Teachers Confess: Times We've Cried at School

We had a teacher leave first day. I don't do it. For me. She said that. I don't do it. And actually, there's like, no, these kids ain't about to drive me to an early grade. Oh. Did you see that man that got pulled over to pull these kids going down? It's outside. Are you telling me why you stopped me from-- - Dude, he goes, stop sign. Stop sign. Stop sign. I don't know why he-- The kids are laughing at me. They're like, "Bitch Poo, just draw through lines. Poo, and I'm like, "You guys are-- you, you, you, you." And I'm scooping it up. I'm a middle school teacher. I have thick skin. But that day, I was sitting in my tip and point sometimes. But the parents, I thought, "Yeah, I'll be rocking with them sometimes," because recently, these parents had started to realize how bad these kids are. - Yeah, yeah. I've cried before when they've written me like the sweetest little man. - Oh, I've finally met you. - I've finally met you. - I realized I was not just crying. I just-- it was so unassuming. So I'm like, flipping good. I'm like, "Oh, this is cool." And he's like, "I really like your class." And I feel really safe in here. And it's really common here. And you're the best teacher ever. Amen. - I'm about to end up alive, you're the best. I'm like, "Oh." [MUSIC PLAYING] Hey best friends, welcome to this week's episode of Teachers Off Duty. If you don't know me, I am honest teacher vibes, AKA, Rabbi Biss Green. And I'm joined by my two boss, co-hosts. - Oh, hello. - Very equal. - Hey everybody, I'm Anna Coewall, AKA, Readaway with Miss Kay. And yes, definitely one of her teacher besties. - And I'm Mr. Hills. You can find me at ATX Hills. Austin's very own. - Love it. - Well, welcome to the family, man. - Thank you. I love it here. - We love to see you. - I said, "I said my bestie come back with us." I don't think we'd love to see it. I couldn't get on that plane fast enough. - I love it. This trio's a good trio right here. - I also realize why I love your name so much. - Why? - It's giving reading rainbow. - You've said that before. - And I said that. - My ATX did. - I couldn't remember that. - And we've sang it before. And I never thought about it before you brought it up. And I was like, "It does kind of get that bad." - I like that. So it just sounds so fun. It's like, take me on a VK. - Readaway. Miss Kay, you know what I'm saying? - They just wrote about the time. - It does. - And I wanted it to rhyme, because I'm an English teacher. I have to have something cutesy. - Understandable. - You know where you should be cutesy at the board teachers comedy tour. - Stop. - Because one thing about me, I'm gonna be wow, be cute. Cause I be looking busted as hell on stage. - But you are a good time. - Yes. - We have a good time. Listen, I did my first show since my surgery. Cause I had surgery in March. I had my tumor removed. And I did my first show in Su City, Iowa. Shout out to Su City, Iowa. And it was so much fun. I forgot how much fun. (laughing) - Wait, this is, I haven't been on tour since March. So if you wanna have some fun, you really should come to the board teachers comedy tour. So we're in Long Beach, California at 3 PM today. So these are, I'm obviously not there. Cause I'm here. And I'm not a wizard. So I can't be bothered. - You know, I pop. - Even though the school district thinks I'm a wizard. Cause they think I'm, you know what I'm saying? Kids, they can't read. I can just be by them to advance. - Those proficiency scores. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Leave me alone. - This is what happened when they take reading rainbow off there. - Okay. - Yeah. - That's what I'm saying. - Okay, maybe I should be the new host. Maybe the new host. - Oh. (laughing) Let's do reading rainbow TOD style. - Well, there is a new reading rainbow. - Yeah, I have. - Oh. - Yeah. - Okay, some of you can do our own version. - Okay, me and Anna both have ADHD. We sorry about that. - Sorry, sorry. - All right, so Southern California teachers come out and laugh away. Your Sunday scary was listening. You know you need something to laugh away. You need something to scare you. 