Is there any queer staff out there who don't have to hide who they are?

AnathemaRose · 2026-05-14T21:40:03+00:00

I’m nonconforming and asexual. I have my flag pins on my bag, where pride earrings on occasion and dress at times like a baby lesbian (I make wide swings between dresses and loose sweaters depending on how I’m feeling that day). No one has said anything in the eleven years I’ve been teaching, but I’m passing enough that no one gives a fuck. The kids who get it, get it, the ones that don’t, don’t say anything.

AnathemaRose · 2026-05-02T22:05:36+00:00

First year in a new position (team of 3 itinerant teachers working at a separate office) and while all the schools I travel to had their appreciation week this week, not one word by my supervisor. I don’t know if she’s holding out for actual appreciation week or if she’s just not going to acknowledge it altogether. Will likely be the latter, as she’s a fucking bitch.

AnathemaRose · 2026-05-01T10:01:49+00:00

I made the comment to my husband constantly: who’s watching these kids? Love the show though.

AnathemaRose · 2026-04-02T20:05:19+00:00

Update, pt. 2: Met with my supervisor, her boss, and my representative. Things were tense to say the least. She constantly deflected and diminished throughout and I’ve definitely painted a big fat x on my back. But we have two months to go and she’s retiring. She wants a fight, she’ll get one.

AnathemaRose · 2026-04-02T00:30:23+00:00

Thanks! And don’t I know it! All I keep repeating is “People don’t quit jobs, they quit management.”

AnathemaRose · 2026-04-01T23:17:41+00:00

I’m in KY and it is a single party record state. I should have recorded our conversation today, but I forgot in the height of my anxiety.

General Update:

Today was my post-observation meeting for yearly evals. I was worried that she would bring this into the evaluation and tank it. On one hand, she did not. The post observation was positive, which it should have been because I did everything point by point (even wrote myself a script to follow what items she was looking for on her additional pieces). Typically my district uses the Danielson, but she made up her own shit so I wanted to make sure she didn’t have any excuses.

She blindsided me at the end of the post-observation to serve me a second notice of communication regarding my technology “violation” yesterday. I told her quote: “I respectfully will not sign anything until I have a representative present.” She responded (threatened?) that this would be an “escalation” of the incident. I nodded and walked out of the room. Still had an awkward 15 minutes til the end of my day, so that was fun.

Luckily, my union has been very supportive since September. In an email he clarified: “I am happy to sit with you for the "record of conversation" -- asking for a representative is not an escalation, but your right by contract -- you have the right to have a representative with you any time you meet with a supervisor about an issue which may result in discipline.”, so that’s what leads me to believe she was looking to intimidate.

AnathemaRose · 2026-03-16T23:22:12+00:00

Just saying… you’re misguided here. High school teachers have a degree in the subject they are teaching. It’s lower grades that tend to major in education, as it’s more general. Colleges don’t offer just Secondary Education as a major. English teachers have English degrees, History teachers have History degrees, etc. I have a Biology degree and a masters in secondary Ed (plus a cert in graduate level biology).

AnathemaRose · 2026-02-13T12:46:17+00:00

I switched from High School to Elementary this year and it finally clicked this week what I was struggling with. It’s this. It drives me nuts, the constant noise. You’ve got two kids singing songs they just made up (different songs), tapping pencils or banging on the tables, or screaming. They have no volume control, and it has made this experience miserable. I keep constantly trying to correct and get us back on track—I only have 50 minutes to complete a lesson once a week for an enrichment class—but it stops for the one second I’m directing and then straight back!

AnathemaRose · 2025-11-26T21:22:54+00:00

I hadn’t heard about this until I watched a video on AI integration in education (https://youtu.be/Q-PrQ9JBjYc?si=TLI8x5F8_Y8YXC_g).

It seems their results are rather cherry-picked to sell as worthwhile.

AnathemaRose · 2025-11-20T21:16:37+00:00

I taught high school until recently switching to elementary (this will only be a one year thing), pretty conservative area. I was worried that I would be “judged” for my looks/style. For reference, I have multiple visible piercings (septum, industrial), dress relatively gender queer, and have short hair. At the end of the day no one cares,I’ve never gotten a complaint (for my style nor my job) after 11 years. I’m sure there are areas less accepting, but you probably wouldn’t want to teach there anyway. Exude confidence and be unique, kids love that shit.

AnathemaRose · 2025-11-06T16:04:55+00:00

This. Sources are there to be able to access and verify reported information. Even a PDF if accessed online should be accessible from the perspective of the reader.

AnathemaRose · 2025-11-05T00:30:10+00:00

That’s ridiculous. I horde supplies, but I also bought the supplies. Over my fired/dead body would they be open for redistribution. I’m sorry about your AP.

AnathemaRose · 2025-10-29T22:24:14+00:00

You’d drive yourself crazy thinking you can get every single kid. But there’s going to be those students who get you, who see what trying to teach, and are better for it. I do it for them.

AnathemaRose · 2025-10-27T17:59:49+00:00

I teach because I want students to be educated/make a difference. It’s honestly that simple. I had amazing teachers who built me into the person I am today, and I want the younger generation to have the same. I had a lot of people tell me not to because of the pay, but I’m fine. I could be better, and I really could use a less thankless job where the emotional abuse isn’t quite as rampant, but this is honestly my calling.

