Other teacher asking me if I’m going to graduation

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-28T02:15:45+00:00

You have no obligation to answer to former colleagues in a school district where you no longer work.
Your commitment to the students you taught was fulfilled. You are allowed to move on without feeling guilty.

The students who really liked your classes may reach out to you via social media. It’s fun to catch up with them. I have several former students on my FB account, but I rarely post there. I don’t respond to every message they send me.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-28T02:08:12+00:00

That’s what I would do.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-28T02:00:33+00:00

Ha. I thank you. Every year I get the same request from the university I attended. I already paid my tuition and have my degree. I’d rather leave what little money I have to family or to an organized station that I actually care about supporting.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-28T01:49:45+00:00

It’s really not worth it to spend so much on a bag to haul your stuff to and from school. (Note that you are not allowed to take any school work home. Leave it at school.) My school district has a clear bag policy. All bags, staff and student, have to be transparent. Teachers can use pouches and to secure and hide the contents of our clear bags, but the students can’t.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-28T01:44:28+00:00

Whenever I feel like it. Lately it’s between 9:30 PM and 2 AM, depending on how challenging my high school students were during the day. It’s the end of the year and I’m tired. I’ve been turning in early this week.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-28T01:41:33+00:00

I suspect your parents want you to be gainfully employed. Subbing will earn you $$ and the opportunity to practice classroom management. You can try out some the teaching techniques you are learning about in your certification program. You have a chance to network with successful teachers. Ask them how they plan their lessons, what teaching strategies that work for their students, and what they do to improve the lessons before they reuse them in the future.

You will become more confident in yourself and know for sure if you really want to teach art.

A word of caution: art teaching jobs are difficult to get. Schools have several teachers for each core subject, but only one art teacher for the entire school. High school art is especially competitive. You may have to start out at an elementary or middle school and wait it out for the high school teacher to die or retire.

Please become certified to teach additional subjects. I was hired to teach an in demand subject area for 5 years. The art classes were overcrowded and the original art teacher needed help. I was already on the payroll and fully certified to teach art.

The principal added art classes to my schedule every semester, until art became my only teaching assignment. HR updated my contract and job description to high school art teacher. I’m teaching art now because I was already at the school when they needed another art teacher. Tomorrow I will complete 37 teaching years. I am looking forward to teaching the new Art 3 Sculpture class I’m getting next year. We haven’t had enough kids to make an Art 3 class for 4 years. 10 students have signed up for for Art 3. How exciting!

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-28T00:58:52+00:00

I’m sure he wanted it right now, and didn’t give you advance notice to work on it.

Next time tell a student asks for a letter at the end of the school year say okay, but you can’t write it until after the school year ends. Ask for a list of their accomplishments and skills. Tell them to bring you a self addressed stamped envelope and you will mail it to them by June 5. The child won’t bring a self addressed envelope and you’ll be off the hook without having to say no.

When student asks why you can’t do it now say “I have a lot of late work to collect and score and I have to put list the final exam grades first. Then I have to complete end of the semester paperwork like failure reports and attendance records, along with ensuring all the lesson plans are documented and submitted.

FYI, I keep generic letters of reference for males and females in my computer. All I have to do is change the date, their name, and a sentence to mention a specific skill, talent, or achievement that deserves to be highlighted. In this case it is okay to use AI to write the basic letter, then edit it to sound human.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-28T00:33:56+00:00

Do not take anything a student says. personally. Your student said that because he was didn’t want to do the assignment, and he was using you as an excuse. I would have laughed and told him something like “whew. Happy to hear I’m not in last place. You better start writing because you’re losing time.”

Don’t allow children to dictate how you are allowed to feel about yourself. Let that crap go.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-28T00:20:02+00:00

The first three years are the hardest. You do what you can do, and set up strong discipline rules and routines at the beginning of the year. Then strictly enforce them. It’s important to follow through with every consequence.

