Jay Wamsted
@JayWamsted
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Middle school teacher wrestling with middle age. Writing, mostly about teachers & schools, here:
Atlanta, GA
Joined April 2019
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Trying something new this year: a weekly piece, like a log of the classroom teacher
Here’s the first one! Year 19 and now 2 days of school in the books
Let me know what could be better. I’ll be circling these topics all year…
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If a vaccinated Dr. Fauci still won't eat inside a restaurant
Remind me again why we are
gathering entire grade levels
of unvaccinated children
to sit in poorly ventilated rooms
& take meaningless standardized tests?
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Them:
Student loan forgiveness is a travesty. Make people pay every dollar they owe for the education they chose. Plus interest.
Also Them:
Give me a voucher so I can send my kid to a private school.
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Don’t tell me that reducing class size won’t help student learning.
Tell me you don’t want to pay for it. Tell me you don’t have the space. Tell me you don’t have the teachers.
But don’t gaslight me. There’s a reason private schools cap class size. Every teacher knows it.
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Being shocked about teacher shortages is a sure sign that you don’t actually know any teachers.
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The craziest explanation for why teachers shouldn’t wear jeans is so we “stand out from the students”
Friend, I am running around that room like a circus conductor. They all know exactly who I am.
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People commenting on this calling it “teacher’s salary” and all I can think is that they must not know many teachers
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#DearWhiteTeacher
Just because you read “White Fragility” over the summer
Does not mean you’re ready to lead the antiracism workshop next school year
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Dear Educators
Together my wife & I have four college degrees and over 40 years experience working with children
We have three elementary-school kids, two jobs, two computers, an old iPad, and slow internet
We have access and capability
We. Are. Still. Overwhelmed.
Thank you
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not Wordle, just a public school seating chart tracking quarantines & absences
⬜️⬜️🟩⬜️🟥🟩
🟩🟩🟥🟥⬜️⬜️
🟩🟥⬜️⬜️🟥🟩
⬜️⬜️🟥🟩🟩🟥
🟩🟩🟩🟥⬜️🟩
🟥🟩🟥⬜️⬜️🟩
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Tim Walz is proof that teaching prepares you to do just about any career
If you can teach school you can be a star anywhere
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Teachers: I lend pencils but don't get them back
Non-Teachers: Just have students return them at the end of class
Teachers: I teach but they keep looking at their phones
Non-Teachers: Just tell them phones need to be put away
Teachers: Thank you I have never thought of this
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My kids go to a homework-free elementary school and I have just one question:
Why isn’t every elementary school homework free??
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A veteran teacher new to our building asked me, "So will they give us paper or do I just need to go buy my own?"
& can you imagine any other profession where this question even makes sense? But every teacher past Year 2 knows exactly what it's like.
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Looks like Congress is going to need a middle school teacher to come in and restore order.
Just let me know y’all. I’ve got decades of experience wrangling folks who can’t agree & love to show off for the crowds. I make a mean seating chart too.
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Please stop saying “re-open schools”
Please say “re-open school buildings”
Many educators are working diligently from their homes. But it’s still “school”
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My classroom.
I teach 8th grade & my largest class has 38 students. We need 9 more desks. Eight, if my co-teacher gives up their seat. But where do those desks go?
Even then, the county is less than half vaccinated. Masks are optional. Windows don't open.
How is this a plan?
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Folks who say Abbott Elementary is unrealistic don't know as much about public education as they think they do
I'm starting to suspect "Abbott Elementary is so unrealistic" is like, a racist dog whistle. It's real to me. It's like if my repressed memories from my first year teaching was a show.
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On Zoom my student made his “camera off” picture a shot of him in his bedroom staring straight into the camera looking thoughtful
For two days I just thought I was being an amazing teacher
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Every educator who did work today or is planning to tomorrow should ask:
What is wrong with our systems that we don’t have enough time Monday to Friday?
& why do we put up with this??
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Student teaching is messed up in two directions.
The student teacher isn’t paid to do their full-time work. And the lead teacher isn’t paid to mentor someone in a full-time situation.
Like so many aspects of public education, the system exploits anyone who cares about children.
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I am pleased to report that I am wearing jeans & yet somehow my students still did really well on the quiz we’re going over today.
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Here's an idea:
This year we do Daylight Savings during the day on Monday. At 2:00 PM all clocks transition instantly to 3:00 PM and we get one hour less of work.
I see no problems with this plan.
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Not that Abbott Elementary needs my advice...
