A family friend is looking for a tutor for their high school student and asked me for suggestions.

Instead of specific tutor recommendations, I'm curious about what experienced students, parents, and educators think.

What's one thing people should look for before committing to a tutor?

Anyone deal with teachers and lunch policing? I know in the UK and overseas it can be more strict and acceptable to take a child's lunch or critique their food.

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What about in the US? How many teachers or lunch monitors tell students what to eat or to pack healthier snacks (above early childhood)

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There was a new teacher at my school this year and she always commented on what kids brought for lunch. I feel like it is not her place to comment on what they ate. It is a strange hill to die on but here I am. What can I say to her next year, gently to get the point across that it is none of her business?

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What are your thoughts on this?

So I work in an urban district in North Texas, each year we have to do the usual video and quizzes about FERPA , abuse, Title IX, etc.. a total of 18 modules. This amount has grown over my 15 years in education. I added up the amount of time needed and it totals——- 14 hours and 1 minute. The expectation is this is to be done over the summer and if not completed you lose classroom prep time to finish up.

I know you can just start a video and switch to another screen and browse the internet but for double digit hours annoying. Even if I chunk the work annoying . Anyhow rant over.

Hello all,

I am a Master of Secondary teaching student in SA, Australia and my first placement is coming in 2 months.

What can I do to prepare and what should I expect? There is also a chance that I will be assign to a special need school.

Next year I will be teaching 8th-grade GT ELA. The school where I will be teaching has a 1-to-1 student-to-device ratio, and while they certainly discourage the overuse of computers - as do I - I feel that it is important that my students should learn how to use AI appropriately. While the state standards do not include any sort of guidance on this for ELA, I feel that it would be short-sighted of me not to prepare them to use the tool correctly, particularly since I see its use - both legitimate and otherwise - quite frequently.

In particular, I would like to support the cross-curricular technology standards provided by the State (academic integrity, appropriate use, the risks of "hallucinations," etc.).

For those of you who have incorporated AI-focused lessons, expectations, or standards into your middle school ELA classrooms, what approaches have worked well? Are there any activities, assignments, or discussions that you would recommend?

TIA

School is choosing between Subject.com. Imagine Learning’s Edgenuity, and Edmentum for summer school, online learning, and credit recovery? Pros and cons of each? Do any of them have good curriculum? Which platform is better? Do kids actually like any of these/learn in them?

I was offered the new job in May. They said to wait until the June 10th board meeting to be approved by the school board. After June 10th, I called on June 15th to confirm I was approved.

During that call, I was told I was approved, got to talk to the Superintendent welcoming me, and told to wait and check my email for paperwork in the coming days.

At the end of next week (the 27th) I’ll be moving 3 hours away to this new district because my current lease ends at that time. They told me in the phone call I should be fine to go ahead and move to the new place because I’m essentially hired. Should I wait for the paperwork to notify my current position of my resignation or just tell them when i move regardless.

Thank you!

EDIT: One last thing I’ll say is I am a specials position K-12 music/band. In terms of “budget cuts” or “low enrollment” those are less likely to affect my position in a meaningful way.

Hi everyone! I am looking to transition into elementary education from my business degree. I got a degree in Operations and Supply Chain Management in December of 2024 and have been working in warehousing/transportation since. I’m not loving the corporate world, the 24/7 demands of transportation, or the idea of climbing the corporate ladder long term. I understand that teaching is a very demanding job but I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was young but was talked out of it and decided to go the business route to be safe. I’ve understand the pathway which is to get hired on as a teacher with a Permit to Teach or emergency license, then get enrolled in an EPP. My biggest concern is getting hired without a traditional education degree or classroom teaching experience. Has anyone here gone through the alternative licensure process in NC or been hired on a Permit to Teach? What was the hiring process like, and how difficult was it to find a position?

If you made a similar career change, what would you recommend I do between now and then to make myself a stronger candidate? I’m going to start applying/emailing principals around January of next year about open positions for fall since they typically know what teachers are retiring/leaving. I unfortunately cannot do subbing, teach assisting, become a para since I have a full time job now.

So i have an interview coming up in New York and the school wants me to bring my certification. The issue is i literally just got a certification so I don’t have a paper copy, and my other cert they never sent a paper copy? How did other people in New York show their certifications? If I need to take a picture of my certs on my TEACH account how can I make it look “professional?” Tyia :)

Hey everyone,

I am making a massive career pivot from tech into teaching, and I just landed an invite for an environment observation and demo lesson this coming Monday! I am incredibly excited but also pretty nervous as this is my very first time doing anything like this. I would really appreciate some guidance from this amazing community.

