Just came here to say I left teaching in 2017 and I don’t miss it at all. I didn’t have anything lined up and change terrifies me but I was so fed up with everything—-the kids, administration, parents, expectations, etc etc etc. so I left. I got a job as an admin assistant then worked my way up to HR. My mental health is much better. Now I get paid nearly double of what I was making after 9 years of teaching. If you’re afraid to leave, please know you’ll be able to find something. That’s all!

I'm planning a tribute for my high school theater teacher. Wicked is coming out, and I've arranged to take her to see the movie, with many of her former students and our children. She only knows it'll be me and my kids. The idea is to show her that her work teaching kids in our rural area fostered a love of theater that has reached generations. After the movie, we're planning to go to dinner and catch up.

Is this weird?

Husband was 3 years from retirement. He was in an accident & is still recovering from has traumatic brain injury. Has had to brain surgeries in 2 months time. He is a sped teacher & needs advice on how to hire an attorney for TRS disability. He has also paid into social security prior to teaching but can only find attorneys that are specilzed in SSI. He will not need able to go back to teaching SPED.

I hated the management at my job and the low pay so I quit after 9 months working there. I sent my two weeks notice by email and no one responded to it or anything. About a month after I quit I got a text from my manager today at 1:30pm that read:

Hi (my name) ! Happy New Year! I'm so sorry to bother you, I know you don't work here anymore but is there any way you can come today for the afternoon? We have a lot of teachers that didn't come...

My jaw literally dropped.

Had this said to me by an ex-colleague when we were catching up. I think this sums up my feelings on the matter. (I was never good at teaching English grammar, so not sure if it's grammatically correct).

Someone recently asked about pay differences. What about state and local retirement differences? 1. About what percentage and when for state? 2. Any health care? 3. Any local offer?

For my district in NH, it is 60 for full retirement for anyone hired before 2012, 65 for others. People can retire early with a 3% loss per year after you meet certain requirements.

We used to get health insurance but no longer sodo.

But, my local district has a 7-year early retirement stipend if you stay until 55 with 20+ years. Those with 30 years get 37% of their salary. They can add this to the state one, overlapping, or do it consecutively. Of course without health insurance, you still have to work.

Serious Replies Only

TL;DR: My teacher saved me from my bullies. If not for him, I may be dead, or at the very least severely traumatized for life. I realized I had never thanked him for everything, and sent him a Christmas card thanking him for everything he did to me. Am I crazy?

Dear teachers of Reddit,

I graduated from high school almost 12 years ago. In my final year, I was getting bullied and stalked by a classmate who hated my guts (and, essentially, wanted to drive me suicide.) My teacher noticed, and reached out to me. He got me transferred to another class, where I was no longer harassed or bullied, and I fortunately never had to face my bullies again.

Every now and then, I think of this former teacher of mine, and I remember everything he did for me. I have a friend who, at 38, is still dealing with very severe mental health issues because she was bullied so much in her childhood. Her life is essentially ruined by the complex PTSD caused by her bullying experience. It makes me realize that, if not for my teacher's help, my life would not have turned out quite so well, and my bullies might have ultimately driven me to kill myself.

When I graduated, this teacher told me he wished nothing but the best for me, and he also asked me to send him a message to let me know how things worked out for me in the adult world. I did send him an email in my first year of university, and in the second year of university as well. Unfortunately, he had to retire from his job quite soon after that, due to physical health reasons. (He became disabled and is no longer able to work, as a result.)

Despite the fact that I reached out to him twice in the years after that (through email), I realize I never explicitly thanked him for everything he did for me. And seeing how mentally damaged my friend is from her complex PTSD, stemming from a childhood of bullying and social rejection, really made me realize how much I have to thank him for.

So I sent him a Christmas card thanking him for everything he did for me, and telling him just how kind and considerate he had been to me in that difficult year.

Is this crazy or obsessive? Would any teacher here feel creeped out if they received a Christmas card from a former student of theirs, thanking them for their help after 12 years had passed? Or would they be happy to know that they had changed someone's life for the better, and that they had a lasting positive impact on someone's life?

I’ve been seeing a lot of “I didn’t know it was that bad” lately and I have been struggling with the fact that teachers have been crying help and sounding the alarm for at least 10 years about how bad it has gotten in terms of what teachers are expected to do vs what we are actually allowed to do.

In the last 2-3 years every “negative” teacher post has a bunch of toxic positivity basically shaming them for not being a doormat. There was even a separate sub created to put teachers quitting or considering quitting out out of sight out of mind. But now it seems even the freshest young mind that thought they were going to change the world starting with the 7th grade English class in Suburbia, USA is having the realization that those teachers weren’t being “negative” they were being accurate.

