1. Put up tenets of other ideologies right next to it, ex. Ten Planks of the Communist Manifesto, Ten Point Program of the Black Panthers 
2. Print out large excerpts from an article discussing the legality of it, and put it around the poster of the Ten Commandments
3. Write: "Examples of the government not separating church and state" in big letters, with a giant arrow pointing to the Ten Commandments
4. The law says "include only the text of the Ten Commandments" but one could argue that pictures are acceptable, as it does not specifically state that pictures are prohibited. So you could find a picture of, oh I don't know, two roommates holding hands or something 
5. Write the letters in rainbow colors 
6. Put a rainbow background behind the text
7. Explain the significance of the law in a way your students will understand. Then ask students to write about their opinion on the law, and hang up their opinions around the commandments. This could show multiple perspectives and is a good practice in critical thinking.

edit:

Some of these suggestions are merely meant to emphasize the ridiculousness of the law and are not things I would actually do.

But I think it is important to draw attention to the law. I do not think it should go unnoticed.

I don't live in Texas and just found about this law yesterday.

However, I used to teach in Texas and if I still did I would create an open discussion with students about it.

I would use it as an example of the powers state governments have, and provide arguments for and against the law. I would also encourage students to examine the law within a broader historical context of the separation of church and state, and of the role politics plays in education.

Kids should learn about what is going on in the world around them.

Marking it as humor because it’s absurd.

I teach at a private Christian school. I teach Bible, and the Bible teachers are typically expected to be “faith leaders” as well as having ethics be taught by our department.
I recently caught a staff member breaking the schools (very weak) AI policy for a devotion&prayer to students. I reported this person in accordance with the staff handbook and ended up having a meeting with the 3rd in command at the school who heavily favors this person and has previously attempted to get rid of me. It went super well and they even texted my principal to commend me and say the same. At this meeting I was told I’d be looped in on follow up but I never was (Worth noting that this exact devotion was given to students again 1.5 weeks later).

Well at the end of last week my department needed to refresh a bulletin board and I (half joking) suggested we just put “AI IS BAD FOR KIDS” and “suggested readings” on the board. One of the ethics teachers has been reading the pope’s spring encyclical with their class and said “hell yeah, I’m in.” A third teacher ended up putting it up, and the 4th in the department knew about it but wasn’t involved. The aim was at all the ai “art” in the hallways and not about my previous meeting, though it was in my head. We were about to include the MIT study as well.

Today we all got in email from the head of the school that it was removed and offering us a meeting to “discuss concerns.” I was the first (and so far only) to respond to the email and say I’d meet, so was told that a) we will meet next week and b) because of my previous meeting this seemed “deliberate and disrespectful and will not be tolerated.” My whole department now plans to attend the meeting to say it was a group effort and not just me, but I know I’ll get heat (I’m a known troublemaker).

I’m sure my principal will be pissed tomorrow upon return from vacation.

Has anyone in a Washington State school district who collected PFML opted not to return to work after maternity leave? If so, did you face any financial or legal repercussions? Seeking tips/advice.

Are there any teachers who are also veterans in here? I’ve been contemplating a career change and getting into teaching, my state has a teacher/veteran program but I feel like I’d be missing out on a ton of good tools by skipping student teaching. I was just curious if there’s any vets that found the transition easy or difficult, what you were able to bring to the table, what worked or didn’t work for you when you first started, etc. thank you got any info or just life lessons you can provide.

As I sit in a lockdown drill with my elementary school kids and I hear someone rattling the door handle to our classroom I am reminded of just how dumb we are for a nation who thinks we are the best.

We’ve failed this generation of kids 🤦‍♂️

A sad dad and 5th grade teacher

Edit: lockdown drill

OBVIOUSLY not an example of a good teacher - quite the opposite.
But - after motivating another one of my un-inspired students to put away their phones and get on track, for the umpteenth time - I can't help but wonder how Fletcher might handle things?

"Why do you suppose I just hurled a chair at your head Neyman?"

Have a great day everyone!

Does anyone know the class size limit in NJ?

This year classes a much bigger than ever and I keep getting new students. They end up in my special ed-co taught class that already has 25 (soon 26). I get they may be doing great in a smaller setting and middle school is a time to try but I feel this class period has become a dumping ground.

The answer I got was the other section has 26...well no I have 26. Its getting frustrating as for the past 4 weeks I get a new student. My one class is 27, 2 are 25, this one will be 26 and my smallest is 23.

