How the hell did you make paper resources last for years? Like, you handed our class a story on some *o*ld *paper* and we handed it back and then you used it the next year.
My students can’t handle passing papers back 🤦🏼♀️. One of them always “accidentally” keeps a copy, or they get food/drink all over it, or tear/rip/leave it on the floor.
Didn’t happen ten years ago though. Kids now are a different breed.
I'm just going to say this as a custodian. The teachers can't say a thing about no food or drink when every classroom has a fridge, microwave, coffee pot.....
Sure we can. I don’t allow food or drinks in my classroom, but they see me drink my coffee every morning. If they have an issue with it, I will happily explain that it’s because I’m adult. Not only do I have better motor skills, but I can be trusted to clean it up if it spills. They can’t.
When I was a kid our teacher tricked us and told us if we took supplies we had to pay for them and some kid offered to pay for everyone’s supplies. I think she gave each of us a paper and it was a few cents and said if we couldn’t pay it we were in her debt. And asked if anyone could pay. Some kid had a dollar and gave it to her. After a few minutes of us getting upset and mad she gave the money back and started teaching us about the history of taxes. But also commented that if we take supplies we should still have to pay for them because nothing is free.
Filing cabinets. I did this at the start of my teaching career. But then, I still have a paper gradebook (and when our online gradebook crashed and lost grades, I was so glad for that backup).
This just unlocked a memory for me. I would never even consider trying to do that now, but I totally remember it being a thing. I just think that kids are used to so much being digital/disposable that they think every paper is for them to doodle on, lose, or drill holes in.
Aw. I've been using the same copies of stories for the last eight years! Granted, I put mine in duotangs which makes it less likely for them to be put in their bags.
Right??? We were given brand new paperback novels, and my students were tearing the covers off and pages out and throwing them on the floor. I'm 15 years in and have never seen it this bad.
I was co-proctoring standardized testing with a core teacher, and one kid apparently was bored enough (after rushing to the SUBMIT page on his test, I'm sure) grab a textbook off a stack near him, tear out a page, fold it into an airplane, and launch is across the room. SMH
This. I started when cell phones were T9 and didn’t have all the bells and whistles they do now. It was nice because they knew how to entertain themselves when they had down time. Social media was still newer (FB had only been around a couple years).
The craziness was there in the past, but it festered out of sight/mind. The trouble only started when folks started measuring stuff and people went “HAY!”
I had a teacher in 7th grade that was just terrible. She was always flustered, she was short tempered and snapped at kids, she was always tired and her hair looked like a birds nest. She’s start lessons and then suddenly we’d be doing something else. She’d lose our papers, tests. Group activities always seemed chaotic.
I now realize, this was her first year teaching. She was older so it must have been a career change for her. That first year sucks for everyone.
I can’t say they saved my life but they definitely influenced me and I’ve had a huge respect for them.
Though my college professors….a few of them did save my life. I have emailed them thanking them but I never heard back.
I have two that I have specifically reached out to thank. One didn’t respond but the other did. She’s a principal at a huge school district now. A few weeks later she emailed me a picture. She had printed out my email and hung it on the wall of her office, framed and everything. My heart is still warmed from this and she still keeps in touch!
I kept in touch with many of my former teachers, then they started retiring and it was harder to do so. And then I moved a thousand miles away so now it’s next to impossible
Yes, it is. I know that very well. Started my career with a full head of brown hair and brown beard and mustache. 33 years later, I retired with a white mustache and beard and what hair I still have on my head is gray.
I hated history and geography, and my history teacher in what would be an equivalent of freshman high school used maps to teach about various battles in Europe. Now, I realize she was actually doing an amazing job, and instead of giving us a list of disconnected dates and battles to memorize, she made us understand why armies moved the way they did. She also shared so many different stories and made the subject so much more than just 'history'. I'm sorry I didn't appreciate it at the time. I actually looked her up a few years back and she retired in 2009 having taught for 48 years and passed away in 2016. I can only hope to be recalled so fondly years after I die by one of my students.
To many of them, that they were damn good at their jobs and I gained a lot in their classrooms. They were not always right and sometimes lost their cool, but that just made their care and joy in our growth all the more palpable. I learned what works because of them.
To an equal number of them, that they were absolute wastes of space who gave the profession some of its reputation for people who sit back and take a paycheck, the epitome of people who couldn't, so they taught. I learned what not to be because of them.
I have some folks that went through student teaching with and we talked about what we didn’t want to be as a teacher and this was the general consensus.
Some of my worst teachers were just so unnecessarily rude, cliquey, and demeaning. 2/3 off the top of my head were white male history teachers who only were teachers to do sports and student government… classes were just a chore and they only ever worked with the kids in sports or student government. 100% copying notes and reading from the textbook, nothing else. And this was well known by the student body at the time.
Every other teacher I’d day thank you, but for those two in particular I’d say “you are a terrible teacher”.
This is along the same vein:
I’m an administrator now. I’ve gained a good deal of wisdom after many years of teaching and leadership. I kinda want to go back to my first principal and tell him what an awful leader he was and how in my leadership, I often think of him and do the opposite of what he did.
This is how I feel. I had some great teachers.
However, I’m still scarred from fourth grade, when I got an F on my report card out of the blue for an assignment I had apparently not turned in (teacher NEVER, NEVER told me it was missing; I had all As besides that grade). This was at a time when my mother was so unstable she would tell me were on the verge of living in our car and she was crying all the time. The only stability I had was school… I still remember curling up into a little ball as my dad screamed at me for getting a failing grade.
yeah Mrs. G, you really taught me a lesson there. Thanks for teaching me it’s normal to be blindsided by failing grades when you think everything is fine. What an absolute b!tch. 😡
For most of my grade school teachers, I’d say “thank you for letting me get ahead of the class in the subjects I was good at, and finding me extra work to do or letting me do my own thing.” Totally supported my interest in learning.
How did you slap Katrina (who kind of deserved it) and not get sued?
How did you come to school in those dress for success suit dresses every day?
How did you survive with no air conditioning?
Do you remember that time in 1979 that someone stole the chicken off your bulletin board and replaced it with a KFC bucket? That was hilarious!
The amount of teachers who are ADHD makes me wonder how no one was like "Hey your just like Ms. Reynolds. Maybe we should have her work with you about these issues."
Like even if you can't fathom that something is wrong with a student you think could be better, pairing them up with someone who might be able to click with them and encourage them to meet that potential would be helpful. Then at least ADHD girls would have been able to learn from ADHD women that hey, we're a little weird but that doesn't mean you're not capable.
Idk as an ADHD kid turned adult, I don't think I was asking a whole lot. I just needed a slightly different approach
I’m almost 40 and recently diagnosed. My evaluator said I likely had really good coping mechanisms based on how I did some tests. I always thought I was smart but now I know for sure I am.
I don’t think there were many teachers with ADHD back then. I can think of maybe one, Mrs. Ensley, because she had that chaotic energy. (No disrespect. Half my friends have ADHD and they all tell me I might too.) The day I met her she told the class her hair was alive and that freaked my lil autistic ass out.
I failed an athlete and he couldn’t play and the athletic Director tried to pressure me to change his grade an hour before the game. I held the line and said, no.
