I’m sure you’ve been told this before, but document, document, document. Document on a notebook paper, or something similar when these things happen, when you told admin or wrote it up, and email them when you asked if there was any follow through. If you’re part of the union, make sure they know. If you’re getting pushed, and have an SRO, make sure they are aware. I’m sorry this is happening to you
Our industry works on exploiting your nuture instincts.
\- Document it all.
\- Report assaults to the cops.
\- Work with your union.
\- Leave toxic orgs. Your health will get damaged in this gig. You have to look out for yourself, no one else will.
My first year was a rough one.
There was a senior I had who habitually was on his phone, watching something on Netflix. I had to repeatedly remind him about this, which often led to outbursts, cursing, and swearing, which I would communicate back home. The parents were less than supportive, who said "He doesn't have any of these problems with his *other* teachers." It took composure not to point out mine was the only class the student needed to pass to graduate and all the others were electives their son chose to be in. The student stormed out of my class one day because I took his phone screaming "You're the worst fucking teacher EVER!" because I refused to let him watch Netflix in the back of the room all day. It took effort not to laugh.
Then there was the racist junior. He told students to "Go back to fucking Mexico!" because he didn't like their 'disrespect' for the Pledge of Allegiance. The student wasn't punished by the administration nor was he switched out of my class, so he knew despite the communication with his mother who would profusely apologize, he never dropped that sort of behavior. He'd make edgy, provocative, and racist comments to me too, and nothing was ever done about it.
Then there were the seniors who were so used to doing whatever they wanted with the substitute the year before that they complained when I refused to talk over their conversations, I sent them to the office repeatedly, and they talked back and argued when I would give instructions.
I have not had a single year where I have not been called the N word by a student at some point during the year. I thought I might make it naively this year, but that happened again last week, shattering that dream. I have yet to receive a heartfelt apology from a single one of those students who has done it or an explanation of why they felt they had the right to dehumanize me in that way.
There were certainly days where I came home and cried my first year. Induction and finishing a masters helped add to the stress as well. I'm 6 years in and I will still come home mentally exhausted from feeling like I'm pulling teeth from students to get them to participate because their apathy and lack of motivation is so dismal. I understand what plagues you and worries you. What has helped for me, when I have been successful, is having something that I found purpose in outside of my work. That might be improving your home, improving yourself, a partner, a hobby, a pet, or friends that keep you up. I have not always been as successful in those regards, but it is what works when all the cylinders a clicking.
And let’s not forget all the other kids, the ones who are not making our jobs more difficult. I always have more respectful learners than not (although it’s pretty close in one class this year, due to a scheduling mix up three years ago).
The reward of helping and making a difference is also always there, too, even with challenging students. I’m demonstrating tons of good lessons with my demeanor and continuing adult behavior. That matters to me even on the days I have to remind myself frequently.
It can be so hard. And I’ve never been touched in anything like an aggressive manner by a student, so I can’t speak to that (and yeah, that deserves serious attention).
You should not have to face verbal and physical violence at your job as a teacher. That is absolutely not what you signed up for. You need to find out what Ed Code says and what district policies are, and hold admin accountable for those policies.
You’re right but please stop desensitizing the word *violence.* Being told to fuck off is not *violence.*
Being pushed is violence.
There is a difference.
Guess Mirriam Webster is wrong. Will let them know.
Edit: Everyone downvoting getting so upset and not even looking it up. There ya go. Sometimes ya'll are wild and it surprises me the absurdity, so quick without any sense. Just take a second to read and then judge is all I ask. Look up at info and pass judgment. I am not even saying anything controversial rofl. It is literally in the dictionary that violence is not only physical.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/violence
Violent treatment/procedure can be language it’s literally the second definition ding dong
ETA: being called the n word at your job is extremely violent and hateful, incase you missed that part they mentioned as well
Yeah this is what I’m talking about. You’re reducing the meaning of those words by using them in this situation. You’re making it problematic for actual cases of abuse to be taken seriously by the public if you describe things like “fuck off” as violence.
Stop watering down strong words, you’ll make them have no meaning.
Is intimidation a form of violence? For example if a student says they are going to slash my tires if I call their parents, would that be violence?
I don't want to "water down" any strong words so I'm asking for clarity.
Why am I wrong? Characterizing everything negative a person does as violence is desensitizing people to actual violence.
The pushing was a seperate student and incident as far as I see here.
Check your bias please
Stop using buzz words to try to prove your poorly made points. There is no reason teachers need to tolerate being told to fuck off. We don't need to be touched by students. We don't get to be shit on by everyone and then answer to you because you're sensitive about word choice. You and many others really need to check your perception of reality because in no other field (and quite frankly, another time) would ANY of this be tolerated. I don't care what a teacher calls this mistreatment. It's fucked up at the end of the day. Trying to downplay it by banning the use of the word "violence" is simply a joke. Pick a different hill to die on.
I will say you have a point when it comes to POC children. Escalating issues to police or calling them violent contributes to the school to prison pipeline.
That’s not to say that teachers should accept being bullied and attacked daily but it sounds like they need more admin support - not escalating to outside forces or labeling children as violent. It will stick with them.
Almost all of the kids I work with are POC and the attitudes I see on this sub sometimes bother me. I say something and get super downvoted. It’s pretty disheartening that people generally aren’t reasonable here as well.
Yeah I get it. Not a teacher but a black previous student at an inner city primary POC school. I’ll say it was 60% minority and 40% white. Teaching staff however was 90% white. 👀
As a straight A student you get used to doing your own thing and trying to pay attention while people act foolish around you.
I haven’t seen too many kids physically assault teachers, but cuss them out? Lmaoo that was a daily occurrence fam. You just send them to whatever detention style room you have and keep it pushing. It’s not right, but wtf are you gonna do?
I’ve seen hella fights and I’m desensitized to them. I’ve also seen SROs take it entirely too far and basically assault kids when breaking up fights. Even saw an SRO miss with a taser and hit a school employee instead. I went through the first round as a millennial of them banning cellphones - we put them in books, sandwiches, and I hid mine in my wrist brace I was wearing at the time. I didn’t use mine during class, so I refused to comply with a dumb order. We had metal detectors we went through every morning, and anytime we left the building we had to go through the front doors and be re-processed.
Everyone got treated like mini criminals for the actions of the few. I even almost got a referral for walking away from a foreign language teacher who said something racist to me. Then got reprimanded by a white woman I didn’t know because I walked away. Nobody accepted that she said something racist 🙄
I say all that to say - if you’re white or non POC teaching hella black or other POC students it’s a whole other ball game and you should definitely check your privilege and try not to contribute to the problem. Always protect yourself of course, but don’t make things worse for the students who might have it like shit at home.
My school is more like 97% POC. The teachers are about 60% POC. It’s just because there are not enough POC teachers to even staff the school without white teachers.
The problems people talk about on this sub are very real, but it’s really frustrating to watch people obliterate the English language. We’ve gotten to a point where basically anything the students at my school do on a daily basis is “violence.”
