OT: Teachers of Boneyard...Back to School Time

[navery12]

My fiancée was back to school today, she's excited for the school year. 8th grade science and she gets to teach a normal team with an honors section this year.

Last year some admin decided to try out a new concept and place 89 of the most troubled kids on one team. Needless to say it did not go well, and didn't happen this year

 

[husky429]

Last year some admin decided to try out a new concept and place 89 of the most troubled kids on one team. Needless to say it did not go well, and didn't happen this year

Seems like a good way to have a bunch of teachers uber resentful and quit.

 

[cohenzone]

My wife, RIP, was a 1st runner up for CT Teacher of the Year in the late 90s . I’m not a teacher but i do 3 days a week in a school with a large economically disadvantaged population mentoring 1st and 2nd graders in reading and writing. Started last year and love it. I start last week of Sept to allow the teachers time to learn which kids will benefit from 1 on 1 or 1 on 2 help. The teachers in that school are great.

 

[temery]

My fiancée was back to school today, she's excited for the school year. 8th grade science and she gets to teach a normal team with an honors section this year.

Last year some admin decided to try out a new concept and place 89 of the most troubled kids on one team. Needless to say it did not go well, and didn't happen this year

Always ticked me off that as the only male teacher in a small school I always got the behavior problems.

 

[Greedo]

I'm curious if emotional support animals are a thing yet in any of your schools?

We have a group that brings dogs in. They hang out in the library or cafeteria and the kids can go to pet them. I would say multiple days per week there is a dog at the school.

 

[UC1995]

Middle school math at an independent private school in CT. I lead the department too, coach and other various hats

Nothing quite like middle schoolers… strange breed. Also teach math and started up back on August 14 this year.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

We have a group that brings dogs in. They hang out in the library or cafeteria and the kids can go to pet them. I would say multiple days per week there is a dog at the school.

I’m so all for that. I wish we had a therapy dog at our school.

It’s no coincidence that I usually have a great few weeks the same time a pre-school class takes care of baby chicks by our main entrance. I see them like every prep I have!

 

[cohenzone]

Always ticked me off that as the only male teacher in a small school I always got the behavior problems.

The school I’m mentoring in only has one male teacher. Can’t say for sure because my exposure to whole classes is tiny. Doesn’t seem like he had an inordinate percent of difficult kids. In general the lower grades in my school seemed not overall to have big behavioral issues. I did see a few situations.

 

[uconnfan68]

The school I’m mentoring in only has one male teacher. Can’t say for sure because my exposure to whole classes is tiny. Doesn’t seem like he had an inordinate percent of difficult kids. In general the lower grades in my school seemed not overall to have big behavioral issues. I did see a few situations.

My niece faced death threats from 3rd graders.

 

[cohenzone]

My niece faced death threats from 3rd graders.

So what did the school do?

 

[husky429]

My niece faced death threats from 3rd graders.

Not terribly uncommon, sadly. Kids need help and they ain't getting it

 

[Dove]

So what did the school do?

Probably called her into a meeting with the principal and Superintendent and was told to apologize to their parents.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

You're a braver man than me. I tapped out on overnight field trips a while ago.

Got back home around 4:30 today. Wednesday was ROUGH with the heat but thankfully NW NJ had some strong t-storms that cooled off the area by dinner time yesterday in time for the cabins to be bearable to sleep in.

It’s always interesting how certain kids (and teachers) get upgrades or downgrades after these trips. Like you really see people for who they are.

I fell asleep on the couch about an hour ago and now at 8 pm, I’m heading to bed for good.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Anyone else noticing that kids are way sick at the start of the year than usual? We had three teachers leave school early on Friday, but I'm sure starting the year at a three-day camping trip didn't help w/ starting the year off w/ everyone healthy.

 

[husky429]

Anyone else noticing that kids are way sick at the start of the year than usual? We had three teachers leave school early on Friday, but I'm sure starting the year at a three-day camping trip didn't help w/ starting the year off w/ everyone healthy.

We've had a number covid positive. Stay healthy, everyone!

 

[M.S.G.]

Not sure if we had a thread for this, but I know a handful of us here have coached or do coach now..

I decided to do something I said I'd never do.... Coaching middle school again.

Since I transitioned from teaching in CT to MA, I didn't coach these past 2 years - after talking to a few ADs and people I respect around here, the consensus was that I needed to suck it up and coach a year of MS to have an AD say, oh wow, yeah this guy is actually pretty good! Yeah no kidding... Coaching HS varsity again is the goal, I have more left to give. Heart wasn't in it those past few years, I think I have more in the tank.

Everyone ready for the season?

 

[husky429]

Not sure if we had a thread for this, but I know a handful of us here have coached or do coach now..

I decided to do something I said I'd never do.... Coaching middle school again.

Since I transitioned from teaching in CT to MA, I didn't coach these past 2 years - after talking to a few ADs and people I respect around here, the consensus was that I needed to suck it up and coach a year of MS to have an AD say, oh wow, yeah this guy is actually pretty good! Yeah no kidding... Coaching HS varsity again is the goal, I have more left to give. Heart wasn't in it those past few years, I think I have more in the tank.

