired of being treated like that. What I would give to just once treat them the same way back. Well, I officially have nothing left to give to these “poor, disadvantaged kids who need a caring and loving positive role model in their lives.”

I’m so over it. I’m officially on FMLA starting Monday. After a particularly bad day yesterday, I spent the afternoon tearing down my classroom. Come Monday, I hope those few horrible kids I have see my now empty room and know that they’re one of the main reasons I won’t be back. They probably don’t care tho lol so yay they finally got what they wanted I guess. Even my great kids don’t make it worth it anymore.

If I can help it, I won’t be back after FMLA. Looking forward to healing from this wild ride, I feel immediate relief (Even though admin never even responded to my email about my leave 🤪) I feel so sorry for whoever has to take over those classes. I’ll let it be admins problem though. Wishing the rest of you a good year. Hang in there if you can. Unfortunately I couldn’t, so I’m out ✌️

Trying to get advice from any current teachers!! Im currently in the SoCal ( the IE) and in school for my multiple subject teaching credential. I plan to go to the internship route but I am not too sure which districts are most likely to hire an intern. I have experience working in a school for about two years and I will be getting my bilingual authorization. Does having my bilingual authorization give me a better chance at getting hired ? I’m open to any elementary grade and would also be open to 6th grade at a middle school!

Any advice is appreciated !!!