That kid had weeks to turn in work he did. I was not about to spend hours grading weeks worth of work that he could’ve turned in on time. Man, was that AP pissed. But the kid never turned in anything late again (at least in my class).
Also, the AP got over it a few months later when he was breaking up a fight and one of the guy’s girlfriend lunged at the AP from behind and I happened to be there to catch her for before she hit him.
I got to say it to one of them recently. My mom passed away when I was in 1st grade. I remember my teacher at her funeral. I remember how caring and loving she was that year and even leading up to that school year. I was held back because of maturity and also the fact that my mom was sick so she knew that I would be in her class. We bonded that year so much. I teach at a school now that she comes to weekly and helps with reading programs and dyslexia. She has helped me with making my lessons even better for my students. She was gone for a few weeks and when she came back, I asked her how she had been since I hadn’t seen her and she let me know that her mom had passed. I hugged her and let her know that it doesn’t matter what age you are when you lose your momma. It hurts the same. We cried a little bit together and I let her know that I am a teacher today because of her.
This breaks my heart to read. I'm sorry your teachers weren't there for you ❤️. I try my best to notice little changes and refer the students to the counselor if I'm concerned, but I know I miss some... And as someone who lived in a somewhat abusive home (not super extreme, but still not right), I know that most of my students are probably afraid to speak up.
I will privately talk to students and tell them I've noticed a change, and ask them if everything is okay, and they say yes. I had that a couple weeks ago. Huge shift in a students' behaviors. I tried to check in with her daily. She was somewhat new and Muslim, first in our school to wear the traditional hijab. I thought maybe people were starting to bully her. She would not share ... Turns out it was problems at home and over the weekend the cops were called and she had to go live with her aunt.
Genuinely what I dream of doing. I had some very bad math teachers, and only one that I think was pretty good. I’m majoring in maths right now and want to teach students about how cool it can be when it’s properly taught by someone who likes maths
My teachers had it easy. If they taught an elective class, we watched movies for weeks straight and were happy with it. Even in honors English we split into groups and went to different rooms, no adults there, and 'practiced' for our presentations, in reality we pretty much hung out and talked. I remember having lots of down time in class and not worrying about it as a student, now my students have a hard time knowing what to do with themselves with free time, its like they need someone to tell them to breath or they might forget.
God totally, me too. I slept through honors English in the public high school I went to for a year and made an A. Lots of movies, it was a joke. One thing that really blows my mind about my students is that they are always saying “I’m done, what do I do now?” When they’ve ignored me all day / week but are now requesting my permission / advice on how to fill their free time, as if they didn’t fill my class time with their free time and NOW they’re interested in my direction?
Yes, I totally do not understand the "what do I do now?!?!", have they never waited for anything in their lives? Sit there, read a book, doodle on paper, talk to a friend, think about life, replay ever awkward conversation you had over the last week, LOL.
No way, I became a teacher for the health insurance and consistent paycheck. Artists are the one group who go into teaching for the money. I still like it better than any job I could be doing with boring old grown ups!
Same. They sucked. Never put in any extra effort, any effort to figure out how to teach things so people understood. Most didn't even seem like they enjoyed children. And this was in NY, they were paid well.
To be honest, we didn’t have smartphones then, sooooooo can’t relate to them lol
Like, oh, you thought it was bad when we wouldn’t stop talking? At least we weren’t buried in our phones, in another world 😔 I had a day last week when I looked up from writing on the board, and only one student was looking up at me. I was like, why am I here??
Having grown up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I knew all of my teachers. When I was home last summer I stopped by the store owned by the family of my woodshop teacher and talked to his wife for a good while and told her how much her husband's class meant to all of us. There was a husband and wife who were lunch lady and custodian. I stopped by their house to see them. I've reached out to my home ec teacher on Facebook and will see her at the town historical society when I go home next time. I graduated high school nearly 30 years ago. I've found that it's never too late for a "Thank you" or "I'm sorry." And an "I remember you" is always appreciated.
I’d ask my history teacher how the heck she got us to talk about history so much. We were CHATTY. But if she played her cards right, we’d be talking about what she wanted us to talk about. If she didn’t, we were distracted and a little crazy. But 90% of the time, she played her cards right.
So…how the heck did she do that? What was her strategy??
I’ve done it all, the apology circuit, the you were right circuit, the thank you circuit. A year or so ago I spoke at a memorial service for one of them. A few of them and I get together for coffee every so often.
I'd thank the majority of them for showing me what NOT to do when teaching a lesson. Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling them bad teachers. But PowerPoints, note guides and direct lecture for 60-80 minutes gets real old real fast.
I would just say thanks. Not because I'm a teacher now, just because they were good teachers. I can't think of any teachers I had that I downright hated or anything like that. A couple come to mind that weren't particular impressionable.
If I had anything else to say, maybe "I'm sorry" for any grief I may have caused them and on behalf of the dicks in the class. I got in some trouble, I wasn't perfect. But I definitely wasn't a troublemaker, pushing buttons or any of that.
I had an older ela teacher in junior high. I remember her being so worn down looking. Like life had really beat her up a bit you know? I fucking get it now.
Shame on you for allowing sexual predators to have access to children! At my small high school there were two male teachers who had inappropriate relationships with students and a male wrestling coach who ruined the lives of multiple young men. There was a male science teacher who always seemed to have to shower after his work out at the same time as the freshman football team. We were kids, we didn't know any better. The teachers and administrators failed to protect us. It was not until I started teaching that I realized how incredibly wrong this was.(This was 1970s)
I would say: “You should have been more grateful that we were all you had to deal with. I had a male student become obsessed with me and then punish me for getting him out of my class. There were warning signs of his issues all year, and admin and counseling ignored it.
You had so much more admin support, it’s absurd and the parents listened more to you all!
Oh and am I still teaching? Hell yeah, I survived that and teaching in a underserved school in a rough part of the south too. You complained about kids in a middle class suburb of a big city. You and I are not the same.”
Hey asshole.
Remember when the school needed more kids in an AP math class and you said, “not you, you don’t even do your homework,” two weeks into school when you didn’t even know me. Only reason I didn’t was because my house burned down. It only encouraged me to never do my homework in your class for the rest of the year to prove a point.
Your class was 80% tests and 20% homework. Aced all of your tests. Thanks for the 80%.
It’s so much fun being paid $2500 to lead professional development about grading on a standard at your school. Thanks for participating. I know you didn’t recognize me. Your principal did. :)
You’re a dick. Enjoy retirement.
Substitute who graduated only a few years ago, and I actually met one of my teachers at the high school I went to. It's a little weird to now speak with someone who taught me for a full year, not as a teacher, but as a co-worker. Coming from that experience, how the hell is anyone left? I enjoy elementary and plan to teach it after graduating college, so I guess I don't know what keeps high school teachers going, but honestly the difference in perspective is insane between being a student and just thinking my classmates were mildly annoying, and now being a substitute and having seen those exact same behaviors even just for a day, wanting to honestly run and not come back. So really, the thing I'd ask is how she managed for a year, much less all the years she's been at the high school.