I think it is an axiom of students that they think teachers are stupid. Today I had to talk to a student for the annotations they made on their work. I was a tiny bit suspicious because

• It was written at a college/professional level. I teach high school.
• The student has never written anything comparable to the style of writing
• Everything else they wrote had multiple misspellings - this spelling was flawless
• I pulled out 3 vocabulary words we had never used in class because they are college level - but at that level these are basic words. If you are using them then you easily know what they mean. The student's definition of the words was not even remotely close to the real definition. Like if you were teaching Art History and the student explained that "restoration" meant traveling to another country.

I do give the student credit, when I said I know he didn't write it and he needed to write in his own words, they didn't argue, "No! I really did write it."

How do you respond when a student clearly copy and pasted from the internet/AI?

The title is EXACTLY what you're expecting.

Have a student who seems to think that life is a joke without even realizing he's making himself a slow building punchline. This kid has flat out BRAGGED about going to Juvie 5 times and finding it funny how "yeah haha they got tired of me and let me go!" (he isn't even 16 yet btw)

A few of the common issues we have with him:

• Making sexual sounds/comments in classes and public areas around other students. A BONUS for this being how he talks about female students and teachers teeter tottering between "damn she a bad taaaang~" and "Bruh all women be the same dawg..."

• Caught him writing a slur on one of the whiteboards and erasing it right as I was calling him out on it. Same thing with his music. You can listen to whatever you want off school campus but I should not be seeing multiple slurs and descriptions of intercourse on your school purchased laptop. (Don't know if he found some kind of way around the security we have on them or if he just flat out doesn't care.)

• Destruction of a bathroom (You can guess how bad it was.)

• Being an obvious bad influence on other students and getting normally great kids into trouble.

• Unacceptable dress. His pants are always falling off to where staff and students can see his underwear. He HAS a belt and just refuses to tighten it, even when teachers have LITERALLY made him stand in front of them while they pull them up and adjust them they'll be sagging nearly off of his hips again by the next class.

• When getting punishment (Typically confined to the office and taken off of any reward or fun events for the rest of the school) laughing at the situation or sleeping through it seeming unphased no matter how many times it happens or what gets taken away.

Myself and almost EVERY other teacher has reported, documented and giving complaints to our principal but it always comes back to "he's had a rough home life, he's doing SO much better than last year, where ELSE is he gonna go?" essentially telling us all 'feel bad for him and let it go.' I DO feel bad.

I recognize that the attitude of someone who doesn't care often comes from a place of either already thinking you have nothing left to lose or believing you have nothing you could potentially gain from your efforts. (Certainly had a moment or two like that with depression growing up before I got a diagnosis.)

You have my prayers and compassion for whatever you have gone through or are going through. If you've had a rough life than you have my empathy but NOT my pass.

What makes it even more painful is that I've had genuinely GOOD moments with this kid! He's the FURTHEST ahead in my online class with the best grade showing just how smart he truly is and how when applying himself he can accomplish genuinely PHENOMENAL work and achievements!

He's also extremely athletic and can run circles around almost every kid on the field in my PE class.

In my STEAM class (Science, technology, engineering, art, math) We're disassembling and rebuilding our own life sized Mario Kart! While in the process of taking it apart, this student would catch any spiders that would come out of the old equipment and be gentle and kind with them, murmuring that they were safe and cradling them until he could place them in a bush outside. The level of compassion was genuinely astounding to me coming from a kid who LAUGHED when another student had to take time off of school due to severe family drama.

So then it just leaves me wondering; what DOES this kid actually care about?

Is there any consequence that will ACTUALLY effect him or make him think about his actions or is this just a 'he'll learn the hard way/realize he isn't as cool as he thinks he is when prison keeps him as an adult' situation?

I know that life just HAS some people like this but aside from it just being hard to watch, I want to GENUINELY know as a teacher that I've done everything I can to guide him on the right path.

I know it's not my job to fix someone either, but it IS my job to lead within the guidelines/slight enabling of my boss.

Thanks for reading!

This is my first year teaching high school- I’ve been teaching middle school English for 8 years- and I’ve never taught Shakespeare before. But Macbeth is on the curriculum for my 10th graders and Romeo and Juliet is on there for my 9th graders. I’m nervous about them not understanding the language, and not being able to connect with a play format on a written page. Does anyone have advice? (My personal opinion is that plays are meant to be watched/experienced, not read, but I’m not in charge of the curriculum).

Today I caught a kid trying to stealthfully build a ginger bread house inside his desk.