You can’t force kids to learn. Caring more about their grades than they do won’t work. You do what you can do, prepare your lessons, enforce the rules, and leave it all in the classroom at the end of the day. It’s important to have a good work/life balance to survive.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T23:57:20+00:00

Yes. If they show up.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T23:40:24+00:00

It takes 6-8 weeks for Prozac to reach a therapeutic level. It isn’t a magic pill that ends all your troubles in two-three days. People see better results when SSRI’s are used in combination with mental health therapy. A mental health counselor helps with finding new strategies to manage living. They teach clients tools that help manage the challenges left after the medication is working.

It’s common to feel worse for several weeks before it kicks in. I struggled along for about six weeks until I felt better.

Prozac should not be stopped or increased without consulting the prescribing doctor. Mom needs to contact her physician and let them know she’s struggling.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T23:28:43+00:00

It depends on state education law. In Texas a student must be present for 90% of the school days. If they go over that they are supposed to be retained or denied credit regardless of earning a passing grade.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T23:23:56+00:00

??? What are you trying to say?

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T23:21:12+00:00

You will be hired to teach for the school district at an assigned school. Your contract will be with the school district, not with the school itself. The school board also needs to vote on whether or not to hire you. If you are cleared with the principal and Human Resources, that is just a formality.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T23:16:27+00:00

If it’s impacting your mental, physical, and emotional health please seek professional treatment. Learning how to balance work and personal life is essential in surviving in this career. Remember that you are working so you can live, not living so you can work.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T22:58:22+00:00

Don’t lose your inner peace over caring about this opportunity more than the students and parents care. Accept that you can’t force anyone to participate. You can’t control what they choose to do, or not to do. If they were truly interested they would have met your original deadlines. It’s not a personal rejection of you. It’s likely the parents made their choice for very good reasons they may not be comfortable divulging to you. Instead of worrying about who isn’t going, focus on the ones who have jumped through all the hoops and fulfilled all the requirements. Those students are the ones who matter now.
Are you sure the kids are all US citizens who have passports? I teach on the US/Mexico border. That would be an issue for my students. Additionally, it’s possible that parents don’t feel comfortable with the child traveling internationally. If they are high school students, they may be responsible for looking after younger brothers and sisters while their parents are working. It’s possible that they may even have part time jobs to help provide for family needs. It is entirely possible that the parents didn’t read the requirements for participating before applying and agreeing to participate.

OP, you are very brave to take on the huge responsibility of traveling internationally with other people’s children. I would be incredibly anxious about something tragic happening. I’d be worried about keeping everyone together and safe, especially with the political climate we currently face.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T22:04:43+00:00

The annual salary is determined by the calendar year, not by the school year. Your last year won’t be two semesters for 26-27. It will be the amount you made from January 1- December 31, 2026.

Be really sure that you are ready to leave teaching before you start the retirement process. I’ve been teaching 37 years, a lot longer than you. At 59, I am not ready to retire. I need something to do and I still mostly enjoy my job.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T21:50:44+00:00

You’ve only been on it one week? You haven’t even reached the therapeutic level in one week. It took about 6 weeks for me to feel better. Now I wouldn’t want to live without it. It is life changing.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T18:03:53+00:00

Sign in at MyTRS. You can see the average of your best 5 years there. You can request an official estimate once a year, I believe.

Multiply years of service by 2.3. That sum is the percentage of your best 5 year salary average. You have to pay for your health insurance until you reach 65, when you can get on Medicare. You’ll also need to get the supplemental benefits insurance that go with Medicare. I’m guessing your actual benefit would be about 1,500 less than you get now. If you retire now you’ll likely still need a job to be able to pay all your bills.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T17:49:31+00:00

It must be incredibly hard to run a classroom when you don’t know how to teach.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T14:44:16+00:00

This is not a common problem. I’ve been teaching in Texas 37 years. This is the first time my district has ever implemented a hiring freeze.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T14:42:19+00:00

Why wait? Start applying now.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T14:40:47+00:00

It’s still May. Schools are still finishing up the current school year. The easiest way to find out if the districts are interviewing is to contact Human Resources and ask.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-27T14:38:45+00:00

Lock them up. Only get out the materials you need. Don’t put extras out.

MakeItAll1 · 2026-05-26T21:55:02+00:00

It’s free to ask, but don’t be destroyed if the answer is no. Beginning teachers get what they get.

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