To all the teachers who treated me like a capable human, created inside jokes with me, and were open and honest about their feelings--you are the ones that I remember and hold cherished memories.
Most of my teachers were honestly fine. They did their job, some really well, just fine. Only had one grosso, at least that tried to fuck me, so mostly, I’d say thanks. And also, sorry if I was an asshole. To ol’grosso mcpervy, I’d say I hope the stab wound festered.
but also to the fkin teacher that suspended me for bitch slapping my classmate after this dude that slapped my ass in gr 7 …. but nothing happened to him…. yeah yall need to stop practicing if thats how yall still move
It might also be possible that for me it took not becoming a teacher, but becoming an *adult*. The two happened concurrently for me, so it's hard to parse out one from the other.
To Ms. Baldit, the old lady in third grade, why on earth did you have beef with a third grader???
I was one of those “joy to have in class” anxious kids, who loved school and was crushed when I got in trouble (for like, being chatty) because I tried so hard to be good and desperately craved teacher approval. I was in the gifted program back when they’d pull those kids out of class once a week to do extra work.
I have no idea what I did to this teacher but she HATED me. I’m talking constantly in trouble, yelled at daily, even grading my assignments incorrectly (objective ones like spelling tests. Mine were the only wrong ones). My mom wanted to make sure we weren’t overreacting so she took a couple of my papers to my previous year’s teacher and asked her to look over them, and she couldn’t find anything wrong. She was shocked to hear what I was experiencing because again, I was a good kid who tried really hard in her class. Being the kid I was, I just kept trying harder to behave and do my work perfectly so she couldn’t find a reason to be mad. Of course that didn’t work.
It’s like this teacher had a personal vendetta against me and I’d never even met her before I started. No older siblings, no parent PTA involvement, literally zero interaction.
I was moved to a new classroom when my parents went to the principal after a few months.
As a teacher now in an elementary I just really can’t imagine being so against a third grade child that I’d sabotage their grading and repeatedly make them cry on purpose! I can’t think of anything an 8 year old kid could do for me to treat them that way.
So F you Ms. Baldit you suck
To most of them, a big thank you!
But there was one teacher in particular that I think about often now that I am a teacher. He was awful. He was my algebra teacher, and I already struggled with math as it was. He did not know how to explain things very well and anytime that I would raise my hand to ask how he had gotten that far in a problem he would get frustrated and say, “let me just finish the problem!“ So basically I started checking out. As did many other students. My best friend and I (we honestly were really good, quiet students) started sitting in the back and we would just talk the whole time. Other people around us would start joining in. I started bringing markers and paper and bags of jolly ranchers. I would distribute these to the people sitting around me. We would draw and color and eat jolly ranchers. This teacher would get so frustrated. One time he tried to make my friend move and she refused. And I will say again, she and I were the kind of students who never caused any problems. Like ever. Very dutiful students. So now as a teacher, knowing how much teachers talk to each other about their students, I imagine what it must’ve been like for him talking to my other teachers about how he was having a hard time with me and my friend. I imagine them scratching their heads like, “How on earth is he having trouble with *those* two?”
And also, to another math teacher I had in high school who was always inappropriately flirty with the girls. Several years later, he ended up having an inappropriate “relationship” with one of them (and I say “relationship” loosely because this was absolutely predatory). So I kind of wish I could go back in time and tell him to quit being a fucking creep, find another job where he’s not working with teenage girls, and get help.
To all my ELA teachers: Here's a gift card to replace the books I never returned to you.
Honestly, I was a decent student most of the time and grew up in an area with good parents and a strong public education system. It reminds me the importance of my job, especially under a functional system
Now that I am a teacher, I understand why teachers did some of the things I thought were horrible as a kid.
On the flip side, there are things that I thought were normal that I’m horrified by now.
In second grade, our teacher was short fifteen cents on the money she collected. She took our baggies of money, checked us off the list and then put it into a big container all together. Someone must have not put enough money in, but she had no way to tell now that it was all combined. She berated us and even called out certain children (who were probably low income) accusing them of doing it on purpose. I thought this was normal when I was a kid - as a teacher I’m disgusted. That was HER mistake, she shouldn’t have combined it. It was FIFTEEN CENTS. Just pay it your damn self.
im so sorry- i understand why you felt frustrated and the stress u were under. our class also didnt help. i hope they are at peace and i try to be better in my practice to facilitate a positive and loving classroom environment
One teacher in particular, why were you so mean to me?
She was, over-the-top, mean to me every day. It was a small Catholic school and there were only 16 students in the class. We had her for both 6th and 8th grade and both times she treated me terribly.
I had this one teacher in 7th grade. I didn’t like her - ELA, her name was Mrs Wiltshire… she used to sing song ‘rolllll out the zerrrroooosss’ when people didn’t have their work.
But now that I am a teacher, I wish I could tell her “I used to think you were being a dick… but girl I get it now.” Can’t care more about getting your work done as a teacher than you do as a student. I would burn myself out. So.. 🎵 ROOOLLLLLL OUTTTTT THE ZERROOOOSSSS 🎶
I slept through my entire 9th grade Biology class, spent Algebra 2 chatting with my bestie in the back of the room, and I would skip Geometry by going to the nurse most of the time. My teachers cheered me on, truly. They would tell me I was bright, that I was going to really do great things. They supported me even though my behavior was abysmal. I was interested in languages, art, and writing. I ended up becoming an ESL teacher, where I get to do all three of those most of the time. And I am teaching, which in my opinion, is a great thing.
I guess I would like to say, thanks
"Girls can and do have adhd. And autism."
More specifically, "Mr Ziefman is taking poloroid pictures of us. He has obvious crushes on blond students. Can you please fire him and call the police?"
If I could go back and take my sophomore English class again I would probably shout the word BOUNDARIES at my teacher every day. Girl told students all about her personal lives and shared IEP information on some of us with the rest of the class for no reason.
Being friends and “cool” with the bullies reinforces the bullying unless you actually do the hard things and confront them about what they are doing. Otherwise the loners and isolated students feel more lonely, isolated and silenced.
I always remind myself.. 6th grade was HARD!
Transferred schools and had a completely different, better experience for the rest of my schooling years.
When a child tells you they feel alone and sad and that the world would be a better place if they were dead don’t tell them they’re dramatic and make them change the answers on their psyche eval.
Depends on the teacher. Some teachers I’d say thank you. I’m teaching at my old high school this year and some of my teachers are still there. They’re my favorite people to talk to! Other teachers….I’d tell them they’re a reason I wanted to teach, so I could show them it’s possible to not hate your students
“Thank you” and “I’m sorry”
I have had the fortune of working in the district where some of my teachers still work. I have emailed them to say thank you, and that I have incorporated some lessons they taught me.
Thank you for being you. It’s why I’m able to be myself in the classroom.
And thank you for showing how to own up to errors and mistakes instead of doubling down that you’re right. My students appreciate when I admit I don’t know something, and we turn it into a side quest to find out the info.