Unpopular opinion: most teachers should have a real say in their own professional development, instead of being assigned the same training as everyone else in the building.

A first-year primary teacher and a twenty-year secondary physics teacher don't need the same session. When PD is chosen centrally, it tends to aim at the average teacher, which means it fits almost nobody well. People attend, sign the sheet, and go back to doing what they did before.

What I'd prefer: a school picks a small number of shared priorities, and each teacher chooses how to work on them. That might be a short course, peer observation, coaching, or a small inquiry in their own classroom, with regular check-ins across the term so it doesn't fade.

I know the objections. Some teachers would choose nothing, and schools need consistency. I'd still rather start from choice and add structure than the other way round.

Disclosure: I work in teacher development (COO and co-founder of an education company), so I think about this a lot. Push back if you disagree.

If you could design your own PD for this year, what would it look like?

Last week, I (4th grade teacher) posted this story about how I was able to get my unruly classes to behave by implementing a strict one-warning-then-get-kicked-out-of-class policy and ALWAYS following through. I received nearly universal support from the teachers on here for imposing consequences and order.

However, I was with about a dozen of my colleagues after work, and we began to discuss my discipline policies. Most of my fellow teachers, while polite, clearly disagreed with my approach to classroom management. Among their criticisms were:

- My discipline could be racially inequitable
- Children deserve grace and shouldn’t be removed from class merely for being disruptive
- Being kicked out of class could lower their self-esteem
- There are methods of classroom management that don’t involve punishment, but rather positively reinforce good behavior

In essence, it was the same old BS that has led to the destruction of education in our country. About 8-9 out of the 12 teachers seemed fully bought into their (polite and professional) disapproval of my policies, despite the fact that my classrooms are MUCH more orderly than theirs are. Meanwhile, my admin (bless them!) have been amazing in their support.

Has anyone else encountered teachers who have drank the no-discipline, no-consequences Kool-aid? How did you handle them? Or do I just need to give this time?

To be clear, I have no intention of changing my policies, don’t worry.

My district is considering a switch from our aging Dell laptops to MacBook Neo for teacher laptops. The primary driver is price: We get the Neos at a much lower cost. Admin says they will offer professional learning for those who need it (we'll see).

As an IT guy, I need to know about the nuts and bolts: We have the infrastructure in place, but I worry about the Neo only having 8GB of RAM.

For those of you who have one, is it going okay for you? Not too sluggish? Connects to your board/projector okay?

I'm making it a priority that we seek our teachers input on this as a part of a pilot. Until then, I'm curious to get some anecdotal vibes from Reddit.

Thanks.

I know I’ve made several missteps and now I’m trying to course correct but is it too late ?

I have been friends with another teacher; texting chatting on phone etc.
this friend has said some super unsavory things about admin, I’ve also shared concerns. We chat about how wild the school is and how hard it is (over the phone like on phone calls with each other)

I had an evaluation this week and got completely scorched by my evaluator. I told a few trusted coworkers how I am terrified by this and how crushing it was.
Idk if that seems unsafe or will cause me problems?

I know word gets around fast. I’m worried I said too much.
I am brand new, I am regretting not keeping my mouth shut and keeping my head down.
If I do that now, can I course correct or am I cooked?

Hi! I teach supplementary school on Sunday mornings for first graders. This is my first teaching job. I have 12 students, and a teen assistant who’s really just there as another body in the room.

One student in particular makes classroom management difficult. He pretty much needs constant 1:1 attention, and when he doesn’t get it he acts out, or riles up the other kids. (Last week he drew on the fish tank with a sharpie while I was helping another student.) He has an IEP in his regular classroom, but I don’t think there’s a way to translate that to supplementary school. I’ve asked my administration, and they are aware of his behavioral challenges and are “in conversation” with his parents about how to deal with them, but they have no suggestions for me.

Do you have any ideas for me, either about how to manage this student, how to redirect the other students when he’s taking attention away from the lesson, or how to ask my administration for more support?

Currently working as a student teacher and not getting payed. I am teaching 4 classes, 2 of them are the same with different periods of the day, I work on lesson plans for about 2 hours each day, grade and look at material. I feel like I no longer have a social life, which is fine, cooking is now taking a back seat if its not microwave meal then its fast food. I am constantly working on lesson plans or grade papers, I just got into a flow of doing lecture because I found it the simplest to do then swapping over to work on next class. It works decent, the principle complained to my mentor teacher about doing lecture among other stuff. I'm just tired all the time and not sure how I can keep on living like this. My advisor set up with a teacher help plan and want to help me with lesson planning. My mentor teacher has been helpful but she told me that while she trusts me alone in a classroom, she thinks I am underprepared for being a full time teacher. I feel desperate and sad all the time, I don;t know how to keep living like this.

