r/teaching

Zero interviews and scarce listings. I wasn't teaching in 2008, but I can't see how it is any better than it was then.

I keep hearing: Just wait until May. Just wait until June. Just wait until July. Well just sub. Just move 500 miles away. Get a different endorsement.

Then the narrative changes from "There's a huge teacher shortage nationwide" to "There's a shortage in SPED math middle school teachers in rural areas."

Fucc this. Take your lower middle class salary and Chromebooks and shove them straight up your ass.

Hello all,

I attended college for acting/directing with teaching certifications. I was on track-to begin my classroom observation while in college however, a week before the semester started I was told I wouldn't be able to begin because I hadn't finished my core classes.

I really wanted to finish In four(which seems abit silly now) so I dropped my cert, and figured I would get my alt or emergency cert.

Post Grad i've worked at a coperate AVL company as an installerwhich has been an alright gig but I would much perfer being working as teacher more specifically a theatre teacher.

The alt/emergency cert process seems complicated i'm considering using I teach, while applying for positions. Should I wait till I get an offer to start on my alt cert? would I be able to transfer my Education credits to certain courses? Looking for any sage advice on this matter.

edit:
Trying to teach In Texas forgot to include

I've been teaching K - 3 at a couple different after-school programs and learning centers for a bit of time now but I still get at least a little nervous every single time I have a first day with a new class 😅😭

The funny bit is I used to feel this way as a student too, first day nerves were always a thing for me!! Apparently reversing the roles and becoming the teacher didn't change that at all somehow lol

I'm a generally pretty anxious person 😬 so it's definitely more my nature than anything to do with the teaching itself and I do get over it pretty quickly once the class actually starts and I get into the flow of things. It's always mostly some pre class jitters/nervousness that get me.

How do y'all handle this (if you even feel it)? Is there something you do or a mindset you adopt to show up on a first day with full confidence + zero anxiety, or is this something that never fully goes away for some people

We have been using AI Tools to audit student work. I'm seeing a lot of false positives when it comes to work being flagged as AI-related. For example, one student's paper was marked at an 85% AI level on various applications, but that student's essay matched their style accurately. Based on the experiences of other users and their feedback, the accuracy of AI detection tools has varied widely. As such, I'm unsure how to proceed when faced with a situation where an AI detection tool has flagged what I feel is original work. I have seen Getsolved mentioned, but what has other's experience been?

There’s a lot of talk online about AI reducing teacher workload, but I’m not sure how much of that is actually happening in real classrooms.
Teaching already seems packed with planning, grading, admin, meetings, and communication.
So I’m wonderimg from people actually doing the job, has AI made any part of your workload easier? Or has it mostly just changed how you do certain tasks without really reducing the amount of work?

Got a job offer from KIPP Schools in Colorado. Looks scary, but pay looks good. Need advice. Thanks in advance!

hi! i posted in this subreddit not too long ago asking about teaching art and got lots of good feedback. thank you to everyone who helped me on that post. i’m extremely indecisive with my major right now. i’m in community college about to start my last semester and im majoring in 1-6 grade education in a program that sets me up to get my bachelors at one of the local four year colleges. i don’t know if i want to teach art or not but i had this idea of keeping my major but having an art history minor. would that allow me to have the option to be an art teacher? i wanted to add that the four year colleges has a k-12 art education program. im not sure if i want to switch to that because i still want the option to teach 1-6 grade. i’m in nyc for reference. i appreciate any help!

What books are kids enjoying at the moments? I'm going to a cheap book sale tomorrow, and I want to get books kids will actually like and I'm feeling out of touch. Are they still enjoying books about dragons?

First year as teacher of record (Middle School SDC)

This fall will be my first year as the teacher of record in a middle school Special Day Class (grades 6-8), although I spent last year working in this same classroom as a long-term substitute. So I know the students, the school, and the routines fairly well, but this year the responsibility is officially mine.

I’m spending the summer finishing prerequisite classes, reorganizing the SDC room, reading IEPs, planning schedules, creating classroom procedures, and trying to build systems that will make the year run smoothly.

I have two paraprofessionals, and a 3rd who is a 1-1. All are wonderful to work with (thank god). I had a string of sub paras last year that were abysmal, so my frame of reference is good.

I’ll carry some of my stuff over from last year, but I was working in an inherited classroom design, so I’m open to any ideas or suggestions.

My question is:

Looking back, what is something you wish you had set up before Day 1 that made a huge difference later in the year?

It could be:

* classroom organization

* routines

* behavior systems

* paperwork

* parent communication

* working with paraprofessionals

* technology

* things that saved you hours later

* or mistakes you wish you’d avoided.

I’m less interested in “have a seating chart” and more interested in those things you didn’t realize mattered until October or November.

