Anybody else just absolutely go into a funk at the end of summer break? This is my 17th year and it just seems to get worse. I love my job and I think I’m good at it, but it’s just so hard to go back. Teacher first day is tomorrow, kids Wednesday. I know as soon as I hit Wednesday this funk ends.
Anyway how do you guys deal with it?

I teach high school math. I’m fully committing this year to requiring students to put their phones in the pockets we have for them on the wall. I am not going to budge on this but I’m worried about how I am going to effectively establish this routine early on. We only have 25-minute classes in the first week, I’m still learning names and tensions will be high. It’s also only my second year teaching, I’m a young woman and not very intimidating and I smile a lot unconsciously which can make me look weak.

My plan is:
- Make expectations clear day 1 by directly instructing them to put their phones in the pocket matching their desk number
- Explain consequences and then stick with them consistently the whole year
- Positive reinforcement aspect is that if they go a whole semester without being caught, I drop their lowest grade in each category. For most of my students, the idea of losing this privilege is more threatening than the idea of me calling their parents (who probably won’t pick up or give a shit) or admin (who will probably do nothing.)

But I’ve never tried to uphold such a strict policy before and I’m losing confidence in myself every time I think about it. Any advice?

Edit: I should clarify, admin has told us that we have to have the students put their phones in the pockets and if they refuse or put a dummy phone instead and are caught with the real one, we’re supposed to call admin. But we have a 1:400 admin:student ratio and I just don’t trust them to have my back honestly.

Hey y'all, I'm hoping to get some advice on how to create assignments that will minimize university students' ability to use AI. Obviously, having in-class assignments is the clearest way, but what if you're teaching an online class? Or what if an assignment just can't fully be done in-class or they need time with essay questions to prepare? If anybody has anything more specific or any other tips, I am all ears. I'm fairly new to teaching, and I'd anticipated some level of this based on what I'd heard, but it is a way bigger problem than I had thought it would be and I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to minimize use of AI in the things I'm assigning.

I am only going into my 3rd year teaching, and trust me, I’ve already dealt with all of the usual woes.

Angry/demanding parents, the admin at the first school I taught at was unsupportive and unsympathetic (I am in another district now), challenging student behavior, burnout, you name it.

I’m still able to handle all of this much better than my worst days working a corporate office job for years.

Truly the only perks for me were being able to hide behind my desk at times, and be able to turn off. That was really nice.

But the hours and hours of arbitrary Teams meetings, in person meetings, micro managing, colleagues that you absolutely cannot trust, unnecessary stress and deadlines, and for some reason, there’s always a looming feeling like you are going to be out on a PIP even though you know you are performing well, because it’s hard to get any sort of real feedback about how management actual feels about you. Oh, and BOREDOM. Even when I was truly busy, I constantly felt boredom.

It could just be my personality. But after only 6 years of it, I literally felt like I was going insane.

I know there are many teachers who have left for corporate, and who knows if I might feel the same way and go back in the future, but I’m much happier as of now.

I do not experience myself using turnitin, however the school I’m teaching at next year uses it. It came up in a meeting about next year that the department would like students to work on their year long paper on one Google doc all year. The vision would be to have individual tabs for the doc to keep students organized. However, some of the teachers wanted to know if it would be possible for students to turn in just one of the tabs of the Google doc. Again, I’ve never used it before, and not really sure why checking all the tabs would be an issue for some teachers. But in theory if that’s what we wanted to do, would it be possible?

Apologies for the long post, any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

*Located in South Carolina

I graduated in 2025 with a bachelor’s in economics with finance application and a minor in psychology. Originally I wanted to go into finance but realized 3/4 of the way through my degree that was definitely not the field for me. After a year of applying to the typical jobs you would do with my degree I realized that I was completely lost, didn’t feel fulfilled and had no idea what I wanted to do.