'Cause my Sunday scary was scared me on Saturday now. They decided they'd Sunday scary. (laughing) - It keeps creeping earlier in the weekend. - Oh my God. - What's happening here? - Next week we'll be in Houston, Dallas, Waco, and San Antonio, Texas. And then the December shows will be in Cincinnati, Ohio, Toledo, Ohio, Midland, Michigan, Lansing, Michigan. Hey, y'all know I always tear up the name, but it's patchouge. (laughing) - Patchouge, patchouge. Pugs in a rug. I use sighted as y'all just ain't gonna tell me, you guys say? - Patchouge. - Patchouge, New York. We got two shows in Patchou, New York. The way it's spelled. - They were there last year too, weren't we? - 'Cause I remember this. - The way it's spelled and how country I am makes it sound like it's a AWG, all good to end. - Yeah. - But anything else, but sure, in a way, Patchouge will be there, the two shows. And then Albany, New York, this is James's hometown. If you don't know James, you should. - Albany. - Albany. - I didn't know that. - Yeah. - Okay, I knew New York can't say Albany. - You're kinda saying Albany. Look at him. Look how tight that shirt is. (laughing) - We need to take sure James is just right here. Let's get him out of put it up. - Put up put up put up. - So we can see how tight that shirt is. - And then we'll be in Wilkes Bar, Pennsylvania. So those were all the December shows and then listen. 2026, we got a brand new, brand new tour. Board teachers comedy tour of 2026, is it Friday yet? - Is it? - What better show to go to than one that says, is it Friday yet? - Oh my goodness. - Because that's how I feel every day of the week. I'm like, ooh, it's been a long week at the end of the day on Monday. - Yeah. - So I'm gonna be at the end of the day on Monday. I'm like, "Ah, that was been a long week." Like, you got formal day. For. (laughing) - Do you think it's the longest day of the week? Fight, I will fight back. - I feel like Wednesday is. - No, it's Tuesday. 'Cause Wednesday's hump day. Like, I'm like, okay, I can see you in the tunnel. - You know what's worse when you have dreams about work and it feels like you worked the whole day? (laughing) - Oh, that is terrible. - And you wake up and you're like. - I still gotta go to work. - I gotta redo this day. - I thought it was. It's like Groundhog Day. - Groundhog Day. - I'm sorry for dreaming that. - The new comedy tour, is it Friday yet? All new jokes. I started writing my jokes, I'm excited. - Oh my gosh. - But I want them people that I left in my own jokes. So, the crowd. (laughing) - The crowd, y'all had 10 minutes one. - Yeah. - It was out of no. But in January, we'll be in Fort Pierce, Florida, Ava in Park, Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, Tampa, Florida, Makin, Georgia, Spartanburg, South Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina, El Paso, Texas, Midland, Texas, Lubbock, Texas, and Amarillo, Texas, Texas. We outside. - We outside. - Georgia, we outside, South, North Carolina. - North Carolina. - We outside. - First stops for the new board-teach comedy tour, is it Friday yet? We bring new jokes. - Yeah, but you can just take it. - Yeah, get your tickets. And tell me if my jokes was funny or not. 'Cause, you know, I'm writing them at home or whatever. And I think they funny. I can't tell 'em to the kids, 'cause I don't think none is funny. (laughing) Except for when I'm trying to get the instructions and all of a sudden some of this fun. - Some of it funny. - And I'm like, is it so great? (laughing) - It's so great. It's a great gig. So anyway, go grab the seats. Before all the tickets are gone, check out the description below. To see if we're coming to your city and if we're not coming to your city, you can get on boardteachers.com and let us know what city we're going to go to. - Yeah. - So all new material, some new surprises, and it's always gonna be unforgettable night. - Yeah. - We'll be turned up. - It's literally the best time ever. - We turned up at those shows. Speaking of, turned up at a show, you can be turned up. Your school district can be turned up at your own private comedy tour show. If you would like to book, shout out to teacherspeakers.com. - Let's say you can't get to the boardteach.com. (laughing) - Go to teacherspeakers.com. - Let's say you can't get to the boardteachers' comedy tour. - You can book one of us on teacherspeakers.com for your own private comedy tour at your school. People, you don't wanna take some of those people at school, you know you don't want them to go with you to the show. - You know what I'm saying? - You can bring the show to you. - Yeah. - You can bring one of us to you. - You can get in school this year. - Yeah. - Which is not a big deal. So check that out teacherspeakers.com truly. Such a fun, I've done a few of the teacher speakers they and they're fun. - They are fun. - It's a nice