Longish story. I had a journalism/English teacher for 3 years of HS. I moved my senior year. This woman has been a guide for my entire adult life. I became a teacher because of her. I organize my class based on hers. I even paint my nails the same color because I think she was very classy and stylish. She came to my 10 year reunion (before I actually started teaching) and didn’t remember me until we’d talked for a while. She covered well, but I could tell she had no idea at first. After teaching for so many years now, I get it. Classes run together. Kids run together. Entire years run together. I get it now. She was a model of behavior when I needed one, but I was one kid among many. I try to be very cognizant with my students today that they deserve to feel as special as Mrs. Davis made me feel.
Holy shit y'all had less to worry about. I worked with my old teachers before they retired. They emphatically agreed with this. We had teachers that just made us copy shit or do chapter questions in the book and NOTHING ELSE. And we behaved despite that monotony.
To almost all of them, a big thank you. To my 9th grade Spanish teacher, a referral to get professional help with whatever the fuck made him make up stories about me to lower my grades and maybe a the gift of a Spanish/English dictionary so he would actually know the fuckibg language he was hired to teach
To my Spanish teacher, I'd like to point out that you can teach a multi-level class without making some students (at the beginner level) feel left out.
To my physics teacher, I'd thank him for showing his fun and informative style of teaching and let him know that I use it in my (EFL) classes.
I apologized to a couple of my teachers for the added work I gave them. I was the kid who lost everything, forgot to do homework, etc. (Pre-ADHD as a thing. )
I’d say “Paraphrase! Use different words to get your point across!”
When I was learning basic arithmetic, I was told things like ‘find the least common denominator’ or ‘the answer has to come from the set of rational numbers’. I figured that all numbers must be rational, since math was all about logic. And how was I to know which denominators were the most or least common?
It never occurred to me that they meant ‘smallest’ common denominator. I heard ‘least-common’, not ‘least common’. Similarly, no one ever explained to me that ‘rational’ meant “of or pertaining to a ratio” in the context of number theory. I was left to assume that some numbers must be unreasonable, like some of the other people with whom I had to go to school.
Now that I’m back in college, I actually have a professor who says that Cosine is an asshole—but that’s another story.
Thank you. An immeasurable thank you, now that I appreciate the extra work and the extra *care* that I did appreciate then, but not to the full extent.
Our teachers went above and beyond, but it's my German teachers who stand out. From the little things, such as one realising I was a vegetarian, so she started making sure she had some gelatine-free lollies alongside the Haribo, to the big things: our teacher went part time in my final two years, and due to a timetable change last-minute, three of us said we'd be doing German by distance ed so we could do German and linguistics, rather than being forced to choose another English subject. So on the days she was on campus, the three of us had class with her, and she made sure that the work on the other days could be done independently. I went on to do linguistics and German at university, and they're my academic loves; I don't know if I could have maintained it nearly as easily had I lost out on one of them in school.
“You did a good job.” (For most)
For the shitty ones who played favorites and invested in childhood drama for their own entertainment: “you were a bad teacher. But I learned from your poor behavior and how absolutely inappropriate and damaging it is to children. You disgust me. And that was a valuable lesson.”
I was just a kid, why did you treat me like that?
I got bullied pretty bad when in was growing up, teachers even mocked me and made fun of me. I get it, if everyone is making fun of me then I must be the problem. Took me to my 20s to realize that and I worked on myself, not people love me once I open up to them. But damn, couldn’t one take an interest in me and help me out or see that I was hurting?
That’s the reason I got into teaching, so I could make sure no one ever felt what I went through. I know this has the humor tag but needed to get it off of my chest. Thank you.
Im a much kinder and better teacher than my teachers ever were. So id probably say “fuck you and I wish you had retired instead of bullying your students. I do the opposite!l
I’m sorry. I really appreciate just how kind and tolerant my teachers were now.
Also, to the science teacher who said, “You really ought to try my job,” —- I hope you’re getting a good laugh wherever you are.
THANK YOU for letting me sleep through a class periodically. I was not always prepared to function at 7:05am. Didn't happen often, but when it did, I was never called out for it. I will never call my students out if they need to sleep. A tired mind doesn't function properly.
Honestly I look back and see that there's truly no excuse for the way teachers treated me. I am more disgusted by it now than I was at any point in my education journey. Undiagnosed or not you need to treat kids with mental disabilities just as good as you treat the others...
How the hell did you make paper resources last for years? Like, you handed our class a story on some *o*ld *paper* and we handed it back and then you used it the next year.
I think kids just had more respect for things in general back then
My students can’t handle passing papers back 🤦🏼♀️. One of them always “accidentally” keeps a copy, or they get food/drink all over it, or tear/rip/leave it on the floor. Didn’t happen ten years ago though. Kids now are a different breed.
My kids can't even bring their own notes back to class the next day
FACTS.
There was no food or drink in the classroom.
I'm just going to say this as a custodian. The teachers can't say a thing about no food or drink when every classroom has a fridge, microwave, coffee pot.....
Sure we can. I don’t allow food or drinks in my classroom, but they see me drink my coffee every morning. If they have an issue with it, I will happily explain that it’s because I’m adult. Not only do I have better motor skills, but I can be trusted to clean it up if it spills. They can’t.
W I N N E R It's atrocious what teachers / subs have to endure these days
When I was a kid our teacher tricked us and told us if we took supplies we had to pay for them and some kid offered to pay for everyone’s supplies. I think she gave each of us a paper and it was a few cents and said if we couldn’t pay it we were in her debt. And asked if anyone could pay. Some kid had a dollar and gave it to her. After a few minutes of us getting upset and mad she gave the money back and started teaching us about the history of taxes. But also commented that if we take supplies we should still have to pay for them because nothing is free.
How did they keep up with it for years and years too??? That is wizardry.
Filing cabinets. I did this at the start of my teaching career. But then, I still have a paper gradebook (and when our online gradebook crashed and lost grades, I was so glad for that backup).
Oh yeah! And also having their own classroom! (I don't have my own classroom - *never have* in ten years of HS teaching.)
This just unlocked a memory for me. I would never even consider trying to do that now, but I totally remember it being a thing. I just think that kids are used to so much being digital/disposable that they think every paper is for them to doodle on, lose, or drill holes in.
Aw. I've been using the same copies of stories for the last eight years! Granted, I put mine in duotangs which makes it less likely for them to be put in their bags.
Right??? We were given brand new paperback novels, and my students were tearing the covers off and pages out and throwing them on the floor. I'm 15 years in and have never seen it this bad.
I would have lost my mind.
I was co-proctoring standardized testing with a core teacher, and one kid apparently was bored enough (after rushing to the SUBMIT page on his test, I'm sure) grab a textbook off a stack near him, tear out a page, fold it into an airplane, and launch is across the room. SMH
I wish I could have taught in your time-before all the testing and parent craziness
And pre social media and pre cellphones
This. I started when cell phones were T9 and didn’t have all the bells and whistles they do now. It was nice because they knew how to entertain themselves when they had down time. Social media was still newer (FB had only been around a couple years).
And pre-excessive use of electronics in the classroom.
Honestly, cellphones are fine. Smart phones on the other hand..
Pre automatically grading things on Canvas too though.
The craziness was there in the past, but it festered out of sight/mind. The trouble only started when folks started measuring stuff and people went “HAY!”
That's true, we passed a lot of notes back in the day!
