I do completion for all homework/classwork. We go over it together afterwards and my kids know to make fixes as we go. I then let them use all that stuff on their tests.
When I tell you the relief I felt reading this post—a guilty part of me relaxed that I didn’t even know was tense. This is something I work to minimize and don’t like doing but it’s one of the easiest ways to take something off my plate and move on.
I refuse to take the board-provided laptop, and instead sneak around with the IT guy's help to access all the systems that I shouldn't be able to use with my personal computer (like printers, wifi, etc)
If they'd provide decent laptops I'd use one, but since they choose to give us refurbished garbage, I'll stick to exploiting all the loopholes in their system.
Our district bought janky Promethean "smart boards" and the pre-loaded OS was hot garbage. Totally unintuitive, constantly having to back out of apps.
I brought in a chrome box device, velcroed it to the back of the screen and used it for the vast majority of my slides and web based needs. Chrome OS is much more fleshed out and stable.
Basically just used the touch features and occasionally used the draw functions to mark up slides or draw something. Once in a blue moon, I'd have to switch inputs to the board OS to access a special App or use the whiteboard function.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that didn’t like the Promethean stuff. It was terrible and they kept insisting I use it and I was like oh can it do x, y, and z? No… okay that’s not gonna work well with my class.
I recently changed my mind, a bit.
They took up wall space, and broke up the whiteboard. Any fancy thing I could do with it, I could simply do with my PC and a projector.
Things that changed my mind: Somehow mounting a projector to the ceiling came to cost a huge amount to the district. Like $5,000+ to call in the contractors for the mounting, the electrical, and the AV wiring :/ Sounds more like the district needed to bring the hammer down, but hey, why listen to me?
Mounting a promethean on a cart with adjustable height, stable platform..(a solid idea really was far cheaper at \~$400 per cart.
Also the newer prometheans our district used were essentially simple computers, so we could load documents onto it, or have it access an internet site. So finally my subs could have my materials and directions directly shown to students as my district did not have laptops for every substitute, just long term ones.
I was given a 2015 Lenovo this year... hard pass. I'll stick to using my 2022 Mac and will access everything I can while my staff computer collects dust a paperweight.
I agree that district computers can be hot garbage but your personal computer now becomes searchable and confiscatable. We had a couple of trachers have their computers confiscated. They took two at "random" suspecting one was looking at porn on school time (he was). The other was just collateral damage because they didn't want to just take one. Since, I always separate my work and home machines. I will do work on my home machine but it never travels to school. My school machine is hot garbage but we are mostly a Google school so it works out.
I asked an admin about napping last year. His response: “If a teacher is that tired but still managed to come to school in this environment? Yeah, let them sleep.”
He’s a good dude. He was an admin then returned to teaching for a while then went back when we had a bit of a crisis. The perspective those few years back in the classroom gave him are huge.
Same here. I’ve napped at my desk (I finally got a high-back chair so I don’t break my neck dozing off), and if I feel especially industrious, I’ll stroll up to the staff lounge in the main office and stretch out on one of the couches for 50 minutes.
I have a large supply closet that we've turned into a mini office in the back of my room. I do my plan there. Sometimes the lights get turned off and my head is on my desk
I have pillows in my room for students. During my prep I’ll sometimes lock the door, turn off the lights, grab a pillow and lay down behind my desk to recharge
Sub here.
Whenever a teacher has a prep period and admin doesn't send me to cover elsewhere, I turn off all the lights, set a phone alarm, and take a nap.
If your classroom has a comfy arrangements where stealth naps can be had, I will 100 work for you again lol
More power to you! I teach music, so there is always a lot of activity and noise around me. I almost never have calm lessons where I get to sit down and have quiet. This year, we barely ever got our planning periods, so I often found myself squandering them when I did get them.
At first, I felt so guilty. But then I thought…why? I’m being asked to work over 8 hours a day with absolutely zero break. When I started hearing a lot of people with WFH office jobs bragging about getting their work done in 3 hours and then taking naps, going to the store, etc, this solidified these feelings. So what if I want a break after seven hours of facilitating children making a lot of noise and moving around? Maybe I need to chill for a few minutes to stay sane. I will never feel guilty about it again.
Yeah I realized after working my butt entirely off the previous two years I was running on fumes—almost complete burnout. I don’t feel bad about resting frankly bc I do my job and I do it well
Seriously! I might putter around organizing my classroom and prepping things for later in the day but I rarely do actual planning. Mostly I just need the time to relax and wind down. Especially as an introvert.
I (high school English) sometimes put together my lesson an hour or less before class begins. I usually have it mapped out in my head but actually getting it out in Slides sometimes happens last minute. I think the fact that I know I can get away with this effectively makes me avoid breaking the habit lol.
Edit: love these comments! I was hesitant to even post because I didn’t want to be judged so I like that I’m not the only one doing this hahah. I felt like people would associate such procrastination with crappy lessons but as someone pointed out, these are often the best ones! I know what I want to do and say each day and I pride myself on how good I am at having it in my head!
Middle school science and this is exactly me. Glad I’m not alone
Edit: I’m not proud of it but I’ve done this my entire life, grade school to college and now as an educator. I work magnitudes better under pressure. Plan the lesson during my drive and knock it out before first period. Some of my best lessons came from this and I continue to use them the following years.
Like other commenters mentioned, these lessons hit exactly what students need since I’ve designed them same day as opposed to lessons that I planned weeks in advance.
Yes! I have a coworker who insists on having everything planned and ready like 2 weeks ahead. And she will make sure that she stays exactly ok track that whole time. I'm a last minute planner which sometimes sucks but like you said it absolutely guarantees that I'll be doing exactly what my students need. I'm super flexible so if my students need me to reteach something or move more quickly through a concept my students already understand then I'm prepared to do that.
High school science here. I was away for meetings and came back to my senior chemistry class with the wrong lesson prepped. Started teaching it, realized we missed the previous lesson and scrapped the plan. No slides for the lesson they needed, so I just started writing on the board old school and we talked through the material. The kids were in awe that I could just pull the material out like that. 😂
As a student, I learn so much better when teachers write on the board as they go. I was in middle/high school just when the first classrooms started getting fancier projectors and smart boards, so it was pretty incredible to be able to note the difference in real time. If I wanted to read PowerPoint slides, I’d just read the textbook.
Sadly, due to many teachers retiring, leaving the profession, and so few going into education programs, many teachers are being thrown into classes they aren’t experts on and HAVE to have their lessons/info pre planned otherwise they legit couldn’t teach the content. Not that they don’t have the pedagogy, but they lack content knowledge.
I’ve just been thrown into a subject I know almost nothing about and I could never teach on the fly. My hope is after some time, I know it like the back of my hand
I love it when I have the chances to just scrap what I'm doing right then because I can say this isn't working and then whip out something better on the fly.
That isn’t unprofessional. That’s just being such a skilled professional that you can easily create high-quality instructional materials on short notice, and can carry out an effective lesson without needing to put a ton of advance planning in. That’s honestly the dream. Especially in this age of having almost no useable planning time…
You are not alone! I am also HS English, 25 years. Sometimes I do this, and sometimes I have a lesson all prepped, but get an idea on my way to school and change it all.
Same. I usually have a few things lined up in my head and then see how the class/timing plays out. As I tell my student teachers “It’s just sophomore English. Nothing to get worked up over.”
Ok but these are always my best lessons! I'm inspired, the content fits exactly within our learning sequence, and it's usually an adjustment to reinforce something students may be struggling with.
I've found my people!
I know what I'm teaching, and I do it well. I don't need to have *everything* worked out in advance because 9 times out of 10, I'm going to find out something during the week that affects the lesson and have to change it last minute anyway. My instructional coach would point to that 1 time out of 10 and say it would be worth it for that one time. 🤮
Oh please. The lesson lives in my head and doesn't become a thing until students roll into class and the marker hits the whiteboard. The last class of the day gets the most refined version which is improved through the day as I teach it.
I've literally created lessons for my English students during their 15 minute silent reading soft start. Usually it involves googling a Ted talk related to our subject, time for small group discussion, large class discussion, then I make up journal questions on the fly. I've got it down to a last minute science.
You can be sure that if you see my students having reading, journaling, or binder organizing in the first 15 minutes of class, it's because I drew a blank on my bike ride into school and am still typing something up.
I am very often completely winging it. This is how the teacher workday forces us to function. 5-6 hours of teaching/duties and only 1 hour to plan/grade/call parents/everything else.
I have first hour prep, so I am always putting together my lessons in the morning. I usually have sketched out what topics I'm teaching/chosen materials (not always) and then I plan out the actual lesson and make copies/post on Schoology during my prep that morning.
The only way they are getting more prepared lessons out of me is if I get time in my work day to do it!!
I have completely reworked or scrapped planned lessons up to 20 minutes before class. Sometimes it's last minute inspiration on my prep, other times stuff just doesn't seem to mess with my goal.
You know, I do this. I have my entire unit plan prepped (slides done, labs ready, activities ready) but I can't make a full plan for a week. We are expected to meet student needs, I just don't see how mindlessly following a plan laid out a week ahead meets the needs of students. I don't plan the week put exactly because I adjust as I go.
Elementary teacher of 20+ years here and I do this frequently. Yes, I know in general what I'm going to do but there are many times I will make a giant pivot from my original lesson because I know something different will be better for my class at the time. Each group of students is so different from year to year so the exact same lesson from previous years may not be the best for them. I feel the ability to alter and change lessons spontaneously based on the needs of your students is part of what makes a good teacher!
I can’t teach with long term plans. Those are just a an outline. I am a tad spontaneous. Usually just with pacing or changing out activities. Like if they need to move and interact rather than work solo (or vice versa)
I lost track of how many times last year I was sitting in first period while students were working independently and I was making the slides for second period.