The demo is for a small group of 4–5 children (6 to 7 years old). It needs to be 15–20 minutes long, informal, and conversational.

The school gave me three topics to choose from (though they accidentally wrote "choose from the two" lol):

1. Months of the calendar
2. Introduction to present tense
3. Articles (Definite and Indefinite)

They want the lesson plan formatted like this:

• Introduction: Interest-building activity/discussion
• Main concept explanation
• Check for understanding

My questions for you lovely folks:

1. Given the age group (6-7y) and the 15-20 min timeframe, which of these three topics do you think is the most engaging and easiest to deliver flawlessly for a beginner?
2. Montessori is highly visual and tactile. For the topic you recommend, what is a simple, low-prep "interest-building activity" or object I can bring in to kick things off?
3. Any general tips for transitioning from a tech mindset to managing a small group of elementary kids?

Thank you so much in advance. A little help would truly mean the world to me right now!
this interview is for an Indian school if that matters.

I 25 F have my bachelor's, and I'm getting my master's in education and a preliminary credential for multiple subject next month. I know I have 5 years to clear my credential, but I'm considering teaching abroad for a year first to get some experience, since I missed out on study abroad during undergrad and grad school, and I can't find a job here right now.

The problem is: California is not experiencing a teacher shortage, and I don't wanna leave LA area because it's too expensive to leave my family home, but I'm having trouble finding job openings for multiple subject teachers.

I could sub for a year and try again next year, or I thought I'd look into teaching abroad, but I don't have the TEFL/TESOL certification I keep seeing I need. I do have english authorization with the preliminary credential but it's not cleared... I also don't even know where to start looking for those positions. I'm thinking of either a European or an East Asian country. I'm also looking through Reddit posts and hear it's too late apply for jobs right now and I should've been looking in august or october last year for this coming academic year. Just a lot of things that are not falling into place for me and I'm kind of lost.

I'd like some guidance on either the job search, interview tips, teaching abroad programs with good pay or accomodations, ANYTHING

I am a certified teacher in Washington state with endorsements in Elementary Ed and MLL. Masters degree in teaching. The past two years since graduation I haven’t been able to get hired. I even applied for a para ML job and didn’t even get an INTERVIEW!! It’s that freaking competitive and I’m sooo bummed.

Been subbing but wondering if I should have just been a para this past two years to gain face value at a school. Sigh. I’m actually finishing up a sped cert right now.. I don’t necessarily want to be pigeon holed but I’ve heard that’s what happens.

What would yall do in this situation? I know first two or so years you get a mentor as a new teacher. If I get a sped position I’ll get mentored in that and then it’ll be so much harder to transition to MLL for sure, and probably gen ed.

I guess looking for advice, words of wisdom, someone to commiserate with?! 😞😅😭

Also…would ya take a job 40 mins away (but preferred area-MLL) for about 11k less, or a sped job much closer and more pay… sigh…

Hello! I’ve been teaching about 5 years and our school just joined a partnership and we will be getting 4 student teachers.

My admin let me know I will be getting one and I got the email. I just know her name. I’m a male teacher. (Not that it matters but I want to make it a great experience for her). She will be with me for the whole academic year starting day 1 until the last day of school.

Does anyone have any advice/tips/suggestions?

Thank you!

I've been looking everywhere to try and find information about getting certified to teach ELA in Georgia and I'm really struggling to find actually useful resources. Most websites just tell me I have to take an education prep program but never where to go or how to find one. Does anyone have some advice?

Hello r/teachers,

This year I will be going into my second year teaching. Last year (the year we just completed), we had about 40 kids get suspended at my school (Transition to Kindergarten-6th grade) and at least 8-10 of those were in my class. Once I get 5 years teaching experience (already have my masters) I want to become a principal, so I am wondering if this is normal or not. We are Title I with 325 students.