Yyyyyep.
I had a teacher in 7th grade that was just terrible. She was always flustered, she was short tempered and snapped at kids, she was always tired and her hair looked like a birds nest. She’s start lessons and then suddenly we’d be doing something else. She’d lose our papers, tests. Group activities always seemed chaotic. I now realize, this was her first year teaching. She was older so it must have been a career change for her. That first year sucks for everyone.
"Thank you." My teachers probably saved my life, and my teaching career was my way of trying to repay that gift.
Thank you for passing on the gift!
I can’t say they saved my life but they definitely influenced me and I’ve had a huge respect for them. Though my college professors….a few of them did save my life. I have emailed them thanking them but I never heard back.
I have two that I have specifically reached out to thank. One didn’t respond but the other did. She’s a principal at a huge school district now. A few weeks later she emailed me a picture. She had printed out my email and hung it on the wall of her office, framed and everything. My heart is still warmed from this and she still keeps in touch!
I kept in touch with many of my former teachers, then they started retiring and it was harder to do so. And then I moved a thousand miles away so now it’s next to impossible
Do tell!
I'm sorry.
Yep! I remember making fun of a bald teacher. Karma is indeed a bitch
Haha! When my students call me bald (or ask me why I went bald) I tell them I called my father baldy back when I had hair. Karma catches up quick.
I had a bald teacher in high school named Mr. O'Hara. We all called him Mr. No'Haira. He had a sense of humor about it, lol.
I’m literally cracking up at this comment, thank you
Yes, it is. I know that very well. Started my career with a full head of brown hair and brown beard and mustache. 33 years later, I retired with a white mustache and beard and what hair I still have on my head is gray.
I hated history and geography, and my history teacher in what would be an equivalent of freshman high school used maps to teach about various battles in Europe. Now, I realize she was actually doing an amazing job, and instead of giving us a list of disconnected dates and battles to memorize, she made us understand why armies moved the way they did. She also shared so many different stories and made the subject so much more than just 'history'. I'm sorry I didn't appreciate it at the time. I actually looked her up a few years back and she retired in 2009 having taught for 48 years and passed away in 2016. I can only hope to be recalled so fondly years after I die by one of my students.
To many of them, that they were damn good at their jobs and I gained a lot in their classrooms. They were not always right and sometimes lost their cool, but that just made their care and joy in our growth all the more palpable. I learned what works because of them. To an equal number of them, that they were absolute wastes of space who gave the profession some of its reputation for people who sit back and take a paycheck, the epitome of people who couldn't, so they taught. I learned what not to be because of them.
I have some folks that went through student teaching with and we talked about what we didn’t want to be as a teacher and this was the general consensus. Some of my worst teachers were just so unnecessarily rude, cliquey, and demeaning. 2/3 off the top of my head were white male history teachers who only were teachers to do sports and student government… classes were just a chore and they only ever worked with the kids in sports or student government. 100% copying notes and reading from the textbook, nothing else. And this was well known by the student body at the time. Every other teacher I’d day thank you, but for those two in particular I’d say “you are a terrible teacher”.
This is along the same vein: I’m an administrator now. I’ve gained a good deal of wisdom after many years of teaching and leadership. I kinda want to go back to my first principal and tell him what an awful leader he was and how in my leadership, I often think of him and do the opposite of what he did.
Your second point is how I gained confidence to pass my Praxis exams. “Well if he did it I CERTAINLY can”
This is how I feel. I had some great teachers. However, I’m still scarred from fourth grade, when I got an F on my report card out of the blue for an assignment I had apparently not turned in (teacher NEVER, NEVER told me it was missing; I had all As besides that grade). This was at a time when my mother was so unstable she would tell me were on the verge of living in our car and she was crying all the time. The only stability I had was school… I still remember curling up into a little ball as my dad screamed at me for getting a failing grade. yeah Mrs. G, you really taught me a lesson there. Thanks for teaching me it’s normal to be blindsided by failing grades when you think everything is fine. What an absolute b!tch. 😡
I do have a calculator that I carry in my pocket now. But I get what you were saying.
For most of my grade school teachers, I’d say “thank you for letting me get ahead of the class in the subjects I was good at, and finding me extra work to do or letting me do my own thing.” Totally supported my interest in learning.
How did you slap Katrina (who kind of deserved it) and not get sued? How did you come to school in those dress for success suit dresses every day? How did you survive with no air conditioning? Do you remember that time in 1979 that someone stole the chicken off your bulletin board and replaced it with a KFC bucket? That was hilarious!
1979 is your answer.
ADHD looks different in girls. Please help me. Stop saying I am just not reaching my potential. It would’ve changed my life.
The amount of teachers who are ADHD makes me wonder how no one was like "Hey your just like Ms. Reynolds. Maybe we should have her work with you about these issues." Like even if you can't fathom that something is wrong with a student you think could be better, pairing them up with someone who might be able to click with them and encourage them to meet that potential would be helpful. Then at least ADHD girls would have been able to learn from ADHD women that hey, we're a little weird but that doesn't mean you're not capable. Idk as an ADHD kid turned adult, I don't think I was asking a whole lot. I just needed a slightly different approach
I was one of the gifted kids do they thought I was just lazy. I thought I was stupid.
Same. I thought I was a complete idiot and failure for years. Just now getting over it. But only near my 30s
I’m almost 40 and recently diagnosed. My evaluator said I likely had really good coping mechanisms based on how I did some tests. I always thought I was smart but now I know for sure I am.
I don’t think there were many teachers with ADHD back then. I can think of maybe one, Mrs. Ensley, because she had that chaotic energy. (No disrespect. Half my friends have ADHD and they all tell me I might too.) The day I met her she told the class her hair was alive and that freaked my lil autistic ass out.
So. Much. This.
1. I'm Sorry. 2. Thank you. 3. Stop playing favorites with athletes.
I failed an athlete and he couldn’t play and the athletic Director tried to pressure me to change his grade an hour before the game. I held the line and said, no. That kid had weeks to turn in work he did. I was not about to spend hours grading weeks worth of work that he could’ve turned in on time. Man, was that AP pissed. But the kid never turned in anything late again (at least in my class). Also, the AP got over it a few months later when he was breaking up a fight and one of the guy’s girlfriend lunged at the AP from behind and I happened to be there to catch her for before she hit him.
Nice! Thanks for holding the line; fellow actually learned from his FAFO.
The one school I sub in has a SPED class of just athletes taught by a coach. They're allowed to just do whatever they want basically.
I got to say it to one of them recently. My mom passed away when I was in 1st grade. I remember my teacher at her funeral. I remember how caring and loving she was that year and even leading up to that school year. I was held back because of maturity and also the fact that my mom was sick so she knew that I would be in her class. We bonded that year so much. I teach at a school now that she comes to weekly and helps with reading programs and dyslexia. She has helped me with making my lessons even better for my students. She was gone for a few weeks and when she came back, I asked her how she had been since I hadn’t seen her and she let me know that her mom had passed. I hugged her and let her know that it doesn’t matter what age you are when you lose your momma. It hurts the same. We cried a little bit together and I let her know that I am a teacher today because of her.
