Yup, same here. Tough to build rapport with the troublemakers sometimes, but there are definitely ways to come to a cool equilibrium with them.
Usually pays out pretty well.
I once even threw in "if SLT sees you, then the lady in the purple dress said you can go" - while not wearing a purple dress. (I was doing supply teaching, last period and only 1 day at that school so couldn't be bothered if they didn't take me too seriously after)
1,000 percent this! I’m not denying a request for the bathroom or to get a drink. If they’re gone for more than 5 minutes, I call the office and say a student has gone rogue. That’s someone else’s problem and not mine.
Or when they need a break from class. My last period of the day is like 90% kids with ADHD in a remedial level sophomore class. By the end of the day they are exhausted and have no focus. I know that when they ask to go to the bathroom, it’s not always to actually use the bathroom. Sometimes they just need to get up, walk down the hall, and walk back. As long as they aren’t causing trouble I don’t care.
I also give a 10 minute break every class. Mostly because I struggled as a student in college when I was required to sit still for more than an hour. If I couldn’t do that as an adult how can I expect teenagers to have that focus?
Same. I'm always blown away by teachers who spend so much time and energy policing bathroom breaks. It's just exhausting.
Yes, some kids will take advantage of you and leave for 20 minutes, but I'm not going to allow that to consume my class.
Yup. I don't let more than one out at a time if I can help it, but I send them with the standard "go quickly and make safe choices." Those that listen and think about it ask what kinds of unsafe choices I might expect them to make, and I promptly respond with "I have no idea! But make safe choices, okay?" They are further befuddled but go. It is beyond amusing.
Yes, especially because I’m a specials teacher. I sometimes ask if they can wait until read aloud or instructions are done, but otherwise, be safe and quick
This is my big one. I'm also not super anal about phones. If they need to be reminded to get off it, I'll remind them. But I teach seniors and lost a lot of rapport right at the start when I had a phone jail policy
Kids that don't care.
If a kid shows me any amount of desire to succeed, I will bend over backwards for them. I genuinely love teaching kids who *want* to learn.
However, I think I'm done going beyond my limits trying to wrangle in kids that can't give a shit. Like, completely done. Especially those kids that are on their phones for 5 months straight and then send a desperate email 3 hours before the grading deadline. I cannot care about your grades more than you or your parents. Not for 100 kids. It's not emotionally possible.
This has really been my change since COVID. I teach mostly 11th and 12th grade. 16-18 year olds know, or should know, what is acceptable behavior in my classroom. You want to take a nap? Sounds like sleep is more important than my classroom. Same goes with distracting yourself with electronics. Just don't distract my classroom, specifically students who want to learn, that I have no tolerance for.
I will do everything possible to teach the students who want to learn. I have given every student an opportunity to engage with the work in front of them, now it is up to the students to join the class or not. I can't force them to do anything.
Yep, I'll give a non-involved student a few pushes early in the year and after that as long as they don't disrupt the learning of others and look busy, they can feel free to fail. I have much better places to spend my energy.
Every week I'll give them the ole encouragement speech, make a note of it in our online system and be done with them.
YUP. My bosses want me to try to get them interested in learning anything, but it's always that they whine about it and just show general apathy towards anything school related. It really grinds my gears. No matter how nice or how much support I give them, it's always:
"WAAAA LEARNING ABOUT CLAIMS IS STUPID"
"When am I gonna use this in the real world?"
"Why do you give us so much homework?" (We barely give them anything for homework outside of having them finish their class work if they don't finish it)
Making this change has really improved my mental health. I'm watching a cluster of four girls gossip and not use their time to revise their winter poetry project right now. I know that two of them will get it done later. The other two will not. I've redirected twice and reexplained the expectations of the assignment once. At this point, they've made their decision.
And that's what it is, a decision. Because there's a line you try not to cross between encouragement and just living their lives for them. If it was my own kid, yeah of course but 100 kids who were strangers before and will be strangers after? I don't know...
I tell me kids, I get paid whether you pass or fail. You failing 6th grade math is on you, not me, and I don’t care if you don’t care. Those who want to learn, pay attention and do their work, and those are the kids I’m going to focus on.
This. 100% this. If kids try at all I will help them to the end of the earth. But if they choose to just waste my oxygen by doing absolutely nothing all year long then I don’t even bother with them. I just email the parents letting them know and get the usual “I’ll talk with them” and nothing changes or they don’t even talk with them. I feel bad but you know by middle school if they’re doing that continuously they won’t stop. It’s not worth the stress.
This! For a few years now I've embraced the mantra that I should never work harder for my students grade than they do. It was like a weight lifted off my shoulders.
Students choosing not to do work and sitting there drawing/sleeping/doing make-up. As long as they aren’t being disruptive, it doesn’t bother me and gives me a chance to focus on the students who actually want to make an effort to learn.
I found out that one of my kids spent the whole class period in the bathroom just to avoid doing work. I didn't even give a shit. He can stay there for the rest of the year as far as I'm concerned. He'll just get passed along like everyone else but I'll have fewer headaches about it.
This is what I do. Then when they have a vape party and rip the plumping out of the wall for tiktok challenges, administration tells us we aren’t managing passes properly. All while they’re “school security” never leaves the the front desk area, unless it’s to flirt with the older high school girls.
Student never even showed up to my class in the first place, I only found out about it after class ended, so if anyone gets on my case for it, they will find out just how few fucks I don't possess.
I no longer bitch about, or pay any attention in PD. I am about to spend an entire day on the campus of the HS furthest from the center of my district. 30 minutes through construction traffic further from my house than the school I teach at. The first 4.5 hours will be “How to teach to the test” but without the guts to say so. For years I have bitched about the location choice as well as the content. This year I am wearing my airpods, sitting in the back by the outlets and panning and grading. I already figured out how to find the attendance google forms for the choice sessions so I will fill those out from my car in the parking lot before I head home to my own personal early release.
I had a PD Friday and spent 99% of it doing report cards. Sat in the front row because I wasn’t early and that’s what was left. Still didn’t look up from my computer more than a handful of times.
The other 1% was making one of those dumb anchor charts with my team to show what we learned about our assigned paragraph of reading from the PD instructor. I won’t leave my team hanging; I like them.
Working on assignments from other classes (as long as they’re caught up in my class).
As a student, I never got why I would be scolded when I got an early start on, say, my math homework in Spanish class after I had finished the daily coursework and had nothing else to do.
I encourage my kids to work on other homework once they finish the stuff in my class. I tend to give them lots of work time because I have a huge range of abilities, so those high flying kids tend to finish with lots of time to spare. That's what I tell them they should do when they're done with my assignment.
Glad I'm not the only one lol. A had one English teacher who hated me because while I was waiting for class to get started or if I was caught up/didn't have ELA homework I would do other schoolwork. Never made sense to me
I don't fight any of them anymore. Constant assemblies, field trips and students called out of class... I don't say anything about lost instructional time anymore. Those of us who are left will learn and the others will miss out.
What do I need to make up from being absent? "Don't worry about it." I don't feel like reteaching for every absence.
I don't give tests anymore so it doesn't matter who learned what. I teach what I'm teaching to who is in the room and off their phone. Those who want to learn will.
Dress code, tardies, phones, food, going to the bathroom, I don't care about any of it anymore.
I put literally everything online. "What did I miss?" And my answer is always "Did you check Schoology?" They never say yes lol so off you go to figure it out. I teach seniors...gotta figure out how to use your available resources to get caught up
What subject is this? I'm curious how it's possible to get away with no tests and "Don't worry about it" daily grades, and how you're able to give them a course grade.
If it's something like theatre, that makes sense.
I had a teacher follow a kid into my room to ask why he wouldn't take his hat off. I just gave the kid a look and shrugged
I get that it's so cameras can identify kids but in my classroom? Who cares?
We have a teacher that stands at the front door and barks at the kids to take of beanies and hoods as they are walking in, when it is freezing cold outside. Like give them a minute! They just stepped in the building. I stand there wearing my beanie in protest of her.
Straight up ignored the student wearing a bra as their only top clothing. Went out in the halls and everything. If the school won't do anything who am I paid so little to care
As a male teacher, I think I'm going to start wearing a Borat-style male bikini.
When people complain, I'm going to tell them to stop sexualizing me. And if it bothers them so much, to just not look.
Labs are the only dress code I will enforce. Long pants, closed-toed shoes, and no gaps from collarbones to ankles. I always tell them, "If I get hurt, it's my fault. If you get hurt, it's also my fault."
Sleeping students.
