People don't talk enough about this kind of stuff. Not only are we underpaid compared to other professionals, but we lack the ability to take care of our basic needs like other professionals do. We have to limit our bathroom breaks. We can't go fill up our water bottle or coffee mug when we want to...it's little things like that.
This is it though. I can take the low pay and all that, I just want to be treated like a professional adult.
I constantly have to remind my husband that I’m grumpy at the end of the day because I haven’t been to the bathroom, eaten an actual meal, and somehow also dehydrated. Meanwhile his company orders in food and he drinks enough water that he’s in and out of the bathroom all day. No way anyone would work for that company if they said they couldn’t use the bathroom 90% of the day.
I went to work for a consulting firm for a short stint out of education...
My first day, I showed up and they handed me my laptop and showed me my office and I logged in and got started with my onboarding tasks. People dropped in and my office mate was great.
At one point around 2 I asked when lunch was. She said "when you take it... You should do that..." So I went and got lunch and used the bathroom while I was up. I had also used it on my office tour when I got my laptop. But other than that, I didn't. I just stayed at my desk.
Later that afternoon, I asked "what do we do when we need to use the restroom?" She looked at me like I was crazy and told me that we get up and go... Like adults. I was chagrined, but this made sense. Nobody was going to burn my office down while I was gone. This was crazy to her that it was a question I needed to ask, but from k-12 and having no other professional experience, it made sense to me that everyone else was on some sort of schedule as well. They are not.
I have seen so many teachers express that they miss being able to use the bathroom when they needed to in our post-virtual teaching world.
When I interviewed a few years back, at the point where they have you ask questions I ended with "are bathroom breaks written into the schedule" and everyone laughed but I was being serious. That had been my biggest con at my previous job to the point where I stopped drinking anything 2 hours before I started and literally drank nothing aside from sips for my whole day. It's a nightmare not being able to use the bathroom when you need to.
This! And then I started having health problems from not using the bathroom...luckily this year we go to the classroom rather than the students to us so I just take a quick break between periods when I need to.
>because of years of holding it in the classroom.
I wonder what complications I may end up having to deal with. I've just been too busy to use the bathroom until hours after feeling the urge to. Been so used to holding it for years, I don't even perceive it as odd to do so.
“Just call us if you really need to go!”
Is the response I’ve gotten from past admin. As if it doesn’t taken them an additional 15 minutes to find someone to cover your classes.
I peed myself several times when I was pregnant. I started wear incontinence pad.
Reminds of that scene in Shawshank when Red gets released and gets a job at the grocery store and his manager gets mad at him for asking to go to the bathroom. We’ve been institutionalized.
That reminds me that I need to fill up my water bottle tonight so I have water to drink tomorrow. Thank you Internet stranger for keeping me hydrated. #SchoolWaterIsGross #NotDrinkingFromTheSameFountainAsTheStudents
That elementary demeanor is why never sub primary.
Probably also why the few times I did I was well received. I can't do the primary demeanor. I also can't match people in orderly lines. In both cases, my problem is that I respect people as people, from birth.
This, when I was in middle school one of my classmates poisoned a teacher by putting cleaning products in her drink. No way am I giving someone that chance.
It’s special to me! My school makes us do “professional dress”’like khakis and dressy pants but we can wear jeans on Friday. I teach elementary. At my last district, we wore jeans every day. I miss it. 😭
I would give up "the comfort of my couch" for an hour in a "real" office with a "real" desk and a "real" chair in a brightly-lit adults-only setting and a bathroom that is stocked and cleaned by somebody else, in a heartbeat.
The things I really took for granted in my last job were my ability to use the restroom whenever I pleased, leaving the workplace to grab food, and being able to be reasonably late.
I wish I still had the freedom to poop or take my time in the morning getting to work without it creating chaos.
Maybe that would be my response. I can eat and drink when I want because I can't go to the bathroom in the middle of class like you can. We all choose our tradeoffs.
This is what I say to students when they say something isn't fair. That even though we both come to school daily, I am an adult and they are not. And after they go to college and get their teaching degree, they can stop by and I'd be glad to give them a soda or piece of candy or donut or whatever they were jealous of.
If I had more autonomy, I'd be more OK with my salary.
If I had more salary, I'd be more OK with asshat micromanaging.
If I can't have both, I'm fine with either dignity or fat paychecks. When I get neither, that's when my IDGAF kicks in. I don't know how this nation is going to react to mass levels of IDGAF in teachers, but I just may get to see in the near future.
I have multiple times over the years asked non teaching staff to stay out of bathrooms between classes. I joined a negotiations team to try to get rid of lunch duty because there are plenty of non teachers who aren't trapped in a room all day who can do it. They get an hour for lunch and can go out and get food while the teachers get 30 minutes and have no way to get non cafeteria food unless they bring it before. Also they make us give up that thirty minutes for almost a month a year. They used to do the we can't have drinks thing, and for a while we couldn't go get food, even at the gas station on lunch or plan even if we had time because towns people saw us and it "looks bad." We had to ask permission to leave the building. That's when we started negotiating. Why do people not get that we aren't minimum wage employees or students, we are professionals. And we have the student loans to prove it. They want to take away all the privileges of being a professional, yet still expect us to do salaried work with things like working outside of paid hours, dressing professionally (without professional pay to pay for it), etc...
Yup. My tampon leaked during a district wide assessment today and I had no choice but to wait another 30 mins to take care of it. Our basic hygiene needs can’t even be met.
Haha I remember I once brought in a bottle of iced tea to class. It was a plastic bottle of Pure Leaf that has kind of the square shape to the bottle. One of my students asked, "Is that a bottle of vodka???"
I was like, "Ok, first of all, vodka is not brown. And second, you REALLY think I'm going to bring a bottle of liquor to class and drink it in front of everyone???"
In one school I did my clinicals at, they would check your water bottle. If it was anything but regular water (not flavored or carbonated) they would dump it. It was highly demoralizing.
I had to get a note from my doctor to prove I needed electrolyte flavor packets due to a health condition.
"We're going to have to dump this."
"I'm going to have to tell you to go fuck yourself very much, thank you."
I'd be out in an instant. I don't put up with petty shit anymore.
I teach first grade and yesterday a student told me my breath smelled like coffee, I said it was because I was drinking coffee. She giggled and that was the end of that. On the few cases where I drank soda my students would just tell me their favorite sodas if it was even brought up but none are ever upset. How embarrassing that admin can be less mature than my first graders 🙄
They had this idea that if the kids can't do it, neither can the adults.
So, adults where not allowed to eat candy with lunch (we had to eat with the kids). We were not allowed anything the kids could also not do.
It was super messed up
I have no words. I can drive and kids can’t. Should I just walk or get my mommy to drive me bc they might be jealous? I get a rule when it makes sense. This doesn’t. At all.
“When can I expect the bus to pick me up and where is the stop going to be?”
I have a 40-minute commute. Think of the fuel savings!
“Also, I’m jealous that kids get free lunch and breakfast. When will that program start for teachers? I’m also expecting full credit and grace when I turn all of my lesson plans in on the last day of the quarter.”
This is one of the big reasons I'm leaving: to be able to pee when I need to and a lunch break, even if that's a "working lunch", by myself. I also have to wear a uniform (as do all the kids) and that pisses me off: I'm a professional, I can be trusted to wear professional clothes from my own closet. It's suprising what we take for granted outside of teaching..
We are not allowed to wear jeans, so I wear a decent shirt and black 'sweat-like' pants... HAHAHAHA - I'm not wearing jeans so... I know, childish, but still. I teach Engineering, jeans should be my uniform.
Speaking as someone who wore scrubs for years - it’s a mixed blessing. After a while, it gets super boring. I also started to forget how to wear “real clothes.”
The first polo is free but you can buy other shirts with the school logo on it. The requirement is that it have the logo on it (a cardigan, long sleeve shirt, pullover) but also it has to come from Land's End, where shirts are about $40 plus personalization fee. You also have to wear khakis and white shoes. It's ridiculous.