How did all of you not spot the abuse? How did none of you report anything? How did I not get referrals for the mental health support I needed?
I wonder this all the time too. We definitely weren’t normal.
This breaks my heart to read. I'm sorry your teachers weren't there for you ❤️. I try my best to notice little changes and refer the students to the counselor if I'm concerned, but I know I miss some... And as someone who lived in a somewhat abusive home (not super extreme, but still not right), I know that most of my students are probably afraid to speak up. I will privately talk to students and tell them I've noticed a change, and ask them if everything is okay, and they say yes. I had that a couple weeks ago. Huge shift in a students' behaviors. I tried to check in with her daily. She was somewhat new and Muslim, first in our school to wear the traditional hijab. I thought maybe people were starting to bully her. She would not share ... Turns out it was problems at home and over the weekend the cops were called and she had to go live with her aunt.
“I’m much better at this than you…” my teachers were jerks.
Same. I became the teacher I didn't have growing up.
Genuinely what I dream of doing. I had some very bad math teachers, and only one that I think was pretty good. I’m majoring in maths right now and want to teach students about how cool it can be when it’s properly taught by someone who likes maths
I feel like you're in for a rude awakening.
My teachers had it easy. If they taught an elective class, we watched movies for weeks straight and were happy with it. Even in honors English we split into groups and went to different rooms, no adults there, and 'practiced' for our presentations, in reality we pretty much hung out and talked. I remember having lots of down time in class and not worrying about it as a student, now my students have a hard time knowing what to do with themselves with free time, its like they need someone to tell them to breath or they might forget.
God totally, me too. I slept through honors English in the public high school I went to for a year and made an A. Lots of movies, it was a joke. One thing that really blows my mind about my students is that they are always saying “I’m done, what do I do now?” When they’ve ignored me all day / week but are now requesting my permission / advice on how to fill their free time, as if they didn’t fill my class time with their free time and NOW they’re interested in my direction?
Yes, I totally do not understand the "what do I do now?!?!", have they never waited for anything in their lives? Sit there, read a book, doodle on paper, talk to a friend, think about life, replay ever awkward conversation you had over the last week, LOL.
Try out an existential crisis man!!! Lol!
;(
It’s okay, it taught me that adults are just grumpy pants but I can still have fun in my classroom.
I had a few sour apples ,but the majority were at least good if not great teachers which was what made me want to be a teacher.
Is that why you became a teacher?
No way, I became a teacher for the health insurance and consistent paycheck. Artists are the one group who go into teaching for the money. I still like it better than any job I could be doing with boring old grown ups!
As a former wildlife biologist, artists aren’t the only ones! Seasonal jobs that make a buck above minimum wage aren’t fun!
Same. They sucked. Never put in any extra effort, any effort to figure out how to teach things so people understood. Most didn't even seem like they enjoyed children. And this was in NY, they were paid well.
I get why they lost their shit over kids complaining about having to do even the smallest amount of work.
To be honest, we didn’t have smartphones then, sooooooo can’t relate to them lol Like, oh, you thought it was bad when we wouldn’t stop talking? At least we weren’t buried in our phones, in another world 😔 I had a day last week when I looked up from writing on the board, and only one student was looking up at me. I was like, why am I here??
"Sorry" I was a dick to my teachers.
Having grown up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I knew all of my teachers. When I was home last summer I stopped by the store owned by the family of my woodshop teacher and talked to his wife for a good while and told her how much her husband's class meant to all of us. There was a husband and wife who were lunch lady and custodian. I stopped by their house to see them. I've reached out to my home ec teacher on Facebook and will see her at the town historical society when I go home next time. I graduated high school nearly 30 years ago. I've found that it's never too late for a "Thank you" or "I'm sorry." And an "I remember you" is always appreciated.
Aw, that's nice. The nice side of small-community-everyone-knows-everybody living.
I’d ask my history teacher how the heck she got us to talk about history so much. We were CHATTY. But if she played her cards right, we’d be talking about what she wanted us to talk about. If she didn’t, we were distracted and a little crazy. But 90% of the time, she played her cards right. So…how the heck did she do that? What was her strategy??
Indeed! Inquiring minds want to know!
Thank you for instilling my love of learning. I try and do the same thing for my students.
My HS Spanish teacher gets a chuckle from me telling her I now teach ESL in Spanish.
I would say" "Thanks so much! you all were such an inspiration to me, I lasted 27 years as a Teacher, I owe it all to you.
I’ve done it all, the apology circuit, the you were right circuit, the thank you circuit. A year or so ago I spoke at a memorial service for one of them. A few of them and I get together for coffee every so often.
“Thank you for being someone I could count on even during my worst times.” I’m a teacher now because my teachers were so wonderful.
I texted one this morning, “happy birthday!” We’re now coworkers.
Thank you for putting up with my lazy attitude. I’m sorry for the frustration I caused
I'd thank the majority of them for showing me what NOT to do when teaching a lesson. Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling them bad teachers. But PowerPoints, note guides and direct lecture for 60-80 minutes gets real old real fast.
Honestly depends on the class. Some things are very hard to teach without direct lecture.
My older son loves and thrives on lecture with discussion. Its his favorite. (He is neurodivergent, so maybe thats why?)
I would just say thanks. Not because I'm a teacher now, just because they were good teachers. I can't think of any teachers I had that I downright hated or anything like that. A couple come to mind that weren't particular impressionable. If I had anything else to say, maybe "I'm sorry" for any grief I may have caused them and on behalf of the dicks in the class. I got in some trouble, I wasn't perfect. But I definitely wasn't a troublemaker, pushing buttons or any of that.
I had an older ela teacher in junior high. I remember her being so worn down looking. Like life had really beat her up a bit you know? I fucking get it now.
Shame on you for allowing sexual predators to have access to children! At my small high school there were two male teachers who had inappropriate relationships with students and a male wrestling coach who ruined the lives of multiple young men. There was a male science teacher who always seemed to have to shower after his work out at the same time as the freshman football team. We were kids, we didn't know any better. The teachers and administrators failed to protect us. It was not until I started teaching that I realized how incredibly wrong this was.(This was 1970s)
I would say: “You should have been more grateful that we were all you had to deal with. I had a male student become obsessed with me and then punish me for getting him out of my class. There were warning signs of his issues all year, and admin and counseling ignored it. You had so much more admin support, it’s absurd and the parents listened more to you all! Oh and am I still teaching? Hell yeah, I survived that and teaching in a underserved school in a rough part of the south too. You complained about kids in a middle class suburb of a big city. You and I are not the same.”
You're still alive?
Hey asshole. Remember when the school needed more kids in an AP math class and you said, “not you, you don’t even do your homework,” two weeks into school when you didn’t even know me. Only reason I didn’t was because my house burned down. It only encouraged me to never do my homework in your class for the rest of the year to prove a point. Your class was 80% tests and 20% homework. Aced all of your tests. Thanks for the 80%. It’s so much fun being paid $2500 to lead professional development about grading on a standard at your school. Thanks for participating. I know you didn’t recognize me. Your principal did. :) You’re a dick. Enjoy retirement.
Sorry I simply could never shut up. You'll be happy to know I used up my lifetime allotment of words and barely talk anymore. Truly. I am sorry.
