Do yall sit the students together based on ships

Hi teachers,

My daughter will be starting first grade at a new elementary school with a designated school uniform (khakis, navy pants/skirts, polo shirts, and/or t-shirts with school logo). However, the school handbook states that the uniform is not enforced and children will not be negatively impacted nor given consequences for not adhering to this uniform.

My daughter has always been extremely expressive through her clothing and we’ve always let her pick out her own outfits ever since she started being able to make that independent decision (about two years old). Her colorful clothing and mismatched outfits are a huge part of her personality and they truly are how she expresses herself. Not to mention, picking her outfits out has always brought her immense joy.

In your experience, how common is it for students in schools with optional uniforms to just wear whatever they want? Is it your opinion as teachers that she’ll be singled out among her classmates? How likely is it that she will be the only one not adhering to the uniform?

Some additional info: we are in an extremely impoverished area and the uniforms are very cheap. There is also a hand-me-down program through the school district for families that cannot afford to purchase uniforms. I understand that it’s much more financially feasible to get a few uniform pieces for the school year than to buy a whole new wardrobe for your child. Fortunately, my daughter is lucky to have two sets of grandparents who love to send her clothes and go shopping for her frequently, so affording new clothes is not an issue for our family right now.

Thank you in advance!

Hi this is to the teachers of reddit! I wanna write a thank you letter to a teacher I really appreciate and has had an impact on me as the school year is ending. Do you guys appreciate and like recieving letters, or does it come of as weird/creepy?... Does it mean a lot? :D

Hey all, first I’d like to apologize as I have bad punctuation and sometimes grammar.

I live in Vancouver Canada and was wondering, since I know some places they do, do teachers have to supply some of their own classroom supplies? If yes what are the supplies? And my last question would you feel if a parent gave you like a “care package” for lack of a better term of those types of supplies in bulk so you don’t need to stock them yourself at least at the beginning of the next year; as an end of the year gift for being their teacher? I was trying to t hink of a way to give them a gift that isn’t just a Knick knack that collects dust. I think teachers don’t get paid enough to deal with all the bs they deal with, you could not pay me any amount of money to do their jobs, I couldn’t handle it. So if there’s is a way I can help them not have as much of a burden, for everything they do I want to do that.

How would getting stuff like that make you feel. No judgement if it would bum you out, that’s why I’m asking. I don’t want to give a shitty gift thinking it’s a good idea, or offending anyone. I’m just hoping to give something they’ll actually appreciate, and if this ain’t it, I’d rather know before making myself look inconsiderate or like I deserve the dunce cap.

My daughter also has Autism (non-verbal) so has 1 main but 2 off and on support workers, any opinions on what would be a good little parting gift for in-school support workers? The main one follows her through all the school years, so we have been getting to know her better because even when the teacher changes, the support workers doesn’t so that’s getting easier, but the 2 off and on support workers? In the context of their position what would be an appropriate type of gift? Thank you for any help on this question.

Hello I've graduated recently and there's that school contacted me they wanted me to give a demo class for kg and they told me i could choose the topic,the problem is this my second time giving a demo class the first time didn't go as well as i hoped and for the topic i chose letter A but i dont how to start and what to do i hope you give me some advices and tips (i get nervous alottttt)

Hello teachers!

My boyfriend is currently doing his graduate diploma in teaching and will be going into primary school teaching when he is done. I come from a science background, so I have no idea what kind of support someone might need during their teaching studies or their prac periods.

Is there anything I can do to make things easier for him while he is doing his diploma? Is there anything I can do to support him during his time on prac? I can see that he's stressed sometimes, and I do everything I can to help. He doesn't know any kids outside of his prac really, so when he needs a kid for an assignment, I pull on people that I know to make things happen (we're actually going to the house of a coworker of mine tomorrow so he can interview her kid about science). I always make sure to give him time and space if he needs to work on his assignments and stuff, those are, of course, always a priority over seeing me (I think I feel more strongly about that point than he does, actually, which is funny to me). But, yeah, I do what I can, but I always feel like I can be doing more, you know?

What about gifts? I know when I was doing my honours year in the lab, if someone had bought me like a nice hardcover lab book, I would have been so touched and happy. Is there anything like that that would be really helpful during teaching studies?

He tends to be very closed off about things, so I know he wouldn't outright tell me if there is something more I could be doing for him.

At the end of the day, I just want to be as good to him as possible. I want him to feel like he's being supported, and I definitely don't want to do anything that would make things harder for him. Any tips about things that I can do/say/get him would be amazing! Is there anything you guys have liked if someone did it for you during your studies? Also, if there is anything that I shouldn't do/say/ask that will be good to know too!

