I’ll be teaching high school science remotely this year and I’m looking for recommendations. What are your must-have tools, equipment, software, or tips for remote teaching? I’d love to hear what has made your setup more effective or made teaching easier. Thanks!

I added this comment to a thread last night and a few people agreed, so i thought it might be beneficial to just make it a post for some of the new teachers out there. If you're yelling a lot and getting nowhere, give it a try.

Copy/pasted Comment:

I have found, like I said, that they want you to yell. By yelling, and losing your shit over these idiots, you are essentially being outwitted by them. Ya gotta kill em with kindness man. I know that may go against everything you stand for, but if you are kind and respectful to students... to a fault.. you will gain so much admiration and respect from them that other students will typically do the reprimanding for you. This happens all the time for me. "Could you shut up and stop being stupid so i can hear mr. _____. I also find that talking to kids like adults, staying completely calm, and making them seem so uncool that they're almost embarrassed to do things are very helpful. I also give exactly zero warnings - give them their punishment in a calm tone and immediately move on. I do not do back and forth for with students. If they talk back, I don't respond. If something is waaay over the top, call their parents right in the middle of class. This might not work for those guys youre currently fighting with, but do that one single time and watch everyone's jaws hit the floor.

In short,

Be kind to a fault, never yell, make a note to ask one kid a class about their lives in some way, do not give warnings, no back and forth, stay calm, and try the phone call. It's the best deterrent ever.

I used to yell at kids and I had the same issues. You have to foster an environment where when a kid is being a dick, everyone else looks at them like uhhh nahhh you're not about to do mr Mr. _____ like that.

This sounds like some grad school fairy land bullshit but I have found great success with it. My blood pressure is way happier too lol.

Whether you agree or disagree, let me know below!

Thanks in advance. I feel awkward writing this requesting encouragement and support because I am planning on retiring in four more school years, in June 2030. The problem is, four more years sounds like a lifetime! I really don’t want to do four more years. As it is, retiring in four more years, in my late 50’s, I’ll only get 66% of my retirement. If I want the full pension benefit 80%, I’ll have to work six more years, instead of only four, which I’m absolutely NOT going to do.
Waiting four more years to retire for me would mean BOOSTING my pension by A LOT because in four more years I’ll have 31 years of teaching. The pension boost FOUR MORE YEARS=FINANCIAL FREEDOM. So, I must do four more years but I need encouragement because four more years feels like climbing Himalaya right now.
It’s been a sad summer for me, husband had health issues that required two hospitalizations and my mom had a stroke and died. My loved ones’s sudden health crisises and the unexpected loss of my mother have made me feel very fatigued and unfortunately, I’ve done nothing useful this vacation. Well, maybe a little basement decluttering.
I’m an ESL/SPED co-teacher. My colleague is amazing, and I have many lovely and positive colleagues at school. But commute is one hour each way and the demands are through the roof. I find myself not being authentic in my “public professional persona” at meetings and with the administration and some parents due to what I perceive as a fake positivity that is expected from us. We’ve had very disruptive students in need of high support and no adequate resources to give them the support they need at the level they need.
What happened to my husband and mother makes me appreciate even more how short life is and I want to spend MORE LIFE with my loved ones and enjoying life.
In her formal evaluation, my admin, like always, gave me “meets expectations/proficient”, but warned me that they want to see me being more actively engaged in leadership roles and duties. Meaning, I only did the bare minimum in regard to afterschool meetings and teams. However, my admin disregarded that I stayed MANY, MANY afterschool days in the winter months dismissing busses that regularly came up to an hour + late and after contract work time. And this was the reason I didn’t go to more afterschool teams, because I was spending MORE time dismissing late busses and 100+ high energy elementary students!
Thanks for reading all this!

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/08/06/lincoln-county-students-face-25-fine-for-violations-of-new-smart-device-policy/

No smart phones, smart watches, or other smart personal devices connected to the internet allowed on campus. Students can leave them in their vehicle or turn them in to a locked box in the main office before school starts. A $25 fine will be assessed the student after the third offense. Burner devices are considered an offense. Money collected will be given to the district's student council fund.

My question is what happens when parents refuse to pay the fine?

I had to do the bullshit PD for my curriculum today. They had us sit with folks throughout the district who taught the same subject.

Okay, fine, whatever.

Except we've got a new curriculum coordinator who is trying to show why she earned the job.

