"Kids these days," people say. But teachers deal with them every day and somehow still keep it together.
Well, mostly! Endless grading and (passive-)aggressive parent emails can test the limits of even the most patient.
To highlight what it takes to survive in the modern classroom, we compiled a list of memes created by educators about the highs and lows they experience at work.
When you're a student, you don't always appreciate the person in front of the blackboard — but later, you realize they deserve a medal for their efforts.
This post may include affiliate links.
Funny anecdote: daughter's Geography teacher decided to (unknowingly) take the class to a nudist beach for a field trip. Mistakes were made and regrets were had.
I teach at college. When I first started I had students who were far older than I was. I was silently waiting for the moment one of them was going to say, "Who are you to tell me that?"
"You may very well think that, I couldn't possibly comment"... saved my face more than once
Anyone who thinks teaching is a walk in the park should teach for one full week.
Mostly because it makes all my preparation worthless and I have to do it all over again, but to suit the new (meaningless) rules. And , somewhere, someone with not enough to do is working on the next total change of direction, starting next year. Without warning.
Amelia is hilarious. Discovered Chicken Shop Date on YouTube this year and fell in love with her sense of humor.
I was said chatty child thank you teachers for putting up with me you guys were the only social life I had.
...and as a custodian, especially during Covid years, wiping upper door frames.
I usually just go with : Hey I am glad you made it." The more welcome a kid feels the easier it is to get them to show up
Grading essays and the kid has veered off into some weird tangent and just keeps wandering.
There's a hilarious teacher on social media who makes videos of crazy parent requests. Some of them are truly unbelievable.
My daughter generally does summer school. Last year they ended up paying her $45/hr as NO one wanted it, they started at $30, and increased the offer until she COULDN'T say no. She couldn't this year as she has an outstanding opportunity to get her masters, paid for by the local Tribe.
'My' teachers were gratified during lock down(Covid). They had SO many parents realize it's not all decent pay and benefits. They actually EARN those. Shown lotsa love after that.
I have been stunned over the number of massive arguments online from parents raging about sending in school supplies. But not surprised. I mean the reason we need to ask for supplies is because they refuse to increase taxes to pay for the supplies. But they also want us to provide all the supplies.
It wouldn't be so bad if you didn't know for a fact that your end of year assessment would stress about your difficulty with class control ...
My first school was rather formal, teachers were addressed as "Sir" or "Miss". Kids invented a knight from the olden days, called "Sir Jafta..."
Parents need to know. They tell us EVERYTHING. We know every single fight you had with your SO, every gossip piece you talk about, and every thing you say around your kids. Everything.
I always took this as a complaint that the assignment was too short or too easy. I was always eager to correct my error.
It's work that has to be done. Just lucky it's being done by someone who's motivated and effective ;-)
Thankfully my school has cameras in the classrooms. It's amazing how quickly the student's tragic tale of unhelpful, demanding teachers who cruelly rebuff their desperate attempts to gain education change when their parent can see video evidence of them sitting in class after class playing on the phone and refusing to work.
... and in too many cases, the number was scary . Percentage but still singular 'number' ...
Teacher takes out mark scheme. Teacher marks assignment in front of pupil. In red. Lots of red. Teacher hands assignment back, with a spar sheet of paper for second attempt.
With the email heading " Why didn't you tell me he was failing" I'm sorry ma'am we only post the grades online for you to access any time, call and leave a message, send an email, send progress reports, request you come in for a conference, and sent you 4 letters detailing our concern over your student's grade.... how could you have possibly known he wasn't doing well?
It's OK, they're going to be a manager so they will never actually have to face a crowd of disaffected teenagers on a Friday afternoon
"So sorry, did the middle of my speech interrupt the beginning of yours?
"I'm going to pretend that was all in a language I don't understand "
Teachers use AI to make the assignments, students use AI to do the assignments, and teachers use AI to grade the assignments… Who’s really learning anything?
In a perfect world admin would understand that this is the problem I face, not the problem I create
What a shame that school policy is that nobody is allowed to leave a State test before time is up, so they'll just have to sit there - to avoid interrupting the others, of course ;-)
The ones who don't need to show up always do. And vice versa, of course.
(I'd knock over the tables , too, if someone had just dislocated both my wrists )
... and you know that , when the Principal fails abysmally to solve 'this little problem', it's going to be front and centre of your next professional assessment. Not the Principal's, yours. Because the Principal "had to step in to remedy the situation".
Well, hippos are well known for their ability to spread their excrement far and wide ...
Note - this phrase is always, without exception, used in the second or third person . There is no documented evidence of anyone ever saying (or thinking) "If I don't study, I shall not pass". Study is for nerds, apparently, and full scholarships to top Colleges are for quarterbacks - at least, in the fervently held opinion of the athletic members of the class.
"Imagine my pleasure" / "Words cannot express my feelings" / "I mustn't embarrass you by answering that question fully" / "You arrive like a streak of gold in a darkened cave" (IYKYK)
The fact that you just earned your Doctorate is, of course, totally irrelevant ...
OP missed out "Frantically persisting in the doomed search for something nice to say about so many of the class"
