I'm a Secondary School Teacher. Not sure if anyone would want to AMA?!

[MissTeacher]

I'm not sure if anyone would want to really?! I enjoy reading the AMA threads so wondered if my profession would raise any questions?

I can teach English and History but currently only teach History and I'm also a Head of Year (10).

I’m considering doing a pgce in 2019. I’d be teaching English too - so my question is would you recommend it? Is it as bad as it’s painted?

How the fuck do you do it? Do you mainline drugs and alcohol at the weekend and holidays?
Thank you. Apart from when you discipline one of my teens who are obviously ALWAYS angels and never engage in low level disruption of any sort .

How would you fix the educational system? I hear many complaints, but few people seem to know the solutions.

Would you support a suggestion by parents to introduce a mobile free school day? I.e phones can be used to go to school but locked away till the end of the day.
Our secondary has real problems with kids on them and uploading things during the school day and breaching some kids data protection

Thank you for the thread.

Have you (been able to face) watching the BBC School documentary? Is that really what it's like?

I’m also considering a move into teaching. Am I crazy?

How long have you taught? Do you sometimes think about previous students and wonder what happened to them?

@ChristmasFlea I think it’s worth it but there has to be something wrong with you too I woke up in the night for a drink then started thinking about one of my A Level classes and now I can’t get back to sleep. In my opinion you have to be prepared to care an awful lot. I think the teachers who don’t care probably sleep very well but hate their job!

@YouCanCallMeJodieWho I drink an awful lot of coffee and smoke too many cigs When I first started teaching I found it quite intimidating tbh. I knew kids would talk about me and be mean! My strategy was to remember the teachers I liked the most were actually the strict/tough ones so I decided to be strict/tough and as time has passed I think I’ve accidentally actually become quite tough when in school!

@LeafyHouse I have no idea! I wish I did.

@NoLogicInThis Absolutely! In my school children must lock their mobiles on their lockers along with their ‘outdoor coats’. The policy was only introduced a year ago and it’s been great. If someone is found with a mobile on them it’s confiscated until the end of the day.

@PileOfLaundry You’re welcome! I haven’t watched it, I might have to just to compare.

@ThereWillBeAdequateFood Yes, of course you are! One of us, one of us

@DRE56322 I’ve been teaching almost 11 years. I do think about previous students and love bumping into them to see what they’re up to. The older ones who are now in their 20s often try to add me on Facebook, I take it as a compliment

Must try and sleep!!

Who do you hate the most? The students or the parents?

@WereYouHareWhenIWasFox Oh definitely the parents

Before I change back to my normal username I just wanted to say to anyone who's looking and thinking about teaching, I absolutely love my job and thoroughly recommend it.

To the snobs who think teaching is a last resort- piss off the children are better off without you. I love that I can have a direct impact on young people and even after they've left they remember me. Not many other professions can offer that.

I would like to say a heartfelt Thankyou op
Yours is a thankless task and I know I couldn’t do it I know a few teachers primary and secondary and the work and dedication is outstanding

Massive Thankyou

Quick question. Why does no-one seem to teach modern history. Had to explain to dd 11 the Cuban missile crisis, fall of the Berlin wall and the whole cold war thing. Yet she is incredibly well informed about Normans.?

If there a bully but their parents think their ickle angel can do no wrong, is there anything you can do?

Do your ever forgive "THAT" parent?

Sadly I had to turn into "THAT" parent for 3 years until someone finally listened and now Dd year 11 has just been diagnosed with serious learning disability and in process of getting EHCP, it was definitely a fight worth having but I hated even the receptionist knowing my voice the second they picked up the phone.

Honestly I'm a nice person but Dd was seriously let down by the education system, she has done fantastic teachers and they are now doing everything they possibly can but I wonder if they all still hate me

@Heatherjayne1972 thank you very much!

@Frogletmamma we try to brush over everything in Y7 and Y8 and to some extent Y9. We don’t get the chance to into anything in detail that way and I’m not convinced it’s the best approach but when it comes to Y10/11 we tend to pick the curriculum most kids seem to do better in, for us we’ve had more success with Romans than WW2. We used to do alternate years but we found most students don’t seem to do that well with modern.

@AdoraBell if their parents won’t have it then I try my best to deal with it myself. I’m fortunate I have a ‘strict’ reputation so children don’t like being summoned by me. If I really know a child is a bully then I will speak with the child myself and dish out my own punishment. If a parent doesn’t like it then tough!

@datingloon it completely depends on the reason. If a parent is giving me a hard time but I can see it’s out of worry and frustration then I absolutely don’t hate them! If it comes from a place of entitlement, I don’t hate them but I do feel like pointing out that whilst their child may be the most important person in the world to them, I have 259 other children to consider and I can’t spend all day everyday dealing with one child. Hope that makes sense!