little gathering. - And it's fun and they get an hour of PD to listen us talk. - Right. - Okay. - You can't get an hour of PD at the comedy tour because you're all my most amazing mocks don't, they don't, you can't do that. - I asked the lady that's in charge of my PD hours. It's like, "Hey, so I get some hours for my teacher speaker gigs." (laughing) I'm speaking. - I'm speaking. - I'm like, "I am the PD." - She can't when I, she's sitting down. - Ow. (laughing) - I was like, "Oh, okay." - I gotta get 24 hours and I've, - Yes, we're ready. - I thought for sure you give me, throw me a couple. - Yeah. - No, also follow us on all platforms. Also, did you know you could watch us on Spotify? You can listen to us on Spotify too. - Oh. - Yeah. - Okay. - This has come from the person who didn't know we had a Facebook page. (laughing) I was like, "Dang, teachers are doing a Facebook page." I was like, "Ain't the guys people are here." That's crazy. They're like, "We've had this for four years. I just be where I be." - Yeah. - So this episode, let's talk about something that we all have done. Have you done? - Not out. I mean, my mind's happened internally. - Okay, he's a guy. - Yeah, I, - This is why we live longer because we cry. - Yeah, I, honestly, I forget the moment I leave the building. (laughing) - You're like, "I ain't, that's understandable "because many all the better compartmentalizes." So we're gonna talk about the reasons. The times and the reasons we have cried is cool. - Yes. - And I don't think much. - 80% of us are women. So there's been some tears flowing in the hallways. - Women, we should cry if we think about it. - Yeah. - I think about crying. - I probably could start crying right now. I could, I could think about how long my lesson plans have to be. And I could just start crying. I could think about like how cute it would be if my student was holding one of my dogs and just cry immediately. I'm like, "Oh, my baby's on baby." (laughing) - Do you like one of your students all your dog? - So actually, I see you. (laughing) - I said to my dog. - I gotta decide which kid can do it, but actually brought Luna Tuna on a field trip once. - Luna's too. - And she played fetch with like a bunch of my students and she was really well behaved in the kids' work and I was like, "This is the best day of my life." - So you know what I mean. - Okay. - It was cute. - I know they surprised us sometimes. - Yeah, I hear that that shout with Tara Rasmap. Puppy. - Yeah, they just played Luna likes to play fetch. She's very good at it. And they just played fetch with her for like two hours straight at the park. I was like, "Great." - Oh wow. - They were worn out. She was worn out. It was great. - Oh. - Oh, we love to see it. - Yeah. - I never told my principal I did that though. (laughing) - No, sorry. - Says it on the number one ring call. (laughing) - We brought it up. - We brought it up. Heading zoo once and I was like, "Yeah, no." (grunting) I don't know if you all saw Luna Tuna's but El Maira and over there squeezing the animals at death. I was like, "Hey, no, no, no, no." - If you don't put the hitchhawk back. - I wouldn't touch that stuff. If a kid walks up to you, a bearded dragon kicked in a chassis beard. (laughing) - What is that? - I don't think at four years old, I would have picked up anything. I would have been too afraid. I would have been, I would have been, I would have been, I would have been like, "What is that?" - I wish these kids were afraid of like, I'd be like, "No, no, put it back. Put it back." - You picked up a bearded dragon? - Yeah, yeah, it's like the head zoo thing. - I don't know what they live like 'cause I might choose that one. - Yeah, and just, I'm like, "Are we, are they a lot of touch-a-it?" I don't know. - What is this? - I don't remember the instructions. I thought you said that you would bring it to that. Okay, yeah, so yeah, go ahead and put it back 'cause if you kill it. (laughing) - We don't have insurance. - Yeah, I don't, we don't have insurance on these animals, okay? - The caretaker would never forget. - Yeah, I'm like, why did the director choose this? (laughing) Especially for this class. - Did you cry when that, I was like, I'm gonna be without a job before these animals die. - Oh. - I'll be crying in that unemployment line. - Oh my gosh. I feel like I, my first year I cried a lot more than I do now. Now I have to be like really, really frustrated as a cry. I normally can hold it to like at home, or in the car. - I don't remember crying a lot my first couple of years 'cause I just like think I was so exhausted and I didn't have time to think about what was going on. But I see so many first and second year teachers crying now. Oh, the-- - It's a good way to release risks. - I need to hold it in 'cause I, one thing I even do is cry when I'm kids though. Still paying way too much for wireless? It's time to flip the script. 