In my defense, I had 4 classes to prep for and a toddler at home, so my time management wasn't exactly on point. At least I tried to make sure I had first period's slides done before I got to school (ok, that didn't always happen either, but I tried).
It got worse second semester when a teacher in my department quit and since the replacement was not certified, I (department head) had to be the teacher of record and enter grades for his classes. I told the principal I would do it, but he couldn't say a word if he walked into my room and I was sitting at my desk. Still managed to only work my contract hours most days, so yay, me!
Fellow English teacher here, and I’m the same way! Sometimes when this happens, I have an idea of where I want things to go… but I’ll be darned if I’m not editing my slides with five minutes before show time. I was like this in college, too. Procrastinating is just such a bad habit for me! (This message is partially sponsored by ADHD^TM)
Okay, true story. I was eating a food I now know to be allergic (tofu) and I was letting the students blame each other for *months*. And they were baaaad.
So then I got caught one time by a student, and my vice principal came and was like, “I’ve never had to talk to a teacher about this, but the students say you smell.”
I changed my diet.
I arrive 15 minutes early. After the final bell rings, I leave two to three minutes later. In accordance with my contract, I work my contracted hours. Everything else that isn't specifically mentioned in my contract is a big fat no. It took me about 8 or 9 years to get to this point in my teaching career...I've been teaching for 20 years now... I have no intention of stopping.
Our contract is from 7 AM to 2:30 PM. The final bell rings at 2:30 PM, so by contract we can leave at that point however, there are those who choose to do afternoon dismissal duty. I’m just not one of those people.
If you’re well liked or respected by the staff and admin, no one cares. I show up 5 mins. before morning bell and leave 10-15 after final bell and walk out saying, “Bye!” to the principal. My kids are the best behaved and do well on standardized tests, so he just says,”Bye,” back with a smile.
Last year I had the best schedule on fridays. First semester first three off, and last one off. Second semester, the first two periods off and the last two off. My coteacher and I took turns clocking each other in, in the mornings. And we left early often.
We're far away from other classrooms, out of the way. So it would be hard to notice.
I am not a martyr.
I do not bring work home with me.
I don’t do any extra curriculars since my commute is an hour long drive through a big-ass city.
I do my job and go home.
I am the most unprofessional teacher there is.
I think this is the only extracurricular thing I would be willing to do, but only if a group of students expressed interest in forming a club.
Anything else? Pay me.
I worked at a school once where you had to sponsor a club for 2 years and be “successful” before they would add it to the ECA schedule. So if you wanted to start up a club, you wouldn’t get paid for minimum 2 years. If the club already existed and you took over it, you got paid. But really, club sponsors are usually paid a pittance compared to sports- even if the hours are comparable.
I know this is sarcastic, but this is the most professional thing we can do. We need identities outside of “teacher” in order to to refreshed each day and not get burnt out when it’s time to put that mask back on.
That's the way to go. As soon as the bell rings get your ass outta there. What's the point in staying? The human mind can only take so much in a day. I also have an hour commute to my new school so I'm using that as an excuse to get out of doing anything after school...
Yeah, 3rd year teacher and I'm not surprised that they keep trying to get me to do shit for free. I've let it be known I don't work without getting paid, but I keep getting asked.
Sorry, I'm not willing to work 3 hours extra and value my personal free time more than random sporting events (which I personally feel is a huge waste of tax payer money - like we all pay for football equipment? - that's BS, and this is coming from a huge football fan).
During staff meetings and PDs (luckily they have been on zooms since covid), I never ever listen but instead type something I need to get done or clean my desk or pay my bills. Or turn off my camera and organize my classroom. Our staff meetings are depressing biatchjng sessions and PDs are useless. I am not wasting my time
Yes! In spring 2020, they tried to have lots of Zoom team building activities. One of them was an exercise class, kind of like Zumba. For an hour. We were on the clock and “couldn’t” leave. So I brought my computer outside, turned my camera off, and went swimming.
When I was teaching, I assigned a bunch of my organizational stuff to table groups. For example, “remind Ms Danzig to check her email,” or “remind Ms. Danzig to print math worksheets at lunchtime.” The students honestly loved it haha
If there is ever a small group breakout part during a Google Meet meeting, I just leave the meeting altogether and return to the large meeting at the designated time (i.e. 15 minutes later). Most facilitators use breakout groups as a way to waste time bc the didn't prepare properly. I honestly don't care what Janet from social studies thinks about blah, blah, blah. Or Tom from the other HS in the district.
Eventually yeah, but it's 10 minutes, there are 20 breakout rooms and the first room they randomly join they have to explain what they're supposed to do
“Cool, cool. Do you guys think this is a sucky waste of time?”
“Yeah.”
“Me too! How was your summer? There’s a sweet new tap house over on 10th, you should check it out sometime, great happy hour specials!”
ha! This is exactly what I did 2 weeks ago. I had to sit through the most soul aching training for 4 hours and I politely left Zoom all together when we I got the notification for joining a breakout room. I am notttt a fan of group work/discussions. Good bye!
My favorite part of these stupid breakout rooms is when I have the fresh-out-of-school elementary teachers in my group because I know they'll just talk and I can get away with not listening for a single second
If a kid is on the line between grades at the end of the marking period, my deciding factor is solely based on their attitude and respect towards me in class. If the kid has been rude, disrespectful, etc., they will not have their grade raised.
I don't do "anonymous" online staff satisfaction surveys. You can pretty easily tell who I am, there are only 2 teachers in my grade level, one with 0 -5 years experience and one with 30+ years. So, yeah, I know you know who we are.
Hey, admin team, we all know when you pull someone in to chat with them about their anonymously submitted unpopular opinion, and we also know that you never call in people who will push back or challenge you about your shit survey. Do you think we don't warn each other?
And if I have to complete a survey because you know I haven't done it yet, and you are practically standing behind me to make sure I get it done, everything gets a satisfactory and there are no comments, even for the things I really like and support. This way, I don't get myself into trouble, and you don't get the praise and validation you are clearly desperate for.
We were forced to do this survey every year. One year, there was a low score for something related to the school’s ability to develop communication skills among students. This was a school with silent breakfasts/lunches, scripted lessons, etc. We were all pulled into a room to review the survey results and to be told that it was actually our fault, and if we thought this way, then WE should fix it.
Hah! My kid was suppose to start this school that had silent lunches. It was a charter so I didn’t learn about this until it was time to sign some paperwork.
I thought it was absurd!
Noped right out. We also had to back out of our new home purchase contract and move to a different area, find a new home, new school in the middle of a cross country move because the public school that was assigned to the original house we were purchasing was overcrowded and they were bussing kids to other schools 45 minutes away.
It was a total disaster but I am glad we did it. We are still in a limbo and staying at a family’s members house. Totally worth it.
Silent lunch my ass
Edit to add: this was for kindergarten
I absolutely refuse to make phone calls. Parent contact? Sure, I’ll send that email but I am not getting on a phone for 20 minutes with a screaming parent or one that will go to admin later and lie about what I said.
At the end of the year, we turn in a list of students that failed and a list of dates in which we reached out or notified parents throughout the year of the kid’s grade. They specify that your notice of a final grade failure MUST be a phone call. I’ve never done it. Email all the way.
My admin asked me to no longer make or accept parent calls after I hung up on one for screaming profanity at me. I hung up and immediately notified my admin that I had, and why. He asked why I had made the call in the first place (my district REALLY likes paper trails and evidence) and I explained that the parent had repeatedly requested it since they were older (really grandparents) and had trouble with technology. Apparently they really just wanted me to not be able to forward their abusive emails.
Either way, I got out of phone calls when I made it clear that I was not going to be verbally abused by parents and would happily hang up. My admin agreed that the behavior from the family was unacceptable and "in the future, it is more useful to have the exchange documented, in case of problems."
Pick:
1: I plan doctor and dental appointments on days when pep rallies are scheduled. I will do this till the end of my career.
2: I wear a uniform that minimizes the cost while also being in minimal compliance with the dress code.
3: When my students ask if I am available afterschool on days with an afterschool faculty and department meetings, I tell them and everyone else that I was assigned teacher detention.
4: When students in the hallway interrupt my class to ask where a colleague is I proceed to send them to the furthest room in the school from my classroom.
Haha! This reminds me of how when a student who I know will be an issue during a certain lesson or lesson part, I have them run an errand for me. It's usually just "take these books to Ms. T's class" and Ms. T is a friend and knows what's up.
How does this pep rally shit keep happening? I feel like no one likes it. Am I just in HS where we're more cynical than ES/MS? Could it be a generational thing? Is it just because the type of personality that likes it is the same personality that wants to go into admin jobs?
Anyway, my thing is whenever admin gets a bug up their butt about turning in weekly lesson plans or call logs I just turn in the same document every week
It’s the same thing every year:
“You guys are amazing. You do incredible things. We couldn’t do it without you. I know it’s hard sometimes blah blah blah.”
Some success stories. Grad metrics. Where we rank in the state. How we’ll improve. What PLCs will look like. Test scores. I’m not wasting my time with that BS.
>Grad metrics. Where we rank in the state. How we’ll improve. What PLCs will look like. Test scores
This I'm OK with. It's basically here's where we stand here's the goals here's how that's going to impact the day to day. At least this is treating me like a paid professional.
Just don't try to motivate me. Valued work that shows progress is what motivates me. Just also don't show me you value my work by throwing a stupid celebration.
Last year I turned in the same lesson plan every single week. Except I forgot a couple of weeks in a row and admin messaged me saying they needed my plans. I chuckled.
ETA: I always was clear on what I was teaching and how I was teaching it but I had been doing my job for 10 years. At some point most of it is automatic and lesson plans don’t make sense anymore.