Is it okay to wear leggings during spirit week? I’m a fourth grade teacher and the school I work at is doing workout gear next week. Some of the teachers dress for spirit days, some don’t. Some wear leggings, some don’t. None of the teachers did on pj day, which makes sense, but I’m scared I’ll show up and no one is in workout gear except me.

I'm at a verry small alternative charter HS. I the head of the math department because I am the math department. One of my students was put in Algebra 1 this year, it was her second time. She had passed it the first time so I checked with the AP, he said it wouldn't be a problem. I teach 4 math classes plus 2 ELD classes, Remedial Math, Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, and Geometry. The student didn't need Remedial Math and had passed the other 3 classes and needed a fourth year of math. The AP said the student would be fine with a second round of Algebra.

Today (two and a half months later) the AP tells me the student can't stay in Algebra and asks if she can take Geometry. It was mid class, so no time for sarcastic remarks, All we have for her is to come to Algebra but be placed in Edginuity's Financial Math.

What do you think about unannounced observations? On one hand the ones that are announced, many teachers put on a dog and pony show which is not a total reflection of what goes on a day to day basis.

How do you feel about both?

I will say this occupation has too many evaluations, many others just have one a year if any.

My breakdown was:
Reading 25/49
Language use & vocab 19/33
WS&L 27/48

For reference I am attempting to begin teaching with the alt licensure route & this was my first time viewing the material/studying.

I already hold a social studies passing exam, that being said I had a gift card and an interview for an English position Tuesday.

PS: English isn't my first language, so please ignore any mistakes

I am extremely frustrated right now. I am currently just a teacher assistant and there is this teacher that keeps saying that "we can't stop them from using it, so let's teach them the best way". Ok, she might have the best of intentions, but does she seriously think teenagers will be this responsible?

Not only she allows it, she encourages them to use it because "it's the future". Today they had to write a text about globalization. "USE AI but just to gather information, then use your own words" How naive you gotta be? You know already what happened next. Not a single student did that. I just watched a kid ask chatgpt then use gemini to simplify the text to the point a topic was 'Benefits (good part)'. That's depressing.

I am so upset because there is nothing I can do. She is the school pedagogical coordinator. They don't even try to think, ever. They just ask AI to think for them. I feel sick and horrified about the future. Me and other teachers spent days explaining why AI is bad for their critical thinking skills and overall unethical. All that work, gone. At first they hesitated and told this teacher what we taught them. It took her 5 minutes to convince them otherwise.

Please, dear God, if You can hear me... Just pop this bubble already.

I'm six months pregnant.

So far this year she:

-has admitted she was not familiar with the text book

-has shown up late and left early multiple times

- has not planned anything

- has told the kids something completely different or told them that they need to ask the teacher

- has no idea what we're doing

- told my intern to leave without asking me.

-talked when I'm teaching

- given the kids every answer

-told me she cannot input grades because she doesn't know how to weight them properly (later sent an email saying that she knows how to do this when I emailed her offering further help)

- had no idea there were strands in the curriculum we needed to cover (but again in email claimed to be super familiar).

- claimed an AI generated assignment I gave her (I didn't even look at it) as her own. It has a ton of errors but at this point I'm not correcting it.

-keeps making passive aggressive comments since I asked her to lead a lesson.

7th grade. The ADHD kid said a butthead thing that triggered a big emotional reaction from an autistic student that triggered the AUDHD kid that triggered another kid that I am so glad the bipolar kid was finally out of her manic phase...

...of which I helped lead each kid to use their tools we helped explore to fix each problem.

I did this with the VP walking by me in the hallway using restorative practices...Somehow, everything ended better than I expected...

I sit down at my desk, tell the kid with autism and a history of big traumas that no, they were NOT in trouble (I had to sit to remove the height differentiation), and the VP walked in while I was handling m THIS conversationand told me the ELL kid with an A in my class thad did the assignment for the day and later told me they did 3 missing assingments was... playing videogames...

Dude...timing...

...

My last day at my job was this past Friday. I’m just curious, how long after you left dod you start to feel “normal” again?

Like I feel a small weight lifted but still feel like I’m constantly rushing and my mind won’t shut off.

I’m going back to subbing as soon as everything transfers over but I feel like I have PTSD honestly!