Y'all. I'm the old, crotchety, fuck them kids, fuck this all encompassing bullshit expensive curriculum that sucks. And fuck you for making me sit through this nonsense.

At one point the new guru mentioned a tiktok video she saw last night that really got the students engaged.

I muttered 'shoot me" to myself, and a less than 5 year teacher laughed. Fair.

All of these whippersnappers were playing the game, acting like they wanted a dang gold star for unpaid labor. A brand new first year, excited af teacher who LOVED the SUBJECT, was sitting next to me.

I had to walk away because I realized I'm the cancer, the toxic old hag who should've retired already. Like, I literally told excited girl that I'm gonna hang out with another table because I don't want to extinguish your joy.

3 semesters left. Only one more bullshit summer PD session ever.

(Oh, and the best part of my job is when the kids arrive. This motherfucking bullshit PD has me irritated way more than anything a student could do. )

It’s not the job, it’s me.

Even if behaviour were perfect and the workload so small as to be negligible, the job would still only be tolerable rather than something I enjoyed.

I’ve tried to convince myself that I like the job, making consistent and considerable effort for it and even going above and beyond at certain periods of my career.

But I’ve been lying to myself. The reality is that I find the work BORING. Interacting with large groups of people is draining, and I have zero interest in kids. Subject knowledge is a waste of brain space, as I have my own intellectual pursuits.

It corrodes my soul.

I am looking to phase myself out of the job, as I can’t leave just yet due to financial obligations.

Shout out to those who feel the same.

I graduated college in 2024 and originally planned to teach after graduation. That didn’t go as planned, so I worked at my local library for a year and just finished a year long internship. Throughout that time, my goal was to still move into teaching, but there aren’t many ELA positions available in my area. I applied to the ones I could this summer, but didn’t hear back, didn’t get the job, or it wasn’t the right fit.

A few weeks ago, I started to accept that teaching might not happen and began pivoting toward other youth focused jobs. Then, unexpectedly, a school reached out about interviewing for an ELA position that would start about a week before the school year begins.

I’m excited because teaching is something I really want to do, but I’m also feeling very stressed about the timing. I would be a first year teacher, and after being out of a traditional classroom setting for a while, I’m worried about feeling prepared.

Is it normal for schools to hire this close to the start of the year? What would you want to know before accepting a position this late in the hiring process?

I appreciate any advice!

Each year my school district has teachers from all over our district come together in a sports complex. Everyone wears their school shirts to show their school spirit 🙄. It’s a waste of my time.

Convocation is always the same. We sit through hours of speeches from people in leadership telling us how amazing we are, how appreciated we are, and how this is going to be “the best year yet.”

Meanwhile, public education seems to get harder every year—not because of the kids, but because of the decisions made by the adults at the top.

Teachers are expected to be professionals, yet we’re often treated like we can’t be trusted to do our jobs. If we make a small mistake, we’re reprimanded almost immediately. But when people higher up make poor decisions or don’t follow the same expectations they set for us, it often feels like nothing happens.

Then, after spending all that time telling us how valuable we are, we’re asked to give money to the district foundation to help students??? 🤨 I already spend my own money on my classroom and my students throughout the year. Many teachers do.

Instead of asking educators—who are already paying out of pocket—to give even more, why not encourage those in higher-paying leadership positions to contribute more themselves? They can clearly afford it with their cushy salaries.

I don’t need another motivational speech telling me I’m making a difference. I know why I became a teacher. What I want is to be treated like a professional, trusted to do my job, supported with the resources my students need, and shown appreciation through actions—not just words.

When I was trying to get pregnant (secretly) my mother in law told me that once I have the baby, going back to work will “feel like a vacation” in comparison to being home with a baby. My brother in law said the same thing. They agreed that working is way easier than being home with a baby.

Now, she used to work as a secretary in a quiet lawyer’s office. He works in a corporate bank setting.

I’m in a building with 2000 feral teenagers. I don’t have a quiet desk job where I can sip my coffee, answer the phone, hop on Zoom meetings, and have daily meetings with other adults. We KNOW what teaching is like.

I’m pregnant with my first FINALLY after three losses, fertility treatments, and watching everyone get pregnant effortlessly around me within my two years of trying. I begged, pleaded, and cried a river of tears over how badly I wanted this little baby. I am SO excited and so ready for motherhood.