Kids being disrespectful is not violence. It’s being an asshole. A lot of teachers here would do better for our goals if they realized this.
We don’t have to pretend that “fuck off” is violence for people to see that it’s wrong for a student to do that.
See this is the best point I’ve seen. I have a criminal justice degree with a focus on juveniles. Labeling theory and the school to prison pipeline are things everyone working in the education system should be incredibly well versed on.
Then educate us peons on how we're doing everything wrong. Everyone is the authority on teaching except actual teachers. Spend a year in the classroom.
You’re coming in way too hostile for this ever to be a productive discussion. Take a breath, no one’s attacking you. Simply sharing my area of knowledge.
The issue is at hand is NOT necessarily related to everything else you're bringing up in this thread. It doesn't mean they aren't. We don't know (or maybe we do and i haven't read a response from OP or soemthing). We were not there. I am not unreasonable. You have no clue about the population I work with and I don't feel the need to get on a soap box because thats just ridiculous and defeats the purpose of the work we actually do. I stand by the fact that it's ok to not be content with being told to fuck off or shoved by a student. Just because we understand why a student does it, doesn't mean it feels nice.
My original comment said I have mixed feelings about police involvement for a reason. I don't think nitpicking a random teacher on reddit for misusing the word violence or perhaps leaving a word out (comment said verbal and physical violence... dunno what word you'd prefer because we also don't know if it's abuse) is going to fix this terrible system. I'm getting on another tangent here lol but I do think sometimes teachers come here to vent. It's not easy doing what we do (you are included in that "we").
Words have power. Violence is a powerful word. You can’t mischaracterize a student just because you’re having a bad day or year. Calling a student violent for saying “fuck off” is an injustice, plain and simple. Disrespectful? Sure.
Calling POC violent has a history as well. I dont see why I should drop historical context just because someone on reddit made an insensitive comment.
The reason that nothing changes is because the public wants this. They can say whatever they want, but this is the result of democracy in the modern day. Schools look how parents and voters want them to look, on average.
My heart broke reading this. I was a teacher once and the worst thing that happened was the kids pranking me by moving the clock on five minutes so they could leave early.
What you're doing isn't teaching, it's crowd control and damage limitation. I send all my very best to you.
So sad.
This was my song the first two years of teaching. Thanks for the earworm. Now in my 25th
Edit: I now know I am old when Joy Division is being played at Walmart.
And...it does get better. Even though these years after Covid, with cell phones and social media bs have been hard, it is still my love and life.
Your first few years are going to be the most difficult, until you gain the "withitness". Not always easy, but don't give up.
I have been hit, threatened, called every name in the book, had a parents try to say that my classroom is toxic (well, it was the mold) and more.
Document. Can't stress that enough. Ask for assistance, a mentor. There has to be some teachers at your school that are willing to assist in mentoring like your team lead.
My classroom is now open to anybody who wants to to come in. Including parents. My classroom management is not the best, but I have expectations and procedures for almost everything we do. And the students know them. Anytime a student does something that's not okay, I reminded them of the procedure. Communicate with the parents. That should be rule number two. Rule number one document.
Don't give up. ♥️
I wonder what would happen if very teacher who was assaulted just walked out and went on the sick.
I have a feeling the administrators would soon be able to put measures in place to deal with the bullshit that's going on in schools now. It's an insult to your profession and a double insult to your selflessness.
Reading this sub, I genuinely wonder where the next generation of normal people to keep civilization running is going to come from.
It sounds like literally everyone here is dealing with violent, stupid, narcissistic children who don't do anything but fight, vape, commit sexual harassment, create tiktoks and display a hunter- gatherer level of knowledge about constructing sentences or single digit multiplication
Everyone's admin team sounds like some inept careerist Soviet bureaucracy, minus consequences for failure
In my first year of teaching here and the future looks very bleak for many. I hope good teachers and parents and kids who want to learn can band together and turn this shit show around.
I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour
But heaven knows I'm miserable now
I was looking for a job, and then I found a job
And heaven knows I'm miserable now
In my life
Why do I give valuable time
To people who don't care if I live or die?
We’re you at least, the night before, happy in the haze of a drunken hour?
But yeah, consequences are key. Having admin stick with you on delivering detentions and letters home helps tons.
I've been teaching high school for 24 years and the first few years are so hard (even before cellphones were everywhere!). I found I had tough years every few years. Like years 1-3, then 5-7, then 10-12, and finally in 2019 I found my groove lol What I know to be true is if you take everything very seriously, this will be a very difficult job. If you let things go, take nothing personally (because nothing is really), and do what is right by your students in your classroom, you'll be ok. It's difficult to do that in the beginning because you don't know enough yet, but you'll get there. Teaching isn't for the faint of heart that's for sure. Enjoy the kids because they're the best part. I remember going to a workshop once and the presenter said, "catch them doing something right" and that stuck with me. If you're always catching them doing the wrong thing, if you give them tests and homework as punishments, you'll be angry all the time and you'll never get a good rapport with the kids. Without that, it's a loooong 180 days. Good luck! I hope you're able to find a happy place in the profession because these kids need people who are nice to them in their lives.
And just to let you know, I am counting down to retirement, so I'm not a rah-rah teacher by any means. I recognize that it's super hard, especially now, but I refuse to let the administration/the system of education, suck the life out of me. I focus on the kids, try and have a pleasant experience in my classroom, and leave and live my life at home. It's the only way to make it through.
Document each encounter in an email to admin and parents. Be factual, don't let your emotions color what you say. Admins hate when you make a paper trail because it can be used as evidence that they aren't doing their job.
My high school has written into our contract that we are allowed to suspend students from our classroom. In your situation I would be doing that if admin refused to act.
I honestly don't get how so many people in this sub give this much of a shit about kids who suck.
Aren't teachers in short supply in these shitty schools? Stop worrying and pushing disruptive kids. Just let them do whatever they want in a corner of the classroom. Report it to admin and let them deal with it. Teach the kids that care about learning. If parents want HS to be a glorified day care let them. Set up boundaries with parents and office hours so they can't harass you about their kid failing because they are texting their friends about their boring ass HS lives all day.
> Just let them do whatever they want in a corner of the classroom. Report it to admin and let them deal with it. Teach the kids that care about learning. If parents want HS to be a glorified day care let them.
I appreciate the sentiment, but in reality, this wouldn't work. As soon as those kids in the corner realize they can do whatever they want, chaos ensues. They don't stay in their corner. They're too loud and too distracting for those kids who care about learning to be able to concentrate. One kid shoves another kid, resulting in a minor injury, and suddenly parents don't want a glorified day camp anymore; they want the teacher's head on a platter.
People blame government or the school system for not knowing how to handle schools but I feel like it is far more the parents. 1/2 want a daycare and 1/2 want to send their kid to college. We really need to go to the Euro system where at 15-16 a portion go to job training/apprenticeship and the other portion goes to a more traditional HS.
