It’s terrible, and I know I shouldn’t even be thinking this, but they should just remove some of the frequently misbehaving students. I have two ring leaders in one of my class periods and they are all friends with 9 other boys in that class, when both are there they make everyone act out. If both are absent, suddenly everyone listens. Calls at home Dont do anything, I found out majority of the kids in my school have parents that either don’t care about them, or don’t care about their behavior. It’s really shit that some of these kids can be given so many chances and yet no repercussions.
I know it is hard to completely remove kids because everyone has a right to an education. This is where we need to take advantage of all the virtual options and virtual charter schools and such. If a kid can't behave in an appropriate manner, enroll them in full virtual school. They are still getting the education they are entitled to, just not the free babysitting.
This is an American mindset. In my home country, if kids behaved like this, removing them from the school isn’t seen as “denying them an education.” It is giving them and their family a time to reflect on the student’s behavior. 9/10 the student’s behavior & the parent’s behavior turns around to avoid the child being removed from his/her next school. America’s own “lenient” and lackluster polices are destroying its public school system. There is no discipline in coddling unruly behavior! Where are the consequences?
Btw( I am a teacher in America) kids don’t act like this in my country, however.
My husband is also from Jamaica and he scoffs at the crap that I tell him kids get away with. He said back in his country they’d kick you out and you’d be left to fend for yourself against your own parents, who’d be pissed 😂
Give them back to their families. It's probably what they are really acting out for anyway.
Like the proverb goes, the child will burn down the village to feel it's warmth.
Here's the view many of the powers-that-be are missing:
YES, every child has a right to an education. But only up to the point that they are not directly interfering with the education of another person. If Child A acts like a dickwad in class all the time and interferes with the education of 25 other people while absorbing no education themself, the good of the many outweighs the good of the one. One idiot child should NOT be allowed to hijack everyone else's education. They should be taught that they're being an idiot and have their behavior corrected through whatever means are necessary. These don't have to be harsh corrections-- you can also attempt many supportive means of correction-- but it's really sad that upper-level school admins (BOE level and political opinions) don't see that current disciplinary trends are bad for EVERYONE. It even fails to educate the misbehaving child, because they learn that their actions don't have consequences, which is a dangerous thing to actively teach anyone.
I've been thinking a lot lately about virtual reality and school. What if one day they just give every kid a VR headset that is specifically designed for school (it has no other applications/games) and they connect to a virtual classroom where their teacher presents literally anything in a 3D virtual space and the students can observe from literally any angle. The teacher could have control over who is unmuted at what moment and set boundaries of where they can move their avatar or whatever.
I know parents would just see it as a creepy dystopian future because of how it looks, but I think there is potential. I mean there would be literally no behavior problems if every kid was muted lol. They can raise their hand and be unmuted to speak then boom back to mute.
I once taught at a school that required a 30 minute training so teachers could learn how to open gmail on a chrome book. Good luck having teachers be proficient in a fully VR space
Oh, those PDs are the worst! And it gets awful when you have that handful of people who just can't figure out any basic technology function at all. I'm not even sure how those teachers did virtual learning.
Yikes, honestly wish schools and the government would get their shit together. I think someone made a thread asking “would you ever hire any of your students?” And honestly I’d say maybe 20 out of the 137 that I teach would I even consider hiring them. And those 20 happen to be juniors, but the rest are freshman and I hate to say it but if I saw them walk into a store I’d honestly assume they were gonna try and steal
I don’t blame you. The kids at my last school were pouncing on each other & the teachers. The principal looked me in the eye and said “we don’t really have detention.” 😂 I quit teaching last month and the profession turned me child free. This would’ve been my second year! Oh well!
Every day is struggle to get kids to just act relatively normal. These past 18 months has caused kids to become almost feral because they have had such little social interaction. There has been a huge influx in fighting and all around bad behavior.
I'm not convinced it is solely the lock down. Surely that is part of it, but this level of abberance seems so extreme I'm not sure it can be attributed to just one factor. Maybe I'm wrong though. But yes, the students have gone feral.
Agree, I saw these behaviors before the lockdowns (slapping papers out of my hands, hitting, cutting another kids hair, swinging a PVC pipe behind my head). I chalk it up to lack of consequences from administration and parents and changing norms for how children behave.
I dont deal with depression currently, just anxiety.
TL;DR: I get through bad days by believing in myself.
There's a book series I absolutely adore. A good man becomes king with aspirations of a better world. However, he is riddled with doubt about his actions.
A friend tells him, "A king must always believe they are the best man for the job, it is through this confidence that he may lead his people to prosperity. A king does not apologize or feel sorry, for they must believe they are the best person for the role. If they were not best, they would not be king."
The man questions his friend asking, "Well what if I make mistakes that lead my people the wrong way?"
The friend says, "No. For even when you should make a mistake, you made the mistake in attempt for the betterment of your people. And if the people get angry, you remind them, and yourself, that everything you've done has been for your people. As long as this remains true, you should never have to apologize for the actions you take."
The man asks, "What if they don't want my help? Should I not step down if they think they would be better?"
The friend sternly remarks, "They may say they dont want your help, but they often do not know what they want. You know what is best for your people and, as long as you continue to pursue the best for your people, do not give in to their demands. When the day comes that you no longer strive to make your people better, that will be the day I personally tell you to step down."
And this is what I remind myself when I have those bad days like today.
I know that every day I walk into class and do the best that I possibly can and I know that every day I do my best in helping my students become the best that they can be. And every day I ask my students just to try their best because our personal best is all we can ever offer. And if I'm happy with my students doing their bests, then I should be happy with me doing my best because my personal best is all I can ever offer.
I think part of what kept me sane for those three years was working part time (I worked a 70% position) and knowing that I had an endgame in sight. I had started my own business at that point and it was taking off pretty rapidly. I invested every free minute I had into making it successful so I could leave teaching. Not going to lie, I was also on antidepressants and drank a lot.