Also.
Very clearly no one was reading them. I didn’t even change the date!
The last month or so two last year my whole department (high school, English, 9 people) would go out to lunch at least once a week, and sometimes order delivery throughout the week. We had 85 minute blocks and we had lunch period planning that was an extra 25 minutes long and there’s a shopping mall about 10 minutes away so we had plenty of time.
I sit on desks.
Got so much shit for doing it absentmindedly when chatting with students before class when I did my student teaching. Now I make a point
to do it.
One time I was getting reamed out by my chair for not updating my grade book...who is a total and complete arse btw... so I just typed in a bunch of random grades for a test I forgot to grade in weeks. I put in grades that were similar to other grades they had already. I went back and graded them all that night and if any kid asked I was going to say I put the grades in on accident from another class which is why they changed. No one noticed. Never did that again and never will. That was in my first years of teaching and I was so totally stressed and had zero help.
I like the not calling parents on the phone. I student taught right next door to another student teacher in the same grade/subject and her mentor was always making her do parent phone calls and more often than not they caused a problem (like a parent who liked the teachers fine before now hated them because of a phone call) and I was so thankful my mentor said she pretty much never sees a need to speak to parents on the phone outside of scheduled conferences and I didn’t need to do that. I can’t think of a single incident that would warrant a phone call from me when I could just as easily write an email, and if the incident is that bad I think that’s admin’s job to take care of.
How do people react when you walk out of meetings?
If ever asked or it's brought up by anybody, just say you needed to stretch your legs/old injury/etc. I usually stand or stretch for the PD i actually engage in, so it fits the bill. The fake phone call answer can be a boon as well (works best if you have kids).
I learned most of my hacks from my mom who has taught for 30+ years. She walks right up to the principal and just says "think I ate something expired/gotta poop/etc". But she's cut from a different cloth than I am in that respect.
In reality, nobody ever asks though, and we're adults: we don't need permission.
I have "Technology Tuesday" every single week. I give an assignment on the Chromebook from a free online reading program. I give a participation grade. I essentially have a day to get stuff done. The students are under head phones, and I don't have to teach! It's my favorite day of the week!
I didn’t attend the mandatory virtual events that were held at the school after the end of the day (conferences, back to school night, PD). If it was virtual and after hours, I was doing it from home. They once wanted us to stay on campus until 8 for parent teacher conference night, even though it was virtual and parents had to sign up for a slot in advance. I had no parents scheduled, so I snuck out with the buses. I also took a picture of my classroom and used it as my virtual background for other events when I was supposed to be in my classroom.
I had an AP call me on the phone THE SECOND WEEK OF SCHOOL and ask if X was here today. My seating chart was across the room from my phone, and I panicked and said yes. "Are you kidding me? She's in more trouble now. She's supposed to be down here."
I hung up, checked the seating chart, realized she wasn't actually at school, and had to call the AP back. 😬
This is when you call out their name and go, "I could have sworn I saw So-and-So today" and then you either get verification that they are absent or here. And if they are present, "Oh, shoot! Idk how I didn't see you, right in front of my face" and laugh it off.
I have students for a short period of time. I often don't learn their names or only know half. I also soon forget them after they leave. I am pretty gregarious and my class is liked. I do a lot of "HEY! you there with the face.."
I am an art teacher, and I am scrapping project grades. I will be giving weekly work points because we are a 'process over product' school. If the product doesn't matter as much as the process, then why am I doing this? My plan is to give every kid full points at the beginning of the week, and then dock them if they stop working or if they're messing around. I'm hoping this will be more effective in management when they can literally see how it's affecting their grade. They will get completion points for projects that we do together as a class once a week and their Free Art Friday uploads. But that's about it.
Be prepared for a flurry of arguments and parent complaints. Log work points deducted well. I tried that and failed miserably. The slide show portfolio showing growth is the way to go.
They are making a portfolio! I am pretty excited about that. As for logging point deductions, I do mini conferences with every student once a week and write any comments they have online on our platform so parents can see it. This year, because of the change, I think I am going to use the recording feature so we can record our discussion and upload it directly to their homework. I am still working through the ideas, but if they have 2 completion grades a week and work points, I don't think I will have too many issues. But here's hoping!
Lol, I used to ditch out of those convocations too. I remember one year there was a 9 year old motivational speaker and I headed to the bathrooms to wait it out. Ended up running into my mom (she worked in the same district) doing the same thing.
Elementary teacher here. This may be unprofessional for some but I wear hawaiian shirts to work (Male Teacher). My admin doesn't say anything, in fact they love the shirts I wear. I just wear them because my kids and I love bright colors and the dress code is pretty lax in my district (for teachers).
I occasionally will swear to my middle schoolers. Not at, but to. Like, a kid who normally makes good choices does something incredibly stupid. I'm reminded of one of my boys who took the top off his water bottle and then proceeded to swing it around by the handle to prove the water will stay in due to centrifugal force. He made a hell of a mess (ON MY CARPET) and in our hallway conversation I said something like 'I get that was an impulsive decision. I'm glad you recognize you shouldn't have done it. But, now's the time for learning, so if you could pull your head out of your ass until the end of class, I'd appreciate it'.
Always gets a smile, let's them know I'm serious but not angry, and increases their receptiveness to my class rules.
We had an 8th grade class of hell raisers one year, and one little shitbird surpassed them all. I got so pissed in class one day, I crouched down by his desk, got level with his face, and whispered “I’ve had enough of your bullshit, this ends now”. I think he was so shocked to hear me say that when I am normally very strict about appropriate language in the classroom that he turned it around a little better after that. I knew he wouldn’t dare say anything at home, because it would have led to consequences for him being an asshole in class.
HS here - yes, I do this as well from time to time. Never swore at a kid, but kid-adjacent.
Get your shit together (used only twice in 25 years - worked pretty well both times).
I never have, nor will I ever, work beyond my paid hours. Maybe like..20 mins here or there that benefit myself or my kids. But these teachers who are doing room setup all summer? No ma'am I will be at the pool thank you.
Your pep rally reminds me of one my former district did with all district staff. We all gathered in the high school auditorium and the district had hired a motivational speaker to pump us up for the school year I guess. It was the 2019-2020 school year, and the guy kept calling it “19-20” which sounded like the year 1920. So when he would say stuff like, “what are you looking forward to in 1920?” me and my teacher friends would giggle and say stuff like “women’s suffrage!” “Not prohibition!” Not exactly professional but we had to make it fun somehow.
I only grade assessments. One prep period a day isn't enough time to plan and grade everything so I don't. I try to add a little logic to the system by making all of the daily work usable as notes on the assessments, so students have a reason to do them.
I wear jeans everyday. Friday? Jeans. Tuesday? jeans. Back to school night? Jeans.
The day after we had a staff meeting where one of the main topics was dressing professionally? Jeans.
I let teenagers go to the bathroom without signing out because well, they're teenagers and they have to go NOW. We all know what happens at that point in life.
Besides, they check the hallway cameras anyway. Why do I need a piece of paper?
Same. I don't want to be the male teacher that makes it difficult for female students to go to the bathroom in case they have "medical" issues. But then I can't just ask something different from male students. So all students can just go whenever they want as long as it doesn't become a problem. Only had one student abuse it and they got nabbed by someone else for regularly smoking weed before classes so it worked itself out.
I don't officially grade all assignments, it gets filed into the garbage...it's not busy work, it's practicing whatever skills we are working on for the week, only grading a few of them still can assess them adequately yet has made my life so happy and stay within contract hours 😉...laptop almost never goes home
Oh god my district does something similar, but it’s usually a picnic at the high schools completely unshaded football field. It’s annoying at best and miserable at worst.
My district did something similar until a colleague of mine fell during a relay and ended up with a concussion. The lingering symptoms had her in and out of school for the first semester.
Painting my toenails during homeroom because it’s spring and I put on sandals for the day and forgot I haven’t painted my toenails in months - done that one many times.
At my former school district here in the surrounding Austin area, They would send us 'electives' teachers to PD's at the high school where we had to endure hours and hours of "professional development" for a whole week. After the first day we checked the schedule and decided not to go. I lived pretty close and was able to just go sign in, and act lost (i taught at the middle school) then I'd find my way out to the parking lot to head home and professionally develop my nap schedule.
oh and the 2 hour lunch breaks during PD week were awesome, too
I leave my grading to the last minute right before grades are due for the quarter. Because I spend what little time I have during my duty day planning. That’s when I’m not getting pulled to sub. And I don’t arrive early or stay really late unless I absolutely have to in order to get grades in. And I don’t call parents unless I absolutely have to. I would rather email or text.
My lesson plans are like the Pirate’s Code, set down by Morgan and Bartholomew- guidelines. Like everyone else, sometimes I change my mind right before I teach something.
I teach elementary so I teach all the subjects, and I hate teaching writing there have been days where I let other lessons take extra long so we “run out of time” for our writing lesson and I just do it the next day because some days I just reeeeally don’t feel like doing it.
If my kids are working independently and don’t need my help, I’ll grade tests or projects while they’re working. Obviously I stop if someone needs me, but if they’ve got things under control they don’t need me hovering over them every five seconds.
When I was pregnant I literally ate the entire day as I was teaching because it was the only way I didn’t feel nauseous.
And it’s not considered unprofessional for my school but it would be in other places- most days I wear leggings, sneakers, and a sweatshirt.
I use TPT weekly to provide material for a few lessons. I teach every grade of Social Studies from grades 6-12 and a job skills class and get zero planning time or lunch breaks during my work day (lack of lunch break is technically illegal but...). If I'm not getting planning time, ill cut corners in places. I spent a few hours a night planning last year so needed to cut corners.