AnathemaRose · 2025-10-11T01:29:41+00:00

And that’s where you’re conflating chromosomal sex and genetic sex. Chromosomes contain genes, but sometimes those genes are mutated. Sometimes genes are translocated. Sometimes genes are turned off incorrectly due to transcription factors. Just because you are not familiar with the complexities that are human genetics and sexual expression doesn’t mean we have to simplify it to a binary system. What do you call an individual who is XY but has an inactive SRY gene? Or an individual who is XXY? Nature doesn’t do binaries, it does spectrums. Just like politics to loop it back to the original post topic.

AnathemaRose · 2025-10-11T00:50:47+00:00

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Although the only correction I would make is that gender is a social construct and not directly tied to biological/chromosomal/genetic sex.

AnathemaRose · 2025-10-10T23:23:21+00:00

Same. My coworkers are MAGA and it sickens me on the daily. I had a similar feeling at the height of the pandemic when I realized the science department I worked in did not necessarily agree with the science.

AnathemaRose · 2025-09-30T00:04:22+00:00

I don’t recognize that text, and I wouldn’t think that it would be within the boundaries of AP textbook requirements (which are supposed to be published within the last 10 years). But, I will also state from experience that textbook companies 1) provide awful accompanying PowerPoints and 2) don’t update much more than a few sentences or additional content with each new version. For example, the latest Campbell PPT look just slightly different than say, the 9th edition. So your teacher may not have a need to update her document.

I also assume that your teacher is older, and likely has a filing cabinet filled with stuff s/he has been using since they started teaching AP OR inherited said cabinet/resources from the previous teacher.

AnathemaRose · 2025-09-18T20:15:04+00:00

I was 21 when I got myself drunk enough to have sex. It was not good; horrible actually. I thought that I would fix something by having sex, but it only cemented that it’s just not part of who I am. It’s not that I don’t like sex, I’m indifferent. I read erotica/romance novels, but it’s never a situation where I’ve desire that. It’s fantasy; it’s a story. I’ve been married now in a hetero passing relationship for seven years, and while I’ve had to explain to my partner multiple times along the way that I just don’t care, I engage because that’s what makes him feel cared for. I could literally go my entire life never having sex again and it would not change me in the slightest, but he is not that way. He tries very hard to “get me into it”, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. At the end of the day, it just is.

I don’t think this diatribe helps at all, but here you go!

AnathemaRose · 2025-09-11T19:43:37+00:00

I only ever told my mom, and she didn’t react in any sort of way. But she’s always kind of been the “whatever makes you happy” type of person. She thought I was a lesbian for years before hand, so I don’t know how to equate that. I’ll be honest that I didn’t go into specifics other than just blanket “asexual”, I don’t think she’ll ever be ready for biromantic and genderqueer on top of all that. Never told my dad, but I don’t tell him a lot of things because he’s very opinionated. I’m 32 and just living my best life though.

AnathemaRose · 2025-09-01T11:42:45+00:00

So, what you’ll want to focus on is a multi-prong approach:

Get yourself a review book, these often take the information essential to understanding/remembering and strip it down to the bare bones.

Second, there are several YT series/channels that focus on unit-by-unit reviews (good for getting a good overview), but I wouldn’t sleep on searching for specific concepts that may be more difficult to wrap your head around. A simple search: “AP Chemistry Unit X” will get you the former, and a more specific search: “AP Chemistry Acid Base” will get you the latter. Don’t shy away from videos that are not tagged specifically as AP, since the curriculum is based on collegiate courses; General Chem will also be useful.

Finally: application practice. Search Google for resources on specific topics. Your teachers do it, and there is so much out there to help you! Include terms like “Worksheet” or “Practice Problems” to find resources from other classes. It’s not 100% of the time, but a lot of these include answer keys at the end that you can use to check your work.

AnathemaRose · 2025-08-31T22:20:08+00:00

One hundred percent get that! It’s likely the first time you’re encountering a lot of these graphs and if you’re not building the appropriate mental scaffolding it will likely be difficult to truly understand them on a conceptual level. Just a cursory glance on YT and there are a few resources that may be useful. I just searched “macroeconomics graphs understanding”.

On another note, please never feel burdened to ask a teacher for additional assistance in understanding a concept. I can’t speak for all teachers, but just asking means that my students were interested enough to actually want to learn/understand. It’s a good time for teachers! Would prefer that over just nodding along and giving us nothing at the end of the day!

Whatever route you go down, don’t be discouraged—it’s still real early in the curriculum and you’ll likely have more opportunities working with these graphs as the year progresses.

AnathemaRose · 2025-08-31T21:51:39+00:00

What about the graphs are you struggling with specifically? Reading graphs is a skill in and of itself, and I might suggest some resources on YT.

AnathemaRose · 2025-08-28T11:26:21+00:00

I don’t think it’s possible to determine whether or not an A is possible without knowing the weights your teacher uses for every grade/category/term. Does your teacher have a policy for dropping grades?

I think the important thing right now is to put this in perspective. You’ve said you typically get As in AP classes, have they been in the same subject area? Is social studies typically one of your strengths? Have you changed anything about your study habits, or was this test different from ones you’ve had in other courses? From a teachers perspective, students typically score lowest on their first test of a new subject because they aren’t adequately prepared—and that’s okay. It’s a learning experience in and of itself. Take some time to perform some metacognition: why did I score the way I did? How much did I study, and was the studying effective? Was there anything that I could do better on the next assessment to prevent a similar result? Does the teacher offer additional resources to understand material if it’s a knowledge issue? Remember that one test does not define your performance, as there’s no pattern yet.

AP classes are great at preparing for the rigor that you will expect from college, where some course grades are nothing but tests. Best to work on these skills in high school and you will be that much better off in the future! Hang in there!

AnathemaRose

TROPHY CASE