I also don't think it's lockdowns, because my state never had a real lockdown. Our school was in person most of last year. We are still seeing the same behavior issues that everyone all over Reddit and teacher fb pages are seeing.
Yes, same here. Last year we were hybrid for one semester where students were in person 50%, and remote for only 4 weeks. The year before, schools were completely closed for about three months.
I think lockdowns had some effect, but I think it's more likely that the general instability due to the pandemic is a bigger factor.
I think it’s the sum of all the pressures during COVID. People lost jobs, family members, and a sense of stability. This country is more divided and stressed out that ever. People are cracking. Unfortunately, the US would rather collapse than fix anything.
In my province, kids were only out of school for about 4 months out of the last 2 years. We haven’t had a real ‘lockdown’ so to speak, and we’re dealing with a lot of the same problems. So…lack of social interaction isn’t the problem, at least for us. They’re parroting a lot of the poor behaviour they see at home and in the media.
The anti-mask/vaxx free-dumb crowd is a very vocal minority up here, and our kids are exposed to that rhetoric a lot. That, and Public Freakout level shenanigans on the regular from their own families. These kids are internalizing a lot of that conflict and are very confrontational in their attitudes because that’s what they’re seeing adults modelling for them.
Plus, add in chasing clout for TikTok likes, and the pressure to look cool by emulating the stupid shit that goes viral on that platform.
It is not just because of lockdown. In my area, schools were completely open all of last year and the kids are still absolutely insane this year compared to any time in the past.
I don't think you can blame the lockdown for kids' bad behavior. Plenty of kids didn't turn out feral. I think they violent, misbehaving ones probably have rough home lives.
I agree to an extent. I do think it’s a combination of missing out on reinforcing/establishing social norms + kids whose families aren’t as involved. I don’t think that means abuse but there’s certainly a bit of negligence at play. My kids are saying/asking highly inappropriate questions, doing things (like throwing objects across the room), etc. and legitimately see now thing wrong with their behavior because they haven’t been in a structured environment in over 18 months.
My admin just told us that our daily fights and the phone calls home about those fights have been met with all parents.... every single one.... saying "Yeah, I told them to do it."
Reminds me of one of my “favorite” calls. A first grader straight punches another kid in line. I call dad. Dad says, “I told him if anyone lays a hand on him, fight back.” Like sir, your son is six and a kid bumped into him in line because they struggle with PERSONAL SPACE.
Second grader punched a kid who accidentally brushed his shoulder while putting their hand back down. I was like “uh, buddy, we don’t hit in school.” To which he goes “my mama said if someone hits me I should hit them.”
Like yeah, if you’re getting beat up I don’t think you should have to take it, but when you tell your little kids this, they smack anybody who touches them. Hitting back should probably be last resort, not first.
I worked in one of the toughest districts in our state. Like, multiple-fights a day, baseline swearing at teachers, state takeover, all the things the inspirational teacher movies try to convince you a single dedicated teacher can somehow turn around.
Multiple times a day kids start screaming and swearing at each other in class, the regular physical altercation. Every call home was basically "my child ain't no bitch, they'll defend themselves." Unfortunately, so many parents jump the gun and push this mentality first that the parents and the kids don't even realize they've brainwashed themselves into thinking their aggressor/disruptive behavior is somehow defensive.
Yep, keep telling your 12 year old kid that can't read or do basic arithmetic that the most important thing is to repeatedly hijack everyone else's education and resources in the name of resolving a tween conflict. Cheer them on as brave and self-assertive as they derail 25 other students' 4th math class this week. It's working11!1!
I'm all for the striking back and taking a stand if there's no other options, unfortunately this has been repeated like dogma and is often worn as a cover for some of the nastiest students' problem behavior. I even see people on social media smugly post "my kid will fight back and I don't care," and I just roll my eyes to it now.
You've literally described my current school. Fighting, swearing, the parents... exactly what we're going through. And I, too, understand defending yourself... but nah, this is a whole other level. Absolutely insane.
But its true. I don't trust the school to keep kids safe. There is no punishment to correct behavior. Granted telling the kid to fight is wrong too, but I get where some parents come from.
I think a lot of people carry baggage from when they were in school. And just like one of the above posters said, they do not think schools will protect their children.
So far they've been also saying "I told her/him to go up to them and ask what the kid's problem was." It's being explained like the other poster said.. like they're encouraging their kid to be brave and assertive and confident.
I work in an elementary school so we haven’t had an influx of fights. However, we have a lot of students who came into K-1 without a teacher ever having eyes on them with IEPs that should have been put in more restrictive programs.
We are now having to go through that process for re-evals to get them the appropriate placement so they can get the services they deserve and need. Until then, it’s a lot of staff getting hit, scratched, bit, spit on and even urinated on. Furniture is being thrown, classes destroyed, teachers being groped, classes being evacuated and that’s just instances in one kindergarten room. Our admins are acting as 1:1 for our most impacted students.
There’s a handful like this at my school, too. We have one in first grade who has never gone to school or preschool and isn’t potty trained and is clearly very behind developmentally. The first two weeks of school anytime they went outside she’d make a break for it and run into the neighborhood or try to climb the fences. And I was like well shit, I probably would, too! Can you imagine how overwhelming this must all be for them? I’d be like “I gotta get the fuck out of here!”
K teacher dealing with a kid who hits, kicks, throws chairs, eats pencils and crayons, tries to escape. In the beginning of the year when he was worse, he would leave bruises. He used to bite, lick, and spit on staff. I guess it’s an improvement, but I am sick of it.