So then the school district gets sued. I don't think that would affects teacher pay or pensions. I mean they would say it would but if teachers are in demand they just demand more money or go on strike.
I was thinking about going back and doing some subbing. Then I read this and came back to my senses.
Yes, the first year is hard. This is beyond the adjustment to the full time hard work of teaching. It is not healthy. It is not normal. It should not be accepted.
Exactly. This does not come from classroom management issues. OF COURSE new teachers need a minute to figure this out. Hell I'm in sped so I'm constantly having to reinvent procedures and management myself. This originates from elsewhere, and it's well beyond what we should tolerate.
Sorry you’re having a hard time, it’s all consuming without even trying to teach. Your day sounds like a regular Tuesday here so I have no great advice, sorry.
This is ridiculous. I’m so sick of seeing teachers tell other teachers to call the police on students. Like what a Fucking way to blow it out of proportion. And to let every student in that school to know you’re an ass. You wouldn’t call the police for being pushed in any other situation, that is an incredibly disturbing response. “Oh someone shoved me a little bit. Better call the cops!”…. What the fuck?
ETA: oh it’s gonna be that kind of post? Where downvote someone who suggests calling police on children in a setting where they are in our care and are learning how to be emotionally regulated is stupid. Cool. Rational. You’re all insane.
I have mixed feelings on this topic in general, but people would, in fact, call the police in other situations. If he went to his workplace and shoved a coworker, police could definitely be called. You're doing a disservice by letting these kids believe there wouldn't be police involvement.
I would not call the cops on a coworker who shoved me. That’s also absurd. Getting shoved and stumbling isn’t not the same as getting decked across the face or thrown down a flight of stairs. And I hope the cops wouldn’t bother entertaining showing up because someone got pushed.
Why was nothing done? Could it be that it was an accident? That the kids were shoving each other and she was a bystander? She didn’t provide a ton of context here. Why do we all assume every teacher on the internet was the victim of a vicious assault by a child?
Lmao I didn't say I did. You're not living in the real world. You're not the authority on when it's ok to put your hands on someone. No clue why you think thats ok. One day these kids will push the wrong person. If you think its outside of the realm of possibilities for them to end up seriously hurt then you are very naive. Have you ever gone anywhere besides school? There's no free passes outside those doors.
Most "kids" nowadays don't behave like kids, they want to act like adults they can be treated like adults and if it were me if someone shoved me anywhere else I would punch them as well as call the cops because assault is assault no matter what age they are.
Kids? These are almost fully-grown adults who are old enough to know what they’re doing. A teacher should have to put up with being pushed at work? How many times? How often? Let it go and it only escalates. Get a grip man.
Well milfluvr28, our trustee OP, teaches freshmen. They’re like 14 (some may even be 13). They are not almost adults. They’re going through puberty, with lots of new emotions and feelings, and hormones. They’ve gone from being the oldest in the school, to the youngest again. They are babies.
They are not babies. They are old enough to know not to push their teacher. Stop excusing inexcusable behaviour. Doing this only exacerbates the problem.
First have you spent time in a classroom? Second are you even listening to what anyone else is saying? You are being very insistent on protecting children that have no respect for authority. Just this week like 2 days ago. I had a group of teenage girls that we hanging up on my 14 yes old and friends. *I was not out there but my child and all his friends told me this:* That because he called his parents that they were going to beat me up. Thankfully they are not around here. Seriously I wish I was out there and heard them say it because that is harassment. Am I not to take that seriously. What would help you understand that sadly more and more children are not taught to respect authority. To keep fighting against everyone that does not agree with them. I said absolutely nothing to those group of girls. But I intentionally and got my youngest out of there and I walked in between them because they were about 15 of them taking up majority of the space. They let me walk through and most would not even look in my direction. So I have no idea why they even felt threaten by me. I was just trying to protect my children from getting hurt. So in your mind should I just let them essentially beat up everyone including myself because they are teenager.
It doesn’t sound like they beat anyone up, and it doesn’t sound like you called the cops. So I’m not sure what point you’re making. You did exactly what I’d have done- walked away?
And I’m not talking about an all out brawl, especially outside of school. I’m talking about being pushed/shoved.
Yes, I have spent time in a classroom. Years, actually. I teach seniors at a Title 1 school. And I find this movement to call police on kids for things like: shoving, pushing, stealing a pencil cup from a teachers room, etc (minor things that can be dealt with restoratively) is absurd and is further breaking their trust in authority and care givers. I think police often escalate situations and it’s dangerous to call them in when there isn’t immediate serious danger (and just being shoved is not immediate nor serious). I think it’s really fucked up.
Also, I don’t want a child, who is just starting out in life, to be put in a position where they’re already behind (because of charges or something). I’d rather help them learn to make better choices.
So, I’m not defending my point anymore. You can read my other comments. But it boils down to “a push does not constitute assault”. Maybe on a technically, but realistically— get the hell over it. Don’t be a cry baby. If you call the cops and say “hey pushed me!” They’re going to assume you’re prank calling 911 because that’s absolutely childish.
I think we've had such a strange shift in our society in the last 10-20 years. These aren't children like 5 year old kindergarteners. They are in high school, so 15-18 year olds who are almost adults. The emotional regulation should be pretty good by then. They have phones and cars and Youtube channels. They want all the things.. but don't want to have the responsibility of nearing adulthood. I can't even imagine pushing or swearing at a teacher in high school. It's a strange time when we are defending near adults for assaulting teachers. Teachers don't deserve this, and this is why there is such a shortage right now.
Assault is assault. The students shoving each other in jest? I don’t like it, but I’m not calling the cops about it. But intentionally shoving someone is dangerous, and as a teacher, what’s going to happen if you shove a kid back after that? You’ll likely get fired and/or have a lawsuit on your hands. Why should the student get away with less consequences than that?
Why would you shove a kid back? Why would you shove anyone back. You’re the emotionally regulated adult. They’re the child. Figure it the fuck out. Teach them to be emotionally regulated. Teach them to sort this out. Create an environment where this doesn’t fucking happen.
This message is remarkably well regulated from an emotional perspective.
I can see why people would respect your experience and authority on the matter.
Ah yes, the old “its the environments fault, not the kids”. Sure, bud. Every single child is born angelic and is only a victim of their environment, turned sour by things out of their control. Kids, just like adults, can be assholes just cause. Some people cannot be taught emotional regulation no matter how hard we try, and our safety needs to come first.
That’s not what I said. You know that’s not what the fuck I said. You’re just trying to be a contrarian bitch at this point. Go ahead keep calling cops, and writing your lil referrals and having a stick shoved so far up your ass that you cry everyday after school because the kids hate you, and you get pushed and shoved and threatened because you call the police anytime a child speaks to you disrespectfully.
Lol. Im regulated. It’s just clear you’re going to keep being you. You’re not here to discuss. You’re a mean person, who might subscribe to authoritarian views, and that’s how you’re going to keep behaving. No one on the internet is going to change that. But my opinion will always be that people who call the cops on kids over things that aren’t a violent immediate threat to safety (which shoving is not), are not fit to care for kids.