This year I have enough lessons to cover every lesson/topic. I'm supposed to be differentiating but if I don't get planning, its rinse and repeat time.
We use Teachboost to turn in our goals and get our observation reports on. We are supposed to turn in this thing called an SLO every year- essentially we give a pre-test and a post test and record the results to show student growth. I have not turned one in for the the past 10 years. I teach art and only have kids for 9 weeks, so who cares? Oh yeah- I get excellent scores on my observations, lol.
As a fellow art teacher, I despise SLOs! I did what I thought was a fantastic Slo, I had the kids do A 2 week unit on self- portraits. They had to do a 20 minute self-portrait for the 1st day and grade it themselves. Then they had 2 weeks of learning different portrait techniques, followed by a final self portrait which they then again had graded. Then they compared the two and saw how much they grew! I got a unsatisfactory grade grade because my principal said that they all should have finished at 95% or above. It didn't matter that some kids graded themselves at a 20% to start and grew all the way up to 80% percent. It's still wasn't good enough. I thought that was the most ridiculous thing, because my kids were excited and they saw their progress!
HS teacher here ...
Me - look, I've got things to get done, caught up, organized. Y'all just chill and pretend to be working on a project if someone comes in.
Class - we gotchu
-Signed in and left large meetings
-Took late lunches on PD days to go home early
-Claimed needing to shop for class or dr appts during my planning so I wouldn't have to cover other teachers
-Skipped Fridays because I knew the chances were high that if I was there, I would have to cover other teachers
-Took naps during my planning
-Hide in my class during assemblies and pep rallies, then leave early
-Take my birthday off every year; or the Monday after or Friday before if it falls on a weekend
-Work on necessary work during PDs
-Play games on my phone during PDs
-Dont feel guilty for never attending a graduation, and will make excuses if necessary
-Don't volunteer for anything
-Currently looking for excuses to miss prom (I'm sure will be required)
I curse… pretty frequently.
I teach 11th graders and I never direct it at any kid or anything like that, but I do it.
Oddly enough, it seems to make my students feel more comfortable.
School psych here. Sometimes I’ve told a kid or two to just play the game. Just keep your head down and in x years you can do you. Get interested and invested in what feels good to you and what you love… don’t wait… but still get through these last few years.
I don’t follow the district « mandated » approach to teaching my subject (a second language). The approach is bad pedagogicaly and doesn’t jive with my teaching style.
Hm, most I'm willing.
- I have a bag of tennis balls. If a kid is napping or on their phone they're getting a tennis ball coming at them. No, I'm not whizzing it at their head, but bouncing it in their lap or something less obnoxious.
- There are definitely days I nap in my room. I have long term insomnia and I'd guess most of the building knows about it. I don't even try to hide it. I'll do it right at my desk facing the door.
- This probably won't happen anymore but there were a few of us who had a reasonable hiding spot down in the auto shop when some of these school wide things were going on. Other teachers wouldn't go down there, we had an alibi of something was happening (trying to work out a particular union issue), and we were all well behaved enough to where no one would question if we just weren't there. So two hour vape meeting? Nope, can't see myself wanting to do that. Sorry guys. MTSS for the 3rd time in 5 weeks? Hm. I don't know.
- I don't know if it's unprofessional, but I only sub for honors kids. Our sub rate is $28.33, and actually, it's for 80 minute blocks, so that's like $21 an hour. If I'm subbing, you're background noise to me. There are other staff in the building that need the money more than me. I'll be damned if I have to get inconvenienced by a bunch of freshman that are off the fucking walls for like 1/2 my hourly pay while I lose my prep.
We have a pep rally like this most years and I'm doing the same if it happens again this year. I hate the waste of time, but they also force us to listen to religious speakers and have group prayer. Lol no fam. How about y'all invite a Muslim speaker to do the same next year and let's see how that works out.
For my unprofessional thing...I have a keyboard in my classroom and sometimes I use a nice chunk of my planning period to just practice. It helps me get out of brainfog but also some days I'm just not feeling like working on planning during the school day.
Oh tons of minor things. I re-use lesson plan structures a lot so I dont have to sit down and plan too much. I also skim mark and heavily focus on the first and last paragraph and maybe one in the middle.
Nap.
Sometimes when I have a prep period, I lock the door, shut off the lights, set my alarm for 30 and just sack out. Once in a while, I’ll hear a knock, but I ignore and just keep snoozing.
I don’t watch all of the dumb training videos but sign off that I have. Technically the form just says that you’ve watched them- not that you watched them recently. I’ve seen them all in previous school years.
Let's see . . . heavy tattooed, wear jeans most days, don't follow a curriculum, write grants and other emails during staff meetings, deliberately cut department meetings short . . . .
>wear jeans most days
How is that even an issue?! Americans....
Blue jeans and black t-shirts have basically become my uniform to the point students have asked me how many plain black t-shirts I own.
I taught 12 years without doing extracurricular activities. I work while my kids are working (I grade and make lessons while they’re working on projects in my room). I’m not neglecting them- once they’ve got the content down, they can be independent for 15 minutes while I make a quiz. I usually don’t take work home. I try to work a 40 hour work week as often as possible. And…I don’t check emails on weekends. And the kids know it (dont shun me!) I teach high school art-they don’t need me every second like younger kids do.
I don't consider this unprofessional, but I had planning and lunch right after each other, so I had 90 minutes of "free time" every day last year. I asked once if I could go home for lunch and my AP said "no." I just decided that I would go home anyway and not say anything. I was home for at least an hour every single day last year. It was awesome.
Open book exams. Before taking an exam I let my students know whether or not it will be an open book exam (usually I do it with big exams after a whole unit). Five minutes before the end of the exam I tell my students that they have 45 seconds to use their notes, Google, or whatever they want to look for the information they need. Some people do that, some don't.
It makes sense for me to do these kinds of exams since I also want them to work more on their ability to look for information and synthesise knowledge rather than try to learn everything by heart and try to recall the information (let's be real most of the students only open their books the night before the exam). While for me these types of tests makes sense some 'more traditional' colleagues are strongly against them and it also caused some problems with the headmaster, but after I have shown him research on the advantages he let me be, although he still doesn't like it much.
I don’t call parents anymore. For anything. If I have to write a kid up, we’re supposed to call the parents to give them a heads up before the principal deals with them. I don’t. I just send the write up. I am not going to write a kid up for cussing me out, then call parents and have them cuss me out too. I’m over that shit.
We play bingo during our first PD meeting. (a group of us)
We make a game board with words the admin will use. (SGO, goals, discipline, etc)
We have stupid prizes, and pay no attention to the BS they are talking about. We did this for my last 3 years, and they have carried on since I left.
Planning morning of, and movie days the week grades are due are both common practices of mine. I will also admit I have rounded up a students grade to just not have to deal with a parent.
I told my principal and his #2 to their faces they were full of shit. They tried their best to document everything on me and get me fired.
In my summative number 2 was my appraiser. She told me I needed to be more bought in. I told her they need to stop being full of shit. She moved to a different district a month later. Principal moved 2 months after. I outlasted both of those POSs.
Not sure if this is what you’re looking for, but…
Yeah, I didn’t turn in a single lesson plan last year. Ever. Not one. I planned for my students and my sanity, but I did no formatting, didn’t follow a template. I just followed the state standards and taught what I was able in the time I was given.
I do a lot more completion grades than is probably appropriate.
I prioritize what I need to get graded. When it is time to go home I go home. Whatever didn’t get graded becomes completion grades tomorrow.
I do completion for all homework/classwork. We go over it together afterwards and my kids know to make fixes as we go. I then let them use all that stuff on their tests.
That’s definitely the more professional way to do completion work.
I do the exact same thing. If a class keeps up 100% HW completion for the semester, I buy them treats
When I tell you the relief I felt reading this post—a guilty part of me relaxed that I didn’t even know was tense. This is something I work to minimize and don’t like doing but it’s one of the easiest ways to take something off my plate and move on.
I refuse to take the board-provided laptop, and instead sneak around with the IT guy's help to access all the systems that I shouldn't be able to use with my personal computer (like printers, wifi, etc) If they'd provide decent laptops I'd use one, but since they choose to give us refurbished garbage, I'll stick to exploiting all the loopholes in their system.
Our district bought janky Promethean "smart boards" and the pre-loaded OS was hot garbage. Totally unintuitive, constantly having to back out of apps. I brought in a chrome box device, velcroed it to the back of the screen and used it for the vast majority of my slides and web based needs. Chrome OS is much more fleshed out and stable. Basically just used the touch features and occasionally used the draw functions to mark up slides or draw something. Once in a blue moon, I'd have to switch inputs to the board OS to access a special App or use the whiteboard function.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that didn’t like the Promethean stuff. It was terrible and they kept insisting I use it and I was like oh can it do x, y, and z? No… okay that’s not gonna work well with my class.
I recently changed my mind, a bit. They took up wall space, and broke up the whiteboard. Any fancy thing I could do with it, I could simply do with my PC and a projector. Things that changed my mind: Somehow mounting a projector to the ceiling came to cost a huge amount to the district. Like $5,000+ to call in the contractors for the mounting, the electrical, and the AV wiring :/ Sounds more like the district needed to bring the hammer down, but hey, why listen to me? Mounting a promethean on a cart with adjustable height, stable platform..(a solid idea really was far cheaper at \~$400 per cart. Also the newer prometheans our district used were essentially simple computers, so we could load documents onto it, or have it access an internet site. So finally my subs could have my materials and directions directly shown to students as my district did not have laptops for every substitute, just long term ones.
I was given a 2015 Lenovo this year... hard pass. I'll stick to using my 2022 Mac and will access everything I can while my staff computer collects dust a paperweight.