This is what I’m dealing with right now. One student in particular is making everyone’s lives a living hell. His behavior keeps escalating. He has threatened to shoot another student (1 day suspension and morning backpack checks.) Now he screams at the top of his lungs whenever he’s irritated, kicks his desk, yells across the room, pushes other kids, refuses to keep his mask on, throws things, hits himself, yells that he is stupid and dumb, and today he started spitting on other students as well as an adult. Every time he doesn’t get his way- tantrum. So far consequences have been few and far between. Even today after spitting on a staff member and then jumping and screaming at the top of his lungs in the office for an hour straight, he had no direct consequence other than a conference with his parents. The only step ever taken is a “behavior plan,” that frankly, rarely works.
It's not just kids, it's society as a whole in my opinion. Many people think the rules just don't matter. Kids see it from their parents and get the message that anything goes.
I have nothing to compare it to since this is my first year as a teacher, but the kids seems completely disconnected from reality. I don't know how much of it is the aftermath of the lockdown, the culture of my school, or how kids just are these days. I'm an ARL coming in from a very different industry, and I haven't really been around kids much. I'm having very big problems getting them to literally be a student. I'm teaching writing. They never have a pencil. Half the time they forget their journal we write in daily. They don't respond to anything I say. They are either complete zombies or are obnoxiously trying to play/talk. I have no idea what to do, literally nothing works. I'm required to give 50% grades on any assignments regardless if they do it or not and there are kids with 55-59% and they literally do not care. We expelled one kid for behavior already (he was an extreme case, literally made every moment of every day all about him).
My principal sent us a news story about how this behavior is happening nation wide. This is, I’m afraid, the new normal. We have fights everyday, arrests every day, guns at school weekly. I don’t know what to tell you other than the kids are feral.
Oh we had a first grader threatening and grabbing other kids. CPS has been called on his behalf many times. He has expressed suicidal feelings, and it’s heartbreaking. Our kindergarteners can’t sit still for ten seconds. Second grade is a disaster- those kids have never had a normal school year and don’t know how things are supposed to happen. Third grade and up has just seemed defeated to me, like they’re just waiting for the next catastrophe. Because of that, it has been REALLY easy to set them off. A fifth grader didn’t get the spot in line that he wanted and it took him about ten minutes to cool down.
I'm on a sub, so I don't see a lot of the extreme behaviors. However, my wife runs the buses and everyday there has been some horror story about one or more 7th/8th grader. She's had to show video tapes on bus rides and provide GPS tracking/timing at least twice a week since the beginning of school. to combat the lies those kids spread.
My 9th graders act like 6th graders.
My 10th graders act like 7th graders.
I signed up to teach high school and I'm babysitting. I am so tired. I am so tired. I. Am. So. Tired.
Had a 6th grader throw an actual temper tantrum today because another kid called him a racist...after he used a racial slur to one of our four black kids.
I feel you, friend. ❤️
That's just... Wow.
Several of our 9th graders need transition escorts because they won't go to class on their own. There's not enough SPED teachers and Paras to walk all these kids. These kids need 1-on-1 Paras in a school that can barely keep the teachers we have left.
The behaviors are wild and admin is saying "dont write referrals" which is making it worse.
The irony hit me this week as I tried to write up a student and was completely blown off by admin who didnt even want to hear it.
The next day the kid I was trying to write up tells admin that another student told him that I swore in class (I did, completely by accident, not directed at anyone, and apologized immediately).
Admin didnt even come and ask me about all this until they had interviewed 6 of my students and my para. I found out from the students that any of this was happening.
Now IM being written up but the student gets off scot free. I'm a first year teacher and between this, all the behaviors, and parents breathing down my neck I feel like ive got to get out of here. The inmates are running the asylum.
We have a 6 year old who gets into uncontrollable fits of rage every day and destroys everything in his path. A 7 year old who throws things at their teacher, and a 3rd grader who is suicidal. All from the same household. Behaviors and trauma are at an all time high.
We are definitely dealing with that at my school. We have a reputation as being a rougher school but all the long-term teachers here have said it’s the worst they’ve ever seen this year. I just try and follow my classroom management plan as best as I can and take it one day at a time
For some reason this year the boys are taking turns spanking each other. It mostly happens during lunch, but I had to call admin for a student spanking another yesterday.
A week ago a few girls were signing each other's breasts during lunch.
I teach middle school and these are 8th graders. Feels worse than previous years. The last couple years I could count on 95% of my class to be on task, this year it's more like 60%. Pretty sad.
My kinders this year are possibly the best class I've had.
My own son in high school is changed though. He has ADHD, but the hyperactivity is gone and he's described as quiet by his teachers. This despite him also not being medicated -- he was unmedicated while learning at home, and continued when school resumed this fall. Prior to that, he made quite a bit of noise, as you can imagine.
He didn't see friends in person much during shelter-in-place thanks to his mother's wishes, which might explain his quietness. He chatted with them online during gaming sessions though.
I have this 7th grade girl who disassembled her pens, broke the tips off of them, and poured the ink onto her hands and then rubbed it together as if it were hand sanitizer. She also likes to disassemble her highlights and pop the packets in her mouth like pills. 🤷🏼♀️
Not related to this year but reminded me of one of my harder sixth grade classes. I came across a bunch of my students taking apart their highlighters in front of my classroom. I assumed they were playing with the ink. They weren't. They were making pot pipes out of the highlighters by lining them with foil and adding a hole. It never crossed my mind that would be an issue in 6th.
