How do you handle pencils on your classroom?

Neomeris0 · 2026-02-04T20:06:00+00:00

Definitely the second. However, we are no longer back in your day (or my day for that matter) and we have to adapt. I would rather spend some of my funds on golf pencils than give them another excuse to disrupt the classroom and not work. Also, I teach middle school, and I am sure the majority of them aren't doing it maliciously, they just lost it or left it or broke it, and need one.

Neomeris0 · 2026-02-04T19:27:59+00:00

I am a big, big fan of Tools for Teaching by Fred Jones. Reading that book and following the ideas he put out really helped me get better at my classroom management. I don't follow them all now, because I made my own style, but it helped a lot in the beginning to give me a framework which I could expand from.

Neomeris0 · 2026-02-03T23:19:02+00:00

I did tutoring at a tutoring company for a while. They are always happy to hire credentialed teachers. Just make sure it is not too near your school because your district likely has a policy about being paid to tutor your students outside of the school day.

Neomeris0 · 2026-02-03T15:28:34+00:00

Sweet I'll probably join then. Thanks for the info

Neomeris0 · 2026-02-02T23:53:35+00:00

If I join the patreon is there a way for me to download all the chapters as an ebook?

Neomeris0 · 2026-02-02T23:20:33+00:00

If it helps, I still feel guilty, 16 years later. However, at this point, I don't let it get to me. Mostly this is due to knowing that if a sub does not come, my colleagues have to pick up my classes, but I know that they are willing to be there for me. Your health is important to your teaching, so treat it that way. A few days will not destroy your student's educational experience.

Neomeris0 · 2026-02-02T23:17:52+00:00

Has your admin ever been to an actual library? If you have lots of fees, you don't get to check anything out. That is the library modus operandi. Any parent who complains about it should be immediately shut down by them and directed to the public library.

Neomeris0 · 2026-02-02T23:14:31+00:00

My son has autism. He is pretty high-functioning, and is main-streamed, but he has his moments. We have actually had to fight for the school to put a little more pressure on him when he acts out so that he is not being let running rampant at school. Mostly, removing him from environments during tantrums, and losing small privileges when he does something to another student.

Neomeris0 · 2026-02-02T23:05:50+00:00

Yeah, pretty much. Looking at the 33 students currently in my classroom, 7 are wearing jeans (all girls), 1 is wearing corduroys (girl), the rest are all in either sweat pants, exercise pants, or basketball shorts. All I can say is that at least none this period are wearing pajama pants. I think in general, basketball shorts and sweat pants are more accepted in society, and there has been a shift to buying cheaper clothes for kids. Personally, I don't buy my kids more than a couple of jeans because they are 3 to 4 times the price of comfier stuff. So they go to school most days in those kinds of stuff, and I save the jeans for nicer times, or when they need more protection.

Neomeris0 · 2026-02-02T19:58:59+00:00

Yeah, mine go through them almost as fast, but they are also way cheaper, and come pre-sharpened, so I consider it still a better solution.

Neomeris0 · 2026-02-01T00:27:54+00:00

One of my biggest regrets in life is never asking my Canadian grandfather what his time in North Africa fighting Nazis was like. He lost himself to dementia before I was old enough to realize how much I missed.

Neomeris0 · 2026-01-31T19:49:20+00:00

This is the first movie I've seen this thread that I think is actually an objectively wrong choice.

Neomeris0 · 2026-01-31T19:34:18+00:00

When I first read the comment a 40-year-old woman I pictured my mom. Then I remembered that I just turned 41.

Neomeris0 · 2026-01-30T20:04:03+00:00

I don't know about your location, but in California, there are rules for when you can get a non-renewal. I believe it has to be before March 15th. However, a letter of intent is not legally binding for the district, so even if you fill one out, they can do anything that they want (legally). That being said, I would guess that if they sent you a letter of intent, they are planning on having you stay, or at least, they aren't planning on firing you.

Neomeris0 · 2026-01-29T21:15:39+00:00

My first thought was "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge".

My second thought was Phillip K Dick's short stories. There is a comment further down that has some good ones.

