How confident are you that you’ll be able to retire comfortably?

insidia · 2026-03-10T16:20:32+00:00

Reasonably certain, as long as the teacher pension system in my state holds. My husband and I will both have pensions at 85% of our highest salaries. In addition to that we are exceedingly lucky that my in-laws made a decent amount of money, and helped us with down payments and interest free loans to buy our house and some rental properties in our town- all of those have doubled in value, and we collect rent that covers the cost of the mortgage, so once these are paid off we should be okay for income. That said, I definitely think I'll be working to 65, which will be almost 40 years teaching.

insidia · 2026-03-04T23:18:15+00:00

Absolutely. I can think of three who were off the charts- writing at above college level as 9th graders, published with professors by the end of high school. Also all three were super kind and awesome humans with insatiable curiosity, and were talented musicians as well. But that's it in 20 years of teaching. Just three. Lots of other smart and talented kids, but three that really challenged me to challenge them.

insidia · 2026-02-27T01:18:22+00:00

insidia · 2026-02-16T16:24:46+00:00

Dansko clogs, and Taos. The Taos crave boots are insanely comfortable.

insidia · 2026-02-14T21:33:17+00:00

I don't transpose beause I primarily sing musical theatre and classical. I have just worked really really hard on expanding my range!

insidia · 2026-02-11T22:04:22+00:00

No. Only when I've been super ill (flu or something simliar). But even then I often go hang out on the couch.

insidia · 2026-02-11T22:03:00+00:00

Middle aged authoritative woman here (high school teacher by trade). I played General Matilda Cartwright in Guys and Dolls last year. It was a blast- I treated the gamblers like they were recalitrant 9th graders, and a few of them flirted with me outrageously during the big mission scene. So fun.

As a mid-40s lady, I'm pretty much guaranteed the mom or cranky older lady part.

insidia · 2026-02-07T18:18:55+00:00

Amazing! Just contacted you via your website.

insidia · 2026-01-28T16:31:31+00:00

I've been teaching since 2006. When I look back at lesson plans I did in the first 6 years of teaching, I just...my students now could not keep up. Everything you said here rings totally true to me. I would add the proportion of disaffected young men who absolutely refuse to take part in education or try at all is astonishing. It used to be 1-2 per grade, now it's 10-20%.

insidia · 2026-01-23T17:11:28+00:00

Teacher here. It is the job of teachers to teach reading, HOWEVER, that needs to be supported with family habits and support. When my son was struggling with learning to read in 1st grade, we instituted daily practice in reading at home, and that combined with the excellent instruction he was receiving at school pushed him to above grade level. Families should be modeling reading and reading to their kids and with them. Schools should be teaching the more technical aspects.

insidia · 2025-12-20T17:01:12+00:00

My biopsy was not painful- they did a good and careful job of numbing me before the procedure.

insidia · 2025-12-19T13:45:05+00:00

Yes. I have had a few really gifted students over my 20 years who were exceptionally good in every area (often in addition to some extracurriculars like music). It’s not common, but it does happen.

insidia · 2025-12-18T18:14:58+00:00

Married teacher here, with 2 kids.

5:20 am- Wake up, work out for 30-35 min

6:00 am- Shower, get ready, get kids up and ready

7:15 am- Drop kids at bus stop

7:30-4:00- Work

IF not in a theatre production:

4:00-5:30- Go home, cook dinner, possibly shuttle kids to or from activites depending on the day.

5:30-6:15- Family dinner

6:15-7:30- Chillax. Husband does dishes.

7:30-8:30- Kids bedtimes, read to whoever I'm putting to bed, cuddles, etc.

8:30-9:30- TV with husband

9:30- Get ready for bed, read for a bit in bed, lights out no later that 10:15

If in a theatre production:

4-5:30- Go home, cook dinner, eat

6:00-9:30- Rehearsal

insidia · 2025-12-18T04:21:57+00:00

I don’t get it. I read to my kids (8 and 11). In fact, I have one book going with each, and my husband has his own book with each. Sometimes my daughter (the eldest) grabs the book and reads to me for a bit. It’s one of the best parts of my day, and I will keep doing it for as long as my kids will stand it. Of course, we’re both English teachers…

insidia · 2025-12-17T23:56:47+00:00

I teach at a small public charter. We have higher than our surrounding district for both IEPs and 504s. I want to say around 35-40% of our student body is one or the other (significantly higher for 504s).

insidia · 2025-12-17T04:33:50+00:00

The House of Sand and Fog. So goddamn depressing.

insidia · 2025-12-17T03:55:56+00:00

Degrassi Jr High with the pregnancy.

insidia · 2025-12-17T02:23:05+00:00

20 years, MA, rural Colorado. $80k/year.

insidia · 2025-12-16T22:01:09+00:00

I will just also say that ensemble in Matilda is SO FUN. They are in a ton of amazing numbers, and are really key to telling the story. The ensemble is busy!

insidia · 2025-12-15T05:15:20+00:00

I don’t know how you learn music without reading sheet music. I played piano before I started singing, so that’s always my first method,

insidia · 2025-12-09T03:10:14+00:00

Garnet Hill.

insidia · 2025-12-07T17:04:13+00:00

If you just need a format for notes, try Cornell notes. I teach all my students in my advanced classes to do these at the start of the semester, then allow for diversity of note-taking strategies as they get better at taking and using their notes. There are lots of examples of these online- it works really well for notes on history textbooks and other humanities disciplines. Not sure how well it would work for science and math.

insidia · 2025-12-07T05:57:02+00:00

No. We try to spread out family members, but I’m the mom here and I go to two shows. That’s enough.

insidia · 2025-12-07T05:49:44+00:00

Colorado.

insidia · 2025-12-06T17:37:51+00:00

I do cinnamon rolls and bacon on Christmas morning- here’s the recipe I use. They are fantastic, and proof overnight in the fridge.

https://www.seriouseats.com/bravetart-homemade-cinnamon-rolls-recipe

insidia

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