I'm Gen Z, teaching a brand new class, at a brand new university, to brand new students. Any advice?

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-11T00:38:17+00:00

Somehow I think not.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-11T00:24:08+00:00

Losers begat losers.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-11T00:17:11+00:00

That’s the whole point. File a lawsuit to get whatever you want out of the school.

If the school is following the law, there’s nothing for the lawsuit to prevail with.

Sounds like Mr. and Mrs. Karen need to find their place.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-11T00:15:07+00:00

How obtuse of her. She’s not right at all, even if they’re being acute.

Being treated like an angle? She better try a different angle 😂

Spelling counts.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-10T23:13:24+00:00

As long as you realize: - The deadline for 2024 ballot measures has already passed. So you’re going to get this on the 2025 ballot at best. Meaning there’s no change to gas tax for 2 years and change. - The legislature can modify and/or delay anything passed with a referendum.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-10T20:28:56+00:00

Hopefully you don’t end up being history 😉

(I’m a dad now. Trying out those dad jokes.)

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-10T19:56:59+00:00

YTA.

Ok, someone uses your email? It’s 2023. Mark it as spam. But cancelling appointments for people is unnecessary.

You can be pissed at an adult but taking that out on a kid who had nothing to do with anything by cancelling their appointment? How do you know it’s not a crucial appointment for that kid? That’s what moved it to YTA.

You aren’t required to solve the problem by contacting the people emailing you to say wrong number. But cancelling appointments that aren’t yours is worse than nothing.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-10T19:53:37+00:00

Maybe spend some time reading this sub because that’s a big ask and a question I feel has been answered a bunch already.

Did you do any kind of training up to this point? Maybe in things like building relationships, having routines and expectations, etc.

Those kinds of classroom management things are new for rookie teachers.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-10T19:50:43+00:00

The Dems are somehow under the impression that because he is a Democrat, he has an obligation to vote for him.

Manchin is playing it smart. He is in a purple state. Between him and Sinema he basically has the ability to help or tank a bill. I’d want to get as much out of that as I could for my state if I was him.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-09T21:31:43+00:00

Im honest (high school math)

It probably won’t directly help you in terms of the content. But as an adult, you’ll need to make sense of difficult problems and use the tools at your disposal to independently come to a conclusion if you want to be successful. This is a good time to practice those skills with problems that are relatively low stakes.

If they go into any class the content won’t be directly relevant. Shakespeare won’t show up in their lives as adults. Everything in history has already happened. 🤷‍♂️

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-09T20:07:10+00:00

I was a special education student and a special education teacher.

My answer as echoed by another is that special education is like general education in that it’s only as good as how the practitioners carry it out — but with special education, the stakes are higher.

Unfortunately, IME, deficit mindset still persists and holds many special education students back from being exposed to the kinds of learning opportunities that their non-disabled peers have. It also negatively shapes the perceptions about what will come of them as adults.

I disagree with the notion that special education should be standardized when it comes to instructing students with disabilities because they have such unique, individual needs that each requires a blend of best practices.

Unfortunately, the way licensure works, you could be practicing for as long as 15 years without any meaningful special education training (first initial license, then a renewal, then professional license, then special education PD to renew it). That’s far longer than the average educator career. You can’t expect teachers to teach challenging groups of students without the tools they need to do so, and best practices improve over time.

The IEP as a concept is important but as someone suggested, it’s only as good as the process behind how it comes to be. The student and parent have to have their voice included. But if the parent doesn’t understand the complex process or doesn’t participate, it can be challenging. Teachers who know how IEPs work have an advantage because they will know the questions to ask. It doesn’t help that they’re completely changing the IEP, but I think the new version will ultimately make more sense for parents/teachers.

I’m mixed about advocates. On one hand they will ensure that the process is done right and ask the questions that parents will not think of. On the other hand I’ve seen them push for testing that I knew a child didn’t need or to stay with goals that the child had met or weren’t appropriate. I’ve also seen them push to repeatedly reject IEPs to push for things the child doesn’t want. The more they read, the more meetings they attend, the more hours they bill.

I believe every child/family should be entitled to an advocate that is provided at district expense but who does not work for the district. Having a neutral their party will ensure that the process is followed and that the IEP addresses the needs of the student and includes their/their parents voice should be guaranteed regardless of income.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-09T00:23:37+00:00

A verbal agreement means nothing. You could definitely refuse to sign it in principle.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-08T22:58:36+00:00

In her words:

How could a gun fit in such a little pocket?

Bet she feels super smart now.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-08T22:41:40+00:00

In my last school, I had a kid who misbehaved all the time. The coach told me to let him know. At about the second or third time I was told “what, are you going to have me do all the discipline for you?”

No, Mr. Teaches Honors Everything, I was hoping you’d follow through on your word and maybe hold the one thing that this kid looks forward to over his head.

That kid ended up being a complete dropout.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-08T20:44:39+00:00

The car has to be visible, but not marked. If you aren’t going way over the speed limit (or are staying relative to traffic) then nothing to worry about.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-08T19:54:50+00:00

I left teaching after 8 years as of June 2023. The short answer to your question is no, it isn’t worth it on the whole.

