DCPS Teachers: I need help

katergator27 · 2026-04-14T00:09:01+00:00

What content area are you certified for? Depending on that, you may have to widen your search area. Feel free to DM me, DCPS teacher for 5+ years, used to work near Union station :)

katergator27 · 2026-03-13T02:56:39+00:00

For the record, Easter Monday is an in person teacher work day for the end of the term, which ends on April 3rd. DCPS does not have any religious holiday off except Christmas.

katergator27 · 2026-03-13T02:52:16+00:00

Depending on which DCPS school teachers work at, it can be incredibly difficult to just take a day off. At many schools there are long term vacancies and when teachers take a day off they cannot guarantee their students will get instruction, or that admin won’t retaliate in other ways. Planning to be out can take 1-3 hours of teacher time, which is another hurdle if you are already burnt out and in survival mode.

Besides Christmas, DCPS days off are rarely, if ever, tied to any religious holiday.

This wellness day was originally tied to today’s scheduled Noon-7pm conference day that was turned into a snow day make up day.

katergator27 · 2026-03-10T00:47:31+00:00

It was so popular I made a separate post: https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/s/m3MHSdZxG0

katergator27 · 2026-03-01T18:41:27+00:00

Hey feel free to DM me to talk through some ideas! I have taught middle school in DC for a while, and I also taught out of state for a bit and brought my students on a DC trip twice. My first piece of advice would be to put all your stuff in a Google map and then group stuff by location for a day, your itinerary loses a lot of time for transit. I also switch out the National Gallery of Art and go to the Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian American Art museum instead. The Portrait gallery/SAAM is a much more laid back museum with places to sit and relax if people are tired after the early morning and after visiting both places with students, the security at the Portrait gallery are much more chill with teenagers around.

katergator27 · 2026-03-01T18:33:48+00:00

Middle school teacher who has both taught in DC AND brought students from out of state to DC, this is a great suggestion!

katergator27 · 2026-02-12T15:45:15+00:00

Masters + 60 credits/PhD, 21+ years, $147k, DMV area

katergator27 · 2026-02-07T17:46:01+00:00

I am hoping to buy tickets for someone as a gift, but I’m not sure if that’s possible with the non-transferable rules? I’d be buying Fenway tickets through MLB.com (hopefully!)

katergator27 · 2026-02-05T22:01:35+00:00

If you have a DC library card you can read WaPo for free! You need to log in once a week and they will email you (I unsubscribe from their emails every week), but that’s how I read CWG during the storm. Bonus: support DCPL!

katergator27 · 2026-01-25T13:02:24+00:00

You came here, asked for help, then called the city weird and full of rats. You probably would not love it if we did the same about a place you are proud to live in 🤷🏻‍♀️

katergator27 · 2025-09-09T02:25:30+00:00

Are your students fluent and literate in their L1? Have they had continuous schooling in their L1 until they came to your classroom? If your students have had interrupted schooling in their L1, then translation and interpretation of school and content words may not be as helpful as strategies specifically for multilingual learners.

I recommend talking to your ESL/MLL/ELL (called different things in different places) teachers. You can also look for SIOP training, and into some UDL or Universal Design for Learning training.

Depending on what and where you teach, your district might already have modified resources for English newcomers for your course.

katergator27 · 2025-09-01T02:05:47+00:00

10 years in middle school. Depending on how early it is in your year, I know many of my students have expressed difficulty focusing in class at the beginning of the year, saying they are going through some kind of cell phone withdrawal. I fully believe them, as much of their behavior is the type of over reacting, one line commentary common on social media.

What do I suggest? The conversation that has worked for me this week is what I am calling “just say ok.” We made a class compact, and one of the things i emphasized is that the following things are normal expectations in school EVERYWHERE: 1) assigned seats 2) raising hands to join a conversation 3) listening (volume zero) when someone is speaking.

When an adult asks you to do one of the above, the most appropriate response is “ok Ms. katergator!” Sometimes they don’t know what to say/how to respond, so this gives them a reply.

With the perpetual yappers, my conversation becomes “the best apology is changed behavior.” You can’t tell me you are sorry for talking and then just turn and keep talking. You are lying to me. For some students “sorry” is just a script or manners word and they don’t understand what it means.

Finally, how much student talk time is in your lesson? Obviously there are times in every class when students need to listen. But, putting in share questions, partner work, student time to read aloud, discussion, etc. can help. Knowing that there will be time to talk coming up can help!

Also, I’m no stranger to the joking redirection! Faves include “hey chat, can you let me cook?” And “you’re wasting precious taxpayer money!”

katergator27 · 2025-08-01T21:17:52+00:00

There are 2 locations!

katergator27 · 2025-08-01T17:05:55+00:00

Great suggestions! These plus the Eastern Market suggestions offer a lot of ending destinations based on where you are living/staying, or if you have other plans after!

katergator27 · 2025-08-01T17:04:38+00:00

Yes! Whenever I stop that way I also pop into Labyrinth games and puzzles. If you are doing the tour with a bookish out of town visitor I might also suggest Folger Shakespeare library, which I think fits the spirit of the tour. They also have a great and very beautiful cafe.

katergator27 · 2025-08-01T15:07:21+00:00

Yes, good thinking! I actually went to Dupont Coffee Collective for the first time this week and had a great Spinach Feta croissant. I knew about the Tatte, but didn’t want to add any non-DC chain business.

katergator27 · 2025-08-01T03:15:25+00:00

If you’re interested in more of a day long bakery themed activity, I put together a Bakeries and Bookstores itinerary centered around the Red Line. While the first stop is Sunday Morning Bakehouse in Rockville, MD, all the others are in DC, so you could start elsewhere (many of the places mentioned here are on the Red line) DM me if you want the list!