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See MintMobile for details. Brian is way better than we had a teacher leave first day. Oh, me day. She said, you know what? She said, "That'll do it for me." She said, "That'll do it." And as she left, she's like, "No, these kids ain't about to drive me to early grave." I'm not gonna do it. She said, "That'll do it." And as she left, she's like, "No, these kids ain't about to drive me to early grave." Oh! And you know what? I did cry the other day. This was a couple days ago. Well, two days ago. So, we just talked about this part of the road. I cried in front of the kids. So, I was late to work because I already told you guys this. But I got a speeding ticket. And. Where were you listening to again? What was the music you were listening to? I was listening to EDM. I'm an EDM girl. I love brave music. And I was just bumping. I was just bumping down the interstate. Just having the time. I was just. It's dark outside. I'm like, "It's Friday. I'm about to go record TOD. It's gonna be a good weekend." Thinking about all the things I got to do before I get to the airport. And the lights are flashing behind me. I'm like, "What's going on?" It took me forever to slow down. I was like, "This is dangerous to slow down." I'm like, "Look, is it hard to slow down?" I'm like, "Look, is it hard to slow down?" And I'm like, "Look, is it hard to slow down?" And I'm like, "You know, I'm shaken, it's scary." Yeah, it's scary. After he went back to his car with my license, I'm immediately sorry. I'm sorry, Granny. I was like, "What am I doing? I'm such an idiot." And I was like, "I was already going to be late now. I'm going to be really late." Oh my God, this wasn't worth it. What was I thinking? So I actually am covering for the librarian this week because she's been out for a long time. And I was just going to do a book check out for the whole school. So I got there, I got to school 15 minutes late. I mean, I am drenched in tears. Okay. So I'm walking into the library. The eighth grade class already in there. And I mean, I'm visibly crying. I couldn't get it together. And as soon as I walked in, I had already texted my principal and said, "I got pulled over." And as soon as I walked in, my teachers was like, "Hey, speedy Gonzalez." And I was like, "Tissue! It's not as funny. It's not even 9.30. Stop it. Maybe in an hour we can joke about it." And all the kids, all the kids were like, "Miscope, are you okay?" I was like, "No." I was like, "The kids have more empathy than you, Joe." I know. I couldn't believe, because I, I mean, this is probably the second time in 10 years, I've cried in front of the kids. I mean, nothing to do with work. Yeah. And they were really nice to me. They were really nice. They can't normally do like, unless it's like a teacher day, just really nice day. If a teacher day don't like start crying, they gon laugh at you. They gon. And they're like, "We don't cry in front of them." If a teacher day like start crying, they'd be like, "They really could hold it in." They're like, "Hey, y'all chill." Yeah. Yeah. But if it's a teacher day, feel like it's mean and hateful, you better keep your, you better hold your tears. Oh, yeah. It's like, Mario, when he gets to the mushroom, it makes them power up. They're like, "Oh, we didn't broke them." But it's a reality of like, that there's so much like, there's stress from the kids, there's stress from administrators, there's stress from parents. There's just a lot of stuff that goes on during the day. I think sometimes we cry too, because it's just overstimulating. Like, it's just overwhelming at some point. I don't even know who we don't love it. But it's like, when you get a second to sit down, you're like, "I have answered 672 questions. I still have to pee." And I didn't even realize I've been holding my pee since 10 a.m. and it's four. And I'm like, "You're probably crying because you have to pee." And you didn't realize you had to pee. Like, that's probably where the tears are coming from. Yeah. Maybe that's where I got my kidney stones from too, just holding it