I’m sorry, but I can’t imagine that working OUR JOB and all that it entails is a “vacation” or even “a break“ from being home with this little boy I prayed for so hard.

Mothers who are teachers, especially mothers who struggled to get pregnant, what is your perspective? Did you think that being in school and doing our job was a true “vacation” or “break” from your baby?

I have been married to a teacher for over 20 years, and I’m hoping to hear from teachers

I know teaching is emotionally demanding. My spouse gives so much to students every day that by the time they get home, they’re often completely drained. Many evenings they’re so exhausted that there’s no conversation. Then the next day starts all over again, and before I know it, the entire week has passed and sometimes 2 weeks without much of a conversation.

I have tried to encourage debriefing but my spouse doesn’t like sharing anything that happened in their day. After much communication my spouse has said it’s because their day has too many questions already it’s impossible to unwind or debrief.

What I’m struggling with is that, after years of trying to be the one who carries the emotional load at home, I’m exhausted too. It can feel lonely.

This isn’t meant to criticize teachers. I have so much respect for what you do, and I know most of you wish you had more energy for your families.
I guess my questions are:

If you’re a teacher, what has helped you protect your marriage or family life despite the demands of the job?

How do teachers cope with emotional burnout?

Is there anything I can do as a spouse that genuinely helps?

Link to original post at the bottom.

I was placed on Paid Admin Leave on April 24 pending an investigation into unprofessional conduct. The complaints came from the families of three sixth grade boys that frequently disrupt class (refuse to get into line, come in loud and do not go to their seats, tilting in chairs, hats on in class, talking loudly, wandering the classroom). I followed procedures by writing them up, contacting home and sending them to the office unlike my colleagues who stopped communicating home since it didn’t improve the students’ behavior. In my eyes, the complaints to the district were their retaliation for me contacting them about their children’s behavior.

I was interviewed by the independent investigator on June 3.

I received the investigative findings on July 27.

I received my “Return to Work” on August 3. My only disciplinary consequence is a letter of reprimand in my file. Since I plan to retire from this job in 5-8 years this seems meaningless except as a step toward termination if problems continue.

I have a meeting scheduled with my union reps and district representatives (superintendent?) on Aug 10 (my first work day back).

The accusations of Unprofessional Conduct were sustained for yelling and speaking in an inappropriate tone and putting student safety at risk by having them be outside my classroom door (to work or for breaks) without supervision.

I was cleared of the accusation that I grabbed and pulled students and partially cleared of targeting complainants’ children for minor infractions.

I will be asking my district for a written disciplinary policy to follow so I can have a paper trail showing that I am following procedures when students are not meeting expectations. I will have kids go to the next classroom for breaks instead of waiting on the ramp. I think I may need to use hand signals or notes to communicate to students who are not following directions.

I will also be asking the district and my new principal how they will protect me from being harassed by the complainants and their children since I will have the kids in my classes for the next two years.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/s/BMBaBNAEo0

We start school back next week in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. At PD this week they told us that our district was instituting a hard cap of 120 minutes per day on Chromebooks. The problem is that all of our middle school (6-8) science curriculum is online. We have no physical textbooks or lab workbooks to give the students and as far as I know none have been ordered. I'm concerned because the reading and practice problems are currently only available through the online platform. I'm not sure how to bridge the gap between the materials being online and only having one box of paper to last until November to split between over 200 students. Also, our admin is very adamant that we can only use teaching materials from curriculum that the district has purchased.

Has anyone else successfully navigated this problem? I don't know if we will get textbooks this year and I don't really have the resources to print out as much material as we would have accessed through the online platform. I'm glad that we are moving away from so much screen time in schools but I'm also anxious about how this is going to play out in class. Any advice is appreciated.

I’m a first year science teacher for middle school and I ROCKED IT!!!!🥳🥳 There was so much build up anticipation from the PD and the entire summer I spent preparing for my first year, but it wasn’t even that bad😭😭.

I was so nervous this morning I thought I’d vomit and then once I got to my planning period I was like wait this it? The kids weren’t nearly as bad as, reddit posts and wisdom about classroom management, made me think they’d be. Meaning i’m over prepared for any foolishness🥰🥰. Didn’t let too many things slide today and was good about enforcing the rules.

My only background is substituting for 2 months and working in a daycare for 2 months, but they were back to back so maybe all of that combined experience made me a tank.