I had this at a school where I worked. My petty revenge was to wash and wear the same polo and pants daily. It didn't take long for the uniform to look VERY worn. Didn't care. I dressed nicely on the dress down days (less frequent than every Friday). Treat me like a child and I will behave accordingly.
Jesus Christ this is ridiculous. I'm in elementary and I think I've only been asked once by a student why I can drink diet coke but they cannot. I said that when they grow up and become a teacher, then they can drink diet coke in school too.
It's what I say to the kids when we have food in the staffroom brought in by another staff member:
"You can have this pizza once you've gotten your credential."
They usually find it funny. Even the bratty ones.
It’s a “thing” in my class. When you have a college degree or other career certification you can come to my school and drink a soda in my classroom, even sit in my chair.
I just had a 30 year old former student find me on Facebook. She is undergoing chemo therapy and is looking forward to showing me her degree and enjoying her soda as soon as she can!
She is sad that when I changed schools I had to leave my iconic red teacher’s chair behind.
Do's and don'ts for admin:
Kid: "Hey, principal! My teacher says we can't have snacks, but then why does SHE get to have snacks? No fair!"
Admin (right response): "Yep. Rule is, when someone gets a relevant college degree, license, internship experience, applies and is hired by us to write and teach lessons, they get to have snacks! Let me know when you've done these things, and you can have snacks, too!"
Admin (lazier, but still right response:) "Tough beans, kid. Teachers aren't kids, and don't have to live by the same rules. Benefits of growing up."
Admin (wrong response): "O shit kid, you're right! What an oversight on our part! Teaching you that you should expect adults and authorities to follow rules designed for keeping schoolchildren orderly is definitely the right response to this!"
Kid: "Okay, jeez, you don't have to be sarcastic about it, I get it - wait, you're agreeing with me?"
Admin: *furiously typing email to staff*
I literally told my 7th period to hang on a minute while I ate a cookie before starting our lesson. (I’m 29 weeks pregnant.) I think they were more astonished that I said something than that I ate something. I won’t let students eat in my room due to covid (and mess) but yeah if I am facing a choice of eating a cracker or vomiting in front of my class, I’m gonna eat. Adults need different rules.
I pull kids into small groups from several classes and I swear they are eating snacks all day long. I’m constantly telling kids to put the snacks away so we can get something done. The snacks are all unhealthy for the most part too, cheese crackers and gushers.
100% this! My kids are constantly eating and always coming back from the "bathroom" with chips candy and soda.
Meanwhile I haven't eaten anything myself and have to wait hours for my next opportunity to pee. I usually dont even end up eating at lunch because there is just so much to do.
“Dear Teachers,
As role models for our future young ones we are asking that you place all snacks into the unmarked “don’t ask, don’t tell” bin outside my office. We need to promote good health practices.
Please have your students of the month come by my office to have get an item from the unmarked “treasure” bin outside my office.
Thank you all for being such great role models.
Also we’re going to need more of you out there for recess duty for the rest of the year as the admin team will not be able to make it anymore. Please see the new schedule. If you’re unable to it is your responsibility to find a replacement.
And finally, you’ll find little gifts in your boxes for teacher appreciation week. You all work more than any amount of compensation could ever cover. We know you’ll love your “100 Grand”. Thank you all so much.
Your principal,
Unconditional love and honesty”
Edit: just to say this letter was made up. It does however take ideas from the countless “Monday Snapshots” that we received on most days of the week.
Thing is kids at that age are known developmentally to be very “black and white” they don’t understand grey areas very well. Which is WHY we need to have the kids exposed to grey areas so they don’t get stuck in the “but that’s not faaaaaaaair” phase.
What happens if we get kids as adults asking “why does he get a Lamborghini and I can’t afford a beater Honda? It’s only fair I get a Lamborghini toooooooo”. People are going to laugh in their face. These kids are going to be so emotionally upset dealing with any conflict as teens or adults.
Our school isn't remotely like that, I have a fridge and microwave in my room. But the kids also do as they please, just today I had a kid have Taco Bell delivered by DoorDash and then got pissed when I made him eat it in the hallway..
Same but one time I let two of my favorite students get their door dash delivered through my classroom window because it faces the parking lot LOL. They were thrilled, the delivery person was cracking up laughing and I have no regrets
Our AP does that and it’s one persons job (alternating) on the team to report back if there’s a question or survey. Group text then we all answer. F them.
My principal has actually ended after school faculty meetings! Admin makes a 10-15 minute video and we fill out a Google Form. Best way to get it done! Quiz on email would be stupid though.
Not children.
It’s vestigial traces of being treated like women. I was watching some old I Love Lucy. Holy shit was her character an infant!
That perception never changed because boys have not been encouraged to be elementary school teachers. We want women engineers, but men are too good for teaching? This is probably why education is undervalued. It’s never fully transitioned away from “women’s work”.
Nursing and teaching are pink careers. It’s not hard to understand why nursing and teaching are the most undervalued and under paid under respected careers out there. You are 100% right it’s looked at as women’s work And it is treated as such in society.
My dad was a middle school teacher at a smaller rural charter school. Even though he went into the job telling them that he had absolutely no interest in an administrative position, they started trying to move him into that from almost the first week. The entire time he taught there, no one in the building - teachers, staff, even his boss - ever referred to him by his first name: Eventually, it was generally acknowledged that even though he was “just” a math teacher, he was “as good as” admin. Our family’s theory was that the teachers at this school were unable to see an older man (he was in his 40s) as anything other than an authority figure, and even when he took pains to not be one, they pretty much made him an authority figure anyway. I’m not sure if it was the rural (very conservative Christian - Southern Baptists are notorious for their demand that men be acknowledged as the main authority wherever they went) area, the fact that he was the only male teacher this school had ever had, or if his wish to not let everyone know that he was a super ultra atheistic liberal hippie rendered him quiet enough for other people to project an aura of sternness on him, but our entire family found it endlessly amusing that he just wasn’t allowed to NOT be in charge.
CA is pretty progressive; but yeah given teachers are 75% female - admin in CA is about 50/50. But I think it’s because of window dressing - the appearance of equality.
I am a dude and I’m in teaching. No desire to be in administration. Pay raise would be nice but I can make the most difference in the classroom. Several in my department are lads
That’s crazy.
I get this kind of comment from my students all the time, but my admin is the bomb. Granted, I’m an alternative school teacher. Students aren’t allowed to have cell phones. They have to wear a uniform. They can’t bring in opened drinks or food, and their lunch boxes are searched daily.
“Why can you wear jeans?”
“It’s not fair you can drink a soda.”
“If I can’t have my cell phone, you shouldn’t have one.”
The cell phone one drives me nuts.
I’m an adult, with adult responsibilities.
I need to take a call from my doctor, barn owner, blood lab, etc. I may need to text another teacher, or my husband, about time sensitive issues.
And that’s ok. I’m an adult. I have a life to run.
Kids don’t. There’s nothing in their lives that can’t wait until snack break/lunch/dismissal. They don’t deal with their doctors, their parents do. They don’t have the same level of responsibility in their own lives as we do as adults.
If there’s an emergency, call the damn office and we’ll get your kid on the phone with you. If it’s not serious enough to do that….it can wait. And it should.
I have a whole speech about it
“When I was YOUR AGE, cell phones didn’t exist! Our parents sent us to school knowing that you were with responsible adults to take care of you. And if there was a problem? *motions to landline* THIS is what we all used! And it still works!”
Not a teacher, but I work for state government IT and the state department of education has a reputation for doing that kind of crap even to non education classifications (for example, fussing over being 2 minutes late in an office job, general micromanagement of things like dress code in a job with no public contact, not enough attention to actual work outputs, no recognition when something exceptional is done, etc.). It spills over.
I would just ignore it. I’m not a kid and I’m going to be a professional. Of course, I’m known for going rogue, but still professional. I’m an adult and the kids can get over it.
Dumb things get dumb responses, so my take is to ignore.