all the time. You know, there's nothing. I just use, oh no, my one and a half kidneys. I can't hold it anymore, because I had kidney cancer. So I need to go to the bathroom. I'm just sort of using that. I'd be like, "You know, I had emergency surgery over the summer." You should have a body. I'm a team right now. I use whatever I need to, because give me a little doctor's pee. See, my teens, the ones that I volunteer with, I told them about one medical incident, and why I was having a hard time sitting down and standing there. I had to have a bone marrow biopsy. Oh, God. And I was explaining to them, like, yeah, like I have, you know, high-red blood cell counts. So they want to make sure it's not leukemia or some type of rare bone marrow disease. Yeah. And so afterwards, they asked about how I went and I'm terrified of needles. I hate needles. Okay. My best friend is scared of needles. I literally have fainted by looking at a needle. Oh, yeah. So I'm telling them, I'm just giving them the whole rundown. I had to lay down on his table. And the doctor said, "Give me all these shots back here to numb it." And they took this huge thing and like, drill in. Yeah. Well, it's, it's, I'm explaining all this to them. Yeah. Everything I went through, one of my, one of my teenagers, he says, "So what you're saying is that you was just taking back shots all day." (laughing) Not my, not my hero getting, getting backstroke. That's it. And the past. Dude, they say the most inappropriate things as the most inappropriate. I'm like, did you, did that filter? (laughing) Through your mind before we came out so much. Yeah. I'm like, you know what, you play entirely too much, like I'm just saying, like, No, no, no, no, no, this is my teenage, yeah. This is a teenage. I'm just taking backstroke from Mr. Heels. Oh. I'm like, All right. I'm probably gonna get the girls with the key. Why do you know the terminology for it? Yeah. I'm calling you a mama. It's like, thank you so much for the empathy that I was kind of expecting to get and then get any out. Yeah. I've never left parents' teacher conferences or a crime. Yeah. I was like, like, what are you crying because like, there's no hope for this kids? I didn't like, I left and I left and I cried because I was frustrated one of the teachers didn't mean one of the teachers. Yeah. I was like, I didn't like, I didn't like the way that the child was presented to the parents. Oh, they were too harsh. Oh. No, it just, I ain't gonna go into more detail. Oh, it's just us here. I feel bad for the shut up. I don't know. I don't like to see kids get gamed up on. Oh, yeah. And I don't know. I just, it ain't sit with me and I felt some type of way during the meeting and I couldn't say anything because I, one I didn't want to cause conflict with my coworker because I have respect for them as a teacher. Even if we have different perspectives, I'm not going to disrespect them as an educator on what happens in their classroom. Yeah. But I just, I don't know. You just, the meeting itself just didn't really sit right with me and I cry when I live. Not cause I was mad at the student because I, I genuinely felt bad. Oh, see, I don't like the ones where, I mean, I've had teachers who, I, I listen to them do it, talk and I'm like, hold on. Now they're just paling on. Like at this point, they're just like, oh, in this. And then I hold on time out. Like there's some redeeming qualities too. Yeah, read the room. Like, that's like the, the first thing we learn is to start with a pause. And so many kids, I ain't even hold you. It'd be hard to start with a pause. They're hearing you're really good today. And I'm just, I'm supposed to bottom is not. You know, I got to try to find some else. No, like it's crazy because with the parents, I mean, of course I work with the young ones. Yeah. Soon as they pick up their kid, I'm letting them know like, hey, your kid, kid did amazing today. So that way when I do have to call you, it's not, oh, Mr. Hill, she's don't like my kid. No, Mr. Hill gave you 112 glowing reviews today. He just wasn't on his, he wasn't on his, on his, on his peasy cues. And we're going to need to get them back on that. That's smart to do that. I feel like most of the time when I'm an parent teacher conference with like my team of teachers, that we're pretty, pretty easy on the kids. You know, I think we collect, I've always worked with a good team though. You know, we, we really do see some issues, but this is how we're going to do it. We come up with