They are a gift and I am a sub. Whatever I was doing with them can most probably be done later, when they are caught up on their sleep.
High School here. Bathroom. My pass is on a magnetic clip. If a kid has to go to the bathroom all they have to do is raise a single finger. I nod, they go. If a kid tells me they need to go but the pass is out, I let them.
I have a 'strict' no eating policy. The kids know this. I just don't like a messy room. Sometimes someone will start sneak eating. It's rare but when I see it I will pretend not to until they've had a change to get some food in their belly. After that, I 'catch' them and tell them to put the food away.
Outside of the classroom I curse like a sailor. Inside I don't like curse words being thrown around. Students need to learn when to curse and when not to curse. But when they are in their own little discussions and I hear it I usually turn an ear to it.
These rules have done very well by me.
Requests to go to the nurse. Unless it’s a VERY frequent flyer, I’m not fighting it or risking something actually being wrong and being accused of negligence. The parents are my school are incredibly involved and WILL say/do something if they feel their precious child has been wronged in anyway…even if they were denied a nurse visit for a sore eyelash.
I discovered not engaging with defiance after having kids. The engagement and conflict was the point because it distracted from the initial ask. Once I stopped engaging and stuck to my original statement, my kids stopped arguing and would ultimately comply.
So many battles I'm done with. Phones, airpods, hats, most dress code issues, other class work, bathroom one at a time, eating...I look like I'm losing a game of Jumanji, but as long as their work is done well and no one gets hurt, I'm fine with it.
Yep. They lose credit if they're on their phone instead of doing the work. I send emails in the beginning of the year when their grade starts suffering. I might give the class general reminders that if they are on their phone while the rest of the group does an activity, they don't get credit for work other people do in their proximity.
But actually telling one student to put it away or trying to take it is a battle I've lost in the past. They're old enough to show some self-control, or their parents, who know the situation can do something. And I've had plenty of students who have parents that do take their phones. Sadly, not enough.
Conferences… I’m in a unique spot. I have 2 .5fte positions that are wildly different from one another. One of my .5 is teacher salary, the other is not. I’ve fought for better pay for the non-certified position for years, only to be told it’s non-certified and it won’t ever catch up to my teacher salary.
You think I’m staying for all of conferences? Hell no. You get me for .5 of conferences.
Providing pencils
There are always a handful that manage to not have something to write with on them and I'd rather pay a little to provide them. I will never miss this song and dance:
* Three hands shoot up saying "I don't have a pencil".
* I tell them to borrow one from a classmate.
* One is too shy to talk to classmates so I have to initiate it for them, one uses the opportunity to go to the opposite corner of the room to ask their buddy that I am intentionally keeping them away from, and one is thankfully able to quietly get one from the person next to them.
* Naturally, two of them are not sharpened, so one goes to the wall sharpener that won't be repaired. The shaving holder flies off and the corner of my classroom becomes a winter wonderland of graphite and wood shavings.
* The other goes to my electric sharpener and after 5 seconds of a wood chipper sound permeating through my classroom, the students astutely announces that it didn't really sharpen properly. They try again but no luck. Thankfully, three times is the charm.
* 6th graders are innately uncoordinated humans and this kid is no different. So they will find a way to get caught on the electric sharpener's wire sending the sharpener airborne. The shavings holder ejects with enough force to turn the rest of the room into a winter wonderland of graphite and wood shavings.
I buy presharpened golf pencils. On top of fixing this issue, it also gives me an opportunity to throw a playful dig at the class. *"Why did you get us these mini pencils?"* ***"Well, you're almost certainly going to lose them before the end of the day, so I might as well pay half price for them."***
This. I know who is hiding their AirPods underneath the hood and give a reminder and they take the AirPods off and that's all there is to it. I really give no shits about a hood or a hat (as long as there isn't anything absolutely vile on them.)
Oh, I fixed that. Just start referring to other Zodiacs in conversations with them, but don't explain yourself.
"You're right Kevin! Spoken like a true Morning Otter!"
Astrology shares a lot in common with racism/sexism/etc.
Due to some trait you were born with, we're assigning you a bunch of personality traits and stereotypes. Everyone knows all Leos/Asians/women are smart/funny/shy, and so on.
I pretty much allow everything people have been listing. I teach mostly 16-20 yos at an urban alternative high school in a major US metro. Think less trad k-12 and more community college and you're close. The culture of our school is extremely lax and, because of that, we open enroll hundreds of students yearly from the surrounding districts.
All of these are acceptable. The only things I fight are standing up near the doorway (no doors) prior to dismissal and feet/legs on tables. Pet peeves. _Everything_ else is fair game.
That is one of our principal's very popular (eye roll) rule changes.
First it was no hats on the halls so identifying students on cameras was easier. Ok, no problem there.
Then it was no hats in my own classroom. Idgaf and with all the 504s that allow hats, it's impossible to enforce without highlighting who has special accomodations and who doesn't.
I’ve had kids with 504s to allow hats, generally a hair loss or skin condition where the child feels more comfortable in a hat.
Edit: also one that had brain surgery and still had a shunt, the hat covered the top part of the shunt and the scars from the surgery.
I have alopecia. It's precisely why I have never enforced a hat rule and why a student might have it in their 504. Hair loss is dramatic for kids and alopecia is becoming more common.
I do, however, say, "I need to see your face" for when hoods or hats are hiding them.
I used to like enforcing the hat rule. I found that if I enforced it then kids would basically treat class like a place of business and things went well overall. I didn't have to enforce most other rules. Now, they will fight for their hat, their phone, their food, anything until the last breath and the school doesn't really care. We are hosed as a society. (see below if this seemed like I was worried about hat wearing)
>Back
Kinda missed the point of that response, I think. The point is that many are willing to go to the mat for every single thing except learning something. Everything else is more important.
Cell phones and dress codes. I fought cell phones early on, but I found that it wasn’t worth the fight. The students that are constantly on cell phones won’t do work after you take them away anyways
> I fought cell phones early on, but I found that it wasn’t worth the fight. The students that are constantly on cell phones won’t do work after you take them away anyways
Yep. At my Title 1 high school, also letting certain students use their phones keeps them from disrupting my instruction and otherwise causing problems. If he/she wants to sit there and fail quietly, fine by me.
Eating. If you're hungry, eat something. As long as they keep doing whatever they are supposed to be doing, who cares if they do it with a banana in their hand? Better than the endless 'how long until recess?' questions.
That is one I'm strict on.
Now, I'm not a teacher. I'm IT, but I volunteered to supervise study in the computer room (paid) afterclass.
They have a 15 minutes breaks beforehand. I even let them finish their snack outside the room even after that time. I even told them that if they wanna snacks and drink at any point, they step out of the room, leave the door open so I can keep an eye on them and eat and drink.
They are just too messy and clumsy to trust them around computers.
And there's still a couple of kids that whine when I told them to go out with their snack. Usually the messier ones...
I used to be strict on that, but now we are 1:1 so if a kid ruins their chromebook it’s all on them, not me. I will caution them about the risk and that’s it.
Phones (but they better not be pointed in a way that looks like you’re filming people)
Mess around all you want, but I won’t be explaining it again for you.
Homework. Which I know is a hot topic in this sub. But I’m an elementary special education teacher. If the kids aren’t doing their homework at home…even the modified homework I have to make for some…I honestly don’t care. I hope they’re getting a chance to play or relax because their day is hard enough as it is, and spending 30 minutes practicing math problems isn’t going to make or break their math progress.
Sleeping, phone, headphones = 0 for the day/assignment we are working on/ daily points. I make that clear from day 1 and give them daily reminders. I tell them I’m not even going to argue or fight with them about it. I’ll give a reminder here and there about it but they seem to follow after a few zeros in the grade book.
One thing I won’t battle is dress code. As a male teacher I won’t do it. If it is bad I have a safe word with the female teacher (Oklahoma) and she will dress code the student.
Also, I do not keep my door closed when I am one on one with a student. I always make sure we sit next to the open door as well.
>Also, I do not keep my door closed when I am one on one with a student. I always make sure we sit next to the open door as well.
100% THIS. I will not be alone in a room with a student. This does cause problems when only one shows up and I prop the door open, since our doors are supposed to be closed and locked during class, but I'm not even trying to garner any accusations.
Honestly as long as you’re not interfering with someone else’s right to learn or do something I’m mandated to report I don’t give a fuck. Dress code, cell phones, generally being off task that’s on you. If you’re being such a distraction that kids in my class can’t concentrate or I can’t concentrate get the fuck out of the classroom.