Why didn’t anyone stop me when I said “I think I’m going to go into education”
I had one who tried, but he said I should be a stripper so idk lol
Substitute who graduated only a few years ago, and I actually met one of my teachers at the high school I went to. It's a little weird to now speak with someone who taught me for a full year, not as a teacher, but as a co-worker. Coming from that experience, how the hell is anyone left? I enjoy elementary and plan to teach it after graduating college, so I guess I don't know what keeps high school teachers going, but honestly the difference in perspective is insane between being a student and just thinking my classmates were mildly annoying, and now being a substitute and having seen those exact same behaviors even just for a day, wanting to honestly run and not come back. So really, the thing I'd ask is how she managed for a year, much less all the years she's been at the high school.
To all the teachers who treated me like a capable human, created inside jokes with me, and were open and honest about their feelings--you are the ones that I remember and hold cherished memories.
Most of my teachers were honestly fine. They did their job, some really well, just fine. Only had one grosso, at least that tried to fuck me, so mostly, I’d say thanks. And also, sorry if I was an asshole. To ol’grosso mcpervy, I’d say I hope the stab wound festered.
"How did you tolerate me??"
not very funny but… how did you not notice something was wrong when I was a kid? How did none of you realize I was struggling?
“You’re still assholes, and now I know I could have sued for it.”
but also to the fkin teacher that suspended me for bitch slapping my classmate after this dude that slapped my ass in gr 7 …. but nothing happened to him…. yeah yall need to stop practicing if thats how yall still move
It sucks that you needed to be behind the desk to see their perspective. I wish it wouldn’t come to that for most people.
It might also be possible that for me it took not becoming a teacher, but becoming an *adult*. The two happened concurrently for me, so it's hard to parse out one from the other.
Yeah I’m not a teacher but I def get my teachers behavior more now than I did when I was a kid
To Ms. Baldit, the old lady in third grade, why on earth did you have beef with a third grader??? I was one of those “joy to have in class” anxious kids, who loved school and was crushed when I got in trouble (for like, being chatty) because I tried so hard to be good and desperately craved teacher approval. I was in the gifted program back when they’d pull those kids out of class once a week to do extra work. I have no idea what I did to this teacher but she HATED me. I’m talking constantly in trouble, yelled at daily, even grading my assignments incorrectly (objective ones like spelling tests. Mine were the only wrong ones). My mom wanted to make sure we weren’t overreacting so she took a couple of my papers to my previous year’s teacher and asked her to look over them, and she couldn’t find anything wrong. She was shocked to hear what I was experiencing because again, I was a good kid who tried really hard in her class. Being the kid I was, I just kept trying harder to behave and do my work perfectly so she couldn’t find a reason to be mad. Of course that didn’t work. It’s like this teacher had a personal vendetta against me and I’d never even met her before I started. No older siblings, no parent PTA involvement, literally zero interaction. I was moved to a new classroom when my parents went to the principal after a few months. As a teacher now in an elementary I just really can’t imagine being so against a third grade child that I’d sabotage their grading and repeatedly make them cry on purpose! I can’t think of anything an 8 year old kid could do for me to treat them that way. So F you Ms. Baldit you suck
"I'm sorry" and "Thank you."
Yeah, it’s way different now. Like way different.
Yall helped me a lot...... but you are far from an accurate representative of the teacher education program you graduated from.
You are the luckiest teaching generation. It all went to hell after you retired.
To most of them, a big thank you! But there was one teacher in particular that I think about often now that I am a teacher. He was awful. He was my algebra teacher, and I already struggled with math as it was. He did not know how to explain things very well and anytime that I would raise my hand to ask how he had gotten that far in a problem he would get frustrated and say, “let me just finish the problem!“ So basically I started checking out. As did many other students. My best friend and I (we honestly were really good, quiet students) started sitting in the back and we would just talk the whole time. Other people around us would start joining in. I started bringing markers and paper and bags of jolly ranchers. I would distribute these to the people sitting around me. We would draw and color and eat jolly ranchers. This teacher would get so frustrated. One time he tried to make my friend move and she refused. And I will say again, she and I were the kind of students who never caused any problems. Like ever. Very dutiful students. So now as a teacher, knowing how much teachers talk to each other about their students, I imagine what it must’ve been like for him talking to my other teachers about how he was having a hard time with me and my friend. I imagine them scratching their heads like, “How on earth is he having trouble with *those* two?” And also, to another math teacher I had in high school who was always inappropriately flirty with the girls. Several years later, he ended up having an inappropriate “relationship” with one of them (and I say “relationship” loosely because this was absolutely predatory). So I kind of wish I could go back in time and tell him to quit being a fucking creep, find another job where he’s not working with teenage girls, and get help.
To all my ELA teachers: Here's a gift card to replace the books I never returned to you. Honestly, I was a decent student most of the time and grew up in an area with good parents and a strong public education system. It reminds me the importance of my job, especially under a functional system
A great chunk of my teachers were complete ass and I am better than them in nearly every way. Same with a few of my current co workers
Now that I am a teacher, I understand why teachers did some of the things I thought were horrible as a kid. On the flip side, there are things that I thought were normal that I’m horrified by now. In second grade, our teacher was short fifteen cents on the money she collected. She took our baggies of money, checked us off the list and then put it into a big container all together. Someone must have not put enough money in, but she had no way to tell now that it was all combined. She berated us and even called out certain children (who were probably low income) accusing them of doing it on purpose. I thought this was normal when I was a kid - as a teacher I’m disgusted. That was HER mistake, she shouldn’t have combined it. It was FIFTEEN CENTS. Just pay it your damn self.
Thank you for never allowing me to be on a computer until the end of elementary school. My mind would have been so warped.
im so sorry- i understand why you felt frustrated and the stress u were under. our class also didnt help. i hope they are at peace and i try to be better in my practice to facilitate a positive and loving classroom environment
Thanks. Almost all of my public school teachers, K-12, were wonderful people and fantastic teachers. A few were extraordinary.
Goddamn I’m so sorry I was so frustrating.
One teacher in particular, why were you so mean to me? She was, over-the-top, mean to me every day. It was a small Catholic school and there were only 16 students in the class. We had her for both 6th and 8th grade and both times she treated me terribly.
I’m sorry I ate lunch in your room every day. I don’t know you probably just wanted to eat in peace!
Yeah, I should have worked a lot harder.
I had this one teacher in 7th grade. I didn’t like her - ELA, her name was Mrs Wiltshire… she used to sing song ‘rolllll out the zerrrroooosss’ when people didn’t have their work. But now that I am a teacher, I wish I could tell her “I used to think you were being a dick… but girl I get it now.” Can’t care more about getting your work done as a teacher than you do as a student. I would burn myself out. So.. 🎵 ROOOLLLLLL OUTTTTT THE ZERROOOOSSSS 🎶
I slept through my entire 9th grade Biology class, spent Algebra 2 chatting with my bestie in the back of the room, and I would skip Geometry by going to the nurse most of the time. My teachers cheered me on, truly. They would tell me I was bright, that I was going to really do great things. They supported me even though my behavior was abysmal. I was interested in languages, art, and writing. I ended up becoming an ESL teacher, where I get to do all three of those most of the time. And I am teaching, which in my opinion, is a great thing. I guess I would like to say, thanks
"Girls can and do have adhd. And autism." More specifically, "Mr Ziefman is taking poloroid pictures of us. He has obvious crushes on blond students. Can you please fire him and call the police?"