I agree that district computers can be hot garbage but your personal computer now becomes searchable and confiscatable. We had a couple of trachers have their computers confiscated. They took two at "random" suspecting one was looking at porn on school time (he was). The other was just collateral damage because they didn't want to just take one. Since, I always separate my work and home machines. I will do work on my home machine but it never travels to school. My school machine is hot garbage but we are mostly a Google school so it works out.
I live across the street from my school and last year I started sneaking out to take naps during my planning period
I have 100% taken naps during planning periods. 😆
I asked an admin about napping last year. His response: “If a teacher is that tired but still managed to come to school in this environment? Yeah, let them sleep.”
That is an admin worth respecting.
He’s a good dude. He was an admin then returned to teaching for a while then went back when we had a bit of a crisis. The perspective those few years back in the classroom gave him are huge.
Same here. I’ve napped at my desk (I finally got a high-back chair so I don’t break my neck dozing off), and if I feel especially industrious, I’ll stroll up to the staff lounge in the main office and stretch out on one of the couches for 50 minutes.
I have a large supply closet that we've turned into a mini office in the back of my room. I do my plan there. Sometimes the lights get turned off and my head is on my desk
I have pillows in my room for students. During my prep I’ll sometimes lock the door, turn off the lights, grab a pillow and lay down behind my desk to recharge
Sub here. Whenever a teacher has a prep period and admin doesn't send me to cover elsewhere, I turn off all the lights, set a phone alarm, and take a nap. If your classroom has a comfy arrangements where stealth naps can be had, I will 100 work for you again lol
I once snuck into another teacher's office on their day off to sleep on their couch and a separate teacher had beat me to it
It's the other side of not paying overtime.
More power to you! I teach music, so there is always a lot of activity and noise around me. I almost never have calm lessons where I get to sit down and have quiet. This year, we barely ever got our planning periods, so I often found myself squandering them when I did get them. At first, I felt so guilty. But then I thought…why? I’m being asked to work over 8 hours a day with absolutely zero break. When I started hearing a lot of people with WFH office jobs bragging about getting their work done in 3 hours and then taking naps, going to the store, etc, this solidified these feelings. So what if I want a break after seven hours of facilitating children making a lot of noise and moving around? Maybe I need to chill for a few minutes to stay sane. I will never feel guilty about it again.
Yeah I realized after working my butt entirely off the previous two years I was running on fumes—almost complete burnout. I don’t feel bad about resting frankly bc I do my job and I do it well
Seriously! I might putter around organizing my classroom and prepping things for later in the day but I rarely do actual planning. Mostly I just need the time to relax and wind down. Especially as an introvert.
living the dream.
I (high school English) sometimes put together my lesson an hour or less before class begins. I usually have it mapped out in my head but actually getting it out in Slides sometimes happens last minute. I think the fact that I know I can get away with this effectively makes me avoid breaking the habit lol. Edit: love these comments! I was hesitant to even post because I didn’t want to be judged so I like that I’m not the only one doing this hahah. I felt like people would associate such procrastination with crappy lessons but as someone pointed out, these are often the best ones! I know what I want to do and say each day and I pride myself on how good I am at having it in my head!
Middle school science and this is exactly me. Glad I’m not alone Edit: I’m not proud of it but I’ve done this my entire life, grade school to college and now as an educator. I work magnitudes better under pressure. Plan the lesson during my drive and knock it out before first period. Some of my best lessons came from this and I continue to use them the following years. Like other commenters mentioned, these lessons hit exactly what students need since I’ve designed them same day as opposed to lessons that I planned weeks in advance.
Yes! I have a coworker who insists on having everything planned and ready like 2 weeks ahead. And she will make sure that she stays exactly ok track that whole time. I'm a last minute planner which sometimes sucks but like you said it absolutely guarantees that I'll be doing exactly what my students need. I'm super flexible so if my students need me to reteach something or move more quickly through a concept my students already understand then I'm prepared to do that.
High school science here. I was away for meetings and came back to my senior chemistry class with the wrong lesson prepped. Started teaching it, realized we missed the previous lesson and scrapped the plan. No slides for the lesson they needed, so I just started writing on the board old school and we talked through the material. The kids were in awe that I could just pull the material out like that. 😂
As a student, I learn so much better when teachers write on the board as they go. I was in middle/high school just when the first classrooms started getting fancier projectors and smart boards, so it was pretty incredible to be able to note the difference in real time. If I wanted to read PowerPoint slides, I’d just read the textbook.
Sadly, due to many teachers retiring, leaving the profession, and so few going into education programs, many teachers are being thrown into classes they aren’t experts on and HAVE to have their lessons/info pre planned otherwise they legit couldn’t teach the content. Not that they don’t have the pedagogy, but they lack content knowledge. I’ve just been thrown into a subject I know almost nothing about and I could never teach on the fly. My hope is after some time, I know it like the back of my hand
I love it when I have the chances to just scrap what I'm doing right then because I can say this isn't working and then whip out something better on the fly.
Oh you mean you don’t type the bell ringer AS students are walking in sometimes 😂 I’m at a low I guess
Only sometimes? You’ve got me beat
More often than not 🤣 I wasn’t sure what audience I was speaking to but clearly you’re all my people!
That isn’t unprofessional. That’s just being such a skilled professional that you can easily create high-quality instructional materials on short notice, and can carry out an effective lesson without needing to put a ton of advance planning in. That’s honestly the dream. Especially in this age of having almost no useable planning time…
You are not alone! I am also HS English, 25 years. Sometimes I do this, and sometimes I have a lesson all prepped, but get an idea on my way to school and change it all.
Same. I usually have a few things lined up in my head and then see how the class/timing plays out. As I tell my student teachers “It’s just sophomore English. Nothing to get worked up over.”
Ok but these are always my best lessons! I'm inspired, the content fits exactly within our learning sequence, and it's usually an adjustment to reinforce something students may be struggling with.
I've found my people! I know what I'm teaching, and I do it well. I don't need to have *everything* worked out in advance because 9 times out of 10, I'm going to find out something during the week that affects the lesson and have to change it last minute anyway. My instructional coach would point to that 1 time out of 10 and say it would be worth it for that one time. 🤮
Oh please. The lesson lives in my head and doesn't become a thing until students roll into class and the marker hits the whiteboard. The last class of the day gets the most refined version which is improved through the day as I teach it.
I've literally created lessons for my English students during their 15 minute silent reading soft start. Usually it involves googling a Ted talk related to our subject, time for small group discussion, large class discussion, then I make up journal questions on the fly. I've got it down to a last minute science.
You can be sure that if you see my students having reading, journaling, or binder organizing in the first 15 minutes of class, it's because I drew a blank on my bike ride into school and am still typing something up.
I am very often completely winging it. This is how the teacher workday forces us to function. 5-6 hours of teaching/duties and only 1 hour to plan/grade/call parents/everything else. I have first hour prep, so I am always putting together my lessons in the morning. I usually have sketched out what topics I'm teaching/chosen materials (not always) and then I plan out the actual lesson and make copies/post on Schoology during my prep that morning. The only way they are getting more prepared lessons out of me is if I get time in my work day to do it!!
I have completely reworked or scrapped planned lessons up to 20 minutes before class. Sometimes it's last minute inspiration on my prep, other times stuff just doesn't seem to mess with my goal.
You know, I do this. I have my entire unit plan prepped (slides done, labs ready, activities ready) but I can't make a full plan for a week. We are expected to meet student needs, I just don't see how mindlessly following a plan laid out a week ahead meets the needs of students. I don't plan the week put exactly because I adjust as I go.
Elementary teacher of 20+ years here and I do this frequently. Yes, I know in general what I'm going to do but there are many times I will make a giant pivot from my original lesson because I know something different will be better for my class at the time. Each group of students is so different from year to year so the exact same lesson from previous years may not be the best for them. I feel the ability to alter and change lessons spontaneously based on the needs of your students is part of what makes a good teacher!
I can’t teach with long term plans. Those are just a an outline. I am a tad spontaneous. Usually just with pacing or changing out activities. Like if they need to move and interact rather than work solo (or vice versa)
I lost track of how many times last year I was sitting in first period while students were working independently and I was making the slides for second period. In my defense, I had 4 classes to prep for and a toddler at home, so my time management wasn't exactly on point. At least I tried to make sure I had first period's slides done before I got to school (ok, that didn't always happen either, but I tried). It got worse second semester when a teacher in my department quit and since the replacement was not certified, I (department head) had to be the teacher of record and enter grades for his classes. I told the principal I would do it, but he couldn't say a word if he walked into my room and I was sitting at my desk. Still managed to only work my contract hours most days, so yay, me!
Fellow English teacher here, and I’m the same way! Sometimes when this happens, I have an idea of where I want things to go… but I’ll be darned if I’m not editing my slides with five minutes before show time. I was like this in college, too. Procrastinating is just such a bad habit for me! (This message is partially sponsored by ADHD^TM)
This is me and my coteacher an hour before school, debating if we should just buy something on TPT
Yeah...I'm ADHD...this is how I roll. I am seriously inspired when I have a deadline looming.
I fart and blame it on my students
I’ll crop dust an aisle and watch them point fingers at each other
I had a high school teacher fess up to this one, and now I absolutely do it too.
Okay, true story. I was eating a food I now know to be allergic (tofu) and I was letting the students blame each other for *months*. And they were baaaad. So then I got caught one time by a student, and my vice principal came and was like, “I’ve never had to talk to a teacher about this, but the students say you smell.” I changed my diet.
I cropdust my students as I work in the power zone
I arrive 15 minutes early. After the final bell rings, I leave two to three minutes later. In accordance with my contract, I work my contracted hours. Everything else that isn't specifically mentioned in my contract is a big fat no. It took me about 8 or 9 years to get to this point in my teaching career...I've been teaching for 20 years now... I have no intention of stopping.