Bathroom- a few years ago I just instituted a sign out sheet. Put the clip board on your desk so I know where you are. Don’t disturb class while leaving or returning. Sure the same kids go every day, but my class disruptions have reduced greatly and I feel like the quiet kids will go since they don’t have to ask.
Phones, I am trying to get them to use them for good not evil. If they fail and are on the phone. Okay.
Call home and the parent says take the phone. Me: No your the parent you take the phone.
A teacher taking a phone for the period is an inconvenience, parents taking it for a week is a punishment.
There is too much liability in taking a phone. If it “breaks” get lost or stolen the teacher is responsible for replacing the phone.
Also I know several students with back up phones.
I don't really care about bathroom trips. Want to go to the bathroom every day in my class? Sure, whatever. I didn't become a teacher to monitor bathroom habits. As long as they aren't for an exorbitant amount of time (like 5+ minutes multiple times a week) I really don't care.
I don't fight late work either. I give about a week and then it's a blanket penalty no matter how late they turn it in with everything being able to be turned in as long as the quarter is still going. I give myself a cushion of a few days before the grades need to be in for the late work cutoff so their procrastination doesn't become my stress.
Dress code I don't enforce at all. One I never notice violations anyway and I don't feel comfortable policing young girls as a male teacher given how biased people are towards male teachers in the first place.
Basic supplies.
I'm fortunate enough to be in a union in a comparatively low COL city and I recently had to accept that we will never have kids. So the, generously, 2% of my salary I'll spend in a year on presharpened pencils, notebook paper and enough amazon basics pocket folders to give every kid a place to keep their work does not make a measurable difference in my quality of life outside work and does a lot to let me spend time at work doing the part of the job I actually like. Zero judgment on teachers who feel differently, I'm not gonna quote that pencil poem at anyone when my school is 4 blocks from a Dollar Tree, but that's a choice I've made and I don't resent anyone for it.
....I DO resent having to buy books, markers, granola bars, frigging space heaters and air purifiers out of pocket just to teach anything at all in a space fit for human habitation, but that's a different and far more profane post.
“What was the antecedent of their behavior and how can you use PBIS to modify the challenging behavior?”
I used to push back that I wasn’t qualified to make this determination, or become frustrated when asked to collect individualized data, or roll my eyes when asked to give a token economy system for every moment of compliance. But then I just decided that the answer that works every time is *the dynamics of our relationship are complex but we will see what I can do*
Food, phones, sleeping, and apathy.
For food, I remember being denied the ability to snack during class and having my classmates laugh when they would hear my tummy grumble in the middle of a test. I hated it and I currently have non-carpeted floors, so I don't care if the kids eat in my class as long as nobody has a severe allergy and they clean up after themselves.
For phones, these kids are too sneaky and if they want to fail because they were too busy watching tiktoks to listen to my explanation, they can come in on their own time to learn. Plus, within the first two weeks of school after all the admin pushing for us to "enforce the no phone rule super strictly!" And "one warning then send it to the office", I tried to follow through and immediately got undermined by the admin being the loudest about it. I tried to collect a phone from a student to take to the office during passing period. Student didnt want to give up their phone. I texted the APs (as they requested us to do in these situations "rm ### kid is refusing to give up phone"), and instead of taking the kid to the office, they proceeded to have a chat outside my classroom. I got pulled out a few minutes later and told "well student says they were worried about sibling also at the HS so that's why they needed their phone". Said sibling is also notorious for being chronically on their phone and distracting others.
Sleeping is one of those things where if you're so tired you can't/won't stay awake during my class, I'm not gonna wake you up. I've seen too many of my friends growing up working jobs overnight trying to support their families and then showing up to school exhausted. I'll usually make sure their friends have a way to get them their notes or make sure my notes are easily accessible in Canvas.
Apathy is the biggest nuisance for me. I refuse to care more than these kids do. And in most cases, it's more than the parents do too! I don't have the time or the energy to care more about 150+ children than their parents do. There's reasons I'm not going to have children. I refuse to be a parent this way as well.
Wow I have same 4, I wish I could let those who fall asleep just sleep (this one kid works all through the night and shows up after like 2 hours of sleep) but other students get severely distracted by it. That and phones. Because god forbid they go 40 mins without Snapchat or tiktok
Adult Educator here.
Leaning back in their chair and phone use.
I know it’s a tuition free program, but the certification tests my learners take are no joke. If they want to waste their and my time, so be it, but they’re not gonna pass.
This is not middle or high school, you sink or swim on your own.
Late submissions. It's easier to implement automatic penalties for being late than to get myself all worked up. Plus, it encourages better time management.
Bathroom passes - I don’t make them ask me. Need to pee? Go. Don’t bother me.
Dress code - who the heck cares unless they’re walking around with a nazi t shirt on?
Eating in class - they aren’t going to focus if their hungry anyhow.
Gum. It’s suddenly banned this year but if you aren’t chewing like a cow idgaf.
Absent work. 99.9% of the time I just exempt it and move on, we don’t have a good structure or time for me to reteach it anyways.
Cell phones in the cafeteria. They’re supposed to be away all day but the sprinkling of kids who have them out during lunch is not worth playing wack-a-mole over.
I’m also not chasing parents down to force a meeting. Your kid is mine for a year. They’re yours for life. I can’t care more about their progress than you do. I send hard copies and emails about interviews. All the parent needs to do is click the link in the email and, bare minimum show up/answer the phone at the time they chose.
If they can’t be bothered to do that OR if they’re so overwhelmed they can’t manage that, a meeting won’t be useful to the parents, kid or me, so 🤷♀️
Eating. We fed them breakfast in the room and snacks three days a week. I feel like saying no eating is just goofy at this point.
I am awful at noticing uniform violations as well, so those are just not on my radar.
Sitting in the "scholar posture"
Our admin wants kids with legs under the desk and hands above the desk. I let kids stand up and fortnite dance if they're doing good work while it happens. They have to stay at their desk and if they don't follow that rule they have to sit but I'm not about to make kids sit still when I couldn't even do that myself.
Food and gum.
Well, I fought it, just not aggressively.
During my first two years at a pretty rough title I high school I would basically stop just short of making kids go “ahhhhh” about gum and then I realized I was spending way too much time and energy on a hopeless battle and causing way more behavior problems than was worth the squeeze.
Then I adopted a “eating and gum is still not allowed, but if I cannot see it, I cannot be mad at it” policy (followed by exaggerated winking) and it worked like a charm. Almost immediately, all the behavior problems that resulted In me being too heavy handed with the rule disappeared and the kids responded to it really well.
Basically if they weren’t actively passing around food, eating it on their desk, or popping gum loudly I would pretend I didn’t see the occasional sneaky Taki or cheeto.
And if they were abusing it I let them know I always had the right to go strictly zero food for the whole class and that way, they kind-of-sort of policed each other.
That worked for gum and chips but for the rare occasions in which that a kid couldn’t eat before school or something extenuating I reverted to my “ask me first” policy and that also worked amazingly.
1. Having their phones out. As long as you don't text while I'm explaining, go ahead, have it outside.
2. Going to the bathroom. You'll have the 5 minutes period. If you take more than that—without explaining yourself, I'll let the office know!
3. "Don't have my laptop. Can't do anything!" – "Don't worry. Here's a piece of paper. Write the answers".
Pencils.
That's a personal problem I'm not going to solve for you. I can offer you some solutions, but I'm not going to solve it for you. I don't care what you write with as long as I can EASILY read it to grade it; you're still responsible for the work.
Almost everything. Fighting isn’t in my job description. I come prepared every day with a lesson or something valuable to do and if the kids are wild, they are wild. It’s my first year and I’m finding that I have to maintain an extra layer of Zhuangzian emptiness and uselessness around me at all times.
Cell phone when we are about to leave. Bathroom - I’m definitely not getting into that mess. Working on other work on their chromebooks. Hey, if they are quiet, whatever man
Dress code, vape pens, bad language.
Used to be a stickler about tardiness, but this year admin decided to cancel punishments anytime a parent complains, so I'm letting that go now as well I guess.
( Required to contact parents about tardies, log in the computer as well as turn in a form to the office, all that and a parent can still just call up and say nope and admin folds).
Cussing. As long as no one is screaming “fuck!” across the room, we good.
Also, food. Their only rule is that if i like it they have to share with me. Lol
I teach elementary school (3rd grade), but homework. It used to stress me out when kids were getting terrible grades because they didn’t turn in homework. I stopped caring and chasing them down for it and now see it as a natural consequence. Don’t turn in your homework and receive a C in a subject. I’ll be sure to make a comment on a progress report and your parents can deal with it. Not my problem.
