One of my favorite parts of teaching is the ridiculous excuses that students and parents try to throw at me. Sometimes they are so detailed and specific that I wish they would tell me less or just lie to me altogether. During a normal school year, students try to use excuses to leave early, not …
Jane Morris, Queen of Commiseration
Jane Morris is the pen name of an ex-teacher who would really like to tell you more about herself but is worried awful administrators will come after her for spilling their dirty little secrets. Jane has taught English for over 15 years in a major American city. She received her B.A. in English and Secondary Education from a well-known university and her M.A. in Writing and Literature from an even fancier (and more expensive) university. As a professional queen of commiseration turned published author, Jane’s foremost passion in life is to make people laugh through the tears.
She has written several highly acclaimed books unpacking the reality of teaching and life inside the school system. You can view her full library of works here.
NOTE: This story is from my first year of teaching, which was in 2006. At that time, “furries” was not a concept that was widely known. (I’m not sure that it is now, but believe it or not, I still get some comments that ridicule me for not knowing things like that.) Pansexual was also …
A Difficult Job Gets Even Harder So much about what and how teachers can teach kids is under tight control, including what is on school library shelves and classroom shelves. The curriculum in most school districts is practically scripted, which goes against the reason most people become teachers in the first place. A huge aspect …
Happy Kindergarten Teacher Needs Living Wage “Sally” happily worked for Detroit Public Schools as a kindergarten teacher for many years. Many schools in the district were closed or taken over by a state-appointed Emergency Manager (the same man responsible for the Flint water crisis), and eventually, the entire district was rebranded from DPS (Detroit Public …
I suppose every generation thinks the next one is moving too fast with their sexuality. When I was in middle school in the mid-’90s, we were just getting into making out, and the few kids who did more than that were anomalies (or heroes, to some). Sex was something you experimented with in your later …
I know I complain about students a lot but yeah, there are some good kids. There are wonderful, sensitive, thoughtful, kind kids who give me back a bit of faith in humanity. Unfortunately, in my experience, these kids are way too hard on themselves. While teachers are doing everything they can think of to get …
When someone searches the term “teacher supplies” on Google, there are plenty of items that show up in the results. And for the folks doing this search, are they curious about what a new teacher should have ready to go on the first day of school? Do they wonder how much the average teacher spends …
Back in the good ol’ days of teaching (pretty much any time before the year 2000), parents and teachers were a team, united for kids’ success and against their nonsensical behavior. Parents blaming teachers seemed almost unheard of. If a teacher said a kid misbehaved, the parent usually believed them and did something to correct …
You’re going to get a lot of advice about teaching and most of it will be crap. So if you really want to know how to survive, print out the no-BS teacher advice below and put it in your desk! Refer to it often! New Teacher Advice Welcome to teaching! It’s a crazy, wild ride …
Teaching last year in 2022 was by far the hardest year in my entire teaching career. I’ve had difficult years in the past, but nothing compared to this previous year. It left me exhausted, frustrated, and completely broken down. Teaching is always a tough job, but the last year takes the cake in difficult years. …
Recently I decided to try to transfer to a school that’s closer to where I live. I didn’t prepare much for my first interview because I had over a decade’s worth of experience. The teacher interview questions they asked me were jam-packed with the latest educational jargon, and at times I couldn’t even decipher what …
In May 2022, I posted the terrible story of Kim Burns-Fisher, a middle school English teacher who was viciously attacked by a student, which caused permanent brain damage, amongst other serious injuries. In case you don’t know the whole story, here is a quick summary: Burns-Fisher taught a student who had 14 prior violent incidents …