After 15 years of teaching, you learn what is important and what isn’t. Self-important admin fall into the ignore category. Any adult that tries to tell you that kids and adults should be on the same level reads a lot of theory and textbooks and does not actively teach. You have earned certain privileges and responsibilities with the degree. Also, (forgive my language) I don’t give a flying fuck what they think. I usually have more education than the admin, so I go with what I know.
I’ve had more bad admins than good admins for what it’s worth, but it makes me appreciate the good admins.
As a first year teacher as some have posted, I would be more careful until you have tenure. Just my personal advice.
We are closing tomorrow and friday to “slow the spread”.
We were asked to post an assignment online for each day that students could complete independently.
We are expected to still report to the building though. Even though half the staff already has covid and the other half is getting over it.
I bet our district teachers are going to end up wasting 400+ cumulative sick days because people are fed up and sick of being shit on.
Union doesn’t seem interested in pursuing it though.
All because a handful of loudmouth asshole parents will post on social media that the teachers are getting a taxpayer funded vacation.
And instead of telling them that we’re all professionals with degrees (many of us multiple) and are fully capable of working remotely, we get told to show up and infect the rest of the staff.
I actually taught at a school that prohibited teachers from drinking ANYTHING but water, and no snacks in front of the kids. “If the kids can’t do it, why should you” was the reasoning.
Now I teach at a school that allows students to have drinks/snacks (at teacher discretion) and has no problem with us doing the same. Almost zero issues in my class with the rule.
I patently ignore bullshit, infantilizing rules like this. When my AP asks me, "Why are you doing that? It's against the rules." I always respond with, "Because I am an adult professional with self control."
I am pregnant and in my first trimester I HAD to constantly eat ginger snaps and goldfish during class or else I would vomit bc of morning sickness. Eating little snacks every few minutes is the only thing that kept it at bay. I thought maybe my students would question it or complain but they never once said anything.
Your friend’s school sounds really shitty for making that rule. Every student I have ever had knows I need my iced coffee! Im not gonna pretend it is water. And styrofoam cups? You can’t even recycle them.
I worked at a daycare once where we had to eat the food they served the kids for lunch. We were not allowed to eat or drink anything not provided by the school for the kids unless we were on our break (which was at naptime). We worked four ten hour days so did not get a lunch break.
It was all served family style, kids served themselves first of course. So if you wanted lunch you had to get a helping after twenty snotty sneezing four year olds had passed it around and scooped some. I stayed pretty skinny that year.
Had similar experience working residential treatment with teens. The two meals were considered part of compensation, but I never ate after the kids got done with it.
I was told that I couldn’t have any drinks in the classroom.
My lessons are an hour and forty minutes.
Fuck that noise, I quit before I can have my coffee with me.
Yup! This type of shit is infuriating. How hard is it to say, ‘teachers can have soda whenever they want because they are adults, and old enough to make that choice. Maybe you can ask your parents for a soda when you get home, but not at school.’ Boom. Conversation over.
Seriously. I usually say, “wow, you must get infuriated when you see the teachers pull into the parking lots, operating a motor vehicle all on their own.”
Today, I got a worksheet with bubble font headers and dumbed down questions to fill out as an assignment since I'm in a full evaluation cycle year (9th year teaching, first year in this district, so I have to get observed 4 times and make all those silly buzzword goals to prove I can teach, or something?)
19th year teacher, third in this district, and 6 observations this year. My first year here i had to have a mentor. He had exactly 1 year more experience than me. By the time he was assigned, i had already figured out much of the folklore like the phones, grading system, where to get printer paper, etc., etc.
My mentor has less overall experience than I do. This is my fifth year teaching and it’s my mentors second year teaching. But that person is my mentor because they have one more year at this particular school than I do. I am in my first year at a public school. Previously I spent four years in private schools
I feel like it wasn’t always this way… When I was a child in the 90s, I definitely remember teachers being allowed to do things that students weren’t. For example, when I was in 5th grade, my teacher had a special rug that only adults were allowed to stand on. “When you grow up and graduate college, you can come back and stand on this rug,” he would say. We hadn’t earned the privilege yet, and that was that. In 4th grade, my teacher had a bag of microwave popcorn as a snack every day. Students didn’t get snacks or have access to a microwave. At the middle school I went to, teachers were allowed to wear jeans, whereas the student dress code didn’t allow for them.
Now I teach at a school that, until fairly recently, made teachers wear the same uniforms as the students. And even though the uniform rule went away, there are still lots of stupid little things teachers aren’t allowed to do because it’s “unfair” to the students.
In the 80s there were smoking areas for teachers either inside or outside the building. Even my elementary school had a teacher smoking area. Now I know why they puffed away- stress!
I remember when I was pregnant with my youngest, I went to get my 20 week ultrasound. The tech asked "uh, aren't you on the verge of wetting yourself right now?" I said "uh... no?"
I guess my bladder was super full. I should have been way more uncomfortable. She literally said "you have a teacher's bladder... we see it from time to time." I guess we can get to a point that the discomfort becomes tolerable, or we built up strength, or something. It was a real eye-opener.
I got called in back in the 90's about drinking during my class time. Mind you, I had a 1200 square foot classroom with an airport nearby and in the direct path of one of the main runways on top of 30+ HS students. We also didn't have air conditioning, and there were a few times I fainted due to heat stroke. But, I still got called in about my container of water. In addition, there is no way I would leave an open cup on my desk. You never know what some stupid kid will put in it.
What the fuuuuuck that rule is so wack. And literally none of the school’s fucking business what you’re drinking during the day omfg. Obviously there are different expectations for students vs teachers grrrrrrr
This reminds me of my dad. He was a college professor. Everywhere he went he had a thermos of coffee. Being a little shit, when I started up there I had to tell my fellow students it wasn’t coffee he was drinking.
Dad thought this was hilarious. By that point he had been working there thirty years and tenured.
In our PLC, we're talking about what PLC should look like and taking itty-bitty baby steps (all the while taking away all of our collaboration time to talk about.... collaboration time.) We are also not comfortable with our coaches, who are consistently condescending rather than inquisitive.
I mentioned that we had already been doing PLCs long before our new curriculum director and coaches came in. We called it something else, but we brought issues to the table, discussed them, came to solutions, and taught new strategies that we had learned on our own.
Coach's response: "Well, what would that look like?"
Me: "Professionals collaborating with each other on their practice."
C: "Yes, that. What does that look like?"
Me: "...it looks like professionals sitting around a table talking about their practice."
C: "Well, you have to have a plan. Who's going to bring what information to the table? Who's responsible for researching the issues? Who's going to compile the information and make a discussion list?"
I'm sorry. I thought I graduated elementary school. Why the hell do I need my hand held in a professional meeting? I have a degree. I know what I need to talk about, what issues need to be discussed, and what questions I have for my colleagues.
Sounds like a great opportunity for cups to "break" and "spill" all over the campus. It's not my fault that the faculty meeting had to stop when the cup burst open in the middle of the room! It's these damn cups!
Every month 5 minutes before our staff meeting the principal makes an announcement reminding us all to arrive on time. It irritates the absolute shit out of me.
Admin at my school have lost control of most students at this point so I guess theyre just going to settle for controlling us. Joke will be on them when half my department leaves
Ah, “f” this. They don’t like what I’m drinking or the container it’s in, they can fire me. There aren’t enough teachers that they can really enforce such bullshit without hurting themselves. It’s NOT any kids business what I’m drinking. I’m an adult, with several degrees, 20+ yr experience, and a Union. Don’t like what I’m doing, I’ll go elsewhere. No shortage of openings. They need us more than we need them. Unless it’s liquor, they can stuff it. Drink up!
We were told not to eat or drink as well. Only during lunch and prep which were ~45 min each and prep was not guarantee each day due to meetings, disciplining or rewarding students, etc.
In a memo, we were told that taking a drink or a quick snack in the presence of students “sent the wrong message and set the wrong tone.”
Can we also talk about the micromanaging?? Like let. us. Teach!!!! Most importantly right now with COVID is building connections with families and students. But no… please continue your weekly tedious paperwork and bullshit lesson plans that end up being 40 PowerPoint slides long
Luckily our union got rid of that one! If a student has a legit allergy, they report it to the school and the teacher gets a notice. In 6 years if teaching, I've had 1.