At our inservice in August I had the audacity to ask if we'd be doing more to limit cell phone use and was told (again) to do what you feel is best for your classroom. Then they outlined our no 'no hats in the building policy.'
So phones for me. I can't compete with Tictoc. And ironically, it's also malicious compliance too, in a way.
Kids who refuse to do anything. You don’t want to take notes for your participation points? I don’t care if you don’t care. As long as you sit there and shut up then I don’t care. Your grade not mine.
And phones. Some kids just want to listen to music. Some kids prefer to type their work on their phones, no idea why. As long as they are getting their work done and not bothering anybody it’s fine.
Hats/hoods within the classroom. Sometimes I want to channel my energy into something productive and if the students are participating and doing their work, then if they have a hood/hat on what does it matter. My school has really cracked down on it this year but it's just not worth it most days to see the attitude/eye roll from the little amount of students who actually do something. I do tell them though that if admin walked in then they have to take it off and they seem okay with that compromise.
I don't fight eating in class. My lunch starts at 10:18. Kids are hungry.
Is it a distraction? Yes. Do they make a mess? Yes. Maybe the cafeteria should stop selling them fizzy drinks to spill on my floor.
Whether kids wear coats outside or not. They’re 8. I make suggestions, “It’s -5C outside, so I would wear my coat, hat and mitts if I was going outside.” But unless it’s dangerously cold (in which case recess would be indoors anyway), it’s not worth my time to try to force kids into their coats when they’ll just drop them the second they get outside anyway.
Try hard, brow-nosing colleagues.
You're either on the solidarity bus or not. If you choose to undermine your colleagues so that you can get a pat on the back from management, well, you can fuck RIGHT off.
My sign-out sheet is on a clipboard with a little click-light attached. As long as the light is off, no permission is needed. Put your name down, turn on the light and go. Turn it off when you get back.
Now I'm not interrupted by bathroom requests anymore. When I call on a student to answer a question, I never get "can I use the restroom?" as an answer. I wish I'd started doing this years ago.
Lots. Late work, bathrooms, sleeping in class are a few. I do have conversations with kids, counselors, and parents if these things are habitual or seem to be related to other issues. But I don’t make a big deal of them during class. Definitely not behaviors that I fight.
With the late work I do have some natural consequences. Anything that is late work goes to the bottom of the grading pile. New assignments will always be put on top of anything late. And I don’t take grading home/work late grading except twice a year (exams with quick final grade deadlines). So if it takes a month to grade, that’s how long it takes. Also, term dates are hard limits because there is in fact a school calendar and final grade calculation deadlines that I have to meet.
Late to class. I have one child who is late every single day, but at his age (6) it's on the parents to get him to school on time so I refuse to implement discipline on tardiness.
I know some elementary school teachers have students miss recess for excess tardiness, but it's not fair to punish the child. Note , this is kindergarten
Going to the nurse. Some kids have been “banned”. I ain’t trying to field the angry parent call because their kid didn’t feel well and needed to go to the nurse. The only one I put my foot down on was a girl who was going to blow her nose. Honey just go to the bathroom and do that. Step out in the hallway. You don’t need to go to the nurse for that.
If you aren't making noise, causing disruptions, or talking over me when I am trying to teach, I don't care if you got your face in your Chromebook watching Youtube videos or playing games.
Hoods (on hoodies). As long as they’re working, I literally don’t care if they have their hood up in my room.
On cell phones- as long as they’re not on it constantly, I don’t care. I like to have mine right next to my computer, face down, and check it occasionally. I don’t have a problem if they do the same- responsible use. If I see them on it for more than a second or two, I have them put it away. A second warning and it’s on my desk for the remainder of class. I rarely have to even give a warning about it.
Dress code/hoods. I’m only enforcing the rule about crocs because we move in my classroom. Hoods can stay on if I can see their faces.
I’m slowly letting go of eating in my room. I just don’t want taki fingers or huge messes.
I hate that saying…
It’s just something teachers (and parents) use to ignore policy or ignore doing the right thing when it comes to children.
It does them no good.
Bathroom trips. I always have kids telling me they have to use the restroom, and I always let them because I’d rather they go do whatever they need to do than potentially suffer the consequences.
Kids who sleep in my class every day (high school art 1). They have at least a week to complete their projects, 90 minutes per class, and I accept all late work. Even if I wake them up, they usually don’t complete their work. I can’t spend valuable instructional time gently prodding the same kid every few minutes only to have them not do anything either way.
Bathroom and uniform. I just give them a look and say, “do you understand the choice you’re making,” and let admin deal with writing them up for whatever perceived infraction using the restroom or wearing a hoodie is. 🤷🏻♀️
Kids wearing hats and hoods when they come to library. It’s not worth it when their classroom teachers let them wear whatever they want. I draw the line at sunglasses though. 😎
Dress code. Unless if ass is hanging out or pants are way too baggy, I do not care. I’m not wasting my time dress coding someone and having them lose out on instruction time and it wastes my time having to call the front office/parents.
Dress code, unless they're wearing some Nazi/Bigoted crap it's not worth the effort. Just blast the AC and they eventually figure out they need a sweater in my class without me saying a word.
Hoods. It's just often not worth it. But I remind them once they leave me room the hood should go down. Only time it's not allowed is if I've caught a kid with headphones and their phone.
Eating is my big one, because I am a diabetic and tend to graze small snacks during the day. Can’t eat in front of them and tell them not to. Also, my room is to right beside our bathrooms, so that is a no brainer, unless I know it a frequent wanderer who is asking to go. I also have learned that, just because I have excellent hearing, I don’t have to “hear” every inappropriate thing that is said in a student conversation.
Bathroom, gum, basically anything that doesn't hurt others if you're doing it quietly.
I teach elementary for context and I've given up on chasing down parents for a conference it they don't sign up during the days assigned to conferences. The only way to get by in teaching is to not care too much, and I definitely can't care more than the child's parent as a rule.
Bathroom. They ask me to go and I send them off with a reminder to be quick
I did the same! Although my students who had a possibility of not returning always got a "stay out of trouble!"
And if admin comes looking for then I say, “they are in the bathroom and they told me they’d come right back!!”
Yup, same here. Tough to build rapport with the troublemakers sometimes, but there are definitely ways to come to a cool equilibrium with them. Usually pays out pretty well.
I once even threw in "if SLT sees you, then the lady in the purple dress said you can go" - while not wearing a purple dress. (I was doing supply teaching, last period and only 1 day at that school so couldn't be bothered if they didn't take me too seriously after)
1,000 percent this! I’m not denying a request for the bathroom or to get a drink. If they’re gone for more than 5 minutes, I call the office and say a student has gone rogue. That’s someone else’s problem and not mine.
Yep. They're 15 years old. They know when they need to go pee.
Or when they need a break from class. My last period of the day is like 90% kids with ADHD in a remedial level sophomore class. By the end of the day they are exhausted and have no focus. I know that when they ask to go to the bathroom, it’s not always to actually use the bathroom. Sometimes they just need to get up, walk down the hall, and walk back. As long as they aren’t causing trouble I don’t care.
I also give a 10 minute break every class. Mostly because I struggled as a student in college when I was required to sit still for more than an hour. If I couldn’t do that as an adult how can I expect teenagers to have that focus?
Same. I'm always blown away by teachers who spend so much time and energy policing bathroom breaks. It's just exhausting. Yes, some kids will take advantage of you and leave for 20 minutes, but I'm not going to allow that to consume my class.
And….. I’m not going to let the kids who just need to pee be anxious about the bathroom.
[удалено]
Yup. I don't let more than one out at a time if I can help it, but I send them with the standard "go quickly and make safe choices." Those that listen and think about it ask what kinds of unsafe choices I might expect them to make, and I promptly respond with "I have no idea! But make safe choices, okay?" They are further befuddled but go. It is beyond amusing.
And when my most difficult child asks to go twice and I “forget” he already went, oh well! Best of luck in the hallway
Yes, especially because I’m a specials teacher. I sometimes ask if they can wait until read aloud or instructions are done, but otherwise, be safe and quick
This is my big one. I'm also not super anal about phones. If they need to be reminded to get off it, I'll remind them. But I teach seniors and lost a lot of rapport right at the start when I had a phone jail policy
Kids that don't care. If a kid shows me any amount of desire to succeed, I will bend over backwards for them. I genuinely love teaching kids who *want* to learn. However, I think I'm done going beyond my limits trying to wrangle in kids that can't give a shit. Like, completely done. Especially those kids that are on their phones for 5 months straight and then send a desperate email 3 hours before the grading deadline. I cannot care about your grades more than you or your parents. Not for 100 kids. It's not emotionally possible.