But I can't wait to see the plot line when Janine tries to take a sick day.
I don't think people in other professions know how much work being absent is for a teacher, and how often we show up sick because of it.
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If you're confused about why so many teachers are leaving the profession it just means you haven't talked to any teachers in the past two years.
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I used to think that no teenage girl would ask a male teacher for a tampon or pad. I never had them in my room.
This year I started, though, just in case. And twice recently I've been asked for a pad.
Thankful to the person who told me I might be wrong & I should keep a supply.
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I'm just learning that there are multiple school districts around the country that do four-day weeks.
Trainings & meetings on Friday. Probably virtual tutoring when it's needed.
Someone explain to me why we all aren't doing this? As a teacher & a parent I love it.
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I challenge you to find a classroom teacher who was working in 2019, worked all through the pandemic, and is still working today
Then tell them that "research says" their skills have taken a hit over the last four years
Just see how that conversation goes for you
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First-year teachers should be paid to co-teach with a veteran in the building. What if they don’t get their own classrooms until Year 2?
This will cost money, yes. Probably a lot
But I bet we get better teachers in the end. And I bet they stay longer in the profession
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Me: Posts a tweet about how teachers need to refuse to do school work at home.
Them: Suck it up. Other professionals work at home & so should you.
Me: PAY US LIKE OTHER PROFESSIONALS AND WE’LL TALK
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Student: Being a teacher doesn’t seem so bad. But how do you put up with all the children?
Me: Y’all are absolutely the best part about being a teacher.
Student: You have got to be kidding me.
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Every year I take kids outside on some random Friday & I remember that school would be a better place if we gave middle school students recess.
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I get angry every time I remember that student teaching is not only free labor, but the teacher also pays their college for the privilege. In many cases going into debt. Got to be a better way.
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You can love teaching
& love your students
& be exhausted
& be desperate for summer
All at the same time.
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When your principal comes in for an observation and doesn't say a single word
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Me: Posts a tweet about reducing class size
Them: Class size doesn't matter, research says
Me: My child takes Algebra with 38 other children. Class size absolutely matters. I wonder where the researchers send their children to school?
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When we routinely allow our profession to be labeled “a calling” we are setting ourselves up for exploitation.
See: teachers & nurses
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People not understanding why teachers are nervous about being in classrooms right now is the height of people not understanding how schools actually operate.
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We’re now in the 3rd week of our middle school being a “no cell phone” zone. In bags at all times. Never in hands. No headphones.
You can only imagine how much better this is than last year. It is glorious.
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Just a reminder that, despite what the trolls on the internet say, if you are a teacher who worked on school stuff today there is a very good chance you are being exploited for being a decent person who cares about children.
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Lauren Boebert going after teachers announcing their "marital status" is just too ridiculous.
I don't announce anything. But once a day for the first month of school some kid will ask, "You married, Mr. Wamsted?"
I don't know a single teacher who wouldn't answer that question.
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It's strange how when we have a shortage of police we throw money at the system
but when we have a shortage of teachers we push vouchers & privatization of the system.
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Schools should definitely have a virtual option for students moving forward. Some parents love it & some students thrive
Just don't ask teachers to do both room & zoom at once again after this year. Please
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Don't be that teacher who makes fun of the gift your student brings you. Not even behind their back.
Just...don't.
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The hardest part about being a teacher is remembering that you can’t just correct any random kid doing the wrong thing out in public
School = Fine
Some Place = Weird Old Man
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Anyone who says there is no difference between a class of 38 middle schoolers & a class of 31 middle schoolers
has never taught a class of 38 middle schoolers
Class size matters.
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Trust me, if teachers actually were indoctrinating our students, we would be required to submit it on a lesson plan
& write an indoctrination target for the board
& have an indoctrination question of the day on the other board
& be changing them up every…single…day
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Of course I’m tired
But the other day I had a student spend the whole class caring for his 7-month-old brother, holding him in one hand while working the computer with the other
Have to remember that teachers aren’t the only ones juggling home and work at the same time
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Feels like if we have to teach our elementary school students breathing exercises to handle their test anxiety
then maybe we're testing them too much?
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I’m not used to middle school students yet
I made a joke about giving extra credit for one of those turkey-hand-tracing drawings. And then some of them actually went and did it
Sarcasm doesn’t land here the way it did in HS. Do I have to give the extra credit now?
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Checking 13yo’s math homework & I have just one question.