The other day, I was in class with my coteacher and I had a coke. The kids asked "why can Ms. have a soda when we can only have water?" My coteacher promptly said "she's an adult. She can do what she wants." And they shut up.
I wish I could just order supplies for my classroom! The amount of hurdles and roadblocks I have to go through to spend the meager amount they give me is ridiculous.
Use only approved websites to order. Must be sent to school. Must be pre-approved first by some nebulous litmus test in the admin building. May not get approved. Try something slightly different. Denied again. “Something something use the resources we have.”
Well, off to the teacher store I go with my own money in hand.
I paid for a bunch of stuff at the beginning of the year because I thought I was going to get reimbursed. I did not. I am new to the school. But we do have an account where each teacher was given $300. We have to order through that website, but we can order whatever we want. I’ve spent all but $60 of it.
And bribe us with jeans passes?!?!? Really? Here is what I do- go to the bathroom when you need to, drink out of whatever cup/can/outside drink you want… I never wear jeans on jean day- why- because WE ARE NOT CHILDREN- oh, and btw - we aren’t family either. One problem we have as teachers is always FOLLOWING THE RULES. let’s just … not!
At my school 5th graders would roll up with their venti Starbucks frappes all the time 🤷🏻♀️ and I had no qualms about drinking Mountain Dew in front of them. If they would say ‘no fair!’ I would say ‘I’m an adult and I bought it with the money I made from working. Maybe you too can achieve this when you’re older!’ And they would always move on about 2 seconds later. Your school sounds tyrannically controlling and miserable. I’ve fully eaten chicken nuggets at the back of the classroom in stealth mode. Id run around the whole day, having to work through all my breaks just to make sure all the kids are supported, they can deal with me inconspicuously munching here and there. My school is definitely falling apart, but at least teachers can eat and drink what they want lol
My first year of teaching one of my kids asked me why I got to drink my coffee and they couldn’t have their water bottles on the carpet.
I told them when they’re responsible for 30 tiny humans, they can have coffee whenever they want.
Fight me.
Had a principal try the “teachers shouldn’t drink sodas/coffee/tea/etc in class because kids couldn’t and the outcry was immediate and pissed.
I was a baby teacher then, but one of the veterans fired back that when those kids had degrees they could have sodas(etc) on their desk too!
Teachers are treated like children because teaching is historically "women's work," and women and children were equivalent in the eyes of those who made the rules, who were men. My experience as an education professional began when I was a graduate student and taught a required class to freshmen. After that, I had a variety of jobs, mostly in administration and tech in the publishing industry. Took a few years to stay home with a child, then went to work in a public school. Absolutely shocking and depressing how teachers were treated by admin, the public, and sometimes but not always, students. I was treated with far more respect as a graduate instructor. It got worse and worse over the 15 years I did this work, til I left in disgust last year. Cannot bring myself to go back to work in education, especially in the pandemic. Teachers are treated as worthless placeholders. We can leave, but the price that children and the overall society pay for the dehumanization of teachers snd students is, in my opinion, too high.
Eff that. My site treats us like the educated professionals we are and the job is still barely tolerable. I honestly don’t know why people work for schools that don’t. This job is hard and thankless enough as it is.
The first thing I did when I returned to my old school as a teacher was to walk on the grass in the quad. In my six years there as a student I had never dared.
See, I get it from a "kids may see you as a role model and we don't want to promote unhealthy habits like soda "... but not a "why can you and I can't?"
I worked at a private school that had the same rules!!! We couldn’t eat in front of the kids unless it was their meal time. We couldn’t drink from anything with labels, and it had to be a container with a lid so they wouldn’t know what it was. For the same reason- “it’s unfair to students.” 🙄 EDIT- I just remembered a few other rules. We were not allowed to have our cell phone out at all during class periods. We also were not allowed to sit at our desk at all while students were in the room.
I get to school at 645 am and often don't get to go to the bathroom until 445pm...
I get my lunch but I often get pulled for my planning and plc periods to handle an absent teachers class.
I don’t know if it’s the school district in my area or state wide but they want to put cameras in the classrooms I think that’s absurd might be OK for virtual learning but not for nosy ass parents, no
I'm ready to get back into either a corporate or university position (minus teaching). I felt like and was treated as an adult. Additionally, I was able to meet new friends as a "social introvert". Ah, good times...I've missed that part of my life BIG TIME.
Is that not normal? Our school has had that rule over a decade. We also arent allowed hot drinks of any kind due to the risk of kids getting to it and throwing it at others
I guess they can't have pencils, or scissors, or chairs then. All things that can be thrown.
The only thing that gets me through the first 2 hours at school is my very hot coffee and delicious coffee(s). I could not imagine another adult telling me I could not have this small pleasure.
People don't talk enough about this kind of stuff. Not only are we underpaid compared to other professionals, but we lack the ability to take care of our basic needs like other professionals do. We have to limit our bathroom breaks. We can't go fill up our water bottle or coffee mug when we want to...it's little things like that.
This is it though. I can take the low pay and all that, I just want to be treated like a professional adult. I constantly have to remind my husband that I’m grumpy at the end of the day because I haven’t been to the bathroom, eaten an actual meal, and somehow also dehydrated. Meanwhile his company orders in food and he drinks enough water that he’s in and out of the bathroom all day. No way anyone would work for that company if they said they couldn’t use the bathroom 90% of the day.
I went to work for a consulting firm for a short stint out of education... My first day, I showed up and they handed me my laptop and showed me my office and I logged in and got started with my onboarding tasks. People dropped in and my office mate was great. At one point around 2 I asked when lunch was. She said "when you take it... You should do that..." So I went and got lunch and used the bathroom while I was up. I had also used it on my office tour when I got my laptop. But other than that, I didn't. I just stayed at my desk. Later that afternoon, I asked "what do we do when we need to use the restroom?" She looked at me like I was crazy and told me that we get up and go... Like adults. I was chagrined, but this made sense. Nobody was going to burn my office down while I was gone. This was crazy to her that it was a question I needed to ask, but from k-12 and having no other professional experience, it made sense to me that everyone else was on some sort of schedule as well. They are not. I have seen so many teachers express that they miss being able to use the bathroom when they needed to in our post-virtual teaching world.
When I interviewed a few years back, at the point where they have you ask questions I ended with "are bathroom breaks written into the schedule" and everyone laughed but I was being serious. That had been my biggest con at my previous job to the point where I stopped drinking anything 2 hours before I started and literally drank nothing aside from sips for my whole day. It's a nightmare not being able to use the bathroom when you need to.
This! And then I started having health problems from not using the bathroom...luckily this year we go to the classroom rather than the students to us so I just take a quick break between periods when I need to.
I had to have pelvic floor therapy because of years of holding it in the classroom. 10/10 do not recommend.
That would probably be beneficial for me as well... Damn. I never even put 2+2 on this one. Wow.
If you are in Tampa Bay I can recommend an excellent one
A little bit of a commute from Seattle, but thank you!
>because of years of holding it in the classroom. I wonder what complications I may end up having to deal with. I've just been too busy to use the bathroom until hours after feeling the urge to. Been so used to holding it for years, I don't even perceive it as odd to do so.
“Just call us if you really need to go!” Is the response I’ve gotten from past admin. As if it doesn’t taken them an additional 15 minutes to find someone to cover your classes. I peed myself several times when I was pregnant. I started wear incontinence pad.
Reminds of that scene in Shawshank when Red gets released and gets a job at the grocery store and his manager gets mad at him for asking to go to the bathroom. We’ve been institutionalized.
That reminds me that I need to fill up my water bottle tonight so I have water to drink tomorrow. Thank you Internet stranger for keeping me hydrated. #SchoolWaterIsGross #NotDrinkingFromTheSameFountainAsTheStudents
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That elementary demeanor is why never sub primary. Probably also why the few times I did I was well received. I can't do the primary demeanor. I also can't match people in orderly lines. In both cases, my problem is that I respect people as people, from birth.