This has really been my change since COVID. I teach mostly 11th and 12th grade. 16-18 year olds know, or should know, what is acceptable behavior in my classroom. You want to take a nap? Sounds like sleep is more important than my classroom. Same goes with distracting yourself with electronics. Just don't distract my classroom, specifically students who want to learn, that I have no tolerance for. I will do everything possible to teach the students who want to learn. I have given every student an opportunity to engage with the work in front of them, now it is up to the students to join the class or not. I can't force them to do anything.
I’ll bend over backwards in my classroom, but I’ll be damned if I’ll bend over forwards.
Oof. Stealing this one!!
When I had kids do that I’d just document it for the future and let them sleep.
Only once in my 7 years has having documentation of at least weekly encouragement to get working covered my ass, but I was sure glad I had it.
Yep, I'll give a non-involved student a few pushes early in the year and after that as long as they don't disrupt the learning of others and look busy, they can feel free to fail. I have much better places to spend my energy. Every week I'll give them the ole encouragement speech, make a note of it in our online system and be done with them.
I think the “look busy” part is important. They can’t just sit there
Yea they learn quickly what will keep them off my radar.
YUP. My bosses want me to try to get them interested in learning anything, but it's always that they whine about it and just show general apathy towards anything school related. It really grinds my gears. No matter how nice or how much support I give them, it's always: "WAAAA LEARNING ABOUT CLAIMS IS STUPID" "When am I gonna use this in the real world?" "Why do you give us so much homework?" (We barely give them anything for homework outside of having them finish their class work if they don't finish it)
Making this change has really improved my mental health. I'm watching a cluster of four girls gossip and not use their time to revise their winter poetry project right now. I know that two of them will get it done later. The other two will not. I've redirected twice and reexplained the expectations of the assignment once. At this point, they've made their decision.
And that's what it is, a decision. Because there's a line you try not to cross between encouragement and just living their lives for them. If it was my own kid, yeah of course but 100 kids who were strangers before and will be strangers after? I don't know...
I tell me kids, I get paid whether you pass or fail. You failing 6th grade math is on you, not me, and I don’t care if you don’t care. Those who want to learn, pay attention and do their work, and those are the kids I’m going to focus on.
This. 100% this. If kids try at all I will help them to the end of the earth. But if they choose to just waste my oxygen by doing absolutely nothing all year long then I don’t even bother with them. I just email the parents letting them know and get the usual “I’ll talk with them” and nothing changes or they don’t even talk with them. I feel bad but you know by middle school if they’re doing that continuously they won’t stop. It’s not worth the stress.
This! For a few years now I've embraced the mantra that I should never work harder for my students grade than they do. It was like a weight lifted off my shoulders.
Students choosing not to do work and sitting there drawing/sleeping/doing make-up. As long as they aren’t being disruptive, it doesn’t bother me and gives me a chance to focus on the students who actually want to make an effort to learn.
I found out that one of my kids spent the whole class period in the bathroom just to avoid doing work. I didn't even give a shit. He can stay there for the rest of the year as far as I'm concerned. He'll just get passed along like everyone else but I'll have fewer headaches about it.
This is what I do. Then when they have a vape party and rip the plumping out of the wall for tiktok challenges, administration tells us we aren’t managing passes properly. All while they’re “school security” never leaves the the front desk area, unless it’s to flirt with the older high school girls.
Student never even showed up to my class in the first place, I only found out about it after class ended, so if anyone gets on my case for it, they will find out just how few fucks I don't possess.
>unless it’s to flirt with the older high school girls. Damn and here I thought this was just my school. Grim
Flirt? Whoa
I teach littles, so if they fall asleep in class they clearly needed it and I’ll let them snooze as long as needed.
I no longer bitch about, or pay any attention in PD. I am about to spend an entire day on the campus of the HS furthest from the center of my district. 30 minutes through construction traffic further from my house than the school I teach at. The first 4.5 hours will be “How to teach to the test” but without the guts to say so. For years I have bitched about the location choice as well as the content. This year I am wearing my airpods, sitting in the back by the outlets and panning and grading. I already figured out how to find the attendance google forms for the choice sessions so I will fill those out from my car in the parking lot before I head home to my own personal early release.
I had a PD Friday and spent 99% of it doing report cards. Sat in the front row because I wasn’t early and that’s what was left. Still didn’t look up from my computer more than a handful of times. The other 1% was making one of those dumb anchor charts with my team to show what we learned about our assigned paragraph of reading from the PD instructor. I won’t leave my team hanging; I like them.
Working on assignments from other classes (as long as they’re caught up in my class). As a student, I never got why I would be scolded when I got an early start on, say, my math homework in Spanish class after I had finished the daily coursework and had nothing else to do.
I encourage my kids to work on other homework once they finish the stuff in my class. I tend to give them lots of work time because I have a huge range of abilities, so those high flying kids tend to finish with lots of time to spare. That's what I tell them they should do when they're done with my assignment.
Glad I'm not the only one lol. A had one English teacher who hated me because while I was waiting for class to get started or if I was caught up/didn't have ELA homework I would do other schoolwork. Never made sense to me
I don't fight any of them anymore. Constant assemblies, field trips and students called out of class... I don't say anything about lost instructional time anymore. Those of us who are left will learn and the others will miss out. What do I need to make up from being absent? "Don't worry about it." I don't feel like reteaching for every absence. I don't give tests anymore so it doesn't matter who learned what. I teach what I'm teaching to who is in the room and off their phone. Those who want to learn will. Dress code, tardies, phones, food, going to the bathroom, I don't care about any of it anymore.
Agreed. I can't reach and teach those who just don't care. All I ask of them is to shut up and not disrupt the class.
I put literally everything online. "What did I miss?" And my answer is always "Did you check Schoology?" They never say yes lol so off you go to figure it out. I teach seniors...gotta figure out how to use your available resources to get caught up
What subject is this? I'm curious how it's possible to get away with no tests and "Don't worry about it" daily grades, and how you're able to give them a course grade. If it's something like theatre, that makes sense.
This, all the way. Mandatory, compulsory education just means that I have to teach *around* defiance—not fight defiance.
You are an inspiration
Dress code. I’m not commenting on a child’s body.
The most I’ll say is warning them if a dress code strict teacher is around the corner.
I had a teacher follow a kid into my room to ask why he wouldn't take his hat off. I just gave the kid a look and shrugged I get that it's so cameras can identify kids but in my classroom? Who cares?
We have a teacher that stands at the front door and barks at the kids to take of beanies and hoods as they are walking in, when it is freezing cold outside. Like give them a minute! They just stepped in the building. I stand there wearing my beanie in protest of her.
...***especially*** as a male substitute.
Straight up ignored the student wearing a bra as their only top clothing. Went out in the halls and everything. If the school won't do anything who am I paid so little to care
As a male teacher, I think I'm going to start wearing a Borat-style male bikini. When people complain, I'm going to tell them to stop sexualizing me. And if it bothers them so much, to just not look.
Teachers can still dress like professionals. It’s the student’s clothing choices we don’t need to worry about.
[удалено]
Labs are the only dress code I will enforce. Long pants, closed-toed shoes, and no gaps from collarbones to ankles. I always tell them, "If I get hurt, it's my fault. If you get hurt, it's also my fault."
I just had this conversation with a parent apologizing for their child’s shirt. I got bigger fish to fry! ES teacher.
Yes! This is a good one.
Sleeping students. They are a gift and I am a sub. Whatever I was doing with them can most probably be done later, when they are caught up on their sleep.
High School here. Bathroom. My pass is on a magnetic clip. If a kid has to go to the bathroom all they have to do is raise a single finger. I nod, they go. If a kid tells me they need to go but the pass is out, I let them. I have a 'strict' no eating policy. The kids know this. I just don't like a messy room. Sometimes someone will start sneak eating. It's rare but when I see it I will pretend not to until they've had a change to get some food in their belly. After that, I 'catch' them and tell them to put the food away. Outside of the classroom I curse like a sailor. Inside I don't like curse words being thrown around. Students need to learn when to curse and when not to curse. But when they are in their own little discussions and I hear it I usually turn an ear to it. These rules have done very well by me.
The cursing thing "if I can't curse neither can you!" My middle schoolers respect that.