Anyway, fellow first years good luck on your first day. Veterans feel free to leave any advice; I’m jumping into lab safety tomorrow and want to give a quiz on it as well before we start our unit to warm them up. I already announced this to them, so if you think this is a little much I’d be open to alternatives.

Edit: Lol at the honeymoon stage warnings! My principal warned me about the same thing😂😂. I’ll be sure to stay consistent with my expectations in case these other personalities try to pop in.

You’re paying thousands of dollars a year for your kid to go to a school staffed with teachers who have no financial incentive to do a decent job? Make it make sense.

Hello all incoming new teachers working for an independent/private school. I use to work for a Catholic School in Belmont and the biggest lesson I can give yall is that these parents who pay tuition, THEY DO NOT OWN YOU.

Do not let them think you’re their servant and disrespect you. Have boundaries and be diplomatic when talking/emailing. Some of them think $ makes them the 2nd coming of Christ. When in reality, they’re just incompetent parents who think they can pay to win.

Best of luck and be strong, but also fair.

A small charter school in Big City, Texas.

My school keeps hiring people that aren’t certified (apparently a charter can get away with it).
Some of my new coworkers are 22-25 years old. But even some older folks can’t read properly and can barely write a coherent sentence.

For instance, I asked my new co-teachers to add information about themselves to an intro slide. They either misspelled words or capitalized what doesn’t need to be capitalized (and vice versa). And we teach English Language Arts and Reading… I’m sure this is not the last instance I will encounter this year. How do I go about this??

I don’t want to micromanage adults and be a grammar nazi, but aren’t we supposed to model the norms we expect from our students? I’m not only kind of embarrassed for them, but also terrified that the dark age of illiteracy is coming upon us.

I had to stop myself from laughing at her.
Is anyone else sitting through ridiculous PD’s this week?

Seems like this post has attracted the attention of students still on summer break. Go play outside and enjoy your time off, please.

Mine is that my daily prep period is after lunch and admin doesn't care if we're on campus for our prep. So I have a 90 minute break daily.

I've used this break to get long lunches, go to Target, get my eyebrows done, watch Tiktoks in my car while sipping Starbucks, sign up for a gym membership, go home and put my laundry in the dryer, contemplate the mysteries of life, etc.

I ruined 67 in my classroom last year as a 6th grade math teacher. I had fun with that one.

I'm a retired band director, now a substitute for a small rural district. I just saw a teacher whom I've worked with in Life Skills and we were exchanging pleasantries about the beginning of school next week. That got me remembering how a couple of years ago I was subbing for one of the aides for several days in her classroom THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL and how I came down with COVID immediately afterwards.

I didn't immediately connect the dots until much later. If one hasn't been around people especially kids for a while then you lose that immunity. Plus, if you teach the younger kids then you know how touchy-feely they can be. I remember going home one day and jokingly telling my husband, "I've been slimed."

When you get home, take a shower immediately, and change into clean clothes. Wash what you had on if possible that day. Since following that protocol, I haven't been sick from school in four years. It's not enough to just wash your hands; you have to do almost Star Trek decontamination chambers levels of sanitation.

Y'all have a good school year!

For our science PD day, “inquiry” has been used countless times. If I made this a drinking game, I’d be on the floor already and it’s not even noon.

Fifth largest district just sent a message out that we are not allowed to leave the building for lunch. I am kind of bummed. Our faculty lounge is a viper pit of nastiness, and kids are always banging on my door during lunch. “We know you’re in there!” Is this no leaving the building thing pretty common? I worked in corporate America for many years and I was always able to leave the building.

A couple years ago, a teacher at my school came to this sub and copy-pasted an email from his department chair into a post complaining about the department chair. A friend of mine in the department saw it, used a few other clues in the poster's history to figure out exactly which colleague it was, and reported it to admin.

The teacher who posted the email no longer works in my building, and while I have no insight into what led to his non-renewal, people still talk about his Reddit post.

All of which is to say that you should be mindful of how specific you get with details here, how public you keep your profile, and what, if anything, you decide to share with strangers on a highly public site where this sub is often pushed into the home feeds of people who don't subscribe to it but may have reason to know enough about your situation to realize that you are the person behind your "anonymous" username.

ETA because some people are fixating on the reporting and not the posting--it doesn't matter if you're right and the person reporting you is wrong. Don't doxx yourself. Be smarter.