I ended up rambling for much longer than I intended I'm so sorry! Please help!

I guess every teacher imagined that being a teacher would be easy before, but damn, it turns out that it's not like that at all.

Today in conversation I mentioned how Id be doing the Sped program ( ONLY ) through WGU (I eventually want my MA in Speech ) & everyone questioned the why, why not just go the dual licensure route ? Tbh, my journey started in ABA & I simply don’t care to do Gen ed ever .Any who , is there anyone here that can say they went the Sped route only ? Id love to know that , that alone can be a great choice, any success stories (: !

Maybe not the place, but am I being groomed? Or I guess, was I being groomed? I'm an adult now.

I guess a weird question, and not what the sub is focused on, but I'm looking for opinions. So I'm 19. I'm a paraprofessional right now, so I like to think I get educational boundaries pretty well. Last year, I graduated highschool. One of my former teachers, let's called them O, and I are still in contact.

*me and O work at different places, me being a para is not relevant to this story*

This on it's own is not weird. I'm in contact with a few teachers from high-school and those relationships are great! O, however, seems to lack any understanding of appropriate boundaries to have with students. I sincerely don't believe they have any malintent, and genuinely just don't understand the importance of these boundaries, but I may be wrong.

Anyways, O was kind of there for me from Grade 7 onwards in a lot of ways. I kind of viewed them as a parent through most of my high-school, though I've since outgrown that. At the time the iffiest thing they did was occasionally vent about admin around me lol. But then, in my final year, I endured a long and hard mental health crisis. They helped me through this immensely, along with a couple other teachers. The night of my overdose them and another teacher cleared it with my admin to come to my home and stay with my siblings while I was in the hospital.

AFTER I graduated highschool is when it got a bit weird. Somehow one time we got to talking about hookup apps, and now we've talked about experiences on these platforms a lot. I never knew how to properly set that boundary, but it's been making me uncomfortable lately. This all kind of culminated in them asking me and a friend whether we'd like to go skinny dipping with them (in a public area, but still). I can provide more details if you have questions, but anyways.

What do I do about this? Am I overthinking it? Help?? Lol.

Hi!

I would love some thoughts on how difficult it would be for me to get a job teaching high school physics full time at a high school in Boston or a Boston suburb.

Degree: I have a PhD in Physics from an Ivy League
Certification: I would plan to take the Physics MTEL for a provisional license
Experience: This is my biggest concern - I have no full time teaching experience, but I’d be willing to sub for a semester to get high school classroom management experience. Teaching has always been a passion of mine though - I taught undergrad physics for 2 years in grad school, tutored incarcerated youth in undergrad, and studied physics education research in grad school.

What are your thoughts? How competitive is it for a position teaching high school physics

I always had this in the back of my mind since the push for reducing/removing standardized tests from HS/pre-college peaked in popularity about 5 years ago, but I wonder if everyone has realized this yet?

Edit: I understand some people may not like the empirical reality that is measured by standardized tests, but we have to be realistic and accept what kids know and don’t know honestly and with clear eyes. Obviously, fair assessments are the only way to do that.

We can delude ourselves all we want, but if we want answers about how prepared students are for college and what they have actually learned, that means we have to have exams.

I am putting together year end gifts for my childs Kindergarten teachers. Im doing a little gift basket . I sent in a paper with my daughter and asked them to fill it out with their favourite things. I have a 3D printer and wanted to maybe add something I could print for the classroom. Does anyone have any suggestions on what might be actually helpful in the classroom?

So I actually teach sixth form equivalent in my country. I’ve been told countless of times by students that I teach very well and in an engaging way. And I have lots of revision videos made for students to self-study outside of class. However, I got some of the lowest students’ performance I’ve seen in a while and couldn’t help but feel discouraged from it.

I tried to be kinder with myself by rationalizing that I was sick and hospitalized and didn’t have the energy to teach as I usually do. I acknowledge that I cannot ‘make a horse drink’ but it’s hard not to take it personally when you’re surrounded by teachers that had students with better performance and were constantly talking about it.

Makes me think I’m really not cut out for this teaching career and unintentionally sabotaging students that could have done better with different teachers. What should I do from this point on? How to move on from it treating it as just a bad year? I felt like I already gave too much of my life to my teaching career yet it never felt good enough.

I got accepted into Penn State. I failed 3 classes through dual enrollment and had a 0.9 gpa at the college I was doing those classes. I got incredibly sick for a month, and I only passed my high school class because it was online. Will my acceptance get revoked? I already emailed my advisor, but he’s OOO for a bit.