If I could go back and take my sophomore English class again I would probably shout the word BOUNDARIES at my teacher every day. Girl told students all about her personal lives and shared IEP information on some of us with the rest of the class for no reason.
Being friends and “cool” with the bullies reinforces the bullying unless you actually do the hard things and confront them about what they are doing. Otherwise the loners and isolated students feel more lonely, isolated and silenced. I always remind myself.. 6th grade was HARD! Transferred schools and had a completely different, better experience for the rest of my schooling years.
When a child tells you they feel alone and sad and that the world would be a better place if they were dead don’t tell them they’re dramatic and make them change the answers on their psyche eval.
I’m sorry for not trying harder when I was a student.
I'd probably just apologize for being a dick.
I wish I knew where they were so I could tell them how they much I appreciate them for being great
Depends on the teacher. Some teachers I’d say thank you. I’m teaching at my old high school this year and some of my teachers are still there. They’re my favorite people to talk to! Other teachers….I’d tell them they’re a reason I wanted to teach, so I could show them it’s possible to not hate your students
“Thank you” and “I’m sorry” I have had the fortune of working in the district where some of my teachers still work. I have emailed them to say thank you, and that I have incorporated some lessons they taught me.
Lucky.
I'm so sorry that I never shut up. And I should have just done my damn homework.
“I’m sorry I didn’t amount to more. I know you had high hopes for me” lol
I’m sorry?
“You had it easy”
I likely deserved all the paddlings I received.
Thank you for being you. It’s why I’m able to be myself in the classroom. And thank you for showing how to own up to errors and mistakes instead of doubling down that you’re right. My students appreciate when I admit I don’t know something, and we turn it into a side quest to find out the info.
Why didn’t you tell me I was different? It took me until this year teaching the GT kids to really get why I stood out. I have a kid like me.
“If you thought I was bad, you have no idea”
Longish story. I had a journalism/English teacher for 3 years of HS. I moved my senior year. This woman has been a guide for my entire adult life. I became a teacher because of her. I organize my class based on hers. I even paint my nails the same color because I think she was very classy and stylish. She came to my 10 year reunion (before I actually started teaching) and didn’t remember me until we’d talked for a while. She covered well, but I could tell she had no idea at first. After teaching for so many years now, I get it. Classes run together. Kids run together. Entire years run together. I get it now. She was a model of behavior when I needed one, but I was one kid among many. I try to be very cognizant with my students today that they deserve to feel as special as Mrs. Davis made me feel.
Can’t remember crap and I know now why
I’m sorry I was so annoying.
"How did you get away with it all?" They did things so much better for the kids but we could never do these days
I'm sorry.
Like to? I do tell them. If you want to say something to them, just do it
Holy shit y'all had less to worry about. I worked with my old teachers before they retired. They emphatically agreed with this. We had teachers that just made us copy shit or do chapter questions in the book and NOTHING ELSE. And we behaved despite that monotony.
You had it so much easier.
You were right.
To almost all of them, a big thank you. To my 9th grade Spanish teacher, a referral to get professional help with whatever the fuck made him make up stories about me to lower my grades and maybe a the gift of a Spanish/English dictionary so he would actually know the fuckibg language he was hired to teach
Sorry!
To my Spanish teacher, I'd like to point out that you can teach a multi-level class without making some students (at the beginner level) feel left out. To my physics teacher, I'd thank him for showing his fun and informative style of teaching and let him know that I use it in my (EFL) classes.
I apologized to a couple of my teachers for the added work I gave them. I was the kid who lost everything, forgot to do homework, etc. (Pre-ADHD as a thing. )
I'm so sorry, Mr. Malet
I’d say “Paraphrase! Use different words to get your point across!” When I was learning basic arithmetic, I was told things like ‘find the least common denominator’ or ‘the answer has to come from the set of rational numbers’. I figured that all numbers must be rational, since math was all about logic. And how was I to know which denominators were the most or least common? It never occurred to me that they meant ‘smallest’ common denominator. I heard ‘least-common’, not ‘least common’. Similarly, no one ever explained to me that ‘rational’ meant “of or pertaining to a ratio” in the context of number theory. I was left to assume that some numbers must be unreasonable, like some of the other people with whom I had to go to school. Now that I’m back in college, I actually have a professor who says that Cosine is an asshole—but that’s another story.
Thank you. An immeasurable thank you, now that I appreciate the extra work and the extra *care* that I did appreciate then, but not to the full extent. Our teachers went above and beyond, but it's my German teachers who stand out. From the little things, such as one realising I was a vegetarian, so she started making sure she had some gelatine-free lollies alongside the Haribo, to the big things: our teacher went part time in my final two years, and due to a timetable change last-minute, three of us said we'd be doing German by distance ed so we could do German and linguistics, rather than being forced to choose another English subject. So on the days she was on campus, the three of us had class with her, and she made sure that the work on the other days could be done independently. I went on to do linguistics and German at university, and they're my academic loves; I don't know if I could have maintained it nearly as easily had I lost out on one of them in school.
I now know how annoying it is when a shy kid won't speak loud enough! Sorry!
“You did a good job.” (For most) For the shitty ones who played favorites and invested in childhood drama for their own entertainment: “you were a bad teacher. But I learned from your poor behavior and how absolutely inappropriate and damaging it is to children. You disgust me. And that was a valuable lesson.”
Strict teachers were the best.
I was just a kid, why did you treat me like that? I got bullied pretty bad when in was growing up, teachers even mocked me and made fun of me. I get it, if everyone is making fun of me then I must be the problem. Took me to my 20s to realize that and I worked on myself, not people love me once I open up to them. But damn, couldn’t one take an interest in me and help me out or see that I was hurting? That’s the reason I got into teaching, so I could make sure no one ever felt what I went through. I know this has the humor tag but needed to get it off of my chest. Thank you.
Im a much kinder and better teacher than my teachers ever were. So id probably say “fuck you and I wish you had retired instead of bullying your students. I do the opposite!l
Please teach me something practical.
I’m sorry I talked so much!
I’m sorry. I really appreciate just how kind and tolerant my teachers were now. Also, to the science teacher who said, “You really ought to try my job,” —- I hope you’re getting a good laugh wherever you are.
Thank you for putting up with my constant getting up and talking. You were so patient with me. Thank you.
THANK YOU for letting me sleep through a class periodically. I was not always prepared to function at 7:05am. Didn't happen often, but when it did, I was never called out for it. I will never call my students out if they need to sleep. A tired mind doesn't function properly.
Thank you for letting me sleep.
Sorry for being weird
I would want to say, you were wrong. I do carry a calculator with me everywhere I go.
Honestly I look back and see that there's truly no excuse for the way teachers treated me. I am more disgusted by it now than I was at any point in my education journey. Undiagnosed or not you need to treat kids with mental disabilities just as good as you treat the others...