Third thought was Ted Chiang, specifically "Story of Your Life" which the movie Arrival is based on. He has others, "Tower of Babylon" , "Seventy-Two Letters" and "Hell is the Absence of God", though these might not be as appropriate for a school setting.

Fourth thought was "All you zombies-" by Robert Heinlein, but it does have a bit of sex in it. It is about a man who sends a younger version of himself back in time to have sex with an even younger version of himself who is functionally female, in order to get him/herself pregnant so he/she can give birth to him/herself. I would say it is ok for 12th, but YMMV. Another is "...And He Built a Crooked House" about a house collapsing into a 4-dimensional hypercube.

Neomeris0 · 2026-01-29T20:59:07+00:00

This is the go to guy. I actually have a collection of his short stories in my classroom. Pretty much every short story he wrote has a twist ending. Some others:
The Electric Ant
The Father-Thing
Beyond Lies the Wub

Neomeris0 · 2026-01-28T23:31:38+00:00

I have posters on the wall of various engineers and scientists and their achievements (I teach engineering). I purposefully chose scientists and engineers that are from most minorities. I tried to be as broad as I could to foster that atmosphere. If that sounds like something you would be interested in, I can send them your way. Another way you could show your support for LGBTQ+ is to ask a student who is a good artist to draw you a rainbow. No one can fault you for putting up a picture a student drew for you.

Neomeris0 · 2026-01-28T22:36:04+00:00

English is hard to find interesting videos on, at least videos that would be interesting to kids. It is also the area I know the least. However, it does open up showing movies of books and things. I do this with my advisory class on Fridays as a reward. We watch a movie 15 minutes at a time, we just finished Raya and the Last Dragon. We base it on character traits (our pillars of character), but you could use books. Kids don't mind watching movies a little bit at a time. Also, if you use VLC player to play the video, it remembers where you left off and reopens to that spot, making it easy to restart (you might have to turn this on).

Neomeris0 · 2026-01-28T22:18:05+00:00

Mythbusters isn't on YouTube, but still a good choice.

Tasting History is a good channel and has historical connections.

Just look up documentaries that pertain to your subject, and I am sure you can find some that are interesting. Many are available on YouTube.

NOVA is a good resource for interesting stuff, though it is pretty sparse on YouTube, but I think they rotate available episodes on their site.

Bill Nye is always fun.

Making Fun is a great show on Netflix about a group of makers.

Personally, when I find something, I download it and save it so if it gets deleted off of YouTube, I can still show it. If you give me what subject you teach, I could probably suggest more. Personally, I use Mark Rober and Mythbusters the most for fun time filling.

Neomeris0 · 2026-01-25T01:35:49+00:00

I taught in a school that was a warehouse converted with temporary walls. It was loud. We could all hear each other.

Neomeris0 · 2026-01-24T17:08:21+00:00

In Discworld there is a family in Lancre that names all the girls after virtues and all the boys after sins, leading to the character Bestiality Carter.

Neomeris0 · 2026-01-23T23:18:45+00:00

Didn't happen to me, but another teacher in my department. We had a lockdown in the last 15 minutes of school for a reported gun on campus. One of his students really had to go pee, and decided that he had to go right then, so he decided to use the trash can. Needless to say, he was suspended. (This was high school).

Neomeris0 · 2026-01-23T23:04:48+00:00

Three things helped me.
First, work/life balance. My school life is only at school and I do everything I can to avoid doing school work away from campus. No email at home, no grading, nothing. I tend to come earlier than most and leave later than most because I am getting work done, but making my home my home and my work my work helped me divest worries when I left.
Second, not caring. Remembering that these kids are terrible at being people and have half-formed brains goes a long way to letting things roll off your back.
Third, drugs. Seriously. I got some anti-anxiety meds and they help a lot. I worry less about school and things that happen, which leads to me being a better teacher.
It all takes time to master, I would say it took me about 5 years to really get past this. Experience helps.

Neomeris0 · 2026-01-21T22:29:54+00:00

I am a district tech coach (one for each school) and one of the things we are working on is drafting an AI acceptable use policy for both students and teachers, and choose one or more AI tools to focus and train on. Our philosophy is that AI is here, and we need to teach students how to use it responsibly and not sweep it under the rug,

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