I can catch mistakes & help her correct. But what do kids do when their parent isn’t an Algebra teacher?
Answer: They get frustrated. Quit. Get a bad grade. Think they aren’t good at math.
How is homework fair???
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Me: Posts a tweet about how teachers need to refuse to do school work at home.
Teachers: But there's too much to do & I can't get it all done in the building.
Me: That's why we have to refuse. We have to quit giving them upaid labor because they will exploit us.
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Me: Posts a tweet about limiting student cell phone use in my middle school
Them: Just be more engaging & they will pay attention to you and not their phones
Me: Thank you for the advice. I will try to be more engaging than the internet
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Emmett Till would have been 81 years old.
5 Senators & 13 Representatives are all older than that today. Don't act like this is all ancient history when that history is still in power.
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We make over four million students take the PSAT every year. They compete for one of just 2500 scholarships.
Their odds are roughly comparable to a random teenage football player making it to the NFL.
Just think about that waste of school time, energy, and mental health.
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When I taught HS we used to ask what the MS teachers were doing with their time
Now that I teach MS I know. Surviving. That’s what MS teachers are doing
It’s all a mess, y’all. Everyone is doing their level best to get some educating accomplished. Just back off the blame game
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I am pleased to report that our entire middle school teaching staff is wearing jeans today
& yet things seem to be going pretty well across the building. Not a mutiny in sight.
I’ll keep you posted, though. I don’t know if everyone has their standards posted or not.
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I teach 8th grade & my son is in 5th & I can't understand why we put 6th graders into middle school.
Even this late in the year they look like little kids still. Meanwhile the 8th graders are having fight club in the bathrooms between classes.
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When the Secretary of Education posts a tweet saying that “teaching isn’t a job” but rather my “life’s purpose”?
I don’t know about y’all, but life’s purpose doesn’t pay my bills.
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There is absolutely no reason why we can't have recess for middle school students.
Open the gym, the track, the auditorium. Just let them be themselves on their own terms for a few minutes a day.
A couple less minutes from each academic class will be totally worth it.
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Texted a mom to say her son wasn’t working up to his potential. Twenty minutes later she was in the building. Not a negative word to me. But plenty of words for her son
When I tell you how supported I felt. That is what teachers need
It’s what students need, too
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There is zero chance that I’m doing any sort of schoolwork over this break. I’m not even checking my email.
So why would I expect my students to do homework? Makes no sense.
Sleep. Play video games. Watch movies. The math will be there when we get back.
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90% of students attend public schools.
Not supporting public schools equals not supporting children.
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Teacher Twitter is all over the place today but one thread runs right through:
The break just wasn’t restorative enough for what’s coming.
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Step One: Keep schools underfunded so class sizes are too large to manage for even the best of teachers
Step Two: Complain that schools are poorly run
Step Three: Send tax money to private schools, claim a break for the rich is "for the children"
Step Four: Repeat Step One
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You want to support children?
Attach a pediatrician's office to every school building in the country. Make regular checkups a part of the school year. Make it all free, knowing that in the long run a healthy country is a better county.
That's how you could support children.
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I posted a tweet yesterday about teachers leaving school-work at school and it is generating a lot of noise, both objection and affirmation.
Let me summarize the objections and rebuttals here.
To repeat, teachers should be leaving their work in the building. Here's why:
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The most important advice a teacher can hear is that they have to leave their work in the building.
It doesn't matter how many students you have. It doesn't matter how much planning time they give you.
If you don't leave it at school the system will eat you alive.
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If School 2022 looks just like School 2019,
only without snow days or kids getting to take a day off once in a while,
we will have missed the opportunity of a lifetime to remake a broken system.
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People say that throwing money at public schools won’t fix the problems
But rich folks throw money at their problems all the time & it seems to work out okay for them
Maybe we just give it a try with our schools and see what happens?
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If you’re not tossing out amazing & hilarious jokes to a totally dead room are you even a teacher though??
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Without categorically dismissing you, I'll just say that if you haven't been in a classroom since before the iPhone came out?
You should tread real lightly with the advice you give teachers.
(Your experience running meetings doesn't count)
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Some people say your mentor can’t be fictional but I’m taking all my cues from Barbara on Abbott Elementary from this point forward.
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This isn’t very inviting, but I’m having a hard time fitting 40 seats into a room built for 28
hashtag don’t tell me class size doesn’t matter
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One thing I love about Abbott Elementary is that the white guy is charming & earnest & well-meaning
& yet it's super clear that he's not going to save any of these children. They don't need that from him.