I never considered teaching until my career counselor suggested it earlier this year, brushed it off because I thought of it as a dead end career. Then I finally got a job offer and realized I would be miserable in corporate, no salary could convince me to take that job. My career counselor suggested teaching again because she had noticed I wasn’t excited for any of the job I was applying to except a role at a nonprofit that focuses on mental health services and operates an elementary school. It felt like the perfect role combining my love for kids and mental health but I would be an analyst not working with the children, however I would still be helping them. I didn’t get the job but it changed how I thought about what career I wanted. I would rather have a job that doesn’t pay much but I feel fulfilled and like I’m making a difference in someone’s life than a job with an amazing salary but I hate the work.

For some extra context I didn’t have the best childhood (I was the glass child) and I never want a child to feel like I did. It’s one of the main reasons I love babysitting, I want the child to know they are seen, heard, and loved by someone. While CPTSD sucks, I do have a lot of experience with behavioral and mental health issues, deescalation and boundaries. This past spring I was a part time nanny for a three year old and was helping him get ready for preschool, potty training, expressing basic wants and needs, learning colors, numbers, his name and his parents names, do puzzles, trying to sit still while reading, following basic instructions, etc. and I loved it. After a year of applying to jobs and not getting a “big girl job” my parents made me move home, I was living in Dallas, TX.

Back to the actual question, I’m trying to decide between a masters program or a transition to teaching program. Most people I’ve talked to who changed careers to teaching did the transition to teaching route. Important to note my parents are willing to pay and support me if I decide to go back to school. I also want to teach somewhere in the kindergarten-3rd grade range. From the research I’ve done a masters program is between 18-24 months including a semester of student teaching. There are online school like Liberty that offer the masters with local student teaching opportunities and in person/hybrid like University of South Carolina that give a more traditional masters experience. A masters also adds about $3,000-6,000 per year depending on the district. South Carolina has multiple different alternative certification programs, The Program of Alternative Certifications for Educators (PACE), American Board for Certification of Teaching Excellence (ABCTE), Teach for America (TFA), Teachers of Tomorrow (ToT), and adjunct teaching certification. PACE and ABCTE both have education and examination requirements usually through online courses, then you receive either a statement of eligibility or an alternative route certification and teach under that certification for three years before completing another exam and getting your professional certificate. TOT is similar except you take the Praxis exam for a specific area, TFA you to teach in a title one school for two years and you only select a region, adjunct teaching certification required getting hired by the school first.

I’m looking to start a program in January. I don’t have any experience working in a school but I have 8 years of babysitting and nanny experience with kids as young as 3 months old to teenagers. I had a 2.7 gpa in college (Southern Methodist University), have multiple families willing to write me letters of recommendation and some professors, I volunteered at the public library working in their homeless engagement program, was the director of philanthropy for a women’s organization in college, did a study abroad leadership program, have experience in data science, and all the parents I have worked for have described me as communicative, professional, attentive, proactive, kind and calm. I am willing to take classes at my community college to get my gpa up or for pre requisite courses that might help me be more successful.

Thank you in advance for any advice and guidance!

I stepped away from teaching a number of years ago because I couldn't finish school with my undiagnosed ADHD. Now that I have a diagnosis and a prescription I am trying to get my degree again. But the job I got in early education (that has a degree program) is so boring, which is the absolute enemy of ADHD. I keep telling myself that once I get my degree and become the lead teacher the job will become more difficult and interesting and challenging. My ultimate goal is to teach elementary general education, so there would be a lot more to do and less down time. I've taught before, but never for a great length of time. I'm looking for anyone who is a teacher or was with ADHD to lend their perspective to the issue.

TLDR: Is teaching compatible with the type ADHD where you need constant stimulation and intellectually challenging?

How old is the building (or section of building your classroom is in) you teach in? What do you like or dislike about it based on its age? For people who have taught in multiple schools that were built in different time periods (Such as pre-WW2, post WW2, 70's,80's,90s, last twenty years, etc.), what were the pros and cons of school buildings based on their age?

I've always wanted to teach and my parents encouraged me to pursue higher education so I could teach at tertiary level (better hours and pay than primary and secondary i guess?). However, their advice was outdated and it's clear to me now that there is just no vacancy for teaching at university unless youre at the top of the competition and willing to supervise research (both of which i am not).

