I’m a teacher…I ignore kids when they ask for help & regularly crush their dreams – it’s harsh but so enjoyable
FROM ignoring students to not believing in their potential, a group of teachers have come clean about what they’re really like at work.
Their candid confessions have turned into an online thread on Reddit, where loads of teachers have shared their honest thoughts about kids.
One teacher even revealed how they get annoyed because they wanted to watch their YouTube in peace, and how they were lazy with their classes.
The revelations came after one person asked: “What is your ‘guilty’ teacher confession?”
They continued to write: “Not talking about anything earth-shattering, just small stuff.
“For example, mine is that I hate when kids talk to me while I’m doing any sort of duty.
“Recess duty, AM/PM duty, whatever it is please do not come up to me just to chat.
“I’ve been overstimulated the entire day and I want that time to be peaceful and quiet before jumping back into the fray.
“What confessions does everyone else have?”
One teacher responded with: “I turn the light off and close the door during lunch and conference.
“If I don’t, my partner grade level teacher comes in, starts talking and doesn’t leave till the bell rings.
“I can’t stand it. I moved my desk out of sight from the door but she still knocks sometimes, and I get mad at myself for being stupid enough to answer.”
To which another added: “Same! Lights off, door locked, me out of sight working with my earbuds in.
“If someone knocks I might hear it or I might not.
“Regardless, I’m not getting up to answer it. My planning time and lunch (they are back to back) are mine and mine alone.”
A third wrote: “Written lesson plans are frivolous busy work and I only do them when I have an observation coming up.
Admin thought I was groundbreaking when I would assign projects where the kids ran the class or taught the class about various topics
Teacher
“I have my slideshow and materials prepped; I’ve very clearly planned out my lesson.
“I have the list of students I need to meet with in a spreadsheet. The only reason the admin wants it all in rewritten in one place is to make their lives easier, not ours.”
A fourth teacher even confessed: “I joke that I enjoy crushing students’ dreams of becoming an internet celebrity, but I really do enjoy it.”
A former teacher revealed: “Former teacher here. I kind of loved catching kids doing bad things. Vaping in a single use bathroom with no windows? I know who you are…
Telling off
“I winged it more often than I’d like to admit with no specific plans for the day’s class.
“Somehow those days were always the best days of learning and collaboration, so it only encouraged me to do it more often.
“Admin thought I was groundbreaking when I would assign projects where the kids ran the class or taught the class about various topics.
“I was just being lazy. Again, it always worked out and the kids learned stuff.
I need to watch my YouTube videos during lunch time in peace
Teacher
“My students were being treated unfairly by the admin. I coached them in an uprising that eventually got them respect. Admin didn’t know I was behind it.”
One teacher, who hated spending lunch around students, added: “ It was always very flattering when students wanted to spend lunch with me, but damn, I need the time to unwind in the middle of the day.”
Joining in on the lunch chat, another teacher said: “My kids came in during lunch time for their sticker reward.
“They knew to just come in, pick the sticker they wanted, and then leave. I need to watch my YouTube videos during lunch time in peace.”
Secrets of a school headteacher
By the Secret Schoolteacher
I STARTED working in schools in 1996, when parents respected teachers and left us alone to do our jobs. Not any more.
Nowadays parents think nothing of barging into schools to read teachers the riot act if their precious child has been told off, or they’ll send angry emails in the middle of the night. Warning — it doesn’t make you popular.
I’ve worked in all manner of schools across the south west of England, from state schools to private, and I can tell you that right now many teachers are dreading the start of the new school year.
They’re braced for tears and tantrums, not just from their pupils but from their parents too.
Believe me, if you are an annoying parent it will spread round the staff room like wildfire.
So whether it’s your kid’s first day at a new school, or they’re moving up a year, these are the things you do that drive teachers crazy . . .
Parents often turn up at the school gates complaining how frazzled they are, moaning that teachers must have had a nice long holiday while their six weeks stuck with the kids was the worst.
Nothing could be further from the truth. For the first two weeks I’ll almost certainly have been struck down by a lurgy which always seems to strike on the first day of the holiday.
The next two weeks might have been an actual holiday, just like the average Brit takes in the summer, followed by two weeks of frantic lesson planning and administration.
Also, consider that I’ve probably been working over 50 hours per week during term time. Contrary to popular opinion, we don’t clock off at 3pm.
Instead, we’re roped into all manner of after-school activities and meetings before going home to do marking and more lesson planning. Please don’t turn up and make sarcastic remarks about our “six weeks off”.
We won’t be happy.