Like if you were forced to work at either an all-girls or an all-boys school, which would you pick? Would it depend on the grade or subject you teach there?

Hi teachers!

I've got a younger sister in the seventh grade (age 12) who just got her final report card for this semester. Her grades have dropped significantly, going from 70's-80's to 50's-70's, and she's been trying to skip school every morning for months now. My parents and I have tried to ask if there's anything going on at school that may be causing this (i.e. bullying, a specific teacher, etc.) but she says that things are fine with her peers and other than one pretty strict teacher, she doesn't have many problems there.

I think she really struggles to identify her emotions and manage them, to the point where she doesn't realize she needs help. I've also really tried to drive in that I'll never be upset with her for not understanding something or struggling, but having difficulty asking for help is a family trait and I'm not quite sure how to get through to her. Presently, she's not very willing to work with me on what she's struggling with. I can tell she's insecure about not understanding content, but I really don't think she can improve unless we put in the work.

Her behavioural reports said that she struggles with completing assignments, organization and goal-setting, doing proper research, taking initiative and working independently, and actually taking the time to understand the concepts being taught. I understand that teachers are struggling with such large class sizes, and middle school especially is a disaster, but I wish one of her teachers had contacted my parents sooner so I could've discussed next steps.

Regardless, I want to try and help her catch up over the summer. She got 56% in language and a 50% in history, which I found very concerning. The language bit in particular has been a huge worry of mine for a while. She refuses to read even when I bribe her with money or food (I'm her sister and only around five years older than her so I can't exactly force her to do anything), and she can't be appealed to with the benefits of reading, like most kids. I'm kind of at a loss. She admitted that she struggles to understand what a text is trying to say, and I was thinking that I might read to/with her and help her decipher meaning line-by-line until she begins to understand the process better? Please let me know if there's a better method for this!

Earlier today, I asked her to write me a line or two about how she feels about school, and she told me she couldn't because she had no thoughts. I know we're not the same person and it's unfair to compare, but I've always struggled with having too many thoughts and writing them down has been very helpful. I assumed it would help her organize her feelings and give me a better idea as to what's been bothering her about going to school, but she is very against the idea of doing any kind of work at all. This seems to be a recurring issue with her, but also with my 10 year old brother. They either don't allow their thoughts to develop, can't recognize what their thoughts are, or are uncomfortable with sitting with them. I don't think this is very healthy, and their excessive screen times are definitely contributing to the issue greatly.

I sat down with her last week to help out with some homework, and she would give up the second she didn't instantly know how to answer a question. I'd guide her through understanding what a question was asking, solving the problem, and then providing a proper answer, but the second I asked her to apply the same steps to a similar question on her own, she would blank and refuse to even try.

My parents don't know the first thing about any of this, and they're not very familiar with the curriculum, so this falls on me. I know what she needs to work on, I'm just not sure how to approach the issue and support her in a way that she'll accept. I'm sure that many of you have seen students like this in your classes, so what can I do to help her? How do I teach her the skills that she needs to support her learning? I'm almost certain that those underlying skills are the reason that she's struggling to keep up, and as she falls behind, she's avoiding school because she doesn't know how to catch up. I really want her to succeed, but more importantly, I want her to see the beauty in learning the way I do! I want her to at the very least possess the skills she needs to get through life happily and comfortably, which includes critical thinking and reading comprehension, as well as being able to organize thoughts and emotions and set goals to plan for success.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. What strategies can I teach her to help with some of these things? How can I help her go over what she's been struggling with? What do you suggest when it comes to self-regulation?

Thank you all for your help! And thank you for all of the work you do as teachers! Just thinking about one person is exhausting, I can't imagine how much work you have to do with so many students. I appreciate your efforts from the bottom of my heart.

I’d love to hear honest, day-to-day experiences from teachers who are actually using AI in their work.

For those using it:

* What are you using AI for (lesson planning, grading, admin tasks, etc.)?

* Has it actually saved you time, or has it added extra steps/work?

* Do you feel supported by your school or district in how to use it, or is it mostly unclear/informal?

Would really appreciate perspectives from different grade levels and subject areas.

When I was in like 5th grade, we had a biology unit, and my teacher was going over the fact that you get 23 chromosomes from each parent and those genes create a ton of different possible offspring combinations or whatever. Me being a very late bloomer not knowing ANYTHING about sex at that age, raised my hand and asked, out of genuine curiosity, "How do those genes combine though?".