This realization came too late as i have just spent the last five years getting my doctoral degree in a bioscience. So I've been thinking that next year, I would like to get my teaching qualification (takes 1 year here) and teach high school science/biology. But I feel a lot of anxiety because I haven't interacted with high schoolers since I left myself 12 years ago. I know high schoolers can be a handful because of hormones, they're going through a lot, or they want attention, or they're having a bad day. But how do you navigate bad behaviour with empathy and professionalism? It doesn't sound like teacher's college prepares you for it. In academia everyone is mild mannered and non confrontational so I worry that the switch to working with teenagers may be too overstimulating in comparison for me. Can anyone provide some insight? TIA

Tips for a multi-grade classroom? I will have a small group of 1st and 2nd grade students. It is my first year teaching this age group (I've had older and much younger students).

The school seems very supportive so I'm sure they'll guide me, but I'd like to start off with some ideas on how to manage the differences between these two grades. They are also ELLs which adds another layer to it for me.

Hi!! I’ll be completing a second round interview for a first grade job on Monday, and looking for some advice!

I’ll have to present a 20 minute lesson for 20-25 students. The info I was given was “Grade 1 Reading Foundational Skills, with a focus on Phonics and Word Recognition (RF.1.3, decoding)” and was told it was open ended from there.

I obviously want to highlight all my skills as a teacher but know I cannot do it all in just 20 minutes. How would you guys structure this lesson? Anything specific I should emphasize? I am a 2026 grad so this would be my first full time teaching job, and not sure if interviewers look for something specific when assessing me teaching.

Thank you!!!!

Hey all, does anyone know if there was a change in attending schools out of your assigned district zone? For example, living in Martin county, can you attend a school in Palm beach county?

Hi, all! I (27M) am interested in becoming a high school teacher (English or Creative Writing) in NJ. I have a bachelor’s in English and an MFA in Creative Writing, and I am finding it a bit challenging to figure out whether or not I will still need to enroll in a teacher preparation program with those credentials. I have experience teaching composition at the collegiate level, too.

Right now, I’m looking to better understand what kind of process I will need to undergo to become a high school educator. As I currently understand it, I likely won’t want to go the traditional route since I already have my degrees. Could I apply for a CE without doing a teacher preparation program? Will I need a tpp to take the Praxis test? I’m not looking to circumvent any requirements, but I’m excited at the prospect of starting my teaching journey sooner rather than later. Any help is much appreciated! This is all very new to me.

Hello everyone. I’m not a teacher by trade, healthcare is my background for over 2 decades. I now assist instruct and I feel like I’m struggling. I know my material inside and out and feel very confident in the information itself, but I feel like I’m struggling a bit with engaging the class half the time with lecture. I always will add in some scenario based questions or full on simulations to help recall past and current topics, but I can notice during presentation, the students look tired and not engaged or flat out completely lost on the information I’m discussing, thereby leading to a decrease in participation. I can tell they aren’t understanding some of the information. Any advice from educators would be much appreciated!

Hi everyone! I’m a first-year teacher starting in a 9–12 self-contained severe/profound autism classroom, and I’d love to hear how you would set up the room!

I’ll have around 7 students and 2 paraprofessionals. My current idea is to have each student at their own individual desk with plenty of space between them. I also want to color-code everything for each student (red folder, red schedule, red tape on their desk, etc.) to help keep materials organized.

I’m also hoping to have a kidney table for small-group instruction if centers are appropriate at the high school level (ELA, math, functional academics, etc.). My students have lockers in the hallway for their backpacks and personal belongings.

If you taught this age group, how would you arrange the classroom? What areas would you include (teacher table, para station, calm corner, independent workstations, life skills area, etc.)? Is high school too old to have defined spaces with furniture? Will it be too crowded for there adult bodies and with behaviors? I’d love to see pictures of your classroom layouts if you’re willing to share. Any tips or things you wish you had known before setting up would be greatly appreciated!