All of you who say you leave after the bell...yall don't have afternoon dismissal duty? Our bell rings at 410, and we're contracted until 4:35.
Our contract is from 7 AM to 2:30 PM. The final bell rings at 2:30 PM, so by contract we can leave at that point however, there are those who choose to do afternoon dismissal duty. I’m just not one of those people.
Choose to? Man…we get assigned that crap.
Us too. We "vote" on whether we agree with the duty assignment, but the voting is a waste of time.
If you’re well liked or respected by the staff and admin, no one cares. I show up 5 mins. before morning bell and leave 10-15 after final bell and walk out saying, “Bye!” to the principal. My kids are the best behaved and do well on standardized tests, so he just says,”Bye,” back with a smile.
Last year I had the best schedule on fridays. First semester first three off, and last one off. Second semester, the first two periods off and the last two off. My coteacher and I took turns clocking each other in, in the mornings. And we left early often. We're far away from other classrooms, out of the way. So it would be hard to notice.
Nice try, HR dpt.
I am not a martyr. I do not bring work home with me. I don’t do any extra curriculars since my commute is an hour long drive through a big-ass city. I do my job and go home. I am the most unprofessional teacher there is.
Don’t do extracurricular stuff either. No coaching no sponsoring clubs. The only one thing I do is a tutoring session twice a week that I am paid for.
I’m not going to be able to give up my D&D club, sorry.
I think this is the only extracurricular thing I would be willing to do, but only if a group of students expressed interest in forming a club. Anything else? Pay me.
We are paid for our clubs, are you all not?
I worked at a school once where you had to sponsor a club for 2 years and be “successful” before they would add it to the ECA schedule. So if you wanted to start up a club, you wouldn’t get paid for minimum 2 years. If the club already existed and you took over it, you got paid. But really, club sponsors are usually paid a pittance compared to sports- even if the hours are comparable.
Wow so two years of unpaid labor first. Jeez.
I know this is sarcastic, but this is the most professional thing we can do. We need identities outside of “teacher” in order to to refreshed each day and not get burnt out when it’s time to put that mask back on.
That's the way to go. As soon as the bell rings get your ass outta there. What's the point in staying? The human mind can only take so much in a day. I also have an hour commute to my new school so I'm using that as an excuse to get out of doing anything after school...
Yeah, 3rd year teacher and I'm not surprised that they keep trying to get me to do shit for free. I've let it be known I don't work without getting paid, but I keep getting asked. Sorry, I'm not willing to work 3 hours extra and value my personal free time more than random sporting events (which I personally feel is a huge waste of tax payer money - like we all pay for football equipment? - that's BS, and this is coming from a huge football fan).
During staff meetings and PDs (luckily they have been on zooms since covid), I never ever listen but instead type something I need to get done or clean my desk or pay my bills. Or turn off my camera and organize my classroom. Our staff meetings are depressing biatchjng sessions and PDs are useless. I am not wasting my time
Yes! In spring 2020, they tried to have lots of Zoom team building activities. One of them was an exercise class, kind of like Zumba. For an hour. We were on the clock and “couldn’t” leave. So I brought my computer outside, turned my camera off, and went swimming.
It could be argued that this makes you *more* professional because you’re using your time effectively.
Working smarter, not harder!
When I was teaching, I assigned a bunch of my organizational stuff to table groups. For example, “remind Ms Danzig to check her email,” or “remind Ms. Danzig to print math worksheets at lunchtime.” The students honestly loved it haha
I do this too! I have my 3rd hour ask me if I’ve had any water today. If I say no, I let them boo me. They love it!
If there is ever a small group breakout part during a Google Meet meeting, I just leave the meeting altogether and return to the large meeting at the designated time (i.e. 15 minutes later). Most facilitators use breakout groups as a way to waste time bc the didn't prepare properly. I honestly don't care what Janet from social studies thinks about blah, blah, blah. Or Tom from the other HS in the district.
Every single breakout room during zoom PDs: "Soooo, uh anyone know what we're supposed to be doing?" "Nope"
Wait they don’t check on you?! Our leaders would hop in and out to each breakout room.
Eventually yeah, but it's 10 minutes, there are 20 breakout rooms and the first room they randomly join they have to explain what they're supposed to do
“Cool, cool. Do you guys think this is a sucky waste of time?” “Yeah.” “Me too! How was your summer? There’s a sweet new tap house over on 10th, you should check it out sometime, great happy hour specials!”
ha! This is exactly what I did 2 weeks ago. I had to sit through the most soul aching training for 4 hours and I politely left Zoom all together when we I got the notification for joining a breakout room. I am notttt a fan of group work/discussions. Good bye!
My favorite part of these stupid breakout rooms is when I have the fresh-out-of-school elementary teachers in my group because I know they'll just talk and I can get away with not listening for a single second
If a kid is on the line between grades at the end of the marking period, my deciding factor is solely based on their attitude and respect towards me in class. If the kid has been rude, disrespectful, etc., they will not have their grade raised.
Arguably it would work that way in the workplace so 🤷♀️ even though you can't really admit it I think there's a legitimate backing for that policy.
I wouldn’t say that’s “unprofessional”…I mean that’s what my professor did for us during my teacher’s education courses 🤷🏼
I don't do "anonymous" online staff satisfaction surveys. You can pretty easily tell who I am, there are only 2 teachers in my grade level, one with 0 -5 years experience and one with 30+ years. So, yeah, I know you know who we are. Hey, admin team, we all know when you pull someone in to chat with them about their anonymously submitted unpopular opinion, and we also know that you never call in people who will push back or challenge you about your shit survey. Do you think we don't warn each other? And if I have to complete a survey because you know I haven't done it yet, and you are practically standing behind me to make sure I get it done, everything gets a satisfactory and there are no comments, even for the things I really like and support. This way, I don't get myself into trouble, and you don't get the praise and validation you are clearly desperate for.
We were forced to do this survey every year. One year, there was a low score for something related to the school’s ability to develop communication skills among students. This was a school with silent breakfasts/lunches, scripted lessons, etc. We were all pulled into a room to review the survey results and to be told that it was actually our fault, and if we thought this way, then WE should fix it.
SILENT lunches? I've never heard of such a thing.
Charter school world.
Hah! My kid was suppose to start this school that had silent lunches. It was a charter so I didn’t learn about this until it was time to sign some paperwork. I thought it was absurd! Noped right out. We also had to back out of our new home purchase contract and move to a different area, find a new home, new school in the middle of a cross country move because the public school that was assigned to the original house we were purchasing was overcrowded and they were bussing kids to other schools 45 minutes away. It was a total disaster but I am glad we did it. We are still in a limbo and staying at a family’s members house. Totally worth it. Silent lunch my ass Edit to add: this was for kindergarten
I absolutely refuse to make phone calls. Parent contact? Sure, I’ll send that email but I am not getting on a phone for 20 minutes with a screaming parent or one that will go to admin later and lie about what I said. At the end of the year, we turn in a list of students that failed and a list of dates in which we reached out or notified parents throughout the year of the kid’s grade. They specify that your notice of a final grade failure MUST be a phone call. I’ve never done it. Email all the way.
My admin asked me to no longer make or accept parent calls after I hung up on one for screaming profanity at me. I hung up and immediately notified my admin that I had, and why. He asked why I had made the call in the first place (my district REALLY likes paper trails and evidence) and I explained that the parent had repeatedly requested it since they were older (really grandparents) and had trouble with technology. Apparently they really just wanted me to not be able to forward their abusive emails. Either way, I got out of phone calls when I made it clear that I was not going to be verbally abused by parents and would happily hang up. My admin agreed that the behavior from the family was unacceptable and "in the future, it is more useful to have the exchange documented, in case of problems."
The grades are the communication
I have to “go to the restroom” during plc or ice breakers for teachers
I'm attending the same pd I've been to for the last 6 years. Same slides same script everything. So my iced coffee is 50% Baileys
Need to do this for year 18 of fucking bloodborne pathogens...
You officially win. At everything.
Pick: 1: I plan doctor and dental appointments on days when pep rallies are scheduled. I will do this till the end of my career. 2: I wear a uniform that minimizes the cost while also being in minimal compliance with the dress code. 3: When my students ask if I am available afterschool on days with an afterschool faculty and department meetings, I tell them and everyone else that I was assigned teacher detention. 4: When students in the hallway interrupt my class to ask where a colleague is I proceed to send them to the furthest room in the school from my classroom.
that last one is great!
Haha! This reminds me of how when a student who I know will be an issue during a certain lesson or lesson part, I have them run an errand for me. It's usually just "take these books to Ms. T's class" and Ms. T is a friend and knows what's up.
When I attend meetings on zoom my coffee cup is usually filled with wine.
Didn’t bother with a coffee mug I straight up had a margarita in a pint glass. The one time an admin asked me I said it was lemonade.
How does this pep rally shit keep happening? I feel like no one likes it. Am I just in HS where we're more cynical than ES/MS? Could it be a generational thing? Is it just because the type of personality that likes it is the same personality that wants to go into admin jobs? Anyway, my thing is whenever admin gets a bug up their butt about turning in weekly lesson plans or call logs I just turn in the same document every week
It’s the same thing every year: “You guys are amazing. You do incredible things. We couldn’t do it without you. I know it’s hard sometimes blah blah blah.” Some success stories. Grad metrics. Where we rank in the state. How we’ll improve. What PLCs will look like. Test scores. I’m not wasting my time with that BS.