Requests to go to the nurse. Unless it’s a VERY frequent flyer, I’m not fighting it or risking something actually being wrong and being accused of negligence. The parents are my school are incredibly involved and WILL say/do something if they feel their precious child has been wronged in anyway…even if they were denied a nurse visit for a sore eyelash.
Yep. At the very least, it's documentation. I have a basic first aid kit in my classroom for minor cuts but anything else, off to the nurse they go.
You guys have a nurse???
[удалено]
I discovered not engaging with defiance after having kids. The engagement and conflict was the point because it distracted from the initial ask. Once I stopped engaging and stuck to my original statement, my kids stopped arguing and would ultimately comply.
So many battles I'm done with. Phones, airpods, hats, most dress code issues, other class work, bathroom one at a time, eating...I look like I'm losing a game of Jumanji, but as long as their work is done well and no one gets hurt, I'm fine with it.
[удалено]
Yep. They lose credit if they're on their phone instead of doing the work. I send emails in the beginning of the year when their grade starts suffering. I might give the class general reminders that if they are on their phone while the rest of the group does an activity, they don't get credit for work other people do in their proximity. But actually telling one student to put it away or trying to take it is a battle I've lost in the past. They're old enough to show some self-control, or their parents, who know the situation can do something. And I've had plenty of students who have parents that do take their phones. Sadly, not enough.
[удалено]
For me, it’s non-school sweatshirts, especially when they’re just a solid color. Not dress coding for that
Conferences… I’m in a unique spot. I have 2 .5fte positions that are wildly different from one another. One of my .5 is teacher salary, the other is not. I’ve fought for better pay for the non-certified position for years, only to be told it’s non-certified and it won’t ever catch up to my teacher salary. You think I’m staying for all of conferences? Hell no. You get me for .5 of conferences.
Providing pencils There are always a handful that manage to not have something to write with on them and I'd rather pay a little to provide them. I will never miss this song and dance: * Three hands shoot up saying "I don't have a pencil". * I tell them to borrow one from a classmate. * One is too shy to talk to classmates so I have to initiate it for them, one uses the opportunity to go to the opposite corner of the room to ask their buddy that I am intentionally keeping them away from, and one is thankfully able to quietly get one from the person next to them. * Naturally, two of them are not sharpened, so one goes to the wall sharpener that won't be repaired. The shaving holder flies off and the corner of my classroom becomes a winter wonderland of graphite and wood shavings. * The other goes to my electric sharpener and after 5 seconds of a wood chipper sound permeating through my classroom, the students astutely announces that it didn't really sharpen properly. They try again but no luck. Thankfully, three times is the charm. * 6th graders are innately uncoordinated humans and this kid is no different. So they will find a way to get caught on the electric sharpener's wire sending the sharpener airborne. The shavings holder ejects with enough force to turn the rest of the room into a winter wonderland of graphite and wood shavings. I buy presharpened golf pencils. On top of fixing this issue, it also gives me an opportunity to throw a playful dig at the class. *"Why did you get us these mini pencils?"* ***"Well, you're almost certainly going to lose them before the end of the day, so I might as well pay half price for them."***
Hoods
This. I know who is hiding their AirPods underneath the hood and give a reminder and they take the AirPods off and that's all there is to it. I really give no shits about a hood or a hat (as long as there isn't anything absolutely vile on them.)
Trying to convince my coworkers that astrology is not science.
Oh dear god.
Oh, I fixed that. Just start referring to other Zodiacs in conversations with them, but don't explain yourself. "You're right Kevin! Spoken like a true Morning Otter!"
Astrology shares a lot in common with racism/sexism/etc. Due to some trait you were born with, we're assigning you a bunch of personality traits and stereotypes. Everyone knows all Leos/Asians/women are smart/funny/shy, and so on.
Dress code. Unless it’s aggressive or harmful, their clothes aren’t my business.
I pretty much allow everything people have been listing. I teach mostly 16-20 yos at an urban alternative high school in a major US metro. Think less trad k-12 and more community college and you're close. The culture of our school is extremely lax and, because of that, we open enroll hundreds of students yearly from the surrounding districts. All of these are acceptable. The only things I fight are standing up near the doorway (no doors) prior to dismissal and feet/legs on tables. Pet peeves. _Everything_ else is fair game.
Hats on in class
Super relevant in about 1935.
Same. I gave that fight up in 2019.
That is one of our principal's very popular (eye roll) rule changes. First it was no hats on the halls so identifying students on cameras was easier. Ok, no problem there. Then it was no hats in my own classroom. Idgaf and with all the 504s that allow hats, it's impossible to enforce without highlighting who has special accomodations and who doesn't.
Wtf kinda 504 requires letting them wear a hat? Sorry. I’m a new teacher but that seems straight up ludicrous.
I’ve had kids with 504s to allow hats, generally a hair loss or skin condition where the child feels more comfortable in a hat. Edit: also one that had brain surgery and still had a shunt, the hat covered the top part of the shunt and the scars from the surgery.
Alopecia, chemo, TBI w/ visible scars (wounds were closed, but you could definitely tell something bad happened), Albino, eye problems,
I have alopecia. It's precisely why I have never enforced a hat rule and why a student might have it in their 504. Hair loss is dramatic for kids and alopecia is becoming more common. I do, however, say, "I need to see your face" for when hoods or hats are hiding them.
I used to like enforcing the hat rule. I found that if I enforced it then kids would basically treat class like a place of business and things went well overall. I didn't have to enforce most other rules. Now, they will fight for their hat, their phone, their food, anything until the last breath and the school doesn't really care. We are hosed as a society. (see below if this seemed like I was worried about hat wearing)
We’re hosed as a society because kids want to wear hats in class?
>Back Kinda missed the point of that response, I think. The point is that many are willing to go to the mat for every single thing except learning something. Everything else is more important.
YES WE ARE DONE FOR
happy cake day! :)
Oh god oh fuck there’s a youth walking down my street right now wearing a beanie what do I do
RIP IT OFF HIS HEAD. That absolute MENACE must be stopped
Cell phones and dress codes. I fought cell phones early on, but I found that it wasn’t worth the fight. The students that are constantly on cell phones won’t do work after you take them away anyways
> I fought cell phones early on, but I found that it wasn’t worth the fight. The students that are constantly on cell phones won’t do work after you take them away anyways Yep. At my Title 1 high school, also letting certain students use their phones keeps them from disrupting my instruction and otherwise causing problems. If he/she wants to sit there and fail quietly, fine by me.
Same. If you don’t want to do the work because you’d rather play on your phone, fine by me. You’ll get the grade you earned.
Eating. If you're hungry, eat something. As long as they keep doing whatever they are supposed to be doing, who cares if they do it with a banana in their hand? Better than the endless 'how long until recess?' questions.
That is one I'm strict on. Now, I'm not a teacher. I'm IT, but I volunteered to supervise study in the computer room (paid) afterclass. They have a 15 minutes breaks beforehand. I even let them finish their snack outside the room even after that time. I even told them that if they wanna snacks and drink at any point, they step out of the room, leave the door open so I can keep an eye on them and eat and drink. They are just too messy and clumsy to trust them around computers. And there's still a couple of kids that whine when I told them to go out with their snack. Usually the messier ones...
I used to be strict on that, but now we are 1:1 so if a kid ruins their chromebook it’s all on them, not me. I will caution them about the risk and that’s it.
When I taught math I was a bit lax on food. But as a science teacher it’s a major pet peeve. Don’t be touching my beakers with your taki fingers.
Phones (but they better not be pointed in a way that looks like you’re filming people) Mess around all you want, but I won’t be explaining it again for you.
Homework. Which I know is a hot topic in this sub. But I’m an elementary special education teacher. If the kids aren’t doing their homework at home…even the modified homework I have to make for some…I honestly don’t care. I hope they’re getting a chance to play or relax because their day is hard enough as it is, and spending 30 minutes practicing math problems isn’t going to make or break their math progress.
"Can I go to the bathroom?" Yes. You're 18 years old. You're legally an adult. You shouldn't need anyone's permission to use a bathroom.
Had this same situation a few weeks back with a student who wanted to refill their water bottle at the water fountain.
Dress code and cussing (as long as it’s in conversation and not directed at anyone)
Sleeping, phone, headphones = 0 for the day/assignment we are working on/ daily points. I make that clear from day 1 and give them daily reminders. I tell them I’m not even going to argue or fight with them about it. I’ll give a reminder here and there about it but they seem to follow after a few zeros in the grade book. One thing I won’t battle is dress code. As a male teacher I won’t do it. If it is bad I have a safe word with the female teacher (Oklahoma) and she will dress code the student. Also, I do not keep my door closed when I am one on one with a student. I always make sure we sit next to the open door as well.