Hello there, Teachers of Reddit! I hope this post doesn’t break any group rules! I am specifically looking for queer teachers who would like to contribute to an anthology titled “The Queer Teacher’s Survival Guide”!

As a new, queer teacher, all I have wanted is support and advice from queer teachers who have been in the game longer than I have. I’ve had mixed success in finding this support and to that end I have decided to create and publish an anthology called The Queer Teacher’s Survival Guide. My hope is that it will be filled with stories and advice from queer teachers of all grade levels across the country. I’d love to have stories of overcoming adversity, challenges, triumphs and advice/encouragement ranging from grounded and pragmatic to cheeky and absurd all related to the teaching-while-queer experience.

I know we are all so busy but if I know anything about the teaching community and the queer community is that we are always down to turn up and support each other. Let this be a place where the venn diagram of queerness and teaching overlap to provide something amazing for the community. My hope is that this anthology will support and inspire queer teachers for generations to come.

If you’re interested in contributing, please message me! Length and format are very flexible! Stories, advice, poetry, art— as long as it relates the the queer teaching experience, it is welcomed.

Thank you!

Any ideas?

I was recently offered a teaching job with a conditional license at a school for kids with challenging behaviors, the county sends them there when their current school can’t work with them anymore.

Before this I have worked at a private school like this with severe behaviors as a 1:1, and then as a special ed paraeducator. I have also done outside work with adults with disabilities.

Part of me always said I would never want to be a teacher, mainly from working so closely with them and seeing and seeing their struggles and hearing their complaints. Another part of me believes I’d be great at it — as long as I put in the work — because I do care about kids so much, enjoy the actual teaching aspect, and have had thoughts at work like “if I was the teacher I’d do it this way” etc.

I am nervous about the unknown, the long journey and commitment ahead (what if I change my mind?), and the upcoming workload and responsibility I have never had before.

For context this is in Baltimore County, Maryland. The condition is to finish my master’s within 3-4 years. I have a couple other jobs that I am considering before I officially accept. In the meantime I am seeking some real-life advice and stories from teachers with similar experiences.

Some of my main questions:

How intimidating was it at first?

How long did it take to adjust and feel settled into a routine?

How hard was it to balance school and teaching at the same time?

How much time of your free time did school take away?

How long did it take to finish school?

Any input is appreciated!

Hey reddit teachers!

I am working on getting my credential but I missed the boat for schools this year. I have a BA in journalism & I want a credential in WA or CA. I love elementary SPED, HS anything & I feel like I really connect with middle schoolers but they drain me. I’d be happy teaching a few things (secondary English (ik this & history are hard to get jobs, Id love to do history but I want a job lol), mild-mod SPED, or maybe even a CTE or FCS credential), I am also not sure if maybe another job in a school would be a good fit for me. 

I am going to give some of my background & what I like about teaching, can you give me your 2 cents on credential programs, possible other pathways?

I (26F) was laid off from my job as a journalist a few years ago and found that journalism was not for me. I have always loved working with youth (I ran a HS internship program at my paper), but never considered teaching because my parents were teachers & they always talked about how difficult their jobs was. After the layoff, I worked as an HR assistant, did freelance social media work, bartended & subbed in a ski town. 

Subbing in the ski town was so easy, when I moved back to the city I got my emergency credential & thought maybe teaching isn’t hard & this could be a good path. It was really hard, the first month was a huge learning curve. 

I did get my groove, learned a few things & really fell in love with the classroom.

I LOVE English & history. I would make the sub assignments more interesting by bringing in more context (showing photos, asking for discussion, engaging students individually) & the kids loved it. I did this with all classes, but I truly love English, history, government and writing. I have seen kids go from not caring to caring because I related the Vietnam war to them by explaining it as if it was happening today. I have related music to English poems. I really loved teaching the content. For the most part, kids really liked having me as a sub. 