If you could go back and give your August self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Thank you.

TL;DR: Should I push for a SEN student to be withdrawn from a couple of lessons for targeted 1:1 support, or accept my Pastoral Leader’s view that they should remain in lessons despite struggling?

Hi everyone. Hopefully this doesn’t go against guidelines - I’ve tried to make it as vague as possible while preserving important context.

I’m a Teaching Assistant in a mainstream secondary school in the UK, supporting several students with SEND, including one I’ve worked closely with for the past couple of years.

The student has identified learning needs and is awaiting further assessment for additional needs. They’re working significantly below age-related expectations academically and benefit from extra support, but they’re often reluctant to accept help because they don’t want to stand out from their peers. I try to keep any support as discreet as possible. From my perspective, the classroom environment itself is one of the biggest barriers, with anxiety around being seen as struggling seeming to have a major impact. On the few occasions we’ve worked 1:1 outside the classroom, they’ve demonstrated abilities that aren’t usually evident during lessons.

Our working relationship can be inconsistent. At times they engage well with me and accept support, at other times they refuse help altogether. I’ve found that pushing harder rarely helps, and instead I have to give them space until they’re ready to work with me again.

Over the past year, they’ve become increasingly disengaged from learning. They often avoid lessons, spend time out of class, and reject support from both teachers and support staff. Although they’re not usually disruptive, they can become argumentative if they feel pressured or challenged. My impression is that much of this behaviour stems from feeling overwhelmed and trying to regain a sense of control, rather than simply not wanting to engage.

Recently, the student was struggling to complete an important piece of work in a key subject despite several lessons being allocated to it. At the time they weren’t accepting my support, so I deliberately avoided pushing because I felt it would be counterproductive.

A few days later, our relationship improved, and I asked whether they’d like to come out of a non-core lesson to continue the work in a quieter environment. They agreed, and during that session they made more progress than they had across several classroom lessons with only minimal prompting. We also had a valuable conversation about how difficult they find school and how that affects their engagement. I felt that this one session achieved far more than remaining in a lesson they were unlikely to participate in.

However, my Pastoral Leader wasn’t happy that I’d withdrawn the student from a lesson without prior approval and asked me to seek permission in future. Other TAs don’t need permission to take SEN students out for 1:1 support when they feel it is appropriate, but I agreed to do so.

The following day I asked whether I could withdraw the student from the remaining lessons in that same subject this year (only two or three lessons in total). My intention was to either help them catch up on missed learning in core subjects or begin a structured emotional literacy programme that I’ve recently been trained to deliver and have SENDCo approval to use with this student. I felt this would be a better use of the time than insisting they attend lessons in a subject they consistently struggle to engage with and won’t be continuing next year.

The answer was a firm no. The Pastoral Leader felt that consistency and attending timetabled lessons was more important, and that lessons shouldn’t become optional.

I don’t know what to do.

Part of me wants to raise the issue with the SENDCo or another senior member of staff because I genuinely believe targeted intervention would be more beneficial than insisting the student attends lessons where previous experience suggests nothing will be achieved other than stressing the student out more.

The other part of me feels I should simply accept the decision. Perhaps consistency is the more important consideration, and perhaps this isn’t a battle worth fighting over just a couple of lessons. I’m conscious that I’m relatively new to education compared with the staff making these decisions. At the same time, I work with this student all day every day and feel I know them well, which makes it difficult when my instincts differ from those of my colleagues.

I realise I'm probably overthinking this, but that's just who I am. I don’t want to damage working relationships over two lessons, especially as we’ll likely be working together for some time. Equally, I don’t want to become someone who simply accepts decisions without respectfully advocating for a student when I genuinely believe there’s a better option. I don’t feel listened to or trusted by Pastoral.

Would you continue advocating for what you believe is in the student’s best interests, or accept the decision and move on?

Thanks for reading - any advice is hugely appreciated ❤️

I will be starting my first year teaching at a very small private school (AL) this fall. I got my masters degree in an unrelated field but will be getting certified. I am very excited, however I am on the younger side especially for this area (24), does anyone have any advice for young teachers/teaching in general??

TL;DR: I’m interested in pursuing degree advancement outside of education while still teaching k-12 full-time and would like to hear from people who have done so (if there are any out there).

I am a high school social studies teacher with a masters in education and have been teaching for a few years now. I like teaching, but recently I’ve felt like it’s not been giving me enough fulfillment. I’m not quite ready for a career change, but I’ve been playing around with the idea of going back to grad school.

From what I’ve seen so far, the easiest and most affordable thing would be to get another masters through WGU. Many teachers say they could manage their job and do it at their own pace. Based on my district’s pay schedule, I think it would take 3 years for the salary raise to pay off the tuition costs. (I know I will probably need to check with my district to confirm they will accept their degrees toward the MS + 30 stipend.)

