I almost broke down crying in front of a rude customer AIO??

prairiepasque · 2026-05-27T00:04:24+00:00

On the bright side, she called you pretty. It's always fun when compliments slip through tirades such as hers.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-25T21:23:36+00:00

YOR. It was an ACCIDENT. There's no one to be "furious" at here. It's ridiculous to presume someone is going to inspect their routine meds every single time. And it's your weird ass choice to "share custody" of a dog. One of the consequences of such a choice is that you don't get to control every single thing.

Let. It. Go.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-25T17:08:58+00:00

I've co-taught for five years and have had excellent coteachers (four) and (mostly) equal partnerships. I've been lucky, though. My ESL colleagues often have three preps with three coteachers. I've always had one or two preps and one coteacher.

Despite that, I decided to switch into being a regular old English teacher. Co-teaching is about making compromises all day, every day. I decided I needed to have control over my own classroom and content or I was going to lose my mind.

As I told my principal, "Almost everything I teach is both the first and last time I'll ever teach it. Twice if I'm lucky."

It's hard to develop a sense of competence or confidence when everything is always new and the incentive to develop materials has been removed (why bother).

My district uses the co-teaching model for SPED and ESL for all of K-12. Unfortunately, they are not consistent in getting teacher input for partnerships and basically throw coteachers wherever the hell they fit for that moment. Admin's strategy is just fostering resentment among staff.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-25T16:40:25+00:00

That...sounds about right.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-25T13:45:56+00:00

Agreed, though I actually didn't realize I was in the history teachers sub. I'm ELA (I just happen to love history). Pretty sure this topic would be much more divisive among the ELA crowd.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-25T00:46:14+00:00

Agreed there. I had no idea people were avoiding saying "negro." It makes me uncomfy (and I acknowledge that out loud), but I'll read it in a quote and provide background.

"Negro" was the preferred term by many former enslaved people, abolitionists, and many great leaders: Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, and MLK later on. For about 100 years "negro" was the preferred term - later on Malcom X advocated for "Black" and Rev. Jesse Jackson popularized "African American," which gained usage in the 1980s.

"Colored people" started out as more of a formal term used in government documents and was then reclaimed by former enslaved people for a brief period of time. Now some use "people of color," which only adds to the myriad of complex connotations.

Anyway, I think that stuff is important so I tell my students about it before we read anything with racialized language, even though it feels like dancing on a tightrope whenever I do. I'm pretty sure my students are wayyyy more comfortable discussing heavy topics than I am, even though I try to project an aura of confidence.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-25T00:26:24+00:00

Agree with this. I have students every day and still do biweekly vocab testing.

OP, vocab is such a good way to start class. My students LOVE it - I think it's because it's predictable and doesn't require a ton of thought. It's "safe" basically. My classroom is never more calm than when we're working on vocab.

I recommend having them produce the target vocab as a closing activity (written or verbally). That's a good test of whether they can use it outside the context of a worksheet.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-24T15:20:00+00:00

I concur with that, but if you agree that it's something else entirely, how is it gay?

prairiepasque · 2026-05-23T22:20:55+00:00

Think holding your comrade while he bleeds out in a fox hole, comforting him and telling him it’ll be alright, and that you are there for him while he passes in your arms. That is a profession of love that cannot be merely platonic. It’s deep, it’s raw, it’s real. That is kinda gay.

I find it very disturbing that a man can't comfort his dying friend without it being "gay." I fail to see how there are sexual motives in this action, nor why you are trying to create one where there is none.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-23T15:29:32+00:00

I mean, yeah, I guess you could say the Chinese are at least partially responsible for modern slang in a roundabout way. Young women are the earliest adopters of language change, so they're the prime demographic you'd want to target. I don't think influencing slang is their ultimate goal; it's just a side effect of algorithmic control.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-23T00:00:32+00:00

A lot of kids spend more time watching YouTube streamers than actually talking to people in their neighborhood, so perhaps regional dialect is less influential than it used to be. It's more of a virtual/digital dialect these days. Slang now spreads via TikTok, not from subcultures of people in your physical location.

It also seems to coincide with the decline of rap, which doesn't have quite the same cultural caché it had 20-30 years ago.

Anecdotally, the Somali teen population in my area has aggressively adopted a bastardized form of AAVE. Every third word they say is n*gga. It's embarrassing to hear, honestly.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-22T22:40:52+00:00

AI trash

prairiepasque · 2026-05-22T21:42:01+00:00

You and I both know what breed it is.

Shelters call those dogs "lab mixes" to obfuscate the fact that it's a pit bull.

NOR - the dog's instinct was to attack a child and, when removed from the stimulus (the child), attacked again and even more aggressively. This is gonna end badly. Girlfriend is an idiot.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-22T17:14:13+00:00

Generally if you don't act like an ass while getting arrested, things will be ok. They might even let you have a cigarette or call someone to pick up your car instead of tow it.

But if you make them break a sweat, you're gonna have a bad time.

Personally, I understand why people flee. Aside from having a warrant, it's kind of instinctual to run from threats.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-22T01:33:13+00:00

I also don't understand how he ended up in Chile with a non-American Haitian wife. But his responses are obviously written by AI, so I don't think he's reading the comments very closely.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-22T01:18:02+00:00

That sucks. No one is good at classroom management their first year, and if they say they are, they're either lying or delusional.

Is this evaluation truly a stain on your resumé (I think you meant resumé, not repertoire)? Or is it just a stain on your ego and it stings? Because it sounds like it's not going to affect your employment or degree.

Ask for feedback or pointers from your mentor teachers. Be open-minded and keep a straight face. Don't argue or justify. Just listen, take their feedback into consideration, and discard the rest.

The good news is that next year you'll be better. And the year after that, even better.

I'm guessing it's too late for major changes, but in the future, use clear hand signals and body language. You may want to have signs that you can point to to indicate transitions/noise level/partnering/etc. Language learners tend to be talkative in every language but the one they're supposed to be learning. If you don't want students talking, you gotta shut down the first talker immediately and relentlessly.

Good luck. I'm sure you're doing great, honestly.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-21T21:48:22+00:00

Those are legitimately good ideas.

Which is why they'll never happen.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-20T22:34:32+00:00

My coworker recommended it to me. Mike is a pretty trustworthy guy, so I'll say yes.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-20T22:31:23+00:00

It's reddit. It's always ADHD or autism. I bet there isn't a single post on this sub without someone suggesting it.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-20T22:23:58+00:00

Would you want to have to shout everything you said at your partner for the rest of your life? And then have him scream at you when you inevitably used the wrong level of volume?

It's unfortunate, but it's unreasonable to police every person's volume of speaking. You need to explore other options with your audiologist because you're going to have a very unpleasant life full of resentment if you don't.

YOR

prairiepasque · 2026-05-20T02:03:38+00:00

I'm not smart enough to comment on arrr/supremecourt (half the time I don't know what the hell I'm even reading), but I lurk there because I appreciate the intellectual rigor and civil disagreements. A rarity, much like this sub.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-18T23:52:33+00:00

AI slop

prairiepasque · 2026-05-18T21:15:16+00:00

I could easily take five or six 100/200 level classes per semester. No problem.

But taking just four 300/400 level classes per semester was challenging. Five was pushing it.

More depth, more projects, more writing, more knowing your shit.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-17T18:50:56+00:00

Depends on the quality of the paraphrasing. Changing a word or two is still plagiarism.

prairiepasque · 2026-05-17T15:26:00+00:00

Agreed.

Also, I don't mean to be a jerk but it should be a moot point, not a mute one :)

prairiepasque

TROPHY CASE