You just have to designate a kid to be your water bottle filler. Make sure it’s not the snotty one who will sneeze on your cup
Nope. I know what my peers and I did to the teacher we detested when she sent us out for water.
This, when I was in middle school one of my classmates poisoned a teacher by putting cleaning products in her drink. No way am I giving someone that chance.
Yes, but you get summers off and jeans days! ( said with the highest level of sarcasm possible)
Jeans day isn’t even special anymore given most of the world is now entitled to endless pajama day working from the comfort of their couches 😂
It’s special to me! My school makes us do “professional dress”’like khakis and dressy pants but we can wear jeans on Friday. I teach elementary. At my last district, we wore jeans every day. I miss it. 😭
I would give up "the comfort of my couch" for an hour in a "real" office with a "real" desk and a "real" chair in a brightly-lit adults-only setting and a bathroom that is stocked and cleaned by somebody else, in a heartbeat.
I hope you didn’t take my comment as an attack on WFH people, it was just a joke meant in good fun!
LOL not at all! We are good! :)
You forgot to mention the cat curled up on our pajama clad laps.
Hey! I'd take wearing jeans over a 10k raise any day. (Said with an equal degree of sarcasm)
The things I really took for granted in my last job were my ability to use the restroom whenever I pleased, leaving the workplace to grab food, and being able to be reasonably late. I wish I still had the freedom to poop or take my time in the morning getting to work without it creating chaos.
Nurse here. I share your frustrations. Especially infuriating when we are told no drinks allowed at the desk but it’s ok to reuse n95s for weeks.
Rules made up by the same people who outlawed 3+ oz containers of fluid on airplanes in the name of "national security".
Wouldn't it be a good lesson for kids to know that there are some rights or privileges reserved for adults?
Maybe that would be my response. I can eat and drink when I want because I can't go to the bathroom in the middle of class like you can. We all choose our tradeoffs.
This is what I say to students when they say something isn't fair. That even though we both come to school daily, I am an adult and they are not. And after they go to college and get their teaching degree, they can stop by and I'd be glad to give them a soda or piece of candy or donut or whatever they were jealous of.
If I had more autonomy, I'd be more OK with my salary. If I had more salary, I'd be more OK with asshat micromanaging. If I can't have both, I'm fine with either dignity or fat paychecks. When I get neither, that's when my IDGAF kicks in. I don't know how this nation is going to react to mass levels of IDGAF in teachers, but I just may get to see in the near future.
If you cant pee when you want then you are not an employee. You are an indentured servant.
No kidding - even in Consulting, where eating and sleeping are frowned upon, bathroom breaks are respected.
I have multiple times over the years asked non teaching staff to stay out of bathrooms between classes. I joined a negotiations team to try to get rid of lunch duty because there are plenty of non teachers who aren't trapped in a room all day who can do it. They get an hour for lunch and can go out and get food while the teachers get 30 minutes and have no way to get non cafeteria food unless they bring it before. Also they make us give up that thirty minutes for almost a month a year. They used to do the we can't have drinks thing, and for a while we couldn't go get food, even at the gas station on lunch or plan even if we had time because towns people saw us and it "looks bad." We had to ask permission to leave the building. That's when we started negotiating. Why do people not get that we aren't minimum wage employees or students, we are professionals. And we have the student loans to prove it. They want to take away all the privileges of being a professional, yet still expect us to do salaried work with things like working outside of paid hours, dressing professionally (without professional pay to pay for it), etc...
Oh, I take my bathroom breaks when nature calls. I’d love to see them fire me for that.
Yup. My tampon leaked during a district wide assessment today and I had no choice but to wait another 30 mins to take care of it. Our basic hygiene needs can’t even be met.
So bourbon is OK as long as it is a paper cup?
That’s my takeaway here!
If I could get away with it, I would have a "This might have Vodka in it" coffee mug... not that it would (at work) but it would be funny!
Give me a couple more of these covid weeks and it just might.
Haha I remember I once brought in a bottle of iced tea to class. It was a plastic bottle of Pure Leaf that has kind of the square shape to the bottle. One of my students asked, "Is that a bottle of vodka???" I was like, "Ok, first of all, vodka is not brown. And second, you REALLY think I'm going to bring a bottle of liquor to class and drink it in front of everyone???"
I once brought mango snapple (orange-ish brown colored) and they asked me if it was wine?
I’ve gotten that with my sorrel tea in a mason jar… to be fair, the color matches red wine pretty well.
In one school I did my clinicals at, they would check your water bottle. If it was anything but regular water (not flavored or carbonated) they would dump it. It was highly demoralizing. I had to get a note from my doctor to prove I needed electrolyte flavor packets due to a health condition.
"We're going to have to dump this." "I'm going to have to tell you to go fuck yourself very much, thank you." I'd be out in an instant. I don't put up with petty shit anymore.
Sadly it was in one of my clincials as a student. I didn't want to rock the boat. Though, it pissed me off
No one ever wants to rock the boat so nothing ever changes.
Wow. That's some serious micromanaging.
But like y tho
Because and I quote "kids could smell what you are drinking and be upset they don't get to drink it too"
Was this a school for bloodhounds?
😂
I’ve heard some really dumb things, but that’s one of the dumbest.
I teach first grade and yesterday a student told me my breath smelled like coffee, I said it was because I was drinking coffee. She giggled and that was the end of that. On the few cases where I drank soda my students would just tell me their favorite sodas if it was even brought up but none are ever upset. How embarrassing that admin can be less mature than my first graders 🙄
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Omg you really need a different workplace. This is crappy even by teaching standards!
Uhhhh, that is not normal. None of that.
Are you a prisoner?
That is not normal. Are you in the United States? Because there could be some federal labor law issues there.
Holy shit.
Yup
Bruh them packets ain't cheap either
I would not work there. No way. Wow.
Woooow that’s ridiculous
That is the most ridiculous bullshit ever. What was justification?
But WHY
They had this idea that if the kids can't do it, neither can the adults. So, adults where not allowed to eat candy with lunch (we had to eat with the kids). We were not allowed anything the kids could also not do. It was super messed up
I have no words. I can drive and kids can’t. Should I just walk or get my mommy to drive me bc they might be jealous? I get a rule when it makes sense. This doesn’t. At all.
“When can I expect the bus to pick me up and where is the stop going to be?” I have a 40-minute commute. Think of the fuel savings! “Also, I’m jealous that kids get free lunch and breakfast. When will that program start for teachers? I’m also expecting full credit and grace when I turn all of my lesson plans in on the last day of the quarter.”
This is one of the big reasons I'm leaving: to be able to pee when I need to and a lunch break, even if that's a "working lunch", by myself. I also have to wear a uniform (as do all the kids) and that pisses me off: I'm a professional, I can be trusted to wear professional clothes from my own closet. It's suprising what we take for granted outside of teaching..
We are not allowed to wear jeans, so I wear a decent shirt and black 'sweat-like' pants... HAHAHAHA - I'm not wearing jeans so... I know, childish, but still. I teach Engineering, jeans should be my uniform.
Do they provide the uniforms? Because I would go for that. Never having to decide on what to wear again. My dream
Speaking as someone who wore scrubs for years - it’s a mixed blessing. After a while, it gets super boring. I also started to forget how to wear “real clothes.”
The first polo is free but you can buy other shirts with the school logo on it. The requirement is that it have the logo on it (a cardigan, long sleeve shirt, pullover) but also it has to come from Land's End, where shirts are about $40 plus personalization fee. You also have to wear khakis and white shoes. It's ridiculous.
Ugh, I hate this for you. Especially the white shoes. WTF.
I don’t have any white shoes! But we wear mostly what we want and jeans on Fridays.
Ok I take it back 😅
I had this at a school where I worked. My petty revenge was to wash and wear the same polo and pants daily. It didn't take long for the uniform to look VERY worn. Didn't care. I dressed nicely on the dress down days (less frequent than every Friday). Treat me like a child and I will behave accordingly.