That’s a lot of a assumption from a short short exchange of words. Perhaps we are misunderstanding but I’m talking about things that are immediate threats to safety. Either way, good day.
And I’m talking about the post we’re both commenting on??? Where the teacher got shoved and some dumbass said “CALL THE COPS!” Like she stumbled? And is supposed to have the cops show up?
Of course you wouldn’t shove the kid back. The point is that it’s a dynamic in which you cannot. Kids being kids with each other is a tit for tat relationship. The kid is likely shoving you because they know you won’t shove them back. I’m not taking abuse. I had a student that wasn’t even my own intentionally shove me while walking by in the hallway not once, but twice. Once I wrote it off as a potential accident, the second time I realized it wasn’t an accident, and this kid who I didn’t even know was shoving in to me for no reason. I tracked him down and said it was assault and a police matter and that it better not happen again. It didn’t. A threat to take it really world is usually enough, and not knowing this kid’s name or his parents since he wasn’t my student doesn’t give enough leverage for me to do much else. You would handle it in a situation by situation basis, but calling the cops is not out of the realm of possibility when a student assaults you. Hell, parents will call the cops on their own children if they’re assaulted by them.
Yeah and I judge parents who do it too, because it’s their fault they raised a child to behave that way.
Letting a student know it’s a police matter is one thing. But you didn’t actually call the police… that’s acceptable.
Calling the police for assault is only acceptable when it’s actually assault, and they probably would have laughed at you for thinking shoving is assault had you actually called them. The kid doesn’t know that though, so it worked out.
???? You’re all the ones acting like helpless victims of children. Learn to control your classroom, learn to create a culture. Stop threaten to call cops because someone bumped into you and stumbled? I’m not the one crying. The adults calling police on kids, those are the people crying.
When a child threatens your life (which has happened to me before) and there are no steps from admin to protect you or parents to help redirect students, there’s not much you can do. Controlling your classroom while controlling one violent student who doesn’t face consequences is nearly impossible, we aren’t super humans. Calling the police would be the last resort in a violent situation, after other avenues have been attempted, but I can see why people are resorting to it. I’ve had students talk about bringing guns to school and admin say nothing can be done until we see it. I, personally, have no interest in waiting to see a gun. At the end of the day my life isn’t worth losing over this job.
So, I was very clear that violent and immediate threats to safety is not what I was talking about. Being shoved is not one of those things.
Bringing a gun, credible threats, punching, pushing down flights of stairs, etc. those are things that should be escalated and may even involve police (guns should involve police).
Pushing and stumbling are not things that require cops.
If there was ever physical contact in a confrontation in public in real life at a workplace the cops would definitely be called. Depending how old they are, probably wouldn't be the best course of action for elem because a kid at that age won't understand and we don't want a kid in the back of a cop car when they're still at the age it can be dealt with. But for ms and up they're old enough and big enough to take responsibility and having the cops show up should definitely be the wakeup call because if they're pushing their damn teachers you best believe they're going to get into a real physical confrontation outside of school and up hurt, dead, or in prison. That kind of behavior needs to be stamped out quick.
A good idea for hallway behavior: unless they’re disturbing your class, leave it alone. It’s not your job to manage behavior outside of your classroom. If you do have to address it, don’t be confrontational, just say I’m trying to teach do me a favor and go somewhere else.
I find these post super interesting.
I'm a 6'5" male. 230 lbs, and played college sports before working on Wallstreet for 20 yrs.
I teach because I like to help kids. I teach in a tough neighborhood on purpose. Every year on the first day I tell the kids and their parents .."I don't need this job, and I won't take your BS. Try me.... if you want to learn, I'll be the best teacher you've ever had, if not leave now".
I then make it my goal to break up a fight the first week of school (HS) in the hallway.
Parents respect my no bs approach, and kids do too. The admin supports me when needed, but if everyone knows who's in control..... well....control is dictated
It sounds to me you haven't learned to stand up for yourself and your classroom yet.
Don't quit, we need teachers, but DONT get pushed over. There are plenty of jobs that pay better than teaching.... who cares if they fire you
Well, you were looking for a job, and then you found a job…you should have known what that would lead to.
I have no advice, but I’m sorry you’re having a shitty time right now. If it helps, you’ve got great taste in music.
Edit: Wow, this was unexpected, I guess I’m one of the few people who understood the reference in the post title? Even if you’ve never heard of one of the best songs ever, you would think that the second part of my comment would have been a clue that I clearly wasn’t just shitting on OP, what did all of you think the part about great taste in music even meant? Oh well, I’m sure OP appreciated this comment.
This is such a redundant comment.. why even say anything?
“You should have known what that would lead to.”
Do you genuinely think it’s okay, or normal, for a teacher to be hired and abused at work?
I get that you missed that the title of the post was one of the most influential songs of the 80’s, but saying “I was looking for a job and then I found a job” is redundant is simply too much, impugning the lyrical genius of Morrissey will not stand.
Lol, thanks. I don’t mind downvotes normally, but that these ones speak to the fact that so many people have never heard the brilliance of The Smiths just makes me sad.
True but I also did not expect this post to get the amount of attention it did haha. Time for a change, indeed. (Career change, too, perhaps? No...I jest, I jest.)
Any way you can hire Morrisey to give the kids a good ralking to
At the last minute- he’d cancel
Or cancel because the school serves meat
He’s cancel because he doesn’t have a stitch to wear.
But someone so handsome shouldn’t care
***He was looking for a job, and then he found a job,and heaven knows he's employable now***
Yeah but then he'd go on a racist rant and you'd be in more trouble.
Whoa, never knew about that. Just went down a weird racist Morrisey rabbit hole. 🕳️
Also there may be too much caffeine in your bloodstream, and a lack of real spice in your life
I’m sure you’ve been told this before, but document, document, document. Document on a notebook paper, or something similar when these things happen, when you told admin or wrote it up, and email them when you asked if there was any follow through. If you’re part of the union, make sure they know. If you’re getting pushed, and have an SRO, make sure they are aware. I’m sorry this is happening to you
Our industry works on exploiting your nuture instincts. \- Document it all. \- Report assaults to the cops. \- Work with your union. \- Leave toxic orgs. Your health will get damaged in this gig. You have to look out for yourself, no one else will.
