Mr. Teachbad is proud to announce the release of two brand new Teachbad coffee cups and an enormous YIPPEE!! IT’s ALMOST OVER!!! sale on ALL Teachbad Products in the Teacher Porn Store!! Even the new stuff. All items in the Teachbad catalog are now on sale until July! The long-awaited results of the choose your coffee cup design survey are in. Teachbad readers were almost evenly split between the two designs, giving a slight edge to the Support Teachers design. But the Stick People Read more [...]

Last night I attended a Teacher Town Hall on the dropout crisis in Washington, DC. It was hosted by Howard University Television (WHUT) and WAMU, our local public radio station. All in all, it was a little underwhelming. In addition, my quest for international superstardom was again thwarted. I had signed up to attend and indicated that I was not currently a classroom teacher when I did so. When I got there I was not admitted because I was not currently a teacher. Because they didn’t fill up all Read more [...]

I was driving home with my family last night. We were on our way back from the last big fun activity in a long Memorial Day weekend full of them. My wife’s mood suddenly darkened as she remembered that it was Monday night and she was going back to work in the morning. Millions of Americans were experiencing this same realization and mood shift at about the same time. Then I suddenly remembered how much more intense and dreadful and panicky that feeling was when I was a teacher. A wave of it came Read more [...]

I need help. Closely examine the two images below and vote. Which of these original Teachbad designs would you rather see on a coffee mug sometime in the near future? Have a very Happy Memorial Day. You deserve it. Smell that sweet June air right around the corner… Teachbad ps — If you haven’t already, please respond to the One Question Teacher Annoyance Survey. Results will be tallied next week. pss — You should also get on the mailing list, follow me on Twitter and Read more [...]

Looking back it’s clear to see how Dr. Todd Whitaker’s management techniques were used at my school. I’ll illustrate a couple of examples and I encourage you to send in your own. Recall the last post in which Dr. Whitaker’s path-breaking book Dealing With Difficult Teachers was viciously skewered in an evenhanded review. Dr. Whitaker encourages principals to use misdirection and dis-ingenuousness in their treatment of the vile subhumans they have deemed difficult teachers. Many readers think it Read more [...]

There are two distinct categories of adverse job conditions in teaching or any other profession. The first category is necessary or unavoidable things. You can’t get away from them. The second category is nasty things that don’t really need to be that way but somebody is making it that way on purpose. It’s much more variable and dependent on where you are teaching, not just that you are teaching. For now, I want to ask you about the first category. These are fundamental conditions of teaching. Read more [...]

Isn’t that the truth? I was talking to a friend from my old school the other day. They had to read the article from the last post about the kid who went to DC public charter schools and then was unprepared for his freshman year at Georgetown. Surprise! You weren’t prepared because your teachers had to spend most of their time coddling and cajoling the way-behind, the lazy and the disruptive in your midst. (If you are poor and your mom is a drunk, that’s sad. But it is secondary. The teacher Read more [...]

(I’m a bit rushed…driving to Indiana in…36 minutes. More on that in a minute.) Churn ‘n’ Burn and Spin Me to the Door There are two short things I read this week that I believe are connected. The first was an article in Education Week from early in April called When Teachers Are Treated Like Widgets, Education Suffers. It was written by academics who are tired of all their studies getting messed up because they can’t get stable control and experimental groups of teachers to measure anything Read more [...]

The principal holds the welcome back meeting after spring break and tries to get to know his teachers.

I’m mulling over the book club options. Maybe unhappy teachers don’t want to read about how teaching sucks. (But then, why would you be here in the first place?) Preaching to the choir, as is were…It might be a little like a comedian I’m thinking of right now. (Maybe Lewis Black? I don’t remember.) The gist of it was that Christians are crazy to wear crosses around their necks. What is the last thing that Jesus might want to be reminded of as he decides whether or not to come back to Earth? It Read more [...]