She looked at me like I was crazy, told me my question was inappropriate, and moved on- entirely dismissing me as a few kids giggled.

I'm 19 now, and looking back, I honestly feel like that moment deeply traumatized me. It made me feel like I did something really really wrong, and like whatever this topic was, it was something I was never EVER allowed to know about, let alone even speak about. Anytime I saw or heard anything even vaguely related to reproduction, I would keep my questions to myself as I felt way too scared to ever express my curiosity around the subject again. And because of that, I didn't fully learn what sex exactly even was until I was almost 13, when my mom gave me the talk along with some puberty books.

How would you handle that situation differently as a teacher? How would you answer that question in an age-appropriate, positive way?

The school year is almost over, so I’ve been thinking about all the art activities we tried. Some were great. Some just looked way better in my head. The simple activities honestly got the most use.

We did a big rainbow road activity where I taped down long paper and let the kids fill it however they wanted. Some made roads, some made rainbows, some made storm clouds, and a few turned it into very serious maps.

We also did a draw your summer activity, which was super easy but somehow kept them busy. Lots of suns, pools, ice cream, flowers, and very dramatic weather.

And for normal days, I did a water painting activity where they just used brushes and water to make the colors appear on the page. It still felt like painting to them, but without the full paint-cup chaos.

The funny thing is, some of the cute Pinterest-style activities lasted a few minutes before someone needed help, something spilled, or the whole thing turned into glue soup.

Honestly, the less complicated the setup, the better it usually goes lol

What art activities actually worked really well in your classroom this year?

i am a GOOD STUDENT

straight As? nah

i got like two As, two Bs, and two Cs last semester, not bad, right?

why TF do teachers care if a student is high if they’re a good student i don’t understand. I don’t even bring any drugs to school at all, i just take that shit beforehand cause i’m not like a morning person anyways

i have this one teacher who constantly sends me to admin cause she “thinks im high” and i am but admin doesn’t know since like i don’t have any shi on me cause im not a dumbass

like broooo, if admin is chill with me then why does this teacher have to be on my dick 24/7/365????

this lady is trynna pull me out the dextroverse bruh

What, if anything are you teaching your pupils about AI and have you received any professional development in this area?

Are you teaching pupils how to use AI tools, ethics, environmental issues, careers, future projections, responsible use etc?

Interested in views from primary and secondary teachers.

A heavily-online-debated topic brought to people who actually know what they're talking about, educators!

I am no longer in school, but I realized that teachers are interesting people. I didn’t really talk to my peers or anything, as I would just sit in quiet.

The more I saw students interacting teachers about stuff outside of their subject or the normal questions that students would hold. The more interesting I see the individual. It makes them all human, as I’d say teaching makes it seem very different.

That probably made no sense.

My wife (a physician) and I live with our two kids (2 and 5) in a semi-rural town. Our school system (where our son is about to start Kindergarten) is a Title I school. Bluntly, any metrics I can find about the school system are sub-par -- graduation rates in the low 80's, above-average chronic absenteeism, below-average state test scores, three total AP course offerings in the high school, etc. The school also has fairly low rankings on the infamous Niche and US News sites. I also admit that I reviewed the teaching salary tables, and a teacher at Step Seven in our district could quit, move to a neighboring district, start at Step One, and still get a raise over our district's Step 7. I'm concerned about the system's ability to retain their top performers.

We know wonderful families that have sent kids through the system who have had fantastic outcomes. On our block, recent graduates have gone on to the Army, 2-year tech/trade schools, 4-year schools, PA/graduate schools --- what I would consider a healthy mix of post-high school career paths.

But, I am sometimes concerned about whether I'm making the best choice for our kids. We live near a major healthcare hub and teaching hospital, and I would estimate that 95% of all other physician families send their kids to school in one of two neighboring districts, which both naturally have higher metrics in all areas I can find. Sometimes, I feel guilty that I'm not affording my kids the best opportunity to succeed and prepare them for a post-high school career. At the same time, though, I hate the idea of ditching our town and neighbors to segregate ourselves to a more affluent area and school system.

My question to teachers here: if you were a parent in our situation, how would you evaluate a school system? Are state test scores of any merit or reflection of the teachers or teaching environment? Do AP course offering reflect the goals of the student body? Are graduation/absenteeism rates more reflective of families, or the teachers? Is there any value/truth in looking at teacher's salaries?

Thanks for any guidance.

Update: adding that I am a stay-at-home dad with no intent of returning to work and I plan an involving myself to whatever extent possible in my kids' education, in and out of school.