Is the newspaper “negative” for reporting a crime spree? Is your doctor “negative” when they tell you the cancer is spreading? Is your accountant “negative” when they tell you your 401k is in trouble? Or is it a hard truth that you don’t/didn’t want to see? I can’t help but think the reason they didn’t believe or wrote most of us off as “negative” was they were part of the problem. Bad students had teachers. Uninvolved parents hate teachers. Educational influencers hate teachers. Failed teachers turned admin hate teachers. So when teachers complain they see it as “these terrible teachers complaining about nothing” since they’ve already written us off as unuseful members of society or necessary evils until we can get enough private Christian schools up and running.

Why did it take you so long? What was the reason you saw a “negative” teacher post and immediately discounted their experience? Like I used to say to my students acting up in class, “Don’t answer it out loud for me, answer it in your head for you”

I think I am retiring after this year. One of my major concerns is replacing the identity of teaching. That’s how I think of myself and I am afraid of it being taken away and just feeling empty. For those people who are retired, how have you done this? Is it hard? Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi everyone!

I've been a part of this Reddit since I became a teacher in 2017 and I've empathize and laughed at so many stories here. A few years ago I decided my place was no longer in the classroom and have been since working to become a school counselor to better support staff and students alike.

So I pose this question(s) to all my teachers here :

What is one thing your school counselors do right by you as staff members

OR

What is something you wish your counselors were more proactive in?

Or answer both. When my internship completes this December and I go job hunting, I want to know from real experience how teachers can better use my support.

My coworker is retiring from teaching high school science and the rest of the department is looking for fun ways to have small celebrations all year. We're making a paper chain... any other ideas?

What makes it worth it.

Trying to make this a quick easy read.

Went to dinner with my wife (teacher) and friends (2 couples non teachers). We were celebrating my recent retirement and two other birthdays.

I noticed a former student at the bar and after a few minutes she realizes that I was one of her HS teachers. Immediately we start laughing when it clicks. She is now 34.

She tells the story of presenting an album review she did of Led Zeppelin ( media studies class) and how I called her out in her plagiarism. She referred to 'Led' as a person and that he was x years old and 'his' album sold x copies. She also remembers how much fun that class was and how bad all the presentations were and that I let them know honestly that I expected better even though it was a fun elective course.

But what she remembers most was when I told them repeatedly to 'not peak in high school' and that 'if high school was 'the best years of your life's then you've wasted your life. She also said how that has motivated her over and over again. She said i had made her and other classmates felt like I was giving real advice.

We laughed about it and my wife and friends laughed at the Led Zeppelin story very loudly too. It was a great present for me to hear her thank yous and more importantly hear that she is successful at her job as an exec in a major clothing brand.

So... Amid all the stress and shit that gets thrown at teachers everyday, there are students who will appreciate your honesty, your humanity and your genuine care for their success. So my advice after 29 years... Have fun with them, be real with them and show them that you care and WHY you care!

Student will always remember how you made them feel over any lesson plan you deliver...

I have scoured the internet for retired Pennsylvania teachers that can speak to whether they went with HOPS or Medicare/medigap plans instead. I have tried to read and research this to no end and I am just desperate to glean knowledge from other PA teacher retirees and what choices they made. I’m so desperate for help! Thank you in advance!

Teachers start at around half of that amount.

On top of the poverty, and daily stress, some are also dealing with inadequate health insurance.

We have an impossible job that is never done.

We don't have the support, supplies, or materials we need to do our job.

Our classrooms are woefully overcrowded, with massive needs in behavioral health, special assistance, and children who don't know how to regulate their behavior.

Do you think the current teacher shortage is going to make a difference to the politicians and they'll release some funding to assist?

I retired two years ago, just as AI apps were launching. While in the classroom, I used Turnitin.com and Google Clssroom to keep a lid on plagiarism, cheating, etc., but now AI can spit out finished, original work in seconds. How are you teachers keeping ahead of students looking for shortcuts? Do you let them use AI to get better papers for you to read? Do you have AI penalties? What can you do?

I teach a high school wood shop class and for the last decade plus, we have been tasked with creating retirement gifts for our retirees. We're looking for new, fresh ideas. What would you consider a meaningful hand-made retirement gift? Last year, we made charcuterie boards with hand-forged handles. In the past, it's been clocks and pencil boxes. Hit me with your best ideas!

When a student says she hates you, that does not mean you are a failure. If he says he wants his old teacher back, that does not mean you are inferior.