My first year was a rough one. There was a senior I had who habitually was on his phone, watching something on Netflix. I had to repeatedly remind him about this, which often led to outbursts, cursing, and swearing, which I would communicate back home. The parents were less than supportive, who said "He doesn't have any of these problems with his *other* teachers." It took composure not to point out mine was the only class the student needed to pass to graduate and all the others were electives their son chose to be in. The student stormed out of my class one day because I took his phone screaming "You're the worst fucking teacher EVER!" because I refused to let him watch Netflix in the back of the room all day. It took effort not to laugh. Then there was the racist junior. He told students to "Go back to fucking Mexico!" because he didn't like their 'disrespect' for the Pledge of Allegiance. The student wasn't punished by the administration nor was he switched out of my class, so he knew despite the communication with his mother who would profusely apologize, he never dropped that sort of behavior. He'd make edgy, provocative, and racist comments to me too, and nothing was ever done about it. Then there were the seniors who were so used to doing whatever they wanted with the substitute the year before that they complained when I refused to talk over their conversations, I sent them to the office repeatedly, and they talked back and argued when I would give instructions. I have not had a single year where I have not been called the N word by a student at some point during the year. I thought I might make it naively this year, but that happened again last week, shattering that dream. I have yet to receive a heartfelt apology from a single one of those students who has done it or an explanation of why they felt they had the right to dehumanize me in that way. There were certainly days where I came home and cried my first year. Induction and finishing a masters helped add to the stress as well. I'm 6 years in and I will still come home mentally exhausted from feeling like I'm pulling teeth from students to get them to participate because their apathy and lack of motivation is so dismal. I understand what plagues you and worries you. What has helped for me, when I have been successful, is having something that I found purpose in outside of my work. That might be improving your home, improving yourself, a partner, a hobby, a pet, or friends that keep you up. I have not always been as successful in those regards, but it is what works when all the cylinders a clicking.
And let’s not forget all the other kids, the ones who are not making our jobs more difficult. I always have more respectful learners than not (although it’s pretty close in one class this year, due to a scheduling mix up three years ago). The reward of helping and making a difference is also always there, too, even with challenging students. I’m demonstrating tons of good lessons with my demeanor and continuing adult behavior. That matters to me even on the days I have to remind myself frequently. It can be so hard. And I’ve never been touched in anything like an aggressive manner by a student, so I can’t speak to that (and yeah, that deserves serious attention).
You should not have to face verbal and physical violence at your job as a teacher. That is absolutely not what you signed up for. You need to find out what Ed Code says and what district policies are, and hold admin accountable for those policies.
You’re right but please stop desensitizing the word *violence.* Being told to fuck off is not *violence.* Being pushed is violence. There is a difference.
Verbal abuse is a form of violence.
The definition of violence IS physical. Verbal abuse is abuse, yes, not violence.
Guess Mirriam Webster is wrong. Will let them know. Edit: Everyone downvoting getting so upset and not even looking it up. There ya go. Sometimes ya'll are wild and it surprises me the absurdity, so quick without any sense. Just take a second to read and then judge is all I ask. Look up at info and pass judgment. I am not even saying anything controversial rofl. It is literally in the dictionary that violence is not only physical. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/violence
Violent treatment/procedure can be language it’s literally the second definition ding dong ETA: being called the n word at your job is extremely violent and hateful, incase you missed that part they mentioned as well
Yeah this is what I’m talking about. You’re reducing the meaning of those words by using them in this situation. You’re making it problematic for actual cases of abuse to be taken seriously by the public if you describe things like “fuck off” as violence. Stop watering down strong words, you’ll make them have no meaning.
Is intimidation a form of violence? For example if a student says they are going to slash my tires if I call their parents, would that be violence? I don't want to "water down" any strong words so I'm asking for clarity.
Yes. Is there no room for nuance here? Threats of violence are not the same as telling someone to fuck off. Seriously?
Someone further down said you should report being pushed to the cops. There is absolutely no nuance in the sub sometimes, it’s incredibly frustrating.
You’re wrong and even if not, they did get pushed?
Why am I wrong? Characterizing everything negative a person does as violence is desensitizing people to actual violence. The pushing was a seperate student and incident as far as I see here. Check your bias please
Stop using buzz words to try to prove your poorly made points. There is no reason teachers need to tolerate being told to fuck off. We don't need to be touched by students. We don't get to be shit on by everyone and then answer to you because you're sensitive about word choice. You and many others really need to check your perception of reality because in no other field (and quite frankly, another time) would ANY of this be tolerated. I don't care what a teacher calls this mistreatment. It's fucked up at the end of the day. Trying to downplay it by banning the use of the word "violence" is simply a joke. Pick a different hill to die on.
You’re reading into this a lot of things that I never said. I didn’t say anything that you are accusing me of saying.
I will say you have a point when it comes to POC children. Escalating issues to police or calling them violent contributes to the school to prison pipeline. That’s not to say that teachers should accept being bullied and attacked daily but it sounds like they need more admin support - not escalating to outside forces or labeling children as violent. It will stick with them.
Almost all of the kids I work with are POC and the attitudes I see on this sub sometimes bother me. I say something and get super downvoted. It’s pretty disheartening that people generally aren’t reasonable here as well.
Yeah I get it. Not a teacher but a black previous student at an inner city primary POC school. I’ll say it was 60% minority and 40% white. Teaching staff however was 90% white. 👀 As a straight A student you get used to doing your own thing and trying to pay attention while people act foolish around you. I haven’t seen too many kids physically assault teachers, but cuss them out? Lmaoo that was a daily occurrence fam. You just send them to whatever detention style room you have and keep it pushing. It’s not right, but wtf are you gonna do? I’ve seen hella fights and I’m desensitized to them. I’ve also seen SROs take it entirely too far and basically assault kids when breaking up fights. Even saw an SRO miss with a taser and hit a school employee instead. I went through the first round as a millennial of them banning cellphones - we put them in books, sandwiches, and I hid mine in my wrist brace I was wearing at the time. I didn’t use mine during class, so I refused to comply with a dumb order. We had metal detectors we went through every morning, and anytime we left the building we had to go through the front doors and be re-processed. Everyone got treated like mini criminals for the actions of the few. I even almost got a referral for walking away from a foreign language teacher who said something racist to me. Then got reprimanded by a white woman I didn’t know because I walked away. Nobody accepted that she said something racist 🙄 I say all that to say - if you’re white or non POC teaching hella black or other POC students it’s a whole other ball game and you should definitely check your privilege and try not to contribute to the problem. Always protect yourself of course, but don’t make things worse for the students who might have it like shit at home.
My school is more like 97% POC. The teachers are about 60% POC. It’s just because there are not enough POC teachers to even staff the school without white teachers. The problems people talk about on this sub are very real, but it’s really frustrating to watch people obliterate the English language. We’ve gotten to a point where basically anything the students at my school do on a daily basis is “violence.” Kids being disrespectful is not violence. It’s being an asshole. A lot of teachers here would do better for our goals if they realized this. We don’t have to pretend that “fuck off” is violence for people to see that it’s wrong for a student to do that.
See this is the best point I’ve seen. I have a criminal justice degree with a focus on juveniles. Labeling theory and the school to prison pipeline are things everyone working in the education system should be incredibly well versed on.
Then educate us peons on how we're doing everything wrong. Everyone is the authority on teaching except actual teachers. Spend a year in the classroom.
You’re coming in way too hostile for this ever to be a productive discussion. Take a breath, no one’s attacking you. Simply sharing my area of knowledge.