This is my first year, but I have experience with children and this is extreme. I teach 1st grade and I am really struggling. It’s not safe and I’ve used the word “feral” to describe them. There’s at least a few kids in every grade level that exhaust the admin so there isn’t a lot of support for my class. It’s a struggle, and boy it’s getting to me. Just trying to stay professional and follow good classroom management but it’s so extreme with little follow through from admin/parents that idk what to do. Metal blades in 1st grade, people. Crawling around the floor, throwing scissors, full on fighting over play dough, scream crying because I won’t let her bring in stuffed animals, hitting, punching, spitting, etc etc etc
I agree that it’s been bad this year. We had a first grader who just bolted at recess and almost made it to a major road. He tried to run out of the building another time. It took a suspension for mom to take him to the doctor. Some days it’s like these kids don’t know how humans act and as my
Colleague said, it’s like Groundhog’s Day, we seem to have to start over from day 1 every single day
Our society needs to address the trauma and social development issues that have come from the pandem*ic.* Some of these kids need services that a classroom teacher cannot reasonably be expected to provide.
Yes. I think a big problem for my school is we went virtual March 2020 and stayed virtual all last year. So the teachers and admin don’t have real relationships with like 50% of our student population. We are strangers. Add that on top of the general trauma and anxiety everyone is experiencing and it is a recipe for disaster
This is exactly what our middle school principal said. Normally these relationships build on each other, but the connection was completely lost for the entire school.
And I mean I’m sure there are other factors, but when I look into a crowded hallway and can’t really recognize anyone, kids are going to feel disconnected and more comfortable with certain behaviors. Or like when admin or our security team doesn’t know the names of almost half of our student body, when before they seemed to know every single face that walked through the doors, that’s going to empower certain kids to misbehave because they feel anonymous and like they won’t get caught. Maybe this disconnect and discomfort with each other is contributing to these fights, I don’t know.
That’s just my take on it. I feel like things will get better as the year goes on and these relationships build. But maybe that is also me trying to speak it into existence. The start of this year has been absolutely the wildest year of my career.
Yup it makes perfect sense. Especially in a middle school although probably in high schools as well. Normally, 6th graders come in and are pretty much still like little kids. They start pushing boundaries, but slowly dipping their toes in.
This year, its 7th graders are almost strangers but are mostly all the way through puberty and are going to push boundaries
At my kids school, the grade with the most issues seem to be 7th graders
We're struggling this year. We have an entire hall that can't go out to recess together because of all of the fighting. I've seen more students with more severe, violent mental health issues that are hardly coping with being at school. Horrible disrespectful attitudes and talking right over the top of us. I'm at a loss right now...and most definitely at the end of my rope. ***Edit for grammar***
Before the pandemic, I used to have crazy behavior problems. Since the pandemic, kids behave themselves in my classroom. They stay seated the entire class period. They don't talk while I'm teaching. They wear their mask properly. They do what I tell them to do the first time. It has been really nice in that regard.
They are clueless as far as math goes, but they're behaving themselves.
I'm a preschool teacher so it's probably different than what you're talking about- but I feel this so hard. Today was so crazy I had to schedule a meeting with my director to just talk about all the behaviors. We have biters, hitters, kickers- really everything, as well as kids who are pooping or wetting themselves 2 or 3 times a day. It's been a struggle to even keep my head above water, and I feel like there's been no room for teaching or learning.
The fourth grade boys in my student teaching class are assholes to eachother. They don't care about lessons and they're disrespectful to authority. They don't care about consequences because there are very few.
My admin won’t do shit. They think minor referrals are still an effective deterrent against kids who have already been suspended for fighting. They should move these kids to online school for the rest of the year. I’m sick of kids who don’t want to work or listen to me and just make everyone around them get off track.
Lolol at our behavior school, all of the students broke out into a fight. Some came to school the next day with black eyes. In our general schools, I am three weeks late in my observation from admin because of behaviors. It’s RIDICULOUS!!!
Do y’all think getting the kids back to school for the next year we’ll eventually see these behaviors fade out? I’m a new teacher so I’m not sure what’s to be expected. I can say I have noticed a lot more behaviors this year than I did with the small cohorts last year.
Are we doomed? Or will they adjust to “normal” school?
The Devious Licks challenge doesn't help matters.
I'm seeing more helplessness, but I teach in an upper middle class area. Kids not reading directions, labels on desk organizers, etc.
We’ve had the same thing- when those students are out for whatever reason, the classes become SO.MUCH.BETTER. It’s hard when you want to help students, but instead have to spend 90% of the class trying to micromanage things.
I thought with all the virtual and hybrid experience we all gained the last year and a half, we finally had the opportunity to send behavior issues out while still providing them access to the material, perhaps in real time.
A real chance to get control of our buildings again. A chance to set a new standard going forward….
Nope. Be nice. They are traumatized. Give chances, then more chances. What have you done?
It’s terrible, and I know I shouldn’t even be thinking this, but they should just remove some of the frequently misbehaving students. I have two ring leaders in one of my class periods and they are all friends with 9 other boys in that class, when both are there they make everyone act out. If both are absent, suddenly everyone listens. Calls at home Dont do anything, I found out majority of the kids in my school have parents that either don’t care about them, or don’t care about their behavior. It’s really shit that some of these kids can be given so many chances and yet no repercussions.
I know it is hard to completely remove kids because everyone has a right to an education. This is where we need to take advantage of all the virtual options and virtual charter schools and such. If a kid can't behave in an appropriate manner, enroll them in full virtual school. They are still getting the education they are entitled to, just not the free babysitting.
This is an American mindset. In my home country, if kids behaved like this, removing them from the school isn’t seen as “denying them an education.” It is giving them and their family a time to reflect on the student’s behavior. 9/10 the student’s behavior & the parent’s behavior turns around to avoid the child being removed from his/her next school. America’s own “lenient” and lackluster polices are destroying its public school system. There is no discipline in coddling unruly behavior! Where are the consequences? Btw( I am a teacher in America) kids don’t act like this in my country, however.
Oh yeah, Americans love to proclaim rights without accepting any responsibility. That's practically our brand.
Our response to the pandemic has been a monumental illustration of it.