However, a big part of me would rather get another academic/professional degree related to my content areas and not education. I’m open to almost anything: core social studies subjects, MBA, holocaust studies, etc. The obvious con would be in terms of the cost-benefit analysis my pay bump would be the exact same but at a higher cost. On the other hand, it could be useful if I wanted to make a career change. There’s also the possibility of teaching part-time community college with an academic masters, which could further supplement my full-time k-12 pay.

The biggest thing for me is I don’t want to take a sabbatical from teaching to get another degree (I need the money). So have any of y’all continued to teach full-time while pursuing an academic/professional degree outside of eduction? Was it manageable or the worst time of your life?

I’m currently going to school for a bachelors in political science, but for the past few years I’ve worked with kids during the summer (oldest 15 youngest 5, always in big groups no less than 15 children).

I love what I’m learning in school currently, and there’s different careers I can go into for it.

But I’ve realized that I love teaching my kids. There’s something special when you’re the person they go to with questions or concerns, when they want to tell you about their weekend or favorite food. When they put trust in you.

Even the more difficult kids I can’t help but care for. They get on my nerves, sure, but just like the rest, I love seeing the way their eyes light up when they understand what I’m teaching them.

And it’s like that for every kid I’ve had, the youngest to the oldest, the ones I’ve seen age out of where I work and the ones who are new.

But none of this means I’d be a good teacher. And kids deserve good teachers, no matter their age or personality, they deserve someone who will root for them.

And just because I know I can enjoy it, how do I know if I can truly make it? I’ve heard about the burnout, the low pay, the disrespect from students, parents and admin. When did you know that despite all of that, teaching was still for you? And how did you realize it was for you in the first place?

For those of you who’ve taught math, what are things someone should know going in?
I feel like math is a notoriously hated subject in school. I’m in the process of becoming a math teacher and I’m wondering about how it will really be like. I’ve heard in someways it’s easier because lesson planning and grading is straightforward. Are parents and admin difficult to deal with? Are you able to get students engaged and excited about the subject?

Aside from peer assessment how else can I ensure marking is done effectively. I teach English and wanted to create a timetable to help me mark books

I am a 2025 graduate with a degree in journalism. I was a nontraditional, older student who graduated at 34. For the past four years, I have been working for a magazine as the assistant editor, where I serve as the copy editor and contribute feature stories. This job is only 15 hours a week.

I am actively looking for a full-time job or a second part-time job. A private girls' high school posted a listing for a journalism instructor and specifically sought someone in the industry. They said, "Teaching experience preferred but not required."

I ticked all their boxes. I applied, interviewed, and was offered the job.

It pays $100 an hour and is only 2 hours per week: Tuesdays and Thursdays for 40 minutes in the morning. This is the only class, and there would be 5-7 students in the class. According to the principal, what they're really looking for is someone to oversee the weekly student newsletter, which involves interviews and the like. The entire school is only 40 students.

I would be getting $200 per week, and that's it. No benefits. I recognize that $100 an hour is a great rate, but it seems like a lot of work is required of me outside those 2 hours, and I will not be compensated for it. (My husband said to think of it as $25 per hour for 4 hours instead. I have no idea if this helps.)

My teaching experience:

• Oversaw a Girl Scout troop while in high school for much younger girls.

• Took an educator-related class at my university that involved lesson planning.

• I review theatre in my spare time, and sometimes grade kids' reviews when we do contests, opportunities, etc.

Before the school year begins, I obviously need to get certified as a mandated reporter, have a background check, etc. The school is not reimbursing me for this.

Is this par for the course? Am I being taken advantage of? What am I looking at here?

This is the only journalism-related job I have been able to land since graduating a year ago. (Very much regretting this degree, but it's too late now.)

I appreciate any advice or assistance. Thank you.

Hi There

A question for KS2 teachers here. There is a particular play on a website called scriptstostage that is aimed for KS2 and 3 children called “read all about it”. It’s a musical about world war 2.

In a local school, 8 and 9 year olds are being taught to perform it. Within the production is a song and within that song are lyrics such as:
“Heil Hitler, Sing it with pride”.

The students are not being taught about what heil Hitler means, that it is antisemitic (and banned in many countries), or the reasons why. The play is focused on the British impact of WW2 and not the horrors of Hitler himself (there is no role of Hitler in the play).

My questions here are:

1. As a teacher, does this feel appropriate to be doing with 8 year olds?
2. should the play be reported somehow to education authorities
3. How should teachers approach this situation?

This is a sensitive topic I realise but it’s good to get independent views on this. Maybe it is highly subjective, or maybe it’s more obvious.

Thank you!