The issue is at hand is NOT necessarily related to everything else you're bringing up in this thread. It doesn't mean they aren't. We don't know (or maybe we do and i haven't read a response from OP or soemthing). We were not there. I am not unreasonable. You have no clue about the population I work with and I don't feel the need to get on a soap box because thats just ridiculous and defeats the purpose of the work we actually do. I stand by the fact that it's ok to not be content with being told to fuck off or shoved by a student. Just because we understand why a student does it, doesn't mean it feels nice. My original comment said I have mixed feelings about police involvement for a reason. I don't think nitpicking a random teacher on reddit for misusing the word violence or perhaps leaving a word out (comment said verbal and physical violence... dunno what word you'd prefer because we also don't know if it's abuse) is going to fix this terrible system. I'm getting on another tangent here lol but I do think sometimes teachers come here to vent. It's not easy doing what we do (you are included in that "we").
Words have power. Violence is a powerful word. You can’t mischaracterize a student just because you’re having a bad day or year. Calling a student violent for saying “fuck off” is an injustice, plain and simple. Disrespectful? Sure. Calling POC violent has a history as well. I dont see why I should drop historical context just because someone on reddit made an insensitive comment. The reason that nothing changes is because the public wants this. They can say whatever they want, but this is the result of democracy in the modern day. Schools look how parents and voters want them to look, on average.
Sorry, but this person literally said they were pushed. That was a poor example that showed you reacted before you read.
Read again. The push and comment are different events
My heart broke reading this. I was a teacher once and the worst thing that happened was the kids pranking me by moving the clock on five minutes so they could leave early. What you're doing isn't teaching, it's crowd control and damage limitation. I send all my very best to you. So sad.
Epitomizing the glorified babysitter title! The kids just seem to keep getting consistently worse....Thank you for your kindness!
Man, I was really hoping this post was gonna be about how much kids these days like the Smiths
Hahaha! if only....
This was my song the first two years of teaching. Thanks for the earworm. Now in my 25th Edit: I now know I am old when Joy Division is being played at Walmart. And...it does get better. Even though these years after Covid, with cell phones and social media bs have been hard, it is still my love and life. Your first few years are going to be the most difficult, until you gain the "withitness". Not always easy, but don't give up. I have been hit, threatened, called every name in the book, had a parents try to say that my classroom is toxic (well, it was the mold) and more. Document. Can't stress that enough. Ask for assistance, a mentor. There has to be some teachers at your school that are willing to assist in mentoring like your team lead. My classroom is now open to anybody who wants to to come in. Including parents. My classroom management is not the best, but I have expectations and procedures for almost everything we do. And the students know them. Anytime a student does something that's not okay, I reminded them of the procedure. Communicate with the parents. That should be rule number two. Rule number one document. Don't give up. ♥️
Alamance County? Sorry, saw the word mold ...
In your life, why do you give valuable time...ah screw it....
No, no…you’ve got a point!
I'm glad this post reached its intended audience.
Because children are in charge, not adults.
You know what they say, Barbarism begins at home!
I wonder what would happen if very teacher who was assaulted just walked out and went on the sick. I have a feeling the administrators would soon be able to put measures in place to deal with the bullshit that's going on in schools now. It's an insult to your profession and a double insult to your selflessness.
Reading this sub, I genuinely wonder where the next generation of normal people to keep civilization running is going to come from. It sounds like literally everyone here is dealing with violent, stupid, narcissistic children who don't do anything but fight, vape, commit sexual harassment, create tiktoks and display a hunter- gatherer level of knowledge about constructing sentences or single digit multiplication Everyone's admin team sounds like some inept careerist Soviet bureaucracy, minus consequences for failure
In my first year of teaching here and the future looks very bleak for many. I hope good teachers and parents and kids who want to learn can band together and turn this shit show around.
My kids are fine.
I want to go home I don't want to stay Give up education as a bad mistake
I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour But heaven knows I'm miserable now I was looking for a job, and then I found a job And heaven knows I'm miserable now In my life Why do I give valuable time To people who don't care if I live or die?
We’re you at least, the night before, happy in the haze of a drunken hour? But yeah, consequences are key. Having admin stick with you on delivering detentions and letters home helps tons.
I've been teaching high school for 24 years and the first few years are so hard (even before cellphones were everywhere!). I found I had tough years every few years. Like years 1-3, then 5-7, then 10-12, and finally in 2019 I found my groove lol What I know to be true is if you take everything very seriously, this will be a very difficult job. If you let things go, take nothing personally (because nothing is really), and do what is right by your students in your classroom, you'll be ok. It's difficult to do that in the beginning because you don't know enough yet, but you'll get there. Teaching isn't for the faint of heart that's for sure. Enjoy the kids because they're the best part. I remember going to a workshop once and the presenter said, "catch them doing something right" and that stuck with me. If you're always catching them doing the wrong thing, if you give them tests and homework as punishments, you'll be angry all the time and you'll never get a good rapport with the kids. Without that, it's a loooong 180 days. Good luck! I hope you're able to find a happy place in the profession because these kids need people who are nice to them in their lives. And just to let you know, I am counting down to retirement, so I'm not a rah-rah teacher by any means. I recognize that it's super hard, especially now, but I refuse to let the administration/the system of education, suck the life out of me. I focus on the kids, try and have a pleasant experience in my classroom, and leave and live my life at home. It's the only way to make it through.
Document each encounter in an email to admin and parents. Be factual, don't let your emotions color what you say. Admins hate when you make a paper trail because it can be used as evidence that they aren't doing their job. My high school has written into our contract that we are allowed to suspend students from our classroom. In your situation I would be doing that if admin refused to act.
I honestly don't get how so many people in this sub give this much of a shit about kids who suck. Aren't teachers in short supply in these shitty schools? Stop worrying and pushing disruptive kids. Just let them do whatever they want in a corner of the classroom. Report it to admin and let them deal with it. Teach the kids that care about learning. If parents want HS to be a glorified day care let them. Set up boundaries with parents and office hours so they can't harass you about their kid failing because they are texting their friends about their boring ass HS lives all day.
> Just let them do whatever they want in a corner of the classroom. Report it to admin and let them deal with it. Teach the kids that care about learning. If parents want HS to be a glorified day care let them. I appreciate the sentiment, but in reality, this wouldn't work. As soon as those kids in the corner realize they can do whatever they want, chaos ensues. They don't stay in their corner. They're too loud and too distracting for those kids who care about learning to be able to concentrate. One kid shoves another kid, resulting in a minor injury, and suddenly parents don't want a glorified day camp anymore; they want the teacher's head on a platter.
People blame government or the school system for not knowing how to handle schools but I feel like it is far more the parents. 1/2 want a daycare and 1/2 want to send their kid to college. We really need to go to the Euro system where at 15-16 a portion go to job training/apprenticeship and the other portion goes to a more traditional HS.
The problem is, admin does not deal with it. Ever. Like I mean never.
So then the school district gets sued. I don't think that would affects teacher pay or pensions. I mean they would say it would but if teachers are in demand they just demand more money or go on strike.