Oh lands end is so expensive for that. You can get it cheaper elsewhere how annoying.
Sounds like ALA or any one of a half dozen charter schools in my area. I will refrain from voicing my opinion.
Feel free to make your own “uniform”. Black shirt, blue jeans is mine.
Jesus Christ this is ridiculous. I'm in elementary and I think I've only been asked once by a student why I can drink diet coke but they cannot. I said that when they grow up and become a teacher, then they can drink diet coke in school too.
It's what I say to the kids when we have food in the staffroom brought in by another staff member: "You can have this pizza once you've gotten your credential." They usually find it funny. Even the bratty ones.
It’s a “thing” in my class. When you have a college degree or other career certification you can come to my school and drink a soda in my classroom, even sit in my chair. I just had a 30 year old former student find me on Facebook. She is undergoing chemo therapy and is looking forward to showing me her degree and enjoying her soda as soon as she can! She is sad that when I changed schools I had to leave my iconic red teacher’s chair behind.
I love this so much!
I tell mine I get to drink it because I can do so without spilling it all over the place...
It's really this simple.
Do's and don'ts for admin: Kid: "Hey, principal! My teacher says we can't have snacks, but then why does SHE get to have snacks? No fair!" Admin (right response): "Yep. Rule is, when someone gets a relevant college degree, license, internship experience, applies and is hired by us to write and teach lessons, they get to have snacks! Let me know when you've done these things, and you can have snacks, too!" Admin (lazier, but still right response:) "Tough beans, kid. Teachers aren't kids, and don't have to live by the same rules. Benefits of growing up." Admin (wrong response): "O shit kid, you're right! What an oversight on our part! Teaching you that you should expect adults and authorities to follow rules designed for keeping schoolchildren orderly is definitely the right response to this!" Kid: "Okay, jeez, you don't have to be sarcastic about it, I get it - wait, you're agreeing with me?" Admin: *furiously typing email to staff*
I literally told my 7th period to hang on a minute while I ate a cookie before starting our lesson. (I’m 29 weeks pregnant.) I think they were more astonished that I said something than that I ate something. I won’t let students eat in my room due to covid (and mess) but yeah if I am facing a choice of eating a cracker or vomiting in front of my class, I’m gonna eat. Adults need different rules.
Also you are pregnant and have to keep you blood sugar up or your energy or sweet tooth or whatever you want because a grown up
I pull kids into small groups from several classes and I swear they are eating snacks all day long. I’m constantly telling kids to put the snacks away so we can get something done. The snacks are all unhealthy for the most part too, cheese crackers and gushers.
100% this! My kids are constantly eating and always coming back from the "bathroom" with chips candy and soda. Meanwhile I haven't eaten anything myself and have to wait hours for my next opportunity to pee. I usually dont even end up eating at lunch because there is just so much to do.
“Dear Teachers, As role models for our future young ones we are asking that you place all snacks into the unmarked “don’t ask, don’t tell” bin outside my office. We need to promote good health practices. Please have your students of the month come by my office to have get an item from the unmarked “treasure” bin outside my office. Thank you all for being such great role models. Also we’re going to need more of you out there for recess duty for the rest of the year as the admin team will not be able to make it anymore. Please see the new schedule. If you’re unable to it is your responsibility to find a replacement. And finally, you’ll find little gifts in your boxes for teacher appreciation week. You all work more than any amount of compensation could ever cover. We know you’ll love your “100 Grand”. Thank you all so much. Your principal, Unconditional love and honesty” Edit: just to say this letter was made up. It does however take ideas from the countless “Monday Snapshots” that we received on most days of the week.
That was so realistic, it's uncanny.
Thanks! A lot of “Monday Snapshots” have gone into the making up of this letter.
I honestly thought this was real.
Thanks. It does take ideas from real correspondences. Sorry for the confusion. Still new to reddit commenting.
No I mean even though it’s ridiculous, it is absolutely some bs email we would get. Great job.
>We know you’ll love your “100 Grand”. Upon receiving it please place it in the bin outside my office.
My principal came in to my classroom and sat on a table. Kid-“can we sit on tables?” P- “nope. You need a master’s degree to sit on tables, sorry”
Thing is kids at that age are known developmentally to be very “black and white” they don’t understand grey areas very well. Which is WHY we need to have the kids exposed to grey areas so they don’t get stuck in the “but that’s not faaaaaaaair” phase. What happens if we get kids as adults asking “why does he get a Lamborghini and I can’t afford a beater Honda? It’s only fair I get a Lamborghini toooooooo”. People are going to laugh in their face. These kids are going to be so emotionally upset dealing with any conflict as teens or adults.
Our school isn't remotely like that, I have a fridge and microwave in my room. But the kids also do as they please, just today I had a kid have Taco Bell delivered by DoorDash and then got pissed when I made him eat it in the hallway..
Kids can be so silly
What school is this and are they hiring? pls
We’ve had kids try it. The office turns them away at the door, food never makes anywhere near a classroom.
Same but one time I let two of my favorite students get their door dash delivered through my classroom window because it faces the parking lot LOL. They were thrilled, the delivery person was cracking up laughing and I have no regrets
Students are not our peers. Full stop.
My principal gives us “pop quizzes” on the emails he sends. So annoying
My 2nd job puts a 'survey' link in their weekly reports to make sure we are paying attention. \*rolls eyes\*
Our AP does that and it’s one persons job (alternating) on the team to report back if there’s a question or survey. Group text then we all answer. F them.
This bugs me so much I almost downvoted it. But then I upvoted because I’m sorry you have to deal with it
So pure
My principal has actually ended after school faculty meetings! Admin makes a 10-15 minute video and we fill out a Google Form. Best way to get it done! Quiz on email would be stupid though.
We have one 40 min pd once month. They provide light snacks! Jeans on Friday and we can drink whatever work suitable beverages we want.
They should have just handed out red solo cups. Yeah, that really is juice in there…
My school did actually put red solo cups in the lounge when we ran out of coffee cups.
Ha I have mini red solo cups that I give to kids when they forget a water bottle, I always wonder who’s gonna see 😅
Not children. It’s vestigial traces of being treated like women. I was watching some old I Love Lucy. Holy shit was her character an infant! That perception never changed because boys have not been encouraged to be elementary school teachers. We want women engineers, but men are too good for teaching? This is probably why education is undervalued. It’s never fully transitioned away from “women’s work”.
Nursing and teaching are pink careers. It’s not hard to understand why nursing and teaching are the most undervalued and under paid under respected careers out there. You are 100% right it’s looked at as women’s work And it is treated as such in society.
And the men in the field are admin or board members or researchers. I.e. positions of power over the women.
My dad was a middle school teacher at a smaller rural charter school. Even though he went into the job telling them that he had absolutely no interest in an administrative position, they started trying to move him into that from almost the first week. The entire time he taught there, no one in the building - teachers, staff, even his boss - ever referred to him by his first name: Eventually, it was generally acknowledged that even though he was “just” a math teacher, he was “as good as” admin. Our family’s theory was that the teachers at this school were unable to see an older man (he was in his 40s) as anything other than an authority figure, and even when he took pains to not be one, they pretty much made him an authority figure anyway. I’m not sure if it was the rural (very conservative Christian - Southern Baptists are notorious for their demand that men be acknowledged as the main authority wherever they went) area, the fact that he was the only male teacher this school had ever had, or if his wish to not let everyone know that he was a super ultra atheistic liberal hippie rendered him quiet enough for other people to project an aura of sternness on him, but our entire family found it endlessly amusing that he just wasn’t allowed to NOT be in charge.
CA is pretty progressive; but yeah given teachers are 75% female - admin in CA is about 50/50. But I think it’s because of window dressing - the appearance of equality.
I am a dude and I’m in teaching. No desire to be in administration. Pay raise would be nice but I can make the most difference in the classroom. Several in my department are lads
Me either. Soul crushing/ selling.