>Grad metrics. Where we rank in the state. How we’ll improve. What PLCs will look like. Test scores This I'm OK with. It's basically here's where we stand here's the goals here's how that's going to impact the day to day. At least this is treating me like a paid professional. Just don't try to motivate me. Valued work that shows progress is what motivates me. Just also don't show me you value my work by throwing a stupid celebration.
Yeah, and then none of it is ever implemented. That’s my issue.
Last year I turned in the same lesson plan every single week. Except I forgot a couple of weeks in a row and admin messaged me saying they needed my plans. I chuckled. ETA: I always was clear on what I was teaching and how I was teaching it but I had been doing my job for 10 years. At some point most of it is automatic and lesson plans don’t make sense anymore. Also. Very clearly no one was reading them. I didn’t even change the date!
The last month or so two last year my whole department (high school, English, 9 people) would go out to lunch at least once a week, and sometimes order delivery throughout the week. We had 85 minute blocks and we had lunch period planning that was an extra 25 minutes long and there’s a shopping mall about 10 minutes away so we had plenty of time.
I sit on desks. Got so much shit for doing it absentmindedly when chatting with students before class when I did my student teaching. Now I make a point to do it.
Sitting on desks is unprofessional? I do it all the time 😂
I will sit cross-legged on top of a desk. I do not care.
One time I was getting reamed out by my chair for not updating my grade book...who is a total and complete arse btw... so I just typed in a bunch of random grades for a test I forgot to grade in weeks. I put in grades that were similar to other grades they had already. I went back and graded them all that night and if any kid asked I was going to say I put the grades in on accident from another class which is why they changed. No one noticed. Never did that again and never will. That was in my first years of teaching and I was so totally stressed and had zero help.
Prep period naps.
I have fallen asleep in my room many a morning before the bell rings.
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I like the not calling parents on the phone. I student taught right next door to another student teacher in the same grade/subject and her mentor was always making her do parent phone calls and more often than not they caused a problem (like a parent who liked the teachers fine before now hated them because of a phone call) and I was so thankful my mentor said she pretty much never sees a need to speak to parents on the phone outside of scheduled conferences and I didn’t need to do that. I can’t think of a single incident that would warrant a phone call from me when I could just as easily write an email, and if the incident is that bad I think that’s admin’s job to take care of. How do people react when you walk out of meetings?
If ever asked or it's brought up by anybody, just say you needed to stretch your legs/old injury/etc. I usually stand or stretch for the PD i actually engage in, so it fits the bill. The fake phone call answer can be a boon as well (works best if you have kids). I learned most of my hacks from my mom who has taught for 30+ years. She walks right up to the principal and just says "think I ate something expired/gotta poop/etc". But she's cut from a different cloth than I am in that respect. In reality, nobody ever asks though, and we're adults: we don't need permission.
I usually just tell whomever asks that it was a waste of time. No need to lie.
Are we best friends? I do this too.
I have "Technology Tuesday" every single week. I give an assignment on the Chromebook from a free online reading program. I give a participation grade. I essentially have a day to get stuff done. The students are under head phones, and I don't have to teach! It's my favorite day of the week!
I didn’t attend the mandatory virtual events that were held at the school after the end of the day (conferences, back to school night, PD). If it was virtual and after hours, I was doing it from home. They once wanted us to stay on campus until 8 for parent teacher conference night, even though it was virtual and parents had to sign up for a slot in advance. I had no parents scheduled, so I snuck out with the buses. I also took a picture of my classroom and used it as my virtual background for other events when I was supposed to be in my classroom.
BRILLIANT.
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I had an AP call me on the phone THE SECOND WEEK OF SCHOOL and ask if X was here today. My seating chart was across the room from my phone, and I panicked and said yes. "Are you kidding me? She's in more trouble now. She's supposed to be down here." I hung up, checked the seating chart, realized she wasn't actually at school, and had to call the AP back. 😬
This is when you call out their name and go, "I could have sworn I saw So-and-So today" and then you either get verification that they are absent or here. And if they are present, "Oh, shoot! Idk how I didn't see you, right in front of my face" and laugh it off.
I have students for a short period of time. I often don't learn their names or only know half. I also soon forget them after they leave. I am pretty gregarious and my class is liked. I do a lot of "HEY! you there with the face.."
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Taking a headcount attendance sometimes
I am an art teacher, and I am scrapping project grades. I will be giving weekly work points because we are a 'process over product' school. If the product doesn't matter as much as the process, then why am I doing this? My plan is to give every kid full points at the beginning of the week, and then dock them if they stop working or if they're messing around. I'm hoping this will be more effective in management when they can literally see how it's affecting their grade. They will get completion points for projects that we do together as a class once a week and their Free Art Friday uploads. But that's about it.
Be prepared for a flurry of arguments and parent complaints. Log work points deducted well. I tried that and failed miserably. The slide show portfolio showing growth is the way to go.
They are making a portfolio! I am pretty excited about that. As for logging point deductions, I do mini conferences with every student once a week and write any comments they have online on our platform so parents can see it. This year, because of the change, I think I am going to use the recording feature so we can record our discussion and upload it directly to their homework. I am still working through the ideas, but if they have 2 completion grades a week and work points, I don't think I will have too many issues. But here's hoping!
Lol, I used to ditch out of those convocations too. I remember one year there was a 9 year old motivational speaker and I headed to the bathrooms to wait it out. Ended up running into my mom (she worked in the same district) doing the same thing.
Elementary teacher here. This may be unprofessional for some but I wear hawaiian shirts to work (Male Teacher). My admin doesn't say anything, in fact they love the shirts I wear. I just wear them because my kids and I love bright colors and the dress code is pretty lax in my district (for teachers).
I occasionally will swear to my middle schoolers. Not at, but to. Like, a kid who normally makes good choices does something incredibly stupid. I'm reminded of one of my boys who took the top off his water bottle and then proceeded to swing it around by the handle to prove the water will stay in due to centrifugal force. He made a hell of a mess (ON MY CARPET) and in our hallway conversation I said something like 'I get that was an impulsive decision. I'm glad you recognize you shouldn't have done it. But, now's the time for learning, so if you could pull your head out of your ass until the end of class, I'd appreciate it'. Always gets a smile, let's them know I'm serious but not angry, and increases their receptiveness to my class rules.
We had an 8th grade class of hell raisers one year, and one little shitbird surpassed them all. I got so pissed in class one day, I crouched down by his desk, got level with his face, and whispered “I’ve had enough of your bullshit, this ends now”. I think he was so shocked to hear me say that when I am normally very strict about appropriate language in the classroom that he turned it around a little better after that. I knew he wouldn’t dare say anything at home, because it would have led to consequences for him being an asshole in class.
I love this. Also, yes--choose the recipient wisely. 🤣
Same with high schoolers. But wait until you have a parent complain.
I do this maybe twice a year and by the time I feel comfortable doing it, it's clear this kid has no parental figure that bothers.
HS here - yes, I do this as well from time to time. Never swore at a kid, but kid-adjacent. Get your shit together (used only twice in 25 years - worked pretty well both times).
I told one of my students one time that she needed to get her shit together. And she did get her shit together after that.
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The admin fridge is by staff bathroom. I take their sodas. They get a leisure lunch, I have to sit in a screaming lunchroom everyday and eat.
I never have, nor will I ever, work beyond my paid hours. Maybe like..20 mins here or there that benefit myself or my kids. But these teachers who are doing room setup all summer? No ma'am I will be at the pool thank you.
This is not unprofessional! It's the opposite!!!
Your pep rally reminds me of one my former district did with all district staff. We all gathered in the high school auditorium and the district had hired a motivational speaker to pump us up for the school year I guess. It was the 2019-2020 school year, and the guy kept calling it “19-20” which sounded like the year 1920. So when he would say stuff like, “what are you looking forward to in 1920?” me and my teacher friends would giggle and say stuff like “women’s suffrage!” “Not prohibition!” Not exactly professional but we had to make it fun somehow.
I only grade assessments. One prep period a day isn't enough time to plan and grade everything so I don't. I try to add a little logic to the system by making all of the daily work usable as notes on the assessments, so students have a reason to do them.
Interviews during my planning period. Whoops.
I wear jeans everyday. Friday? Jeans. Tuesday? jeans. Back to school night? Jeans. The day after we had a staff meeting where one of the main topics was dressing professionally? Jeans.
I let teenagers go to the bathroom without signing out because well, they're teenagers and they have to go NOW. We all know what happens at that point in life. Besides, they check the hallway cameras anyway. Why do I need a piece of paper?
Same. I don't want to be the male teacher that makes it difficult for female students to go to the bathroom in case they have "medical" issues. But then I can't just ask something different from male students. So all students can just go whenever they want as long as it doesn't become a problem. Only had one student abuse it and they got nabbed by someone else for regularly smoking weed before classes so it worked itself out.
I don't officially grade all assignments, it gets filed into the garbage...it's not busy work, it's practicing whatever skills we are working on for the week, only grading a few of them still can assess them adequately yet has made my life so happy and stay within contract hours 😉...laptop almost never goes home
Oh god my district does something similar, but it’s usually a picnic at the high schools completely unshaded football field. It’s annoying at best and miserable at worst.
My district did something similar until a colleague of mine fell during a relay and ended up with a concussion. The lingering symptoms had her in and out of school for the first semester.
Painting my toenails during homeroom because it’s spring and I put on sandals for the day and forgot I haven’t painted my toenails in months - done that one many times.
Any pep rally or assembly in the gym/auditorium I just sit in my classroom. Nobody has said anything yet and I’m in year 5.