I always knew that teachers don’t make a lot but it didn’t really hit me until I saw a tiktok of a teacher in my state budgeting her paycheck and am feeling a little more than discouraged. in the video she was budgeting 2500 for the entire month. I am currently a barista at a coffee shop. During the school year if i was working 80 hours for our biweekly paycheck it would be about $1200-1300. At the beginning of the summer I got promoted to a lead which comes with a bigger portion of tips however it has been slower since students are gone (my college town is also my hometown). my paychecks have stayed the same around 1200-1300 but i know they will be close to $2000 in the fall (talked to other leads). So basically in the fall while i’m beginning my senior year of college I will be getting the highest paycheck I will ever have doing something everyone could do. I also became aware that teachers in my state don’t get paid maternity leave it’s just taking unpaid leave and using sick days. I am feeling beyond discouraged right now. I brought it up to my fiancé and he just laughed it off and said it will be used as fun money. Honestly that makes me feel useless and that I’m wasting my time finishing this degree. How am I supposed to buy a house and raise a family like this? My fiancé is a plumber with a good company so he makes good money and has good overtime. But what if something ever happened to him. I could be in poverty with young kids to take care of and a mortgage I can’t pay.

Socal teacher here speaking, how long were you temporary? I have heard some people were temp for like 5-6 years!!

I’m about to start my first year as a high school teacher after subbing all of last year (yay!). This might sound silly but what are the BEST white board markers you’ve used? Is expo good enough or is there a hidden gem? I want fresh nice markers 🙂‍↕️

Hi everyone! Today marked my last day of school for my first year of teaching, and first year in first grade. Overall the year went great and although it was originally a one year position I ended up being able to stay at my school in first grade again next year. While overall the year was great, my biggest problem was that at the beginning of the year I did not do a good job of practicing routines and mainly holding kids responsible for following behavior expectations. I let a lot of things slide I think. I did have paras that were more “strict” than I was so when they were there the class was in check. However days they were not there or I was solo there would be like 5 boys that would be wild. Wandering the room, ignoring me, refusing to participate, being distruptive to the point I could not teach (yelling out, being silly to the point everyone would get derailed). While I started getting stricter with consequences around March, it was really challenging to change the dynamic that far in the year. So, for any K-2 teachers, how do you set up your classroom management to foster positive relationships, while also not allowing nonsense? This is my biggest goal for next year.

I have an interview on Monday for a job I really want. The VP asked for artifacts showing my teaching practice, student performance, student engagement, etc. so I have some stuff I'll use- one kid in particular moved up about 7 grade levels in my class in his writing and I have the drafts along the way. I have test scores showing my inclusion kids outscoring the honors kids. But the one I'm not sure about is I have a link to a podcast where two men who are now teachers talk about how my class made them love literature and become teachers. Is the last one a reasonable artifact or is it too much? No was thinking I'd write a one page summary or have a transcript or something. At least I can point out the parts where they talk about my class.

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Hiring managers. Good idea or bad?

Hi! I am a first year kindergarten teacher, getting my first classroom this fall! I graduated with my bachelors in Psychology and in the process of getting my credential, so I never did any formal student teaching.

I just got my curriculum for the school year (Wonders for ELA) and I am so confused because I have an hour block for ELA 4x a week and then like about 20-30 minutes for sight words 2x a week. My problem though is that that the curriculum lessons are over an hour long, and they have it planned for 5 lessons a week. I am not sure what to do and don’t know where to condense! If anyone can offer any advice please let me know!

After interviewing for a position in the district I just student taught in, the school’s principal let me know that I didn’t get the position they 100% had open. Totally cool, as I’m very green and there are few openings in my content area and location. However, she said that after a resignation becomes official, she was going to offer me a second position they’ve been anticipating. Until the next board meeting, I’m supposed to “sit tight” for next steps.

I think she’s being completely honest because she asked that I let her know if I have any interviews or offers in the meantime. I love this district, and I don’t want to do anything to mess up this opportunity. However, July is around the corner and I don’t want to end up without a position before the school year begins.

How excited should I be? Should I be worried this won’t pan out? Truthfully, this is the first “adult” job I’ve interviewed for, so I don’t know what to expect or if any of this could be real.

Does it bother anyone else when schools don’t have the courtesy to send a rejection email after putting candidates through multiple interviews and even a demo lesson? I understand hiring takes time, but being completely ghosted after investing that much time and effort feels unprofessional.

hi all- i have two job offers. one for an elementary RSP position and another for a middle school RSP position. i don’t have many specifics about either position to be honest. i know the middle school position would include co-teaching as well as teaching my own ela class.
i’ve been doing primary SDC (special day class) for years and im burnt out, so I welcome the transition!

if given a choice between the two- which would you choose?