r/TeacherTales

UPDATE: My contract says that I have to teach K-8 and I just got an email back from HR saying the stipend is specifically for band club. But it doesn't specify what the hours are/what type of band I need to coach to earn the stipend. The email with my question was forwarded to the assistant superintendent because I am just trying to figure out if everything the principal is saying is true or just him trying to bully me into working more hours. Until there is a resolution, I have told my principal I am open to meeting with him and the assistant principal in person to look over the proposed schedule and handbook rules I have created. I am trying to avoid doing it "his way" because frankly his way is preposterous and would not end well for anyone.

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I will not be sharing the name of my school for anonymity but I will share that it is a charter school.

My family just moved to this state (keeping it anonymous) from TX. It all happened very fast because my husband lost his job but then got a good opportunity here so we moved. I didnt have the chance to apply for my license by reciprocity with everything going on so I needed to get a job in a charter school.

When they interviewed me for the job, they mentioned they wanted a person with band experience because the principal at the middle high school (they are opening it for the first time this year with only 200 students 6th-8th grade) really wanted a band. I told them honestly it wouldn't be a good idea this year because a band takes lots of planning and it was almost the end of the summer. I asked if it would be a collaboration and if he would work with me and my advice and they said yes. I took the job because it was the only offer I could get.

Fast forward to now, here is what is happening.

I attempted to meet with the principal to give him my proposed handbook and plan for the program. I asked him if it was possible to rework the schedule and make band a class. He straight up said no, and that I would have to commit to multiple weekly rehearsals AFTER SCHOOL. For all the beginners. I told him we can do that but the program would not be ready to play at pep rallies or do multiple concerts. He said "they will be ready, just maybe not at a high level". I tried respectfully telling him I would not be doing that to the students and to my reputation, and that it could be acceptable to do a winter open house demonstration and one spring concert.

He cut me off, said he had a meeting, and walked away. Another co worker says she thinks it is because I am a young woman. (This principal is older and Turkish. Many of our admin are also of this demographic and a lot of the women that work under them have had similar issues. One of them is a woman and gay and she is quitting after this year because of all the veiled snark and hate she has gotten). The man refused to shake my hand or make eye contact with me which is unprofessional and rude.​​

He has been repeatedly using the existence of my stipend for this program to try and bully me into having rehearsal every day after school despite me also teaching K-5 music at the school next door and having a club of my own over there. He also tried to get me to open the band to 4th and 5th grade. I said no to both those things. I told him its ok if we don't start this year and we can build up the parent support and resources.

He has dug his heels in. He verbatim said "I dont care what it takes, youre getting a stipend and we are doing a band". So far we compromised on having an interest meeting where we will discuss the plan, cost of renting, etc. If we get enough parents, I have to do this. If we dont, I am afraid to see what he will do.

I have tried the following- getting his assistant to talk some sense into him and convince him to hear me out. I have also tried getting contacts from the area to corroborate my advice and plan with him. He has consistently steam rolled over everything I have said, to the point where I found a flyer on the bulletin board in the cafeteria saying I would be offering ALL INSTRUMENTS the first year and playing at MULTIPLE CONCERTS. This happened after I had already told him verbally and in writing we would only be offering flex arrangements and less expensive instruments to start.

This idea is my last resort. WIBTAH if I called up the superintendent and said "I dont want your stipend anymore, please amend my contract". Then I would go to the principal and say "I am not getting a stipend anymore, run it yourself"?

I need help with bluebonnet internalization! Anyone with resources to make it easier and faster pls! It’s my first time using it and it’s taking a whole of my time as a kindergarten teacher! I have a life too! I am going crazy! Thanks

I’m curious what teachers think about an idea I’ve been working on.

Imagine a website where a teacher can create an exam and send a link directly to students.

The exam could have multiple sections, for example:
MCQs

Written questions

Oral questions

Video/oral responses

Then AI would automatically evaluate the different types of answers and give the teacher insights about the students — such as common mistakes, weak topics, overall performance, and areas that need more attention.
The goal wouldn’t just be to save the teacher time on grading, but to give them a clearer picture of **how their students are actually performing**.
Would something like this genuinely make your life easier as a teacher?
And what part of this would you find most useful — or what would you completely change?