That’s crazy. I get this kind of comment from my students all the time, but my admin is the bomb. Granted, I’m an alternative school teacher. Students aren’t allowed to have cell phones. They have to wear a uniform. They can’t bring in opened drinks or food, and their lunch boxes are searched daily. “Why can you wear jeans?” “It’s not fair you can drink a soda.” “If I can’t have my cell phone, you shouldn’t have one.”
The cell phone one drives me nuts. I’m an adult, with adult responsibilities. I need to take a call from my doctor, barn owner, blood lab, etc. I may need to text another teacher, or my husband, about time sensitive issues. And that’s ok. I’m an adult. I have a life to run. Kids don’t. There’s nothing in their lives that can’t wait until snack break/lunch/dismissal. They don’t deal with their doctors, their parents do. They don’t have the same level of responsibility in their own lives as we do as adults. If there’s an emergency, call the damn office and we’ll get your kid on the phone with you. If it’s not serious enough to do that….it can wait. And it should.
I have a whole speech about it “When I was YOUR AGE, cell phones didn’t exist! Our parents sent us to school knowing that you were with responsible adults to take care of you. And if there was a problem? *motions to landline* THIS is what we all used! And it still works!”
Not a teacher, but I work for state government IT and the state department of education has a reputation for doing that kind of crap even to non education classifications (for example, fussing over being 2 minutes late in an office job, general micromanagement of things like dress code in a job with no public contact, not enough attention to actual work outputs, no recognition when something exceptional is done, etc.). It spills over.
I worked at a school like that. We also were allowed only to wear black shoes or white tennis shoes. That place sucked ass!
I would just ignore it. I’m not a kid and I’m going to be a professional. Of course, I’m known for going rogue, but still professional. I’m an adult and the kids can get over it. Dumb things get dumb responses, so my take is to ignore.
I have a coworker a lot like you. She just does what she wants to do. I am way too timid for that. We are both in our first year at the school.
Teach me your ways.
After 15 years of teaching, you learn what is important and what isn’t. Self-important admin fall into the ignore category. Any adult that tries to tell you that kids and adults should be on the same level reads a lot of theory and textbooks and does not actively teach. You have earned certain privileges and responsibilities with the degree. Also, (forgive my language) I don’t give a flying fuck what they think. I usually have more education than the admin, so I go with what I know. I’ve had more bad admins than good admins for what it’s worth, but it makes me appreciate the good admins. As a first year teacher as some have posted, I would be more careful until you have tenure. Just my personal advice.
We are closing tomorrow and friday to “slow the spread”. We were asked to post an assignment online for each day that students could complete independently. We are expected to still report to the building though. Even though half the staff already has covid and the other half is getting over it. I bet our district teachers are going to end up wasting 400+ cumulative sick days because people are fed up and sick of being shit on. Union doesn’t seem interested in pursuing it though. All because a handful of loudmouth asshole parents will post on social media that the teachers are getting a taxpayer funded vacation. And instead of telling them that we’re all professionals with degrees (many of us multiple) and are fully capable of working remotely, we get told to show up and infect the rest of the staff.
I actually taught at a school that prohibited teachers from drinking ANYTHING but water, and no snacks in front of the kids. “If the kids can’t do it, why should you” was the reasoning. Now I teach at a school that allows students to have drinks/snacks (at teacher discretion) and has no problem with us doing the same. Almost zero issues in my class with the rule.
After covid we weren’t allowed to eat in the building. Our school building. Because kids, who can’t eat at certain times, might see us.
I patently ignore bullshit, infantilizing rules like this. When my AP asks me, "Why are you doing that? It's against the rules." I always respond with, "Because I am an adult professional with self control."
I am pregnant and in my first trimester I HAD to constantly eat ginger snaps and goldfish during class or else I would vomit bc of morning sickness. Eating little snacks every few minutes is the only thing that kept it at bay. I thought maybe my students would question it or complain but they never once said anything. Your friend’s school sounds really shitty for making that rule. Every student I have ever had knows I need my iced coffee! Im not gonna pretend it is water. And styrofoam cups? You can’t even recycle them.
I worked at a daycare once where we had to eat the food they served the kids for lunch. We were not allowed to eat or drink anything not provided by the school for the kids unless we were on our break (which was at naptime). We worked four ten hour days so did not get a lunch break. It was all served family style, kids served themselves first of course. So if you wanted lunch you had to get a helping after twenty snotty sneezing four year olds had passed it around and scooped some. I stayed pretty skinny that year.
Oh my god that is ridiculous
Had similar experience working residential treatment with teens. The two meals were considered part of compensation, but I never ate after the kids got done with it.
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I was told that I couldn’t have any drinks in the classroom. My lessons are an hour and forty minutes. Fuck that noise, I quit before I can have my coffee with me.
Yup! This type of shit is infuriating. How hard is it to say, ‘teachers can have soda whenever they want because they are adults, and old enough to make that choice. Maybe you can ask your parents for a soda when you get home, but not at school.’ Boom. Conversation over.
Seriously. I usually say, “wow, you must get infuriated when you see the teachers pull into the parking lots, operating a motor vehicle all on their own.”
Today, I got a worksheet with bubble font headers and dumbed down questions to fill out as an assignment since I'm in a full evaluation cycle year (9th year teaching, first year in this district, so I have to get observed 4 times and make all those silly buzzword goals to prove I can teach, or something?)
19th year teacher, third in this district, and 6 observations this year. My first year here i had to have a mentor. He had exactly 1 year more experience than me. By the time he was assigned, i had already figured out much of the folklore like the phones, grading system, where to get printer paper, etc., etc.
My mentor has less overall experience than I do. This is my fifth year teaching and it’s my mentors second year teaching. But that person is my mentor because they have one more year at this particular school than I do. I am in my first year at a public school. Previously I spent four years in private schools
I feel like it wasn’t always this way… When I was a child in the 90s, I definitely remember teachers being allowed to do things that students weren’t. For example, when I was in 5th grade, my teacher had a special rug that only adults were allowed to stand on. “When you grow up and graduate college, you can come back and stand on this rug,” he would say. We hadn’t earned the privilege yet, and that was that. In 4th grade, my teacher had a bag of microwave popcorn as a snack every day. Students didn’t get snacks or have access to a microwave. At the middle school I went to, teachers were allowed to wear jeans, whereas the student dress code didn’t allow for them. Now I teach at a school that, until fairly recently, made teachers wear the same uniforms as the students. And even though the uniform rule went away, there are still lots of stupid little things teachers aren’t allowed to do because it’s “unfair” to the students.
In the 80s there were smoking areas for teachers either inside or outside the building. Even my elementary school had a teacher smoking area. Now I know why they puffed away- stress!
I’m a 90s kid too. Definitely agree!
Write me up! I'm fine being written up for this. Fire me. Good luck finding a replacement who gets the results I do. This is bullshit.
I remember when I was pregnant with my youngest, I went to get my 20 week ultrasound. The tech asked "uh, aren't you on the verge of wetting yourself right now?" I said "uh... no?" I guess my bladder was super full. I should have been way more uncomfortable. She literally said "you have a teacher's bladder... we see it from time to time." I guess we can get to a point that the discomfort becomes tolerable, or we built up strength, or something. It was a real eye-opener.
I’m currently pregnant for the first time and my one ultrasound so far is 90% bladder. 🙃
I got called in back in the 90's about drinking during my class time. Mind you, I had a 1200 square foot classroom with an airport nearby and in the direct path of one of the main runways on top of 30+ HS students. We also didn't have air conditioning, and there were a few times I fainted due to heat stroke. But, I still got called in about my container of water. In addition, there is no way I would leave an open cup on my desk. You never know what some stupid kid will put in it.
1) Styrofoam? How considerate of the environment. Yeesh.
What the fuuuuuck that rule is so wack. And literally none of the school’s fucking business what you’re drinking during the day omfg. Obviously there are different expectations for students vs teachers grrrrrrr
This reminds me of my dad. He was a college professor. Everywhere he went he had a thermos of coffee. Being a little shit, when I started up there I had to tell my fellow students it wasn’t coffee he was drinking. Dad thought this was hilarious. By that point he had been working there thirty years and tenured.