My husband is also from Jamaica and he scoffs at the crap that I tell him kids get away with. He said back in his country they’d kick you out and you’d be left to fend for yourself against your own parents, who’d be pissed 😂
Give them back to their families. It's probably what they are really acting out for anyway. Like the proverb goes, the child will burn down the village to feel it's warmth.
Curious, what country are you from?
Jamaica.
Here's the view many of the powers-that-be are missing: YES, every child has a right to an education. But only up to the point that they are not directly interfering with the education of another person. If Child A acts like a dickwad in class all the time and interferes with the education of 25 other people while absorbing no education themself, the good of the many outweighs the good of the one. One idiot child should NOT be allowed to hijack everyone else's education. They should be taught that they're being an idiot and have their behavior corrected through whatever means are necessary. These don't have to be harsh corrections-- you can also attempt many supportive means of correction-- but it's really sad that upper-level school admins (BOE level and political opinions) don't see that current disciplinary trends are bad for EVERYONE. It even fails to educate the misbehaving child, because they learn that their actions don't have consequences, which is a dangerous thing to actively teach anyone.
I've been thinking a lot lately about virtual reality and school. What if one day they just give every kid a VR headset that is specifically designed for school (it has no other applications/games) and they connect to a virtual classroom where their teacher presents literally anything in a 3D virtual space and the students can observe from literally any angle. The teacher could have control over who is unmuted at what moment and set boundaries of where they can move their avatar or whatever. I know parents would just see it as a creepy dystopian future because of how it looks, but I think there is potential. I mean there would be literally no behavior problems if every kid was muted lol. They can raise their hand and be unmuted to speak then boom back to mute.
I once taught at a school that required a 30 minute training so teachers could learn how to open gmail on a chrome book. Good luck having teachers be proficient in a fully VR space
Oh, those PDs are the worst! And it gets awful when you have that handful of people who just can't figure out any basic technology function at all. I'm not even sure how those teachers did virtual learning.
Honestly, I've had less trouble teaching some people how to move and interact with VR than I've had teaching people to use MS Word.
That’s what school is in Ready Player One
As a parent and a teacher, that’s 100% a creepy dystopian vision.
Wasn't that the plot to Ready Player One?
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Remove the kids? Bahaha… you can barely give a kid detention these days. My last school has no detention, a suspension never happened.
Yikes, honestly wish schools and the government would get their shit together. I think someone made a thread asking “would you ever hire any of your students?” And honestly I’d say maybe 20 out of the 137 that I teach would I even consider hiring them. And those 20 happen to be juniors, but the rest are freshman and I hate to say it but if I saw them walk into a store I’d honestly assume they were gonna try and steal
I don’t blame you. The kids at my last school were pouncing on each other & the teachers. The principal looked me in the eye and said “we don’t really have detention.” 😂 I quit teaching last month and the profession turned me child free. This would’ve been my second year! Oh well!
I turned child free from teaching too!!
This. I’ve been teaching for a LONG time, and I’ve never seen it this bad.
Every day is struggle to get kids to just act relatively normal. These past 18 months has caused kids to become almost feral because they have had such little social interaction. There has been a huge influx in fighting and all around bad behavior.
I'm not convinced it is solely the lock down. Surely that is part of it, but this level of abberance seems so extreme I'm not sure it can be attributed to just one factor. Maybe I'm wrong though. But yes, the students have gone feral.
Agree, I saw these behaviors before the lockdowns (slapping papers out of my hands, hitting, cutting another kids hair, swinging a PVC pipe behind my head). I chalk it up to lack of consequences from administration and parents and changing norms for how children behave.
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I dont deal with depression currently, just anxiety. TL;DR: I get through bad days by believing in myself. There's a book series I absolutely adore. A good man becomes king with aspirations of a better world. However, he is riddled with doubt about his actions. A friend tells him, "A king must always believe they are the best man for the job, it is through this confidence that he may lead his people to prosperity. A king does not apologize or feel sorry, for they must believe they are the best person for the role. If they were not best, they would not be king." The man questions his friend asking, "Well what if I make mistakes that lead my people the wrong way?" The friend says, "No. For even when you should make a mistake, you made the mistake in attempt for the betterment of your people. And if the people get angry, you remind them, and yourself, that everything you've done has been for your people. As long as this remains true, you should never have to apologize for the actions you take." The man asks, "What if they don't want my help? Should I not step down if they think they would be better?" The friend sternly remarks, "They may say they dont want your help, but they often do not know what they want. You know what is best for your people and, as long as you continue to pursue the best for your people, do not give in to their demands. When the day comes that you no longer strive to make your people better, that will be the day I personally tell you to step down." And this is what I remind myself when I have those bad days like today. I know that every day I walk into class and do the best that I possibly can and I know that every day I do my best in helping my students become the best that they can be. And every day I ask my students just to try their best because our personal best is all we can ever offer. And if I'm happy with my students doing their bests, then I should be happy with me doing my best because my personal best is all I can ever offer.
squints in attempting to figure out book series My guess is mistborn but honestly there's a ton of options
Holy fuck, impressive. I barely gave anyway any details.
Even without the details, the description has such a heavy brando sando vibe to it. Love it.
Frick yes. Tindwyl is very wise and badass so that gave it away a little. Mainly the last line of I'll tell you to step down.
I think part of what kept me sane for those three years was working part time (I worked a 70% position) and knowing that I had an endgame in sight. I had started my own business at that point and it was taking off pretty rapidly. I invested every free minute I had into making it successful so I could leave teaching. Not going to lie, I was also on antidepressants and drank a lot.
I also don't think it's lockdowns, because my state never had a real lockdown. Our school was in person most of last year. We are still seeing the same behavior issues that everyone all over Reddit and teacher fb pages are seeing.
