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Wonderful presentation. You should be mentoring young teachers. I taught for 32 years English Literature and loved teaching too. I mentored 26 young teachers and they are all still in the profession. The DB pension is the reward in the end...stay with it!!

Thanks so much. Do you know any teachers who have used these platforms for high school students?

Great ideas, Rachel. Thank you!

There also comes a point where parents "just need to be told" and they need to be able to sit with the truth about their kid.

I have one this semester and you gave me some ideas that I forgot to add to her binder. I love having a student teacher! It’s also nice to have another adult in the classroom helping. 😊

These are great games for 5th graders!

Congrats on making it 20 years! Planning ahead is smart! And the standards are the standards! You are easy to listen to and I think that is great for your kiddos.

Thank you for being real. I’ve been teaching for 24 years and I second everything you said.

Keep going

Really good video - thanks

Im doing "Hello Fresh" right now and the fact they put everything in the bag and very clear directions with pictures-- has really made dinners 1000xs easier. Most are minimal prep and don't take long to cook. Right now currently dreading tomorrow-- only because i haven't really gotten tomorrow's lessons clearly planned and zero motivation right now 😂

Tomorrow SHOULD be my first day back after winter break; however, we are expecting snow overnight and all day tomorrow so it’s looking good for extra days of vacation. 👏🏻

I’m working my way out of the classroom into a resource position. I’m done constantly trying and failing to “make it work”.

Happy 2025 Rachel !!! Let me put it this way. Whenever you get the Sunday Scaries of the looming Monday after break always remember the kind of Sunday Scaries that some children get for the fact that they will return back to being forced to go to school everyday under penalty of law again. Granted, if your students love you or are on the same page as you are and look forward to seeing you everyday then start knocking on wood and also it's probably a sign that you are doing something right. It is what it is and you are not alone and remember that you are half way there to the end of the school year. "Keep moving forward". - Walt Disney - Dwight

As always, you uploaded a timely video with practical, helpful advice. Thanks for the tips!

I feel your pain of TRS not recognizing some years of your teaching. When I bought back some of my sub years I had missed one day for a stomach bug while longterm subbing, it cost me a whole service year. It didn't matter that all my other years were well over the required days because it was calendar year based not average of days worked. And in what other profession do you paid for service years when the district should have paid you?? I am in the retired rehiring process and the details are arcane. They can take your TRS check if the district abuses you by keeping a retired teacher in a vacant position but the district gets fined if they rehire you.

I love these tips! I feel like they aren't the typical organizational tips

Do you have a video zbout how you plan ahead? I can't seem to get more than the next 2-3 dsys ahead

I’m not a teacher, but know a few and have heard similar things. I am a new mom, I’ve been watching these bc I want to understand what is happening in schools. I’m going to make sure I support my kid’s teachers as much as I am able.

Hi Rachel how will I find out the value of school

This is my 20th year and teaching has changed a lot.

I'm 53 yrs old and a first year teacher. I've wanted this my whole life, but life took me another direction. The teachers that had my students before me, tell me this was the hardest class they ever had. I've cried a lot and doubted my ability to do this job. This video was very encouraging to me to make it through this first year and keep going. Thank you.

Public school is just babysitting not about academics. Kids get moved on without needing to attain academic standards. There are many kids in high school that can’t add subtract multiply or divide, but they were moved on to the next grade level. Just shows public school is just babysitting. Parents enroll their kids halfway through the quarter and not have to do all the work before that while the other kids have too, which is part of the course and essential to understanding the concepts because public school is just babysitting not about academics. Parents treats teachers as babysitters not professionals. Telling them what to do like they don’t know their job who has their degrees.

Well deserved time off. Please, don't work. At my school teachers are sacrificing one week of their break time to teach from 9 to 5. I am sure the money is good, but at what cost? I used to go in during break to clean up my classroom, but I stopped doing that years ago. Teaching 28 years.

Hi Rachel. These are great timesaving tips! I'm going to create my AM folder now!!😊

I’m preparing to go into teaching in a later life career change. I appreciate your honesty.

You look nice in your pictures, Rachel . - Dwight

Thank you, this is really helpful.

Have you heard about the Great Exodus- unschooling? Kids aren’t getting the needed life skills.

If you ever feel you need to leave public school, you should try private! Especially university Model. Those kids are great and the administrators give a lot more freedom.

TRUTH!

This was so helpful, glad I watched it.

Please don't give up on the unreachable. We going thru a lot

Different years have different characteristics. Some like repetitive work, some like to be part of a family, some like to be challenged. One year that I worked with liked super hard questions and would chew on them quietly like a dog on a bone.

Now I'm teaching K-5th, I actually have a door I can close. When I taught at the community college, I had a cubicle and anyone could wander by and distract me.

It’s sad that this is an unpopular opinion though. Most people at their jobs are not trying to go above and beyond their payroll or when they clock out of their shift. Thank you for sharing! I appreciate your wisdom! It really helps me keep things in perspective as I finish my first year of teaching second grade after not teaching for awhile.

Thank you for sharing this. This was awesome. I saw myself in so many of the things that you talked about. It was very helpful, very, very helpful.

I agree with the small group and the way you pull them, I do the same. I just don't feel like there's a need for a structured every day, small group in fourth grade, and that's just my opinion.Thanks for sharing.I really appreciate it.

📝

You hit ALL the nails!❤🎉Say that again...some kids you cannot reach. I said a while ago, if one is getting it, I am doing my job. It will make you question yourself. I have them for 180 days parents have them the rest of their lives. 🫣

Thank you for being honest and saying what we as teachers think and feel. Alicia from CT

Rachel, this video is so helpful! I am a veteran (32 years) teacher, who has also been a mentor for new teachers. I got so much out of your words, and I would definitely share them with new teachers. Our expectations for ourselves, our students and our classroom experiences are the most important factors. Thank you for a dose of reality AND comfort!

8:00 That’s amazing. Test scores are not everything. Keep allowing them to be kids.

So, you get ALL your plans for a week done during your 45 minute planning on Tuesday? HOW?! And what counts as “planning”?

I have the second hardest group I’ve ever had this year. The difference is that this group was intentionally put together this way by people who should have known better. I was also given a schedule with no time to build community. The last time I had a hard class, I left my school. This time, I’m working on leaving the regular classroom for a resource position. I can’t sacrifice my life anymore and the stress is affecting my health.

Planning ahead? That’s hilarious! They changed our math AND language arts curriculum this year.

I can’t teach math in small groups because we have just under an hour and I have 28 students. This year I can rarely get anything done when the kids are working because I have so many kids who don’t stay on task and/or won’t stop talking. Also, I have kids that are constantly at my desk for the tiniest thing. This group has the shortest attention span and the least focus. Every day is exhausting and frustrating, and I have been teaching in public school for 25 years.

I’ve been teaching 23 years and everything you said is spot on. Thank you for your honesty.

Thank you so much for posting this. I am a first year teacher and needed to hear these things. I teach 5th grade Science, which got a new curriculum this year. I try to plan ahead, but I'm still developing strategies to do that while trying to keep work-life balance. When did you feel you got good at planning ahead?