It's a good message for all us white educators.
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The problem is not teachers taking sick days or mental health days
The problem is districts having no plan for these days that doesn’t burden the remaining teachers in the building
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We don't build any time into our school days for the kids to just visit with each other & then we wonder why they get off task so easily with their friends.
Don't say "they're there to learn not socialize." There's more to school than just downloading information.
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People tweeting about the question of homework over the holiday break?
Y’all. I wouldn’t even give homework on a random Friday. Give the kids a break already.
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We're at Chuck E. Cheese & the giant mouse taps my wife on the shoulder
He makes a heart with his hands & points at me. My wife is troubled. Then she asks,
“Was he your teacher?"
The mouse nods & walks away
Students are everywhere. But this first job is my new favorite story
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Congratulations to my 8th grade students, who just completed seven straight days of state testing.
I’m pleased to announce that we have prepared them for the “real world” of answering multiple choice questions while working in silence & isolation.
Well done, American Education.
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As the father of elementary school children & a career public school teacher, I find it nonsense to suggest that the solution to gun culture is to hand me a gun to "protect my classroom"
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I’m a teacher who wants to be in the classroom
I’m a father who wants his kids in school
I’m a husband whose wife’s job needs child-free hours to get it all done
I want school to start so much
But don’t tell me we’re doing it unless we do it safely
I don’t want it that bad
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I have never been a teacher, but don't worry!
I have some advice for you.
A🧵
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Me: Posts a tweet about raising teacher pay
Them: I don't teach for the money, I teach because my students need me
Me: Oh this is how they keep our pay so low
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Since we’re talking about the dangers of stuffing college level work on high school students?
I’m here to say that we’ve now jammed too much high school work down into the middle school
Most of them aren’t ready. All it does is turn them off from school at a sensitive time
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Students can’t “fall behind” during COVID-19
Because we are the ones who make the standards
Standards are social constructs
Completely arbitrary benchmarks
We are the educators
We can re-write the standards
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Teachers are way too overworked & way too underpaid to spend our time trying to indoctrinate children with some kind of ideology.
We're just trying to cram a little bit of kindness in between an avalanche of state standards, y'all.
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Every time I assign something and a student asks
"Is this for a grade?"
At first I get kind of annoyed. And then I remember that WE did this to them. It's not their fault--they've adapted to our broken system of carrots & sticks
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A child asks us an off-topic question roughly once every thirty seconds and yet these folks want us to “keep our personal lives out of the classroom”
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Well, I teach math & it’s just about the middle of March. If you know you know…
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This argument about class sizes in public schools versus private schools is more complicated than it needs to be.
Ask a teacher. How big is too big for a class? How small is too small? I'll go first. I've taught middle & high.
12 students is too few.
25 students it too many.
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That sound you hear is millions of teachers sighing in relief that April Fools Day is tomorrow.
On a Saturday…
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Between my regular roster & absent teachers, I had 40 students in my 8th grade pre-algebra class
Some folks want to tell me that if I was a better teacher, this would be no big deal
Me? I think we’re burning out good teachers by asking them to work this way
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My students asked me to take my glasses off & immediately half the class said “ewwwwww”
No teacher makes it long in the game without a healthy self-esteem😂🤣🤦🏻♂️
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I am routinely shocked by the number of adults who think their experience as a student with a cell phone (10+ years ago) is anything like the situation teachers are in today
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They’re always telling teachers to get politics out of education
They’re about to find out what it means to put education into politics
Tim Walz will make a perfect VP
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The Venn diagram of people who are mad about student loan forgiveness and people who want the government to fund their private "school choice" is a perfect circle.
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9yo just asked if the butterflies in “Encanto” were a metaphor & I’m all where did you even learn that word?
I’m so grateful for elementary educators. Schools may be a mess but ES teachers are amazing.
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As a teacher & a father, I have realized that I’m no longer sure I would advise my own children to go into education.
This…troubles me…
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When my second child was born I went back after just 9 days because I felt guilty about my students & their upcoming state test.
I was a young teacher & felt that pressure. I wish someone on my Admin team had looked at me & said "stay the hell home son we got this"
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Just heard about a family camp with a Covid outbreak. Vaccinated adults, vaccinated children, unvaccinated children all affected.
Don’t blithely tell me that schools are going to be “just fine” if the teacher is vaccinated.
We. Still. Have. Work. To. Do.
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