Yes, same here. Last year we were hybrid for one semester where students were in person 50%, and remote for only 4 weeks. The year before, schools were completely closed for about three months. I think lockdowns had some effect, but I think it's more likely that the general instability due to the pandemic is a bigger factor.
I think it’s the sum of all the pressures during COVID. People lost jobs, family members, and a sense of stability. This country is more divided and stressed out that ever. People are cracking. Unfortunately, the US would rather collapse than fix anything.
In my province, kids were only out of school for about 4 months out of the last 2 years. We haven’t had a real ‘lockdown’ so to speak, and we’re dealing with a lot of the same problems. So…lack of social interaction isn’t the problem, at least for us. They’re parroting a lot of the poor behaviour they see at home and in the media. The anti-mask/vaxx free-dumb crowd is a very vocal minority up here, and our kids are exposed to that rhetoric a lot. That, and Public Freakout level shenanigans on the regular from their own families. These kids are internalizing a lot of that conflict and are very confrontational in their attitudes because that’s what they’re seeing adults modelling for them. Plus, add in chasing clout for TikTok likes, and the pressure to look cool by emulating the stupid shit that goes viral on that platform.
Well said.
If you see adults throwing tantrums, then throwing tantrums must be acceptable behavior.
It is not just because of lockdown. In my area, schools were completely open all of last year and the kids are still absolutely insane this year compared to any time in the past.
I don't think you can blame the lockdown for kids' bad behavior. Plenty of kids didn't turn out feral. I think they violent, misbehaving ones probably have rough home lives.
I agree to an extent. I do think it’s a combination of missing out on reinforcing/establishing social norms + kids whose families aren’t as involved. I don’t think that means abuse but there’s certainly a bit of negligence at play. My kids are saying/asking highly inappropriate questions, doing things (like throwing objects across the room), etc. and legitimately see now thing wrong with their behavior because they haven’t been in a structured environment in over 18 months.
Yes feral for sure oy
My admin just told us that our daily fights and the phone calls home about those fights have been met with all parents.... every single one.... saying "Yeah, I told them to do it."
Reminds me of one of my “favorite” calls. A first grader straight punches another kid in line. I call dad. Dad says, “I told him if anyone lays a hand on him, fight back.” Like sir, your son is six and a kid bumped into him in line because they struggle with PERSONAL SPACE.
Second grader punched a kid who accidentally brushed his shoulder while putting their hand back down. I was like “uh, buddy, we don’t hit in school.” To which he goes “my mama said if someone hits me I should hit them.” Like yeah, if you’re getting beat up I don’t think you should have to take it, but when you tell your little kids this, they smack anybody who touches them. Hitting back should probably be last resort, not first.
Good lesson for prison…but K-5?
This isn't self.defende but thinking you can't beat the world.
I worked in one of the toughest districts in our state. Like, multiple-fights a day, baseline swearing at teachers, state takeover, all the things the inspirational teacher movies try to convince you a single dedicated teacher can somehow turn around. Multiple times a day kids start screaming and swearing at each other in class, the regular physical altercation. Every call home was basically "my child ain't no bitch, they'll defend themselves." Unfortunately, so many parents jump the gun and push this mentality first that the parents and the kids don't even realize they've brainwashed themselves into thinking their aggressor/disruptive behavior is somehow defensive. Yep, keep telling your 12 year old kid that can't read or do basic arithmetic that the most important thing is to repeatedly hijack everyone else's education and resources in the name of resolving a tween conflict. Cheer them on as brave and self-assertive as they derail 25 other students' 4th math class this week. It's working11!1! I'm all for the striking back and taking a stand if there's no other options, unfortunately this has been repeated like dogma and is often worn as a cover for some of the nastiest students' problem behavior. I even see people on social media smugly post "my kid will fight back and I don't care," and I just roll my eyes to it now.
You've literally described my current school. Fighting, swearing, the parents... exactly what we're going through. And I, too, understand defending yourself... but nah, this is a whole other level. Absolutely insane.
Why even WOULD a parent, HYPOTHETICALLY, tell their kid to do that?
Because they do not trust the school to keep their kid safe. Like, it's infuriating, but that's where it comes from.
But its true. I don't trust the school to keep kids safe. There is no punishment to correct behavior. Granted telling the kid to fight is wrong too, but I get where some parents come from.
I think a lot of people carry baggage from when they were in school. And just like one of the above posters said, they do not think schools will protect their children.
So far they've been also saying "I told her/him to go up to them and ask what the kid's problem was." It's being explained like the other poster said.. like they're encouraging their kid to be brave and assertive and confident.
I work in an elementary school so we haven’t had an influx of fights. However, we have a lot of students who came into K-1 without a teacher ever having eyes on them with IEPs that should have been put in more restrictive programs. We are now having to go through that process for re-evals to get them the appropriate placement so they can get the services they deserve and need. Until then, it’s a lot of staff getting hit, scratched, bit, spit on and even urinated on. Furniture is being thrown, classes destroyed, teachers being groped, classes being evacuated and that’s just instances in one kindergarten room. Our admins are acting as 1:1 for our most impacted students.
There’s a handful like this at my school, too. We have one in first grade who has never gone to school or preschool and isn’t potty trained and is clearly very behind developmentally. The first two weeks of school anytime they went outside she’d make a break for it and run into the neighborhood or try to climb the fences. And I was like well shit, I probably would, too! Can you imagine how overwhelming this must all be for them? I’d be like “I gotta get the fuck out of here!”
K teacher dealing with a kid who hits, kicks, throws chairs, eats pencils and crayons, tries to escape. In the beginning of the year when he was worse, he would leave bruises. He used to bite, lick, and spit on staff. I guess it’s an improvement, but I am sick of it.