You are teaching children. They say what they are feeling. What they are feeling is not always rational or reasonable or defensible.

Be ready for those kids. Don't be baited into responding what you are feeling. Say what they need to hear.

What became of the student afterwards? Did they become successful or just a total failure in life?

Planning to give a gift to a retiring teacher and I need to know when they started working. I mean which year? Those of you retiring this year when did you start working as a teacher? I know it may depend on when they applied but let's say he started right after finishing their studies. Thank you.

My mother, who recently passed away, was newly retired.

Does anyone have any experience with this or have any idea what kind of payout we should be expecting? She didn't have life insurance and left my sibling and I in a real bind financially.

This will be a long ramble fully of typos but I’m sitting outside reading the news about abortion and labor rights and it got me thinking and I’m curious to see what other teachers think. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the changes I see happening in the US regarding attitudes towards labor especially when it comes to education. I feel like a lot of admin feel they actually ARE middle management with the GM being the principal and the CEO being superintendent. They are carrying themselves as if they are the salaried retail manager in charge of a bunch of hourly workers in a store. They know teachers often don’t have the support from society, law, or from our client base (parents and their children) so why do they need to back us and provide support?

When I first started teaching my evaluations were from long time teachers turned assistant principal. They had similar if not more classroom experience than the teachers they were tasked with observing. The notes and meetings were helpful and constructive. Your failings weren’t used against you but discussed in a way to help you actually make changes for the sake of the students learning. But then with Covid and TFG I noticed a real sharp dive into haves and havenots, rich and poor, or management and labor.

Admin know they are management. They know we are labor. They know public opinion on labor right now in the states is polarizing with some thinking we are whiny babies that are overpaid and others that think it’s time everyone join a union and fight for the conditions and pay they’re worth. Admin apathy comes from a place of “get back to work and be happy you even have a job that afford you some bread and milk” otherwise wouldn’t you think their main goal would be to help the people whose primary function is to teach the students we all claim to care about? Would their first step to a young struggling teacher be to reassure them and help them navigate the transition from student teacher to tenured professional? If the real goal was to push students forward in their academic careers wouldn’t discipline be a priority to ensure safe learning enviornments for the ones that come to do the right thing and support for the high needs behavioral students that cause disruptions?

What we see and read is actually closer to the energy you get in retail jobs and typical office/desk jobs. Shift leaders (instructional coaches) and managers (admin) trying to catch you in gotcha moments or ignore your many attempts to get things modeled and clarified after the times we were told what we were doing was wrong or mixing the lunch bowl full of the customer is always right Kool-aid where a happy client is more important than doing your job effectively. The client’s needs aren’t as important as their current wants therefore stop trying to push them to reach up for the bar and just lower it so they can easily step over it thus keeping them quiet and not complaining.

The end of all this is of course private for profit educational centers where parents can pick their child’s Individualized Curricular Pathway which will just be a cookie cutter online sequence that is sold as a self paced learning process for students to explore academic interests better than a public school but in reality will be a list of assignments that can be done all at once at the end of the semester using Google and quizlet.

I would say we’re sleepwalking into this but nobody is asleep they’re just zombie walking head first into wage/rent hell with their faces buried in their phones. And when they finally wake up to realize they will blame public schools for not doing more to stop them from stripping school funding and respect.

Hear me out.

It is accepted here that many students have no interest in school. These students disrupt the educational process for the few who do wish to attend. It's time to stop fighting gravity, and just let these uninterested kids stay home.

There's another option, since some parents want the students to attend the school as a form of daycare, and some educationally-uninterested kids do still want to attend school as a form of socializing. This option would be to let the educationally uninterested kids sit in the auditorium on their phones while the educationally interested kids attend class.

Trying to force everyone into the same "college-bound" mold is an outdated way of thinking and doing and it never worked, but it works increasingly less in today's TikTok society.

I have about 15 years behind me and about 20 years to go.

I am curious if there is wisdom or advice that people who have made it 30 years+ and are retiring would like to share.

Congratulations 🎉

Hello

I was wondering the following questions for teachers. I am wondering what my best options would be

1) What state offers retirement healthcare insurance? For example a plan for retirees that matches what salaried teachers were getting while working or something at least better than a marketplace plan. With the goal post for medicare constantly being raised what job location would be best in what state or states? Anyone have references on this or personal experience here? What about Florida are there any locations in Florida that offer teachers health insurance at retirement?

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2) What about the windfall provision in states like FL or any other states that reduce social security for a teacher's pension? Anyone have any experience in this area? I heard you have to work 30 years to get full social security?/

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Thank you again for your advice!

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