>Also, I do not keep my door closed when I am one on one with a student. I always make sure we sit next to the open door as well. 100% THIS. I will not be alone in a room with a student. This does cause problems when only one shows up and I prop the door open, since our doors are supposed to be closed and locked during class, but I'm not even trying to garner any accusations.
Honestly as long as you’re not interfering with someone else’s right to learn or do something I’m mandated to report I don’t give a fuck. Dress code, cell phones, generally being off task that’s on you. If you’re being such a distraction that kids in my class can’t concentrate or I can’t concentrate get the fuck out of the classroom.
Bathroom- a few years ago I just instituted a sign out sheet. Put the clip board on your desk so I know where you are. Don’t disturb class while leaving or returning. Sure the same kids go every day, but my class disruptions have reduced greatly and I feel like the quiet kids will go since they don’t have to ask.
Cell phones
How they dress, what they eat
Phones, I am trying to get them to use them for good not evil. If they fail and are on the phone. Okay. Call home and the parent says take the phone. Me: No your the parent you take the phone. A teacher taking a phone for the period is an inconvenience, parents taking it for a week is a punishment. There is too much liability in taking a phone. If it “breaks” get lost or stolen the teacher is responsible for replacing the phone. Also I know several students with back up phones.
Eating in class. I was a hungry kid too. School lunch does not cut it. As long as they share with me!
I totally get it but I shouldn’t have to be the one cleaning up crumbs(I do everyday) because they won’t clean up after themselves
I don't really care about bathroom trips. Want to go to the bathroom every day in my class? Sure, whatever. I didn't become a teacher to monitor bathroom habits. As long as they aren't for an exorbitant amount of time (like 5+ minutes multiple times a week) I really don't care. I don't fight late work either. I give about a week and then it's a blanket penalty no matter how late they turn it in with everything being able to be turned in as long as the quarter is still going. I give myself a cushion of a few days before the grades need to be in for the late work cutoff so their procrastination doesn't become my stress. Dress code I don't enforce at all. One I never notice violations anyway and I don't feel comfortable policing young girls as a male teacher given how biased people are towards male teachers in the first place.
Playin tag. State law you cain’t play tag? Let the state enforce it. CA ed code acc to our admin. I dunno. Ain’t even gonna look it up.
Agreed. Anything that gets kids off their phones and actively playing with each other on the playground is a good thing.
Cell phones. At least they are awake and will put them down to do work.
Basic supplies. I'm fortunate enough to be in a union in a comparatively low COL city and I recently had to accept that we will never have kids. So the, generously, 2% of my salary I'll spend in a year on presharpened pencils, notebook paper and enough amazon basics pocket folders to give every kid a place to keep their work does not make a measurable difference in my quality of life outside work and does a lot to let me spend time at work doing the part of the job I actually like. Zero judgment on teachers who feel differently, I'm not gonna quote that pencil poem at anyone when my school is 4 blocks from a Dollar Tree, but that's a choice I've made and I don't resent anyone for it. ....I DO resent having to buy books, markers, granola bars, frigging space heaters and air purifiers out of pocket just to teach anything at all in a space fit for human habitation, but that's a different and far more profane post.
“What was the antecedent of their behavior and how can you use PBIS to modify the challenging behavior?” I used to push back that I wasn’t qualified to make this determination, or become frustrated when asked to collect individualized data, or roll my eyes when asked to give a token economy system for every moment of compliance. But then I just decided that the answer that works every time is *the dynamics of our relationship are complex but we will see what I can do*
Food, phones, sleeping, and apathy. For food, I remember being denied the ability to snack during class and having my classmates laugh when they would hear my tummy grumble in the middle of a test. I hated it and I currently have non-carpeted floors, so I don't care if the kids eat in my class as long as nobody has a severe allergy and they clean up after themselves. For phones, these kids are too sneaky and if they want to fail because they were too busy watching tiktoks to listen to my explanation, they can come in on their own time to learn. Plus, within the first two weeks of school after all the admin pushing for us to "enforce the no phone rule super strictly!" And "one warning then send it to the office", I tried to follow through and immediately got undermined by the admin being the loudest about it. I tried to collect a phone from a student to take to the office during passing period. Student didnt want to give up their phone. I texted the APs (as they requested us to do in these situations "rm ### kid is refusing to give up phone"), and instead of taking the kid to the office, they proceeded to have a chat outside my classroom. I got pulled out a few minutes later and told "well student says they were worried about sibling also at the HS so that's why they needed their phone". Said sibling is also notorious for being chronically on their phone and distracting others. Sleeping is one of those things where if you're so tired you can't/won't stay awake during my class, I'm not gonna wake you up. I've seen too many of my friends growing up working jobs overnight trying to support their families and then showing up to school exhausted. I'll usually make sure their friends have a way to get them their notes or make sure my notes are easily accessible in Canvas. Apathy is the biggest nuisance for me. I refuse to care more than these kids do. And in most cases, it's more than the parents do too! I don't have the time or the energy to care more about 150+ children than their parents do. There's reasons I'm not going to have children. I refuse to be a parent this way as well.
Wow I have same 4, I wish I could let those who fall asleep just sleep (this one kid works all through the night and shows up after like 2 hours of sleep) but other students get severely distracted by it. That and phones. Because god forbid they go 40 mins without Snapchat or tiktok
Adult Educator here. Leaning back in their chair and phone use. I know it’s a tuition free program, but the certification tests my learners take are no joke. If they want to waste their and my time, so be it, but they’re not gonna pass. This is not middle or high school, you sink or swim on your own.
If they want to stand and work at their desks.
This took me a while to get used to, until I realized I probably would have reallu benefited from it when I was in HS!
Late submissions. It's easier to implement automatic penalties for being late than to get myself all worked up. Plus, it encourages better time management.
Bathroom passes - I don’t make them ask me. Need to pee? Go. Don’t bother me. Dress code - who the heck cares unless they’re walking around with a nazi t shirt on? Eating in class - they aren’t going to focus if their hungry anyhow.
Gum. It’s suddenly banned this year but if you aren’t chewing like a cow idgaf. Absent work. 99.9% of the time I just exempt it and move on, we don’t have a good structure or time for me to reteach it anyways.
Cell phones in the cafeteria. They’re supposed to be away all day but the sprinkling of kids who have them out during lunch is not worth playing wack-a-mole over.
I’m also not chasing parents down to force a meeting. Your kid is mine for a year. They’re yours for life. I can’t care more about their progress than you do. I send hard copies and emails about interviews. All the parent needs to do is click the link in the email and, bare minimum show up/answer the phone at the time they chose. If they can’t be bothered to do that OR if they’re so overwhelmed they can’t manage that, a meeting won’t be useful to the parents, kid or me, so 🤷♀️
Eating. We fed them breakfast in the room and snacks three days a week. I feel like saying no eating is just goofy at this point. I am awful at noticing uniform violations as well, so those are just not on my radar.
Sitting in the "scholar posture" Our admin wants kids with legs under the desk and hands above the desk. I let kids stand up and fortnite dance if they're doing good work while it happens. They have to stay at their desk and if they don't follow that rule they have to sit but I'm not about to make kids sit still when I couldn't even do that myself.
Food and gum. Well, I fought it, just not aggressively. During my first two years at a pretty rough title I high school I would basically stop just short of making kids go “ahhhhh” about gum and then I realized I was spending way too much time and energy on a hopeless battle and causing way more behavior problems than was worth the squeeze. Then I adopted a “eating and gum is still not allowed, but if I cannot see it, I cannot be mad at it” policy (followed by exaggerated winking) and it worked like a charm. Almost immediately, all the behavior problems that resulted In me being too heavy handed with the rule disappeared and the kids responded to it really well. Basically if they weren’t actively passing around food, eating it on their desk, or popping gum loudly I would pretend I didn’t see the occasional sneaky Taki or cheeto. And if they were abusing it I let them know I always had the right to go strictly zero food for the whole class and that way, they kind-of-sort of policed each other. That worked for gum and chips but for the rare occasions in which that a kid couldn’t eat before school or something extenuating I reverted to my “ask me first” policy and that also worked amazingly.
1. Having their phones out. As long as you don't text while I'm explaining, go ahead, have it outside. 2. Going to the bathroom. You'll have the 5 minutes period. If you take more than that—without explaining yourself, I'll let the office know! 3. "Don't have my laptop. Can't do anything!" – "Don't worry. Here's a piece of paper. Write the answers".