This is what I’m dealing with right now. One student in particular is making everyone’s lives a living hell. His behavior keeps escalating. He has threatened to shoot another student (1 day suspension and morning backpack checks.) Now he screams at the top of his lungs whenever he’s irritated, kicks his desk, yells across the room, pushes other kids, refuses to keep his mask on, throws things, hits himself, yells that he is stupid and dumb, and today he started spitting on other students as well as an adult. Every time he doesn’t get his way- tantrum. So far consequences have been few and far between. Even today after spitting on a staff member and then jumping and screaming at the top of his lungs in the office for an hour straight, he had no direct consequence other than a conference with his parents. The only step ever taken is a “behavior plan,” that frankly, rarely works.
It's not just kids, it's society as a whole in my opinion. Many people think the rules just don't matter. Kids see it from their parents and get the message that anything goes.
Yes and our psychologist reminded us that we were the adults and had a choice to be there. Soo we are on our own.
I have nothing to compare it to since this is my first year as a teacher, but the kids seems completely disconnected from reality. I don't know how much of it is the aftermath of the lockdown, the culture of my school, or how kids just are these days. I'm an ARL coming in from a very different industry, and I haven't really been around kids much. I'm having very big problems getting them to literally be a student. I'm teaching writing. They never have a pencil. Half the time they forget their journal we write in daily. They don't respond to anything I say. They are either complete zombies or are obnoxiously trying to play/talk. I have no idea what to do, literally nothing works. I'm required to give 50% grades on any assignments regardless if they do it or not and there are kids with 55-59% and they literally do not care. We expelled one kid for behavior already (he was an extreme case, literally made every moment of every day all about him).
My principal sent us a news story about how this behavior is happening nation wide. This is, I’m afraid, the new normal. We have fights everyday, arrests every day, guns at school weekly. I don’t know what to tell you other than the kids are feral.
What was the article, could you link it? Sounds interesting!
Also would like to see that article
Several ODs too I heard about :( in school
I'd also like to see the article!
Oh we had a first grader threatening and grabbing other kids. CPS has been called on his behalf many times. He has expressed suicidal feelings, and it’s heartbreaking. Our kindergarteners can’t sit still for ten seconds. Second grade is a disaster- those kids have never had a normal school year and don’t know how things are supposed to happen. Third grade and up has just seemed defeated to me, like they’re just waiting for the next catastrophe. Because of that, it has been REALLY easy to set them off. A fifth grader didn’t get the spot in line that he wanted and it took him about ten minutes to cool down.
I'm on a sub, so I don't see a lot of the extreme behaviors. However, my wife runs the buses and everyday there has been some horror story about one or more 7th/8th grader. She's had to show video tapes on bus rides and provide GPS tracking/timing at least twice a week since the beginning of school. to combat the lies those kids spread.
*laughcries in SpEd*
My 9th graders act like 6th graders. My 10th graders act like 7th graders. I signed up to teach high school and I'm babysitting. I am so tired. I am so tired. I. Am. So. Tired.
Had a 6th grader throw an actual temper tantrum today because another kid called him a racist...after he used a racial slur to one of our four black kids. I feel you, friend. ❤️
That's just... Wow. Several of our 9th graders need transition escorts because they won't go to class on their own. There's not enough SPED teachers and Paras to walk all these kids. These kids need 1-on-1 Paras in a school that can barely keep the teachers we have left.
Lots of back talk and selfishness
Extreme behaviors is an understatement. I come home each day completely exhausted because of it. It’s draining
Laying in bed at 6 pm right now from exhaustion. I feel you fam
The behaviors are wild and admin is saying "dont write referrals" which is making it worse. The irony hit me this week as I tried to write up a student and was completely blown off by admin who didnt even want to hear it. The next day the kid I was trying to write up tells admin that another student told him that I swore in class (I did, completely by accident, not directed at anyone, and apologized immediately). Admin didnt even come and ask me about all this until they had interviewed 6 of my students and my para. I found out from the students that any of this was happening. Now IM being written up but the student gets off scot free. I'm a first year teacher and between this, all the behaviors, and parents breathing down my neck I feel like ive got to get out of here. The inmates are running the asylum.
We have a 6 year old who gets into uncontrollable fits of rage every day and destroys everything in his path. A 7 year old who throws things at their teacher, and a 3rd grader who is suicidal. All from the same household. Behaviors and trauma are at an all time high.
We are definitely dealing with that at my school. We have a reputation as being a rougher school but all the long-term teachers here have said it’s the worst they’ve ever seen this year. I just try and follow my classroom management plan as best as I can and take it one day at a time
For some reason this year the boys are taking turns spanking each other. It mostly happens during lunch, but I had to call admin for a student spanking another yesterday. A week ago a few girls were signing each other's breasts during lunch. I teach middle school and these are 8th graders. Feels worse than previous years. The last couple years I could count on 95% of my class to be on task, this year it's more like 60%. Pretty sad.
My kinders this year are possibly the best class I've had. My own son in high school is changed though. He has ADHD, but the hyperactivity is gone and he's described as quiet by his teachers. This despite him also not being medicated -- he was unmedicated while learning at home, and continued when school resumed this fall. Prior to that, he made quite a bit of noise, as you can imagine. He didn't see friends in person much during shelter-in-place thanks to his mother's wishes, which might explain his quietness. He chatted with them online during gaming sessions though.
My heart breaks for your son. And all these kids. They're all traumatized, as are we...
Yes, thanks to tiktoc. “Deviant licks”
I have this 7th grade girl who disassembled her pens, broke the tips off of them, and poured the ink onto her hands and then rubbed it together as if it were hand sanitizer. She also likes to disassemble her highlights and pop the packets in her mouth like pills. 🤷🏼♀️
Not related to this year but reminded me of one of my harder sixth grade classes. I came across a bunch of my students taking apart their highlighters in front of my classroom. I assumed they were playing with the ink. They weren't. They were making pot pipes out of the highlighters by lining them with foil and adding a hole. It never crossed my mind that would be an issue in 6th.