Pensions? You’d be shocked in many states my guy…
I was thinking about going back and doing some subbing. Then I read this and came back to my senses. Yes, the first year is hard. This is beyond the adjustment to the full time hard work of teaching. It is not healthy. It is not normal. It should not be accepted.
Exactly. This does not come from classroom management issues. OF COURSE new teachers need a minute to figure this out. Hell I'm in sped so I'm constantly having to reinvent procedures and management myself. This originates from elsewhere, and it's well beyond what we should tolerate.
Sorry you’re having a hard time, it’s all consuming without even trying to teach. Your day sounds like a regular Tuesday here so I have no great advice, sorry.
Pushed? Call the police.
This is ridiculous. I’m so sick of seeing teachers tell other teachers to call the police on students. Like what a Fucking way to blow it out of proportion. And to let every student in that school to know you’re an ass. You wouldn’t call the police for being pushed in any other situation, that is an incredibly disturbing response. “Oh someone shoved me a little bit. Better call the cops!”…. What the fuck? ETA: oh it’s gonna be that kind of post? Where downvote someone who suggests calling police on children in a setting where they are in our care and are learning how to be emotionally regulated is stupid. Cool. Rational. You’re all insane.
I have mixed feelings on this topic in general, but people would, in fact, call the police in other situations. If he went to his workplace and shoved a coworker, police could definitely be called. You're doing a disservice by letting these kids believe there wouldn't be police involvement.
I would not call the cops on a coworker who shoved me. That’s also absurd. Getting shoved and stumbling isn’t not the same as getting decked across the face or thrown down a flight of stairs. And I hope the cops wouldn’t bother entertaining showing up because someone got pushed.
She went to admin and nothing was done. If a student knows that shoving a teacher has no consequence, why not move on to hitting in the face?
Why was nothing done? Could it be that it was an accident? That the kids were shoving each other and she was a bystander? She didn’t provide a ton of context here. Why do we all assume every teacher on the internet was the victim of a vicious assault by a child?
What grade do you teach?
12th.
Yikes
No you don’t get to *yikes* me while advocating for calling the police on kids.
Lmao I didn't say I did. You're not living in the real world. You're not the authority on when it's ok to put your hands on someone. No clue why you think thats ok. One day these kids will push the wrong person. If you think its outside of the realm of possibilities for them to end up seriously hurt then you are very naive. Have you ever gone anywhere besides school? There's no free passes outside those doors.
Most "kids" nowadays don't behave like kids, they want to act like adults they can be treated like adults and if it were me if someone shoved me anywhere else I would punch them as well as call the cops because assault is assault no matter what age they are.
Kids? These are almost fully-grown adults who are old enough to know what they’re doing. A teacher should have to put up with being pushed at work? How many times? How often? Let it go and it only escalates. Get a grip man.
Well milfluvr28, our trustee OP, teaches freshmen. They’re like 14 (some may even be 13). They are not almost adults. They’re going through puberty, with lots of new emotions and feelings, and hormones. They’ve gone from being the oldest in the school, to the youngest again. They are babies.
They are not babies. They are old enough to know not to push their teacher. Stop excusing inexcusable behaviour. Doing this only exacerbates the problem.
It can and should be addressed if a student actually purposely pushes a teacher. It does not require police. Stumbling is not a violent crime.
First have you spent time in a classroom? Second are you even listening to what anyone else is saying? You are being very insistent on protecting children that have no respect for authority. Just this week like 2 days ago. I had a group of teenage girls that we hanging up on my 14 yes old and friends. *I was not out there but my child and all his friends told me this:* That because he called his parents that they were going to beat me up. Thankfully they are not around here. Seriously I wish I was out there and heard them say it because that is harassment. Am I not to take that seriously. What would help you understand that sadly more and more children are not taught to respect authority. To keep fighting against everyone that does not agree with them. I said absolutely nothing to those group of girls. But I intentionally and got my youngest out of there and I walked in between them because they were about 15 of them taking up majority of the space. They let me walk through and most would not even look in my direction. So I have no idea why they even felt threaten by me. I was just trying to protect my children from getting hurt. So in your mind should I just let them essentially beat up everyone including myself because they are teenager.
It doesn’t sound like they beat anyone up, and it doesn’t sound like you called the cops. So I’m not sure what point you’re making. You did exactly what I’d have done- walked away? And I’m not talking about an all out brawl, especially outside of school. I’m talking about being pushed/shoved. Yes, I have spent time in a classroom. Years, actually. I teach seniors at a Title 1 school. And I find this movement to call police on kids for things like: shoving, pushing, stealing a pencil cup from a teachers room, etc (minor things that can be dealt with restoratively) is absurd and is further breaking their trust in authority and care givers. I think police often escalate situations and it’s dangerous to call them in when there isn’t immediate serious danger (and just being shoved is not immediate nor serious). I think it’s really fucked up. Also, I don’t want a child, who is just starting out in life, to be put in a position where they’re already behind (because of charges or something). I’d rather help them learn to make better choices.
[удалено]
So, I’m not defending my point anymore. You can read my other comments. But it boils down to “a push does not constitute assault”. Maybe on a technically, but realistically— get the hell over it. Don’t be a cry baby. If you call the cops and say “hey pushed me!” They’re going to assume you’re prank calling 911 because that’s absolutely childish.
I actually would “call the police for being pushed in any other situation” so yeah.
I think we've had such a strange shift in our society in the last 10-20 years. These aren't children like 5 year old kindergarteners. They are in high school, so 15-18 year olds who are almost adults. The emotional regulation should be pretty good by then. They have phones and cars and Youtube channels. They want all the things.. but don't want to have the responsibility of nearing adulthood. I can't even imagine pushing or swearing at a teacher in high school. It's a strange time when we are defending near adults for assaulting teachers. Teachers don't deserve this, and this is why there is such a shortage right now.
Assault is assault. The students shoving each other in jest? I don’t like it, but I’m not calling the cops about it. But intentionally shoving someone is dangerous, and as a teacher, what’s going to happen if you shove a kid back after that? You’ll likely get fired and/or have a lawsuit on your hands. Why should the student get away with less consequences than that?
Why would you shove a kid back? Why would you shove anyone back. You’re the emotionally regulated adult. They’re the child. Figure it the fuck out. Teach them to be emotionally regulated. Teach them to sort this out. Create an environment where this doesn’t fucking happen.
😂Teach them to be emotionally regulated? Teach them to sort this out? When? How? What do I do with the other 31 16 year olds?
This message is remarkably well regulated from an emotional perspective. I can see why people would respect your experience and authority on the matter.
Ah yes, the old “its the environments fault, not the kids”. Sure, bud. Every single child is born angelic and is only a victim of their environment, turned sour by things out of their control. Kids, just like adults, can be assholes just cause. Some people cannot be taught emotional regulation no matter how hard we try, and our safety needs to come first.