Everyone ready for the season?

I enjoyed my year of middle school better than high school!

If I would give one bit of advice you already probably know it's skills, skills, skills. And make sure you have tons of small-sided games once you teach a skill so they can use it live. Too many MS coaches come with ego and a focus on winning and the kids suffer for it.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Not sure if we had a thread for this, but I know a handful of us here have coached or do coach now..

I decided to do something I said I'd never do.... Coaching middle school again.

Since I transitioned from teaching in CT to MA, I didn't coach these past 2 years - after talking to a few ADs and people I respect around here, the consensus was that I needed to suck it up and coach a year of MS to have an AD say, oh wow, yeah this guy is actually pretty good! Yeah no kidding... Coaching HS varsity again is the goal, I have more left to give. Heart wasn't in it those past few years, I think I have more in the tank.

Everyone ready for the season?

I start 7th/8th grade boys basketball tomorrow!

Team lacks skill, but overall should be a fun group to work with. Lucky if we win two games.

Good luck!

 

[husky429]

I start 7th/8th grade boys basketball tomorrow!

Team lacks skill, but overall should be a fun group to work with. Lucky if we win two games.

Good luck!

I ran tryouts today for our sick coach. 90 kids trying out for 15 spots. I cut about 35 kids just from layup lines!

We have a lot of city kids who think the playground makes them a real baller. I kept it real and said you WILL NOT win games playing like this. We'll see if they want to win or look cool in front of their friends this season.

 

[90BSEE]

I coached middle school. It was a blast. We won a couple of championships.

On the topic of teachers, why are schools hiring so many mentally ill misfits that should be, at best, working at Starbucks or Hot Topic, not teaching children? NONE of my teachers back in the day were like that.

 

[husky429]

On the topic of teachers, why are schools hiring so many mentally ill misfits that should be, at best, working at Starbucks or Hot Topic, not teaching children? NONE of my teachers back in the day were like that.

I'm sure you thought this was clever, but it's not.

I like to pick fights on this place sometimes because it's funny and I'm a fan(atic) in every sense of the word, but people speaking about teachers like this pisses me off.

1) Teaching is exceptionally difficult, now much more so than "in your day" despite making pennies on the dollar compared to others with similar education and skillsets.

I've worked in 2 high schools and 2 middle schools as a teacher, and am now a district employee in a city going around to help teachers turn around the most challenging classrooms (basically... it's complicated). There are no misfits working in our schools, and I work in one of the lowest-performing districts in the state--we don't exactly have cream-of-the-crop teachers. Our teachers are hard-working, smart, and care a hell of a lot about their kids across the board.

I would go ahead and say our WORST teachers are those who just may have been around during "you day." I've only ever had teachers show a lack of empathy, cruelty to students, or just plain not try when they are 50+ and checked out.

2) There is nothing inherently wrong or shameful about working at Starbucks. It is not for people who are "mentally ill misfits." My wife has a law degree from a top school in the country, a master's from UConn, a PhD from an ivy, has solo-authored about a billion papers and has a book coming out next year. She worked at Starbucks during law school. Is she a mentally ill misfit?

The speech that MLK Jr. gave just before he was assassinated wasn't about race specifically. It was about his view that "all labor has dignity"--I encourage you to read it and maybe stop being such a friggen jabroni in the future.

 

[Greedo]

I'm sure you thought this was clever, but it's not.

I like to pick fights on this place sometimes because it's funny and I'm a fan(atic) in every sense of the word, but people speaking about teachers like this pisses me off.

1) Teaching is exceptionally difficult, now much more so than "in your day" despite making pennies on the dollar compared to others with similar education and skillsets.

I've worked in 2 high schools and 2 middle schools as a teacher, and am now a district employee in a city going around to help teachers turn around the most challenging classrooms (basically... it's complicated). There are no misfits working in our schools, and I work in one of the lowest-performing districts in the state--we don't exactly have cream-of-the-crop teachers. Our teachers are hard-working, smart, and care a hell of a lot about their kids across the board.

I would go ahead and say our WORST teachers are those who just may have been around during "you day." I've only ever had teachers show a lack of empathy, cruelty to students, or just plain not try when they are 50+ and checked out.

2) There is nothing inherently wrong or shameful about working at Starbucks. It is not for people who are "mentally ill misfits." My wife has a law degree from a top school in the country, a master's from UConn, a PhD from an ivy, has solo-authored about a billion papers and has a book coming out next year. She worked at Starbucks during law school. Is she a mentally ill misfit?

The speech that MLK Jr. gave just before he was assassinated wasn't about race specifically. It was about his view that "all labor has dignity"--I encourage you to read it and maybe stop being such a friggen jabroni in the future.

I worked at Starbucks when I went back to school to get my teaching cert. Most of the people working there were also in school.

 

[Yardigan]

I worked at Starbucks when I went back to school to get my teaching cert. Most of the people working there were also in school.

Did you have pretend to like the coffee?

 

[Kathy]

Thanks @husky429

 

[Yardigan]

Thanks @husky429

I second that, our daughter is a teacher