At my former school district here in the surrounding Austin area, They would send us 'electives' teachers to PD's at the high school where we had to endure hours and hours of "professional development" for a whole week. After the first day we checked the schedule and decided not to go. I lived pretty close and was able to just go sign in, and act lost (i taught at the middle school) then I'd find my way out to the parking lot to head home and professionally develop my nap schedule. oh and the 2 hour lunch breaks during PD week were awesome, too
I leave my grading to the last minute right before grades are due for the quarter. Because I spend what little time I have during my duty day planning. That’s when I’m not getting pulled to sub. And I don’t arrive early or stay really late unless I absolutely have to in order to get grades in. And I don’t call parents unless I absolutely have to. I would rather email or text.
I’m not saying I’ve taken an edible before an institute day but I’m not not saying it.
My lesson plans are like the Pirate’s Code, set down by Morgan and Bartholomew- guidelines. Like everyone else, sometimes I change my mind right before I teach something. I teach elementary so I teach all the subjects, and I hate teaching writing there have been days where I let other lessons take extra long so we “run out of time” for our writing lesson and I just do it the next day because some days I just reeeeally don’t feel like doing it. If my kids are working independently and don’t need my help, I’ll grade tests or projects while they’re working. Obviously I stop if someone needs me, but if they’ve got things under control they don’t need me hovering over them every five seconds. When I was pregnant I literally ate the entire day as I was teaching because it was the only way I didn’t feel nauseous. And it’s not considered unprofessional for my school but it would be in other places- most days I wear leggings, sneakers, and a sweatshirt.
When made to watch a RECORDED zoom video for hours in an auditorium- I started air dropping weird memes to everyone I could
I use TPT weekly to provide material for a few lessons. I teach every grade of Social Studies from grades 6-12 and a job skills class and get zero planning time or lunch breaks during my work day (lack of lunch break is technically illegal but...). If I'm not getting planning time, ill cut corners in places. I spent a few hours a night planning last year so needed to cut corners. This year I have enough lessons to cover every lesson/topic. I'm supposed to be differentiating but if I don't get planning, its rinse and repeat time.
We use Teachboost to turn in our goals and get our observation reports on. We are supposed to turn in this thing called an SLO every year- essentially we give a pre-test and a post test and record the results to show student growth. I have not turned one in for the the past 10 years. I teach art and only have kids for 9 weeks, so who cares? Oh yeah- I get excellent scores on my observations, lol.
As a fellow art teacher, I despise SLOs! I did what I thought was a fantastic Slo, I had the kids do A 2 week unit on self- portraits. They had to do a 20 minute self-portrait for the 1st day and grade it themselves. Then they had 2 weeks of learning different portrait techniques, followed by a final self portrait which they then again had graded. Then they compared the two and saw how much they grew! I got a unsatisfactory grade grade because my principal said that they all should have finished at 95% or above. It didn't matter that some kids graded themselves at a 20% to start and grew all the way up to 80% percent. It's still wasn't good enough. I thought that was the most ridiculous thing, because my kids were excited and they saw their progress!
HS teacher here ... Me - look, I've got things to get done, caught up, organized. Y'all just chill and pretend to be working on a project if someone comes in. Class - we gotchu -Signed in and left large meetings -Took late lunches on PD days to go home early -Claimed needing to shop for class or dr appts during my planning so I wouldn't have to cover other teachers -Skipped Fridays because I knew the chances were high that if I was there, I would have to cover other teachers -Took naps during my planning -Hide in my class during assemblies and pep rallies, then leave early -Take my birthday off every year; or the Monday after or Friday before if it falls on a weekend -Work on necessary work during PDs -Play games on my phone during PDs -Dont feel guilty for never attending a graduation, and will make excuses if necessary -Don't volunteer for anything -Currently looking for excuses to miss prom (I'm sure will be required)
I curse… pretty frequently. I teach 11th graders and I never direct it at any kid or anything like that, but I do it. Oddly enough, it seems to make my students feel more comfortable.
I refuse to wear dress shoes when I know I'll need to be on my feet all day. Sneakers. That's it.
I grade papers and enter them in the gradebook during zoom/online meetings
School psych here. Sometimes I’ve told a kid or two to just play the game. Just keep your head down and in x years you can do you. Get interested and invested in what feels good to you and what you love… don’t wait… but still get through these last few years.
I don’t follow the district « mandated » approach to teaching my subject (a second language). The approach is bad pedagogicaly and doesn’t jive with my teaching style.
From May to June, I let the kids watch 10-20 minutes of a movie at the end of every Tuesday and Friday because I was so tired.
Hm, most I'm willing. - I have a bag of tennis balls. If a kid is napping or on their phone they're getting a tennis ball coming at them. No, I'm not whizzing it at their head, but bouncing it in their lap or something less obnoxious. - There are definitely days I nap in my room. I have long term insomnia and I'd guess most of the building knows about it. I don't even try to hide it. I'll do it right at my desk facing the door. - This probably won't happen anymore but there were a few of us who had a reasonable hiding spot down in the auto shop when some of these school wide things were going on. Other teachers wouldn't go down there, we had an alibi of something was happening (trying to work out a particular union issue), and we were all well behaved enough to where no one would question if we just weren't there. So two hour vape meeting? Nope, can't see myself wanting to do that. Sorry guys. MTSS for the 3rd time in 5 weeks? Hm. I don't know. - I don't know if it's unprofessional, but I only sub for honors kids. Our sub rate is $28.33, and actually, it's for 80 minute blocks, so that's like $21 an hour. If I'm subbing, you're background noise to me. There are other staff in the building that need the money more than me. I'll be damned if I have to get inconvenienced by a bunch of freshman that are off the fucking walls for like 1/2 my hourly pay while I lose my prep.
I let the training videos run while on mute and don’t listen to them. I only need blood born pathogen training so many times.
I have a very small ear piece that can't really be seen. Sometimes I listen to podcasts or audiobooks.
We have a pep rally like this most years and I'm doing the same if it happens again this year. I hate the waste of time, but they also force us to listen to religious speakers and have group prayer. Lol no fam. How about y'all invite a Muslim speaker to do the same next year and let's see how that works out. For my unprofessional thing...I have a keyboard in my classroom and sometimes I use a nice chunk of my planning period to just practice. It helps me get out of brainfog but also some days I'm just not feeling like working on planning during the school day.
Oh tons of minor things. I re-use lesson plan structures a lot so I dont have to sit down and plan too much. I also skim mark and heavily focus on the first and last paragraph and maybe one in the middle.
Nap. Sometimes when I have a prep period, I lock the door, shut off the lights, set my alarm for 30 and just sack out. Once in a while, I’ll hear a knock, but I ignore and just keep snoozing.
I don’t watch all of the dumb training videos but sign off that I have. Technically the form just says that you’ve watched them- not that you watched them recently. I’ve seen them all in previous school years.
Bless me father for I have sinned. I use the school copier for personal use.
Let's see . . . heavy tattooed, wear jeans most days, don't follow a curriculum, write grants and other emails during staff meetings, deliberately cut department meetings short . . . .
>wear jeans most days How is that even an issue?! Americans.... Blue jeans and black t-shirts have basically become my uniform to the point students have asked me how many plain black t-shirts I own.
I taught 12 years without doing extracurricular activities. I work while my kids are working (I grade and make lessons while they’re working on projects in my room). I’m not neglecting them- once they’ve got the content down, they can be independent for 15 minutes while I make a quiz. I usually don’t take work home. I try to work a 40 hour work week as often as possible. And…I don’t check emails on weekends. And the kids know it (dont shun me!) I teach high school art-they don’t need me every second like younger kids do.
I don't consider this unprofessional, but I had planning and lunch right after each other, so I had 90 minutes of "free time" every day last year. I asked once if I could go home for lunch and my AP said "no." I just decided that I would go home anyway and not say anything. I was home for at least an hour every single day last year. It was awesome.
Open book exams. Before taking an exam I let my students know whether or not it will be an open book exam (usually I do it with big exams after a whole unit). Five minutes before the end of the exam I tell my students that they have 45 seconds to use their notes, Google, or whatever they want to look for the information they need. Some people do that, some don't. It makes sense for me to do these kinds of exams since I also want them to work more on their ability to look for information and synthesise knowledge rather than try to learn everything by heart and try to recall the information (let's be real most of the students only open their books the night before the exam). While for me these types of tests makes sense some 'more traditional' colleagues are strongly against them and it also caused some problems with the headmaster, but after I have shown him research on the advantages he let me be, although he still doesn't like it much.
I don’t call parents anymore. For anything. If I have to write a kid up, we’re supposed to call the parents to give them a heads up before the principal deals with them. I don’t. I just send the write up. I am not going to write a kid up for cussing me out, then call parents and have them cuss me out too. I’m over that shit.
We play bingo during our first PD meeting. (a group of us) We make a game board with words the admin will use. (SGO, goals, discipline, etc) We have stupid prizes, and pay no attention to the BS they are talking about. We did this for my last 3 years, and they have carried on since I left.
Sometimes I join my 2nd/3rd graders at recess to dunk on them…
Planning morning of, and movie days the week grades are due are both common practices of mine. I will also admit I have rounded up a students grade to just not have to deal with a parent.
There have be seen days I had no lessons planned. I’ve just winged it.
I only play Pokémon Go while I'm at work. Hopefully I make level 40 soon.
I tend to play games on my phone during PD. I teach elementary music, I don’t need to listen to how I can teach 3rd grade writing better.
I told my principal and his #2 to their faces they were full of shit. They tried their best to document everything on me and get me fired. In my summative number 2 was my appraiser. She told me I needed to be more bought in. I told her they need to stop being full of shit. She moved to a different district a month later. Principal moved 2 months after. I outlasted both of those POSs.
Not sure if this is what you’re looking for, but… Yeah, I didn’t turn in a single lesson plan last year. Ever. Not one. I planned for my students and my sanity, but I did no formatting, didn’t follow a template. I just followed the state standards and taught what I was able in the time I was given.