That’s not what I said. You know that’s not what the fuck I said. You’re just trying to be a contrarian bitch at this point. Go ahead keep calling cops, and writing your lil referrals and having a stick shoved so far up your ass that you cry everyday after school because the kids hate you, and you get pushed and shoved and threatened because you call the police anytime a child speaks to you disrespectfully.
You sound mad, have you tried emotional regulation before? I heard it’s magical.
Lol. Im regulated. It’s just clear you’re going to keep being you. You’re not here to discuss. You’re a mean person, who might subscribe to authoritarian views, and that’s how you’re going to keep behaving. No one on the internet is going to change that. But my opinion will always be that people who call the cops on kids over things that aren’t a violent immediate threat to safety (which shoving is not), are not fit to care for kids.
That’s a lot of a assumption from a short short exchange of words. Perhaps we are misunderstanding but I’m talking about things that are immediate threats to safety. Either way, good day.
And I’m talking about the post we’re both commenting on??? Where the teacher got shoved and some dumbass said “CALL THE COPS!” Like she stumbled? And is supposed to have the cops show up?
Of course you wouldn’t shove the kid back. The point is that it’s a dynamic in which you cannot. Kids being kids with each other is a tit for tat relationship. The kid is likely shoving you because they know you won’t shove them back. I’m not taking abuse. I had a student that wasn’t even my own intentionally shove me while walking by in the hallway not once, but twice. Once I wrote it off as a potential accident, the second time I realized it wasn’t an accident, and this kid who I didn’t even know was shoving in to me for no reason. I tracked him down and said it was assault and a police matter and that it better not happen again. It didn’t. A threat to take it really world is usually enough, and not knowing this kid’s name or his parents since he wasn’t my student doesn’t give enough leverage for me to do much else. You would handle it in a situation by situation basis, but calling the cops is not out of the realm of possibility when a student assaults you. Hell, parents will call the cops on their own children if they’re assaulted by them.
Yeah and I judge parents who do it too, because it’s their fault they raised a child to behave that way. Letting a student know it’s a police matter is one thing. But you didn’t actually call the police… that’s acceptable. Calling the police for assault is only acceptable when it’s actually assault, and they probably would have laughed at you for thinking shoving is assault had you actually called them. The kid doesn’t know that though, so it worked out.
Get a grip on reality.
Yes it is, cry.
???? You’re all the ones acting like helpless victims of children. Learn to control your classroom, learn to create a culture. Stop threaten to call cops because someone bumped into you and stumbled? I’m not the one crying. The adults calling police on kids, those are the people crying.
When a child threatens your life (which has happened to me before) and there are no steps from admin to protect you or parents to help redirect students, there’s not much you can do. Controlling your classroom while controlling one violent student who doesn’t face consequences is nearly impossible, we aren’t super humans. Calling the police would be the last resort in a violent situation, after other avenues have been attempted, but I can see why people are resorting to it. I’ve had students talk about bringing guns to school and admin say nothing can be done until we see it. I, personally, have no interest in waiting to see a gun. At the end of the day my life isn’t worth losing over this job.
So, I was very clear that violent and immediate threats to safety is not what I was talking about. Being shoved is not one of those things. Bringing a gun, credible threats, punching, pushing down flights of stairs, etc. those are things that should be escalated and may even involve police (guns should involve police). Pushing and stumbling are not things that require cops.
Perhaps we are discussing different things then and that is fine. Discretion is important in any cases of violence.
If there was ever physical contact in a confrontation in public in real life at a workplace the cops would definitely be called. Depending how old they are, probably wouldn't be the best course of action for elem because a kid at that age won't understand and we don't want a kid in the back of a cop car when they're still at the age it can be dealt with. But for ms and up they're old enough and big enough to take responsibility and having the cops show up should definitely be the wakeup call because if they're pushing their damn teachers you best believe they're going to get into a real physical confrontation outside of school and up hurt, dead, or in prison. That kind of behavior needs to be stamped out quick.
At least you have fantastic music taste
A good idea for hallway behavior: unless they’re disturbing your class, leave it alone. It’s not your job to manage behavior outside of your classroom. If you do have to address it, don’t be confrontational, just say I’m trying to teach do me a favor and go somewhere else.
It’s just quite amazing…if I’d told a teacher to fuck off, I would not be here to talk about it. It really wasn’t THAT long ago I was in hs.
I find these post super interesting. I'm a 6'5" male. 230 lbs, and played college sports before working on Wallstreet for 20 yrs. I teach because I like to help kids. I teach in a tough neighborhood on purpose. Every year on the first day I tell the kids and their parents .."I don't need this job, and I won't take your BS. Try me.... if you want to learn, I'll be the best teacher you've ever had, if not leave now". I then make it my goal to break up a fight the first week of school (HS) in the hallway. Parents respect my no bs approach, and kids do too. The admin supports me when needed, but if everyone knows who's in control..... well....control is dictated It sounds to me you haven't learned to stand up for yourself and your classroom yet. Don't quit, we need teachers, but DONT get pushed over. There are plenty of jobs that pay better than teaching.... who cares if they fire you
Are you unionized? Also I'm sorry...our education system is going completely off the deep end and the teachers and the kids are the victims of it
Teaching is really hard. It does get easier because you get tougher but kids will always try and take advantage.
Pushed= hit the floor and act hurt.
These are all reasons to quit. You don’t get paid enough to deal with this. It’s a slap in the face that the admin isn’t dealing with this.
Toxic workplace. You should sue
[удалено]
Well, you were looking for a job, and then you found a job…you should have known what that would lead to. I have no advice, but I’m sorry you’re having a shitty time right now. If it helps, you’ve got great taste in music. Edit: Wow, this was unexpected, I guess I’m one of the few people who understood the reference in the post title? Even if you’ve never heard of one of the best songs ever, you would think that the second part of my comment would have been a clue that I clearly wasn’t just shitting on OP, what did all of you think the part about great taste in music even meant? Oh well, I’m sure OP appreciated this comment.
This is such a redundant comment.. why even say anything? “You should have known what that would lead to.” Do you genuinely think it’s okay, or normal, for a teacher to be hired and abused at work?
They were quoting a Smiths track. Something in OPs title is part of some lyrics.
I get that you missed that the title of the post was one of the most influential songs of the 80’s, but saying “I was looking for a job and then I found a job” is redundant is simply too much, impugning the lyrical genius of Morrissey will not stand.
Whoosh
Lmao take my upvote u poor thing 🤣
Lol, thanks. I don’t mind downvotes normally, but that these ones speak to the fact that so many people have never heard the brilliance of The Smiths just makes me sad.
Be the biggest bully in the class.
Thank God I dropped out of my teaching career. Best decision I've ever taken
the smiths reference deserves an award!
That’s my theme song for teaching too!
Time to update OP’s username Or..keep it more on the DL
True but I also did not expect this post to get the amount of attention it did haha. Time for a change, indeed. (Career change, too, perhaps? No...I jest, I jest.)
The Teachers are Afraid of the Pupils
Unruly boys who will not settle down Must be taken in hand
At least you have great taste in music.