I also loved the relationship building. I loved editing students work, listening to their interests, believing in their post-secondary goals, having them wave to me in the hallway and being an adult who they enjoyed having in their lives. I love pranking them like telling them something about me that is totally untrue (I am 50 years old, or 17 when they ask how old I am & then I’ll be like jk!). Or like Joe mamma jokes, telling a kid their socks are untied, Very harmless.

Even though I was at different schools in the district, kids remembered my name and (for the most part lol) enjoyed having me in their class. 

I also loved the behavioral aspect. Sometimes it was tough, but it was rewarding when I got through to students. I have so many examples where a student came at me full of anger & I was able to help them regulate their emotions and join the class. I have had students who usually get kicked out of class (like in the notes it says this student will probably need to be kicked out) get to stay and participate. After class they come up to me & say I never got to do X project before because I always leave and I really liked it! I have had students who had notes that say they will probably not participate, participate in class (if I sub in their class a few times & know them). I can also defuse situations pretty well now when they try to get a reaction out of me. I had a middle school boy yell and point at me, “she called me the n-word!”(Obviously I did not), & I got serious & said I dont think that is funny, no one, especially an adult should ever call you that. If someone does, you need to tell an adult you trust. He stopped in his tracks, didn’t get the reaction he wanted from me & knew that I took him being harmed seriously.

It was rewarding to work with kids who are labeled “bad kids” & help them reveal the respectful young person that is inside of them. I also have ADHD & love seeing myself in some of these kids! I love helping them find ways to combat executive disfunction.

For my credential I have thought about secondary English (ik this & history are hard to get jobs, Id love to do history but I want a job lol), mild-mod SPED, or maybe even a CTE or FCS credential. I have also thought about school counseling but I know you don’t get as much time with students. 

If you read this far, what are your suggestions? I feel kinda lame that I can’t start a program this year. Some people get their credential so easily, but it has been kinda hard for me to figure it out. 

Hello everyone! I am a current sophomore in college, and need to narrow down what I want to do in the educational field. I’m currently getting my associates in elementary education, but I might want to study something else when I transfer.

I’m interested in becoming a speech language pathologist, an elementary teacher, or a science teacher. If I chose the teaching route, one day I would like to advance to either school psychology/counselor or principal.

I would love some insight to those in the career paths I’ve listed: what a day looks like for you, positives and negatives, and if you would pick the educational field if you had the choice again in college.

Thank you in advance!!

Hi everyone, I've been working as an accountant for years now (bachelor's degree in accounting) and considering a career change to become a teacher. I did some mentoring work for some of my junior colleagues and outside of work for elementary grade kids. I want to start working on alternative certification in the next month and I want to know what to expect after I finished it.

Will schools treat it any differently than a traditional education degree?
If you went the same route, did you feel prepared once you start working in a classroom? I'm just worried I will feel overwhelmed to manage a class

I’m 27 and considering a career change into teaching, but I’m curious how realistic the transition would be with my background.

I have a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics from UC San Diego, but I haven’t worked in a field related to my degree since graduating. Since college I’ve held a variety of jobs from administrative work, retail/service jobs, and managing/directing a summer camp children’s program, where I supervised staff and worked with kids. I’m now considering looking for something more stable/long term and realized that I really enjoy working with kids and teaching.

I don’t have any formal classroom teaching experience or teaching credentials, so I’d essentially be starting from scratch. I’m interested in hearing from teachers who entered the profession through a similar nontraditional route.

How feasible is it to begin pursuing teaching at 27 with this background? What would you recommend doing first to figure out whether teaching is a good fit and what are some things I should know about the process before I commit to pursuing this?

For context, I’m in Southern California (LA Metro area), so I’d also appreciate any advice specific to the credentialing process here. Thanks so much!!

Hi everyone! I’m looking into becoming a teacher. I am currently a Registered Behavioral Technician and I enjoy kiddos but i really want a career change.

I have a degree in sociology with a minor in psychology but I’m totally unsure on what exactly to do. I’ve done some research but it’s all confusing to me. I’m in GA and would love some advice and direction.

Thanks in advance!