During dinner, my son casually mentioned that his high school teacher likes to curse in the classroom.
I get that he probably hears this kind of talk with his friends and may even use it himself. I’ve never heard him speak this way, nor do I speak this way in front of him. I’ve taught him from a young age that there are no bad words, only bad connotations. You can say something nice while cursing, and you can say something hurtful without cursing.
I worked construction for decades, I’ve heard/said it all. That said, I believe there’s a time and place for this kind of language and the classroom isn’t it.
I first considered emailing the principal anonymously, but then reconsidered because my intention isn’t to get the teacher in trouble. Instead, I drafted an email directly to the teacher expressing my disappointment with what I see as a lack of professionalism. I asked her to use better judgement in a classroom full of impressionable kids who look to adults for cues about what’s appropriate.
I asked my wife to proofread my email and she thinks I should just let it go. AIO for wanting to email the teacher about her language, or should I take my wife’s advice and leave it alone?

I am in middle school and there is a wellness teacher that exibits very toxic eating behavior.

Lets call him C. C is an overall wellness teacher for the school, he is roughly fifty, and a surprisingly popular teacher. He blantantly promotes anorexia and orthorexia. He puts a heavy emphasis on thinness and looks, not just health, tells us to COUNT CALORIES, tells us to eat low calorie food, calls many foods just straight poison (Ex. SUGAR), calls us fat, wants us to have a low BMI and overalll unhealthy eating habits. Many girls (Including me) have, are suptable, or recovering from eating disorders and his class as made the issue so much worse. There is one girl, she is 5'5 and 95 lbs, and said she wants to lose 10 pounds to be "Skinny" and C SUPPORTS IT. He also is extremely creepy and has predetory behavior to girls. He focuses alot on the girls and is doing so much harm to them, even if they are not fully aware. I need help on this situation.

edit: i have reported him but nothing has been done, im planning on speaking with the school board with my mother. Also i might post a bit more about the school itself cause it is insane

Is there anyway to get a kid changed from your class because you had a bad experience with him or her the year before? I mean without the admin thinking negatively about you?

I’ve been teaching in a large district my whole career except that 1 “teacher residency” year in a completely different district.

I chose my district with intention. That’s a big part of the culture here. Like choosing my district is tied to the core of who I am. Thats how “political” the issue is here for those who are engaged. This is an important detail.

So I agreed and dove in. Worked for a diabolical principal. Ate up the “in the name of equity” entree and “for the kids + social justice” side course.
Being told all along that I needed prove myself every step of the way by submitting my planned lesson down to each word I’d say and gaining approval by people more knowledgeable by me…

Now the autonomy of choosing my own words and strategies to teach the universal curriculum has decreased to the autonomy of choosing the color of my PowerPoint slide.

I no longer have to write my own script for every lesson word for word. Now I have to read someone else’s script.

I went to school and studied hard to learn how to best share my knowledge with my students in service of reducing the stains of racism and inequity. But now I’ve gone from the author of my own course, to child actor with an oppressive stage mom pocketing my earnings and Claude/AI is the script writer.

Is this happening everywhere? Are we all slowly losing our autonomy in our classrooms? Or do I just work in a district that’s extremely toxic?

I don’t know. It’s hard to tell when the elites have always chosen to strip the autonomy of others rather than slow their own profiteering.

Are there any teachers using AI for productivity in lesson planning and or grading? Have your experiences been positive or negative? I guess i’m just wondering what limitations other teachers are having when it comes to using AI for the planning and organizing side of teaching and if it’s actually effective.

There is a student at my school (we will call him V) who hates all male teachers. Mind you this student is also male. I had him 2 years ago and he would ditch my class and do no work.

We are now 2 years after that and he came to my ESports class. We are ending the first week of school.

V starts blasting music on his MacBook, so I take it for the class period. He repeats the action with his phone, so I request it.

"F*** off"

Me: "ok ill write you up"

V then left class after calling me a slur.

He returns 20 minutes later after being in the office, and starts screaming slurs at me when I say he can have his stuff in 5 minutes when class ends.

I hand it back to get him to leave, my remaining students thought it was crazy I was calm during it all. I didnt raise my voice once.

He is now out of the class.

Before I hear that he has a problem with just me, he does this with almost every male teacher (all the ones that make him do work)