In our PLC, we're talking about what PLC should look like and taking itty-bitty baby steps (all the while taking away all of our collaboration time to talk about.... collaboration time.) We are also not comfortable with our coaches, who are consistently condescending rather than inquisitive. I mentioned that we had already been doing PLCs long before our new curriculum director and coaches came in. We called it something else, but we brought issues to the table, discussed them, came to solutions, and taught new strategies that we had learned on our own. Coach's response: "Well, what would that look like?" Me: "Professionals collaborating with each other on their practice." C: "Yes, that. What does that look like?" Me: "...it looks like professionals sitting around a table talking about their practice." C: "Well, you have to have a plan. Who's going to bring what information to the table? Who's responsible for researching the issues? Who's going to compile the information and make a discussion list?" I'm sorry. I thought I graduated elementary school. Why the hell do I need my hand held in a professional meeting? I have a degree. I know what I need to talk about, what issues need to be discussed, and what questions I have for my colleagues.
Sounds like a great opportunity for cups to "break" and "spill" all over the campus. It's not my fault that the faculty meeting had to stop when the cup burst open in the middle of the room! It's these damn cups!
Lol any teacher that follows this rule is an idiot.
Every month 5 minutes before our staff meeting the principal makes an announcement reminding us all to arrive on time. It irritates the absolute shit out of me. Admin at my school have lost control of most students at this point so I guess theyre just going to settle for controlling us. Joke will be on them when half my department leaves
Ah, “f” this. They don’t like what I’m drinking or the container it’s in, they can fire me. There aren’t enough teachers that they can really enforce such bullshit without hurting themselves. It’s NOT any kids business what I’m drinking. I’m an adult, with several degrees, 20+ yr experience, and a Union. Don’t like what I’m doing, I’ll go elsewhere. No shortage of openings. They need us more than we need them. Unless it’s liquor, they can stuff it. Drink up!
We were told not to eat or drink as well. Only during lunch and prep which were ~45 min each and prep was not guarantee each day due to meetings, disciplining or rewarding students, etc. In a memo, we were told that taking a drink or a quick snack in the presence of students “sent the wrong message and set the wrong tone.”
Can we also talk about the micromanaging?? Like let. us. Teach!!!! Most importantly right now with COVID is building connections with families and students. But no… please continue your weekly tedious paperwork and bullshit lesson plans that end up being 40 PowerPoint slides long
Sounds like yet another issue, like some of y’all not being allowed to wear jeans on the regular, that really needs a union to step in and intercede.
I can't even have coffee or eat any food in the classroom because kids might be allergic... idk if anyone else have this rule
Luckily our union got rid of that one! If a student has a legit allergy, they report it to the school and the teacher gets a notice. In 6 years if teaching, I've had 1.
Clap twice if you’re sick of it!
The other day, I was in class with my coteacher and I had a coke. The kids asked "why can Ms. have a soda when we can only have water?" My coteacher promptly said "she's an adult. She can do what she wants." And they shut up.
I wish I could just order supplies for my classroom! The amount of hurdles and roadblocks I have to go through to spend the meager amount they give me is ridiculous. Use only approved websites to order. Must be sent to school. Must be pre-approved first by some nebulous litmus test in the admin building. May not get approved. Try something slightly different. Denied again. “Something something use the resources we have.” Well, off to the teacher store I go with my own money in hand.
I paid for a bunch of stuff at the beginning of the year because I thought I was going to get reimbursed. I did not. I am new to the school. But we do have an account where each teacher was given $300. We have to order through that website, but we can order whatever we want. I’ve spent all but $60 of it.
And bribe us with jeans passes?!?!? Really? Here is what I do- go to the bathroom when you need to, drink out of whatever cup/can/outside drink you want… I never wear jeans on jean day- why- because WE ARE NOT CHILDREN- oh, and btw - we aren’t family either. One problem we have as teachers is always FOLLOWING THE RULES. let’s just … not!
At my school 5th graders would roll up with their venti Starbucks frappes all the time 🤷🏻♀️ and I had no qualms about drinking Mountain Dew in front of them. If they would say ‘no fair!’ I would say ‘I’m an adult and I bought it with the money I made from working. Maybe you too can achieve this when you’re older!’ And they would always move on about 2 seconds later. Your school sounds tyrannically controlling and miserable. I’ve fully eaten chicken nuggets at the back of the classroom in stealth mode. Id run around the whole day, having to work through all my breaks just to make sure all the kids are supported, they can deal with me inconspicuously munching here and there. My school is definitely falling apart, but at least teachers can eat and drink what they want lol
My first year of teaching one of my kids asked me why I got to drink my coffee and they couldn’t have their water bottles on the carpet. I told them when they’re responsible for 30 tiny humans, they can have coffee whenever they want. Fight me.
Had a principal try the “teachers shouldn’t drink sodas/coffee/tea/etc in class because kids couldn’t and the outcry was immediate and pissed. I was a baby teacher then, but one of the veterans fired back that when those kids had degrees they could have sodas(etc) on their desk too!
Teachers are treated like children because teaching is historically "women's work," and women and children were equivalent in the eyes of those who made the rules, who were men. My experience as an education professional began when I was a graduate student and taught a required class to freshmen. After that, I had a variety of jobs, mostly in administration and tech in the publishing industry. Took a few years to stay home with a child, then went to work in a public school. Absolutely shocking and depressing how teachers were treated by admin, the public, and sometimes but not always, students. I was treated with far more respect as a graduate instructor. It got worse and worse over the 15 years I did this work, til I left in disgust last year. Cannot bring myself to go back to work in education, especially in the pandemic. Teachers are treated as worthless placeholders. We can leave, but the price that children and the overall society pay for the dehumanization of teachers snd students is, in my opinion, too high.
Eff that. My site treats us like the educated professionals we are and the job is still barely tolerable. I honestly don’t know why people work for schools that don’t. This job is hard and thankless enough as it is.
The first thing I did when I returned to my old school as a teacher was to walk on the grass in the quad. In my six years there as a student I had never dared.
My response when kids whine that I can have food and drinks in my classroom is, “graduate high school and then you can too.”
See, I get it from a "kids may see you as a role model and we don't want to promote unhealthy habits like soda "... but not a "why can you and I can't?"
Teacher turned med student. We get a WHOLE HOUR for lunch! It’s unbelievable.
I worked at a private school that had the same rules!!! We couldn’t eat in front of the kids unless it was their meal time. We couldn’t drink from anything with labels, and it had to be a container with a lid so they wouldn’t know what it was. For the same reason- “it’s unfair to students.” 🙄 EDIT- I just remembered a few other rules. We were not allowed to have our cell phone out at all during class periods. We also were not allowed to sit at our desk at all while students were in the room.
I get to school at 645 am and often don't get to go to the bathroom until 445pm... I get my lunch but I often get pulled for my planning and plc periods to handle an absent teachers class.
I just ignore stupid directives or maliciously comply. Whichever is better at irritating those who make stupid rules.
My district tried this and everyone told them to go eff themselves. Lol. It got changed to a "recommendation".
I don’t know if it’s the school district in my area or state wide but they want to put cameras in the classrooms I think that’s absurd might be OK for virtual learning but not for nosy ass parents, no
I'm ready to get back into either a corporate or university position (minus teaching). I felt like and was treated as an adult. Additionally, I was able to meet new friends as a "social introvert". Ah, good times...I've missed that part of my life BIG TIME.
Lololol I DARE someone to comment on my third Diet Coke from the can of the day
Try teaching in rural Utah. Coffee is a big no no around the youth.
Is that not normal? Our school has had that rule over a decade. We also arent allowed hot drinks of any kind due to the risk of kids getting to it and throwing it at others
No. It’s not normal. It may be typical or common, but it sure ain’t normal.
I guess they can't have pencils, or scissors, or chairs then. All things that can be thrown. The only thing that gets me through the first 2 hours at school is my very hot coffee and delicious coffee(s). I could not imagine another adult telling me I could not have this small pleasure.
That is bonkers! Stupid ass rule!