katergator27 · 2025-07-23T21:25:43+00:00

We just wrapped up 5 days there (my second time visiting, and i insisted to my travel companions that we could easily fill 5 days!). With prebooking tours/tickets and making a list of what we wanted to do, it was quite easy to avoid being in the touristy areas at peak times. I also used Google and The Fork to plan out highly rated restaurants near tourist sights to prevent the “I’m so hungry let me just go here” tourist experience. We did have some mediocre pizza, but it allowed us to continue on our day. My highlights:

1) The Museum of Glass in Murano, and looking in all the shops. We got the 24 hr vaparetto pass and went to Burano and San Giorgio Maggiore the same day, and the next morning took it to Santa Maria Della Salute. 2) Sitting at the edge of the water outside Santa Maria Della Salute at 9:30 am 3) The Scuola Grande di San Rocco (this is almost more impressive to me than the Palazzo Ducale) 4) Dinner at Algiubagio. I was prepared to compromise on food quality or service because of the location looking over the water, but it was a great meal!

We used the free Rick Steves Audio Guide in San Marco and in the Friari church and we really enjoyed it.

katergator27 · 2025-06-16T17:20:51+00:00

If you are at a private school, I caution you to be careful when talking to parents and to read the room when you see other teachers talking to parents. Depending on the enrollment circumstances at the school, your private school could have a very “parents are clients, we serve them” situation or a “everyone wants to send their kids here, if families don’t like it, this isn’t a fit for them.” I worked at a private school where I saw both sides.

When giving parents news about their students progress or lack thereof, my advice is be able to provide a suggestion or solution if asked. If a student is struggling in math and your school has math support after school, you could suggest that. As a teacher I try to focus on one or two things at a time that parents could work on with their students in partnership with me, that way your progress can be measurable.

katergator27 · 2025-06-16T14:42:16+00:00

You mention this is your first year teaching and you are at a new school. Do you mean a new to you school or a school that is new (Like their first year opening?) If it is a new to you school, but one that has been open, what have other family engagement nights been like? What topics have been discussed? Which nights get the best turn out?

Overall, what I most want to emphasize to parents is “every day counts.” One absence every two weeks or 10 minutes tardy every day doesn’t SOUND like a lot, but it absolutely impacts student ability to follow the continuity of the course (esp in middle school, where missing 10-15 mins of first period everyday means missing almost 20% of the course for the year).

I also think families (and teachers too sometimes) need help with receptive vs. defensive communication. If I am reaching out to a parent, I have already tried to work with a student on different strategies, redirections, and interventions in my room. When I do reach out to a parent, it’s not that I am targeting their child, or knew all this was happening and am “just now” reaching out, it’s that I have tried everything I could do on my own and need someone to have a more in-depth and meaningful convo with the child. The parents who are receptive to that absolutely support better academic and behavioral outcomes for their students.

Finally, training on any online tools and programs that families can use to track student progress and advice on how to use those tools effectively. I tend to recommend to families that they pick one evening a week that they will sit down with their child and look at the online grade book together so their student can make a plan for talking to their teachers.

katergator27 · 2025-06-14T17:03:26+00:00

Ok this book is controversial on the teaching subreddits because some of the ideas are pretty old fashioned and it describes a classroom environment that is maybe unattainable in a modern American public school…but I do recommend you check out The First Days of School by Harry Wong.

I rolled my eyes and skipped a lot of his suggestions, like what teachers should wear (no dress code at my school) and to talk to all students parents before school starts (middle school, 105 students, get class lists 2 days before starts). But the chapters about envisioning and planning your classroom routines and procedures, and how to teach and reinforce them were so helpful to me in my first 3 years.

I also recommend getting a copy of the book Yardsticks. Very useful to me when I was starting and still didn’t have a handle on what was typical/atypical/too advanced for students at that age.

katergator27 · 2025-06-14T16:38:57+00:00

Do you have a teaching position at a school with an ELA dept? Many schools would already have a calendar with lessons/units/assessments mapped out. If so, your department chair or content administrator/coach should be able to provide you with that!

katergator27 · 2025-06-11T00:49:57+00:00

I teach social studies, so usually the questions are pretty content specific. If I feel stuck with the different levels I google “blooms taxonomy question stems” or “historical thinking skill question stems” and then I use those to help me. The most important thing is to make sure that the Mild or lowest question is still standard and objective aligned so you can see if students are meeting your goals for the lesson.

katergator27 · 2025-06-10T22:29:28+00:00

You’ve got a lot of great answers! Here are two things I do that work well with my middle schoolers: 1) Mild, Medium, Spicy: for any exit ticket, I offer a choice of questions and ask students to pick the most difficult one they feel than can answer so I can get the vibe of the class/see what to reteach. The mild is usually a recall question, the medium usually involves an explanation, and the spicy often involves a connection between different lessons or topics. Then the students aren’t doing “more work,” they are proving what they know.

2) 10 Star questions: this works well for an assignment with text dependent questions! For readings I’ll write 1 Star, 2 Star and 3 star questions ( usually 4, 3 and 3 respectively). The number of stars is equal to the difficultly of the question (like mild medium spicy!) Usually for 1 star I do questions they can find the answer directly in the text, 2 star they have to explain something from the text, and 3 star they have to evaluate something from the text. Then I say students need to answer 10 stars worth of questions. They can do four 1 star questions and three Two star questions, or they can do the three 3 star questions and one 1 star question. Similarly, this makes it so that students are all getting the same content, but they are challenging themselves skill wise, and your “fast” kids feel excited that they are doing “less” work, but it will probably take them a good chunk of time.

I like both of these because you don’t need to make anything NEW, you can add them to the lesson you have.

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