a plan. We don't try to pile it on like that. But what's always awkward in a meeting when, yeah, the kid is like, not doing this stuff in the Eau class that they do on other people. It's awkward. Like it's not in my class. Yeah, it's awkward. So I mean, I just don't say nothing. Then they'd be like, why do I say nothing? I'm like, could you do this? And I'm like, what you want me to say? I'm having something up. Make up something. Yeah, sure. Like finishing and looks stupid. While y'all are saying he committed third to remarter. And I'm like, well, he just clipped some bushes that he wasn't supposed to. You know, he threw some scissors at me. He got a little distracted. So I don't know. I don't like the group of parent teacher conferences. Yeah, intimidating. It's intimidating. It's stressful for the team because it's like you don't want to condescend each other. Yeah. Like it's like plan chess. There's a lot of like moving parts to it. But because I'm one of them parents. I mean, I'm one of those teachers where now I'm gonna tell you I'm gonna. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I ain't gonna shoot the code. I'm not gonna be like, I feel bad that you're already getting in trouble. So I'm not gonna say no. And this what else you do. Yeah. Like I'm gonna, I'm gonna, you know, but it's always it's just awkward sometimes when they, they're doing some other people's class that they ain't doing it. Yeah. I don't know. They're like contribute to the conversation. Oh, that would pay. Hey, that was me. My dad would come. You got to go see all those teachers. I love your dad. Oh, my dad. The story. Get him on the podcast. Oh, my dad. Oh, my dad. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I'll be like, Hey, let's go over here to miss Pierce class. Yeah. Trying to lead him away from that one teacher. Because all it takes one bad report. The other six teachers might have like, Oh, so you think you could just be a client. Did I send you to clown school? Yeah. Okay. Next time I'm paying you in trouble, I'm gonna ask her that. Yeah. So I sent you to clown. That's a good quote. Okay. Okay. And I'm like, but dad, you remember what they know. They always bring up what the other kids are doing. And I'm like, do I think they're yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like, but six teachers gave you like, but you got seven teachers. All he heard was number seven. You have seven. You have to admit the seventh one. You know, he said it is like that's a good percentage. Yeah, actually, I feel like I'm brushing it. I've cried at school before from my, uh, like getting a text about something that my kid was doing. That's a lot of like, I'm a terrible. Pay him. What are you doing? I don't know. Like, there's just something about I've cried. I've cried. So parenting is hard. It is hard. I'm like, I grew up wild out there. And parenting is the scariest hood I've ever seen. I'm telling you, I bought a book the other day. This is this kind of reason. Good humans. I was like, Hey, I want how to make it to a 18th birthday. I'm going to have to read something because these behaviors that you are exhibiting is behavior. And I'm like, I love you. I don't know what to do because millennials, I feel like we still think we kids. We look for the adult. I know. And it's like we're teachers. We're kind of experts at behavior. Like discipline. And I'm like, what is your own? Listen, I'm like, my classroom management is decent. My house management. What is going on here? Yeah. What are we doing? No, my four year old, her teacher shout out to Ms. Vinsis. Hey. She sends a message to us. I think it was earlier this week. And all I saw was the picture first. And my daughter, it looked like my daughter had like a bruise on her lip. I was like, what happened to her? And then I read. And I was like, what's the point? I was like, what's the point? And I was like, what happened to her? And then I read. And I was like, oh, okay. Yeah. No, that's. Yeah. She took, she thought that the, she decided that the dry race marker is now lipstick. And she was putting it on. And then her teachers tell them, and I was like, yeah, that sounds, that sounds about right. All right. Like, the parents that come in and they're like, not my child. I literally am like, nope, that was, that was like the only surprise I had was when I went for a meeting. And I was like, I was like, I'm not going to be a teacher. I was like, I'm not going to be a teacher. I'm not going to be a teacher. [MUSIC PLAYING]