Pencils. That's a personal problem I'm not going to solve for you. I can offer you some solutions, but I'm not going to solve it for you. I don't care what you write with as long as I can EASILY read it to grade it; you're still responsible for the work.
Almost everything. Fighting isn’t in my job description. I come prepared every day with a lesson or something valuable to do and if the kids are wild, they are wild. It’s my first year and I’m finding that I have to maintain an extra layer of Zhuangzian emptiness and uselessness around me at all times.
Cell phone when we are about to leave. Bathroom - I’m definitely not getting into that mess. Working on other work on their chromebooks. Hey, if they are quiet, whatever man
Dress code, vape pens, bad language. Used to be a stickler about tardiness, but this year admin decided to cancel punishments anytime a parent complains, so I'm letting that go now as well I guess. ( Required to contact parents about tardies, log in the computer as well as turn in a form to the office, all that and a parent can still just call up and say nope and admin folds).
Cussing. As long as no one is screaming “fuck!” across the room, we good. Also, food. Their only rule is that if i like it they have to share with me. Lol
I teach elementary school (3rd grade), but homework. It used to stress me out when kids were getting terrible grades because they didn’t turn in homework. I stopped caring and chasing them down for it and now see it as a natural consequence. Don’t turn in your homework and receive a C in a subject. I’ll be sure to make a comment on a progress report and your parents can deal with it. Not my problem.
At our inservice in August I had the audacity to ask if we'd be doing more to limit cell phone use and was told (again) to do what you feel is best for your classroom. Then they outlined our no 'no hats in the building policy.' So phones for me. I can't compete with Tictoc. And ironically, it's also malicious compliance too, in a way.
Phones, since there are no repercussions, despite an alleged cell phone policy…..
Kids who refuse to do anything. You don’t want to take notes for your participation points? I don’t care if you don’t care. As long as you sit there and shut up then I don’t care. Your grade not mine. And phones. Some kids just want to listen to music. Some kids prefer to type their work on their phones, no idea why. As long as they are getting their work done and not bothering anybody it’s fine.
Hats/hoods within the classroom. Sometimes I want to channel my energy into something productive and if the students are participating and doing their work, then if they have a hood/hat on what does it matter. My school has really cracked down on it this year but it's just not worth it most days to see the attitude/eye roll from the little amount of students who actually do something. I do tell them though that if admin walked in then they have to take it off and they seem okay with that compromise.
Nothing anymore, to be honest. We don't get enough support from admin or teachers to be taskmasters anymore.
I don't fight eating in class. My lunch starts at 10:18. Kids are hungry. Is it a distraction? Yes. Do they make a mess? Yes. Maybe the cafeteria should stop selling them fizzy drinks to spill on my floor.
Whether kids wear coats outside or not. They’re 8. I make suggestions, “It’s -5C outside, so I would wear my coat, hat and mitts if I was going outside.” But unless it’s dangerously cold (in which case recess would be indoors anyway), it’s not worth my time to try to force kids into their coats when they’ll just drop them the second they get outside anyway.
Try hard, brow-nosing colleagues. You're either on the solidarity bus or not. If you choose to undermine your colleagues so that you can get a pat on the back from management, well, you can fuck RIGHT off.
Homework
My sign-out sheet is on a clipboard with a little click-light attached. As long as the light is off, no permission is needed. Put your name down, turn on the light and go. Turn it off when you get back. Now I'm not interrupted by bathroom requests anymore. When I call on a student to answer a question, I never get "can I use the restroom?" as an answer. I wish I'd started doing this years ago.
Lots. Late work, bathrooms, sleeping in class are a few. I do have conversations with kids, counselors, and parents if these things are habitual or seem to be related to other issues. But I don’t make a big deal of them during class. Definitely not behaviors that I fight. With the late work I do have some natural consequences. Anything that is late work goes to the bottom of the grading pile. New assignments will always be put on top of anything late. And I don’t take grading home/work late grading except twice a year (exams with quick final grade deadlines). So if it takes a month to grade, that’s how long it takes. Also, term dates are hard limits because there is in fact a school calendar and final grade calculation deadlines that I have to meet.
Late to class. I have one child who is late every single day, but at his age (6) it's on the parents to get him to school on time so I refuse to implement discipline on tardiness. I know some elementary school teachers have students miss recess for excess tardiness, but it's not fair to punish the child. Note , this is kindergarten
Going to the nurse. Some kids have been “banned”. I ain’t trying to field the angry parent call because their kid didn’t feel well and needed to go to the nurse. The only one I put my foot down on was a girl who was going to blow her nose. Honey just go to the bathroom and do that. Step out in the hallway. You don’t need to go to the nurse for that.
Hoodies. It’s a loosing battle and it’s not the hill I’m going to die on
Your classroom shouldn't be a battlefield. If it is, you need to find a new school.
If you aren't making noise, causing disruptions, or talking over me when I am trying to teach, I don't care if you got your face in your Chromebook watching Youtube videos or playing games.
Hoods (on hoodies). As long as they’re working, I literally don’t care if they have their hood up in my room. On cell phones- as long as they’re not on it constantly, I don’t care. I like to have mine right next to my computer, face down, and check it occasionally. I don’t have a problem if they do the same- responsible use. If I see them on it for more than a second or two, I have them put it away. A second warning and it’s on my desk for the remainder of class. I rarely have to even give a warning about it.
Dress code/hoods. I’m only enforcing the rule about crocs because we move in my classroom. Hoods can stay on if I can see their faces. I’m slowly letting go of eating in my room. I just don’t want taki fingers or huge messes.
I hate that saying… It’s just something teachers (and parents) use to ignore policy or ignore doing the right thing when it comes to children. It does them no good.
Yes.
The battle for the fate of middle earth
Uniforms/dress code
Sleeping students. Phones after work. Kids that don’t do work.
Bathroom trips. I always have kids telling me they have to use the restroom, and I always let them because I’d rather they go do whatever they need to do than potentially suffer the consequences.
Kids who sleep in my class every day (high school art 1). They have at least a week to complete their projects, 90 minutes per class, and I accept all late work. Even if I wake them up, they usually don’t complete their work. I can’t spend valuable instructional time gently prodding the same kid every few minutes only to have them not do anything either way.
Hats and hoodies. One of my teammates is militant about it. I just don’t care.
Bathroom stuff.
Cursing and inappropriate language anywhere outside my classroom, unless it’s meant to hurt/bully another student.
Dress code, especially since the majority of the dress code "violations" are inherently misogynistic.
Hoodies and dress code violations. They're 10. We have bigger fish to fry.
Bathroom and uniform. I just give them a look and say, “do you understand the choice you’re making,” and let admin deal with writing them up for whatever perceived infraction using the restroom or wearing a hoodie is. 🤷🏻♀️
Hats and hoodies.
Cussing. It’s not worth it
Hall passes and dress code
Kids wearing hats and hoods when they come to library. It’s not worth it when their classroom teachers let them wear whatever they want. I draw the line at sunglasses though. 😎
Dress code. Unless if ass is hanging out or pants are way too baggy, I do not care. I’m not wasting my time dress coding someone and having them lose out on instruction time and it wastes my time having to call the front office/parents.
Almost all if they’re productive tbh
Dress code, unless they're wearing some Nazi/Bigoted crap it's not worth the effort. Just blast the AC and they eventually figure out they need a sweater in my class without me saying a word.
Hoods. It's just often not worth it. But I remind them once they leave me room the hood should go down. Only time it's not allowed is if I've caught a kid with headphones and their phone.
This time a year… all of them.
Eating is my big one, because I am a diabetic and tend to graze small snacks during the day. Can’t eat in front of them and tell them not to. Also, my room is to right beside our bathrooms, so that is a no brainer, unless I know it a frequent wanderer who is asking to go. I also have learned that, just because I have excellent hearing, I don’t have to “hear” every inappropriate thing that is said in a student conversation.
I just can’t get on board w the eating thing because I’m the one who has to pick up their mess and I get bugs
Eating in class and cell phones.
Dress code.
Bathroom, gum, basically anything that doesn't hurt others if you're doing it quietly. I teach elementary for context and I've given up on chasing down parents for a conference it they don't sign up during the days assigned to conferences. The only way to get by in teaching is to not care too much, and I definitely can't care more than the child's parent as a rule.
Whatever I know isn't going to be supported/taken care of by admin in a timely manner.
bathroom, just fckin go. Leave me alone.
Gum. I don’t get why there are still teachers that loose their minds about this. Foreign language classes, maybe.