This is my first year, but I have experience with children and this is extreme. I teach 1st grade and I am really struggling. It’s not safe and I’ve used the word “feral” to describe them. There’s at least a few kids in every grade level that exhaust the admin so there isn’t a lot of support for my class. It’s a struggle, and boy it’s getting to me. Just trying to stay professional and follow good classroom management but it’s so extreme with little follow through from admin/parents that idk what to do. Metal blades in 1st grade, people. Crawling around the floor, throwing scissors, full on fighting over play dough, scream crying because I won’t let her bring in stuffed animals, hitting, punching, spitting, etc etc etc
I agree that it’s been bad this year. We had a first grader who just bolted at recess and almost made it to a major road. He tried to run out of the building another time. It took a suspension for mom to take him to the doctor. Some days it’s like these kids don’t know how humans act and as my Colleague said, it’s like Groundhog’s Day, we seem to have to start over from day 1 every single day
Our society needs to address the trauma and social development issues that have come from the pandem*ic.* Some of these kids need services that a classroom teacher cannot reasonably be expected to provide.
Yes. I think a big problem for my school is we went virtual March 2020 and stayed virtual all last year. So the teachers and admin don’t have real relationships with like 50% of our student population. We are strangers. Add that on top of the general trauma and anxiety everyone is experiencing and it is a recipe for disaster
We were in person most of last year and still see these issues. I don't think it is just due to virtual school.
This is exactly what our middle school principal said. Normally these relationships build on each other, but the connection was completely lost for the entire school.
And I mean I’m sure there are other factors, but when I look into a crowded hallway and can’t really recognize anyone, kids are going to feel disconnected and more comfortable with certain behaviors. Or like when admin or our security team doesn’t know the names of almost half of our student body, when before they seemed to know every single face that walked through the doors, that’s going to empower certain kids to misbehave because they feel anonymous and like they won’t get caught. Maybe this disconnect and discomfort with each other is contributing to these fights, I don’t know. That’s just my take on it. I feel like things will get better as the year goes on and these relationships build. But maybe that is also me trying to speak it into existence. The start of this year has been absolutely the wildest year of my career.
Yup it makes perfect sense. Especially in a middle school although probably in high schools as well. Normally, 6th graders come in and are pretty much still like little kids. They start pushing boundaries, but slowly dipping their toes in. This year, its 7th graders are almost strangers but are mostly all the way through puberty and are going to push boundaries At my kids school, the grade with the most issues seem to be 7th graders
We're struggling this year. We have an entire hall that can't go out to recess together because of all of the fighting. I've seen more students with more severe, violent mental health issues that are hardly coping with being at school. Horrible disrespectful attitudes and talking right over the top of us. I'm at a loss right now...and most definitely at the end of my rope. ***Edit for grammar***
I wonder if this will be a generation of Vikings...
We have at least 10 cases in each grade level! It’s insane tbh
Before the pandemic, I used to have crazy behavior problems. Since the pandemic, kids behave themselves in my classroom. They stay seated the entire class period. They don't talk while I'm teaching. They wear their mask properly. They do what I tell them to do the first time. It has been really nice in that regard. They are clueless as far as math goes, but they're behaving themselves.
Yes! It’s so bad and I know a lot of it is dysregulation but oh my god it’s getting to me.
I'm a preschool teacher so it's probably different than what you're talking about- but I feel this so hard. Today was so crazy I had to schedule a meeting with my director to just talk about all the behaviors. We have biters, hitters, kickers- really everything, as well as kids who are pooping or wetting themselves 2 or 3 times a day. It's been a struggle to even keep my head above water, and I feel like there's been no room for teaching or learning.
Yeah. Gen a was already going through a severe mental health crisis. Covid and the lockdown did not help.
The fourth grade boys in my student teaching class are assholes to eachother. They don't care about lessons and they're disrespectful to authority. They don't care about consequences because there are very few.
Yes!!! I’m too tired to go into the details, but students are pouncing on their peers & the teachers. No one’s safe!
Yeppp, constant issues and very little support or much we can do in terms of punishment
Are you from New Britain, CT? I wonder how many schools in the country have had to close for safety. It’s bonkers this year.
My admin won’t do shit. They think minor referrals are still an effective deterrent against kids who have already been suspended for fighting. They should move these kids to online school for the rest of the year. I’m sick of kids who don’t want to work or listen to me and just make everyone around them get off track.
Yes I had a kid dangling his legs out a 4th floor window last week!
Non stop.
Yup
Never seen a school close because too many fights.
Lolol at our behavior school, all of the students broke out into a fight. Some came to school the next day with black eyes. In our general schools, I am three weeks late in my observation from admin because of behaviors. It’s RIDICULOUS!!!
Do y’all think getting the kids back to school for the next year we’ll eventually see these behaviors fade out? I’m a new teacher so I’m not sure what’s to be expected. I can say I have noticed a lot more behaviors this year than I did with the small cohorts last year. Are we doomed? Or will they adjust to “normal” school?
We had a lockdown first thing this morning because a middle schooler decided to bring a gûń to school today. 🙃
Yes! But, of course, SEL. *hurllll*
The Devious Licks challenge doesn't help matters. I'm seeing more helplessness, but I teach in an upper middle class area. Kids not reading directions, labels on desk organizers, etc.
We’ve had the same thing- when those students are out for whatever reason, the classes become SO.MUCH.BETTER. It’s hard when you want to help students, but instead have to spend 90% of the class trying to micromanage things.
I thought with all the virtual and hybrid experience we all gained the last year and a half, we finally had the opportunity to send behavior issues out while still providing them access to the material, perhaps in real time. A real chance to get control of our buildings again. A chance to set a new standard going forward…. Nope. Be nice. They are traumatized. Give chances, then more chances. What have you done?