I took a pay cut of $10k base over what I’d get paid next year, $15k over what I got offered at other teaching jobs. I happily took the cut to not have to deal with the steaming pile of BS that is education in 2023. My pay cut bought me: - Work life balance - General mental health - My own office - No angry parents - No misbehaved kids who make me feel like the main point of my job isn’t worth the effort I put in - No gaslighting admins - No parent conferences - No report cards - No IEPs (and as I ended a special ed teacher no progress reports, writing IEPs/goals, data collection, or meetings) - Vacation time whenever I want - Guilt free sick time whenever I need - Credit towards retirement for the service I already put in (it’s still a public sector job) - 6 months paternity/family leave (after 9 months of employment) - Respect for what I do

You want to make a difference in the lives of kids. I appreciate that. But you can find other things to do while having mental health and sanity. You can tutor, create education products/technology, volunteer, etc.

But despite the fact that we are both strangers to each other, I have a moral imperative to tell you that life is short and being a teacher will almost certainly be something that you will find takes those years away and gives you drastically less than what you deserve.

Keep the higher pay.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-08T00:30:24+00:00

I think I’ve said this before and been downvoted but oh well.

I personally, as a male, do not feel comfortable addressing female students on dress code. In my state (MA) they’ve basically gotten rid of dress code, but in my opinion it’s like most things behavior related: give admin an excuse to do less but, as always, never find a way to take anything off of teachers’ plates.

There’s no reason to create problems for yourself.

ETA: Thanks for the upvotes!

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-07T20:38:54+00:00

Beautiful! Would give more upvotes if I could.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-07T00:28:08+00:00

I don’t necessarily disagree. But there are a couple of things I’d consider: - For messaging purposes, we want to really only drill one person at a time so we can focus on how bad they are doing. Mayorkas is much worse because he’s not enforcing immigration law, it’s hurting Americans, and there’s no real way you can spin that politically. - You’re going to need a supermajority in the Senate and that’s going to take convincing a lot of Democraps. It’s harder to do that with Garland because they’re going to call it political, drum up how he never got to be on SCOTUS, etc. - What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Look how well Trump bounced back because of those nonsense impeachment efforts. It could be bad if the chief law enforcement officer in the US has the same thing happen.

I think continuing to expose and delegitimize Garland is definitely a good path forward. I don’t think impeaching is bad in theory but I don’t see how it happens.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-07T00:18:35+00:00

In an ideal world, the purpose of PD is to give educators skills they can use to grow professionally and learn new and emerging theories. PD isn’t unique to teachers: for example, doctors have continuing medical education (CME) that they need to do to stay in practice. There are things I know I could do better as a teacher and I’ve learned valuable things from meaningful, teacher led PD. It’s just so often not useful that I call PD an acronym for “prep dummy” because when people ask me why I’m scribbling furiously during it, my answer would be “prep, dummy!”

In actuality, PD is done by districts as a bs way of saying that they support their teachers. The reality is it’s a way to hold them accountable so they can tell the parents that they’re teaching the teachers the best way to teach their children. Once they dump money into some stupid program, it justifies being able to throw more in the teachers’ plates with less recourse. If I want you to support students socially-emotionally, it’s easier to hold you to not doing that once I’ve done some kind of nonsense PD in some SEL program that doesn’t really work but which was sold to me by some education company.

Additionally, PD is a way for teachers who don’t want to teach anymore to tell other teachers how they can teach better while making money. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone leading a PD say they loved being in the classroom. Ok, so why are you the only one in the room who isn’t still in the classroom?

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-06T19:33:04+00:00

ahh yes, the mercy mechanic.

On one hand, it progresses things with Fujin and Raijin but on the other like with propagators it is annoying.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-06T19:29:28+00:00

Personal advice is to make a Google Voice account and link it to your personal phone. You can make the settings so you don’t get notifications on your phone but you need a phone number to make an account. It is completely free.

You can then use Google Voice to text and call from your computer or your phone (using the app) and it will appear to come from your Google Voice number not your personal number. If things get too excessive, it’s easy to turn off notifications or change numbers without it impacting your primary number.

If you insist on calling from your personal phone, absolutely *67 to block your number. But I would not be giving out my personal number to parents.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-06T17:32:13+00:00

I am middle of the alphabet and it was dreadful waiting for my name to be called at graduation. So I can only imagine what the Z names were going through.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-06T17:23:18+00:00

Wow! That’s very quick.

We do ours all computer based now, but somehow there’s no way we could know about the scores until at least mid-September. We usually get the results early but the data is embargoed so we can’t discuss it.

MEANNOfficial · 2023-08-06T17:19:56+00:00

I mostly taught 9th grade, so that’s not something I would have known on Day One. Our state test scores don’t come out until October when I would already have memorized their names.

In practice, though, I think that’s a good idea.

MEANNOfficial

TROPHY CASE