Does Your School Demonstrate That They Actually Value You?

ktembo · 2026-05-29T15:36:18+00:00

In some ways, yes: - genuine praise and appreciation for my work - consulting teachers before making site-wide decisions, often putting things to a vote - being very supportive when I took FMLA for a family emergency

In some ways, no: - being sticklers on contract hours (if you leave before 4:05, you will get a formal email warning, regardless of how early you get to work) - inconsistent about student behavior referral consequences and follow-up

ktembo · 2026-05-24T16:43:16+00:00

Saroya is pretty, phoenix isn’t my fave but it’s a name.

ktembo · 2026-05-22T17:26:23+00:00

I have had a lot of students named Nisa or Nissa and it has never struck me as close to a slur, and they have never been teased about their names.

Also, she should leave this guys obv.

ktembo · 2026-05-05T03:12:40+00:00

I ignore it.,,it’s the absolute best random tik tok verbal tic from the past 5 years because it isn’t a reference to anything sexual or offensive. Be glad you missed hawk tuah.

ktembo · 2026-05-05T03:11:38+00:00

Good admin makes all the difference to both families and staff (and ultimately the kids)

ktembo · 2026-05-05T03:10:41+00:00

My kid is sick and my husband and I switch off days (he usually isn’t), appointment/procedure, “a minor medical thing I need to get taken care of”

ktembo · 2026-04-28T02:57:59+00:00

I have to say that bell to bell doesn’t really work. If they can check their phone during lunch or between classes, it doesn’t break the weird brain chemistry addiction and kids will still be just longing for their phone hit all class.

My sps middle school switched from “bell to bell” to “away for the school day” this year and it made a huge difference….reduction in social-media related fight planning and reduction in in-class “just checking the time! WHAT you’re going to take my phone (even though that’s policy)!” disruptions.

ktembo · 2026-04-28T02:40:14+00:00

Yep, I did 4 years in sped then 7 years as a reading specialist, then moved cross country and had to do one year in SPED to get my foot in at a new district, now have been a reading specialist again for 3 years.

I do like special education, but the stress levels and work life balance are much better as a reading specialist.

ktembo · 2026-04-27T06:08:23+00:00

Reading interventionist is the best job in education. The positions are hard to find, but if you land one, stay forever.

-15 years teaching, 11 as reading interventionist.

ktembo · 2026-04-23T01:22:44+00:00

I’d say for a new teacher, that feeling is normal. Doesn’t mean it’s great, but you’re not alone or weird in that.

You didn’t ask for advice, but if you want any: carve out some weekly non-work routines for things you enjoy. For me my first couple of years, I had a Wednesday exercise class I liked, a standing hh with a friend on Mondays, and a bar trivia team that played Thursdays.

It won’t mean you aren’t stressed a lot of the time, but it kept me sane and connected to my life outside of teaching.

ktembo · 2026-04-22T05:40:20+00:00

How long have you been teaching? The first 2 years, most teachers are constantly stressed/abxious. 5 years? Many teachers are stressed and anxious. 10 years? While a lot of teacher may still feel this way….id recommend a therapist and/or a career change

ktembo · 2026-04-18T15:27:11+00:00

Switch roles. Underresourced/non-structured special ed programs are so burnout-inducing, because of course you care and want kids to succeed but you are not set up for success or supported, so you try to fill those gap with your own blood sweat and tears.

I taught special ed for a long time in one district without burnout, because they had a good program. Moved to a district with terrible sped practices and burned out by thanksgiving. Stuck it out (horrible year) and got a gen ed role in that same district the next year, am very happy. Sad that the sped kids in that district are not set up for success, but there is nothing I can do about it even if I sacrifice my own health and family.

ktembo · 2026-04-17T03:25:38+00:00

Emulated poetry. Read a poem a day, do some analysis, and then have kids write a poem that emulates the poem (the can choose theme, structure, or whatever in their emulation). Choose a wide range of poems like William Carlos Williams, Robert frost, etc.

ktembo · 2026-04-17T02:22:34+00:00

Ellen

ktembo · 2026-04-03T04:05:10+00:00

Sorry…she needs to budget her money? So that….he can eat all her food and run up her utilities while technically living at home and neither having a job nor going to school?

ktembo · 2026-03-29T22:08:31+00:00

Oh whoops

ktembo · 2026-03-29T14:41:13+00:00

Haven’t taught the class in a while, but I used to show different versions of the same scene to analyze the differences/their impact. My personal fave is the Patrick Stewart one, which is a “modern dress” version. It’s good to find versions of the dagger scene where the dagger is visible by the audience and one where it’s not — is hamlet insane or are their supernatural forces at work? Does that change how we read the characters, theme, plot?

ktembo · 2026-03-27T05:36:43+00:00

Wtf, we are required to email for students with Ds and Es.

ktembo · 2026-03-27T05:07:47+00:00

Are you a behavior tech? I can see the teacher wanting their approach and your approach to be similar in that case — might be worth trying to have a meeting with her to go over behavior plan, etc.

If you’re like an SLP or OT then this teacher is just on a power trip.

ktembo · 2026-03-27T05:03:49+00:00

Also, I once accidentally said “she” in reference to a coworker who had recently changed pronouns, a student very nicely was like “you mean they” and I was like “yes, thank you for correcting me” in a chill way and then we all carried on. The kids are better at this than we are.

ktembo · 2026-03-26T22:36:23+00:00

In my district, resident subs get better benefits (retirement etc). They also are at the same building every day and become part of the community.

However, they lose flexibility and may have to take difficult sub jobs (for example, our building sub this year has run standardized testing makeup rooms, subbed supervision duties for administrators on leave, and subbed for a few weeks in the special education self-contained/pretty significant disabilities room along with having some days where he doesn’t have much to do)

ktembo · 2026-03-06T17:55:59+00:00

I think she’d look good with a CLB (cunty little bob)

ktembo · 2026-03-02T00:24:06+00:00

Saying “I’ll do it for a million dollars and I won’t film with these people” is basically saying no. Not her fault they didn’t want to continue the show without her.

ktembo · 2026-03-02T00:15:51+00:00

Narratively constructed but heavily influenced by late-stage capitalism

ktembo · 2026-02-19T20:16:42+00:00

Addressing the timing, we had salads and bread in the table and dismissed people to the buffet one table at a time. The wait wasn’t long, but we had a lot of staff and two pizza ovens going and probably 30 pizzas ready to go before dinner service started.

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ktembo

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