Teacher's Facebook groups

[emochild]

Why are they so active?

I've had to turn off notifications from all the eager beavers posting pictures of their beautifully set up classrooms and being competitive about how many days they have spent in school since the start of the holidays

I can't even get in my room until the 30th as the builders are in school and the constant posts are making me feel guilty and woefully underprepared

Why can't these people turn off???

I steer away from teacher groups for all these reasons! It also depresses me that all these people are working in the holiday.

I'm going in on September 1st to put all the things back on the walls that I had to take off for the 'deep clean', and back my boards. That's it.

Although I'm in my previous classroom and keep it pretty obsessively organised through the year anyway. Also I made the kids rearrange the tables how I want them for next year on the last day!

I've been going in but I changed rooms.

Based on what I see on Pinterest, the need year new look thing seems to be quite American.
I see classrooms with set themes so all new coloured boxes and new backing by theme. New draw covers, labels etc. But the always say elementary and kindergarten so maybe the entire being your room is more of a thing over there.

That and the fact that that most of us have done a nice enough job of making our rooms good but have no desire to waste our holiday on it. Obviously us sensible ones won't be posting to these groups so the sample gets warped.

There's a massive difference between primary and secondary settings. When I was I secondary, I backed my boards, cleared out old paperwork, went in for exam results and that was it.

In primary, I need to design a book corner ( and weed out knackered books and replace them), theme it and wash all cushion covers. I need to design 5 different boards ready to inspire and go. I need an early finishers section ready from day one and a continuous provision area. I need a calm down sensory corner and a behaviour chart which is bigger than me. I need to label coat page, drawers and book bags. I need to source and refill my yearly art and dt supplies and make an evidence file for each child. I need to go in after the deep clean and arrange the room taking into account the bloody book corner, the calm down fucking corner and pissing thinking chair and then put up twenty billion number displays because ive been told to and named carpet spots because ive been told to. I need to have a reading book ready to go home on day one, so the parents can all complain if I don't.

I can't do any of this on the first few days because I'm sharing a TA with another class.

I'm kind of aghast at it all. I went in for two days, struggled with the book corner and almost blew up the laminator, then i thought fuck it and left it all. I'll go in the last week and try to do it.

And I haven't even thought about the planning.

It is mind boggling, some of the things people on the FB groups do. While yes, the hanging decorations/3D displays are beautiful, it features absolutely no children's work and takes the teacher hours to put up - who does it really benefit?

The day before school starts I'll go in, whack up some backing paper and borders and some headings on things. I don't get the point of putting up everything before they arrive. Better to add as you go, ime - they actually notice what is up then!

I do have to admit I love the look of those toolboxes though

Some classrooms don't seem to have a spare centimetre of space that isn't covered with laminated inspirational shit quotes, pupils' work, instructions on how to do everything etc etc.

Thankfully when we had an LA audit we were told that washing lines across the classroom were a big no-no. I am so relieved that I will no longer have to duck under these bloody silly things so that I don't poke my eye out

I quite like a washing line but only if it's relevant to the topic and displays the children's work

I'm a keen minimalist in the classroom. Which is quite handy really. :o

Not on any teacher fb groups but did once suggest an interview lesson to someone i knew only slightly. She confessed herself wowed, used it😀 And promptly deleted me...
I usually go in for the two results days only ( our school is closed to teaching staff much of the holidays) but acutally looking like I won't make either of thise for various reasons.

I used to be in a few of those groups then realised how thoroughly demoralising they actually were. Twinkl ones are the worst for the identikit latest craze. It's nice for terrified NQTs to have somewhere to go for ideas, but the competitive attitude to displays just get wearing.

The book corners!?!?!? i haven't the patience or the energy nor the money to design and create an elaborate reading corner to entice readers. In reality, it entices them to sit there and muck about!

I was on a few FB teaching groups and left because I was fed up of the constant posts about interviews and observations and 'teachers' not having a clue about how to bloody teach! They were less interested about the content and needs of the children and more interested in making their lesson look 'beautiful'.

I am going in during the last week. Building works and 'having a life' prevents me from going in sooner. Taking actual time off to be with my two minis (aged 5 and 2). But even then it is simply to put the class back together as we have deep cleans and we have no time on the training days plus a new teacher to our year group and we need time to sit down and plan!

Well I am with you , . I 've just seen a post where someone has all their teabags and chocolates bagged up for the parents on the first day and are also posting out jitter glitter and a poem for night before school nerves! Enough !

See, I'm in an upper ks2 one and it's quite good. What's driving me mad is the rather large egos of some teachers in twitter... a few who a definitely believing their own hype!

If a teacher can't plan an interview lesson, what are they going to do if they get the job?

I've heard of teabags, but jitter glitter? Really? And is all this money they are spending come out of their own pockets?

I've seen ready confetti too

Some people have too much time on their hands

I was looking at pictures of Russian primary school classrooms the other day. How lovely and minimalist does that look?

That Russian classroom looks lovely, very calm and peaceful. That is a space designed to concentrate and learn in.

I am holding my tongue re groups, themes, danglies, sparkles, window displays

Which would you rather spend your day in?

Look at that little girl's bow/headpiece. JoJo eat your heart out!

Our head teacher is a fan of calm spaces. I'm as minimalist as I can be. Probably too much!

Agree, OP. I think MN is nice because we can ask genuine questions / post reflections that we've had over the holiday but we don't get notifications so can choose to ignore it and no one is posting thousands of photos of their entire extended family and a street's worth of neighbours being coerced into spending a week building a book corner.

Am also baffled by the Facebook teachers who have no idea where to buy anything, ever. "Where can you get those pads of the sticky yellow squares?" Maybe they are the kind of teachers who genuinely listen to and think about students' questions rather than just parroting sarcasm.

The Russian classroom with the children looks glorious.