• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Write On!

With Jamie Edwards

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • BLOG
  • About Me
  • Curriculum
    • Writing Program Lessons
      • Introduction to Writing
      • Introductions & Conclusions
      • Figurative Language
      • Sentence Fluency & Grammar
      • Supporting Evidence
    • Writing Prompts
      • Argumentative Prompts
      • Argumentative Social Issues
      • Compare & Contrast Prompts
      • Expository Prompts
      • Holiday Prompts
      • Narrative Prompts
      • Novels, Short Stories, and More!
      • Persuasive Prompts
      • Text Dependent Analysis/Citing Text Evidence Prompts
    • Citing Text Evidence Prompts
    • Public Speaking Lessons
    • Grammar Lessons
  • Shop
    • Amazon
    • Teachers Pay Teachers
  • Professional Development

Teachers’ Pet Peeves

September 19, 2018 By Jamie Edwards Leave a Comment

0shares
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

The older I get, the more it seems as if the little sayings and phrases I heard growing up are falling by the wayside. Every so often my students remind me of this in a truly spectacular way. A perfect example occurred when I introduced an expository essay topic that was going to be the focus of their assignment. This writing prompt for both high school and middle school was guaranteed to grab their attention. They would love the instructional video; I loved the detailed lesson plans, and everyone loves the essay tutorial which takes them through writing an expository step by step. The only thing I hadn’t counted on was my students now knowing the term “pet peeve”. Okay, this lesson will also introduce them to a great little saying.

Pet Peeves

Now, I had been charmed by the illustration of a “pet peeve” and had used it for the introductory slide because I assumed my students would get a kick out of it, also. Well, we all know what happens when you assume.

It began with a chorus of, “What is that?” and then they started guessing. My personal favorite was from a student who assured me he knew what it was. He told me that his grandma had told him about pet rocks and the illustration was a picture of a pet rock named Peeves. After I fended off the inevitable questions about why we had rocks as pets because “they aren’t alive, you know” I explained the concept of a pet peeve.

A pet peeve is a particular thing that bugs you every single time. If your pet peeve is ridiculous student statements, you’re in the right place. A peeve is an annoyance, and a pet peeve is an annoyance that’s nurtured like a pet— it’s something someone can never resist complaining about.

As teachers, we have more than our fair share of peeves, pet and otherwise. Of course, the ones that come to mind immediately are student centered. So, let’s take a look at Pet Peeves 2018 – Student Edition.

Image by © Jacquie Boyd

When Students Say . .

  • Are you going to grade this?         No, I’m just assigning this to torture you.
  • You’re the only teacher who . . .    Who what? Cares enough to try and teach you?
  • None of my other teachers . . .      I’m sorry; you’ve mistaken me for someone who would care about that.
  • EVERYBODY failed the test.          Really?!? Everybody?!?!? Not one person in all of my classes passed it?    And your parents believed that?
  • NOBODY understands what’s going on.     I refer you to the answer for EVERYBODY failed the test with a few adjustments.
  • Are we doing work today?             No, I have a DJ and pizza waiting for us outside in the courtyard. Party!!!
  • Do we have to read this?               Of course not. I thought you could just put it on your head and let the words sink in by osmosis.
  • Can I go to the bathroom?            I don’t know. Is there a physical problem I need to be aware of?
  • Do we have to use complete sentences?          You do realize this is English class, don’t you?
  • When do we get to choose our own seats?       After you have graduated high school, college, completed student teaching, and have a classroom of your own.
  • You never told us that was due today.             Right, I’ve only announced it every day for the last two weeks and the due date has also been on the whiteboard for two weeks.
  • I’m gonna call my mom.                Tell her Ms. Edwards said, “Hi.”

When Students Do . . .

Now, a close second to “When Students Say . . .” is “When Students Do . . .”; therefore, let’s take a look at some of their antics that can drive a teacher to distraction.  

  • jump up and hit the door frame EVERY time they go in or out.
  • beat on the desk with their pencils like a demented Energizer bunny.
  • refuse to punctuate and capitalize
  • call you by other teachers’ names
  • cheat, and worse, cheat badly
  • take 10 minutes to tell me a convoluted story that ends in “And that’s why I didn’t get my assignment done.”
  • tell me they are hot and to turn on the air conditioning, but are wearing a long-sleeved hoodie over their shirt.
  • hide their phone on their lap and try to have a text conversation with someone.
  • come to class with absolutely nothing – no books, pens, paper, brain.
  • throw away the essays I spent hours grading without looking at anything more than the grade.
  • tell me they can’t do the assignment and haven’t even tried to yet.

When Parents . . .

Now, if it seems as though all teacher pet peeves are student based, let me squash that idea. Parent behavior can elicit just as many, if not more, peeves as student behavior. In fact, parent behavior is more peeve inducing because they are adults and therefore, should know better. The operative word is should. Unfortunately, this is frequently not the case. And so, without further delay . . .

When parents . . .

  • call in a furious rage to set up a conference and then NEVER SHOW UP. It’s even better when it happens on a Friday, and you have to worry about it all weekend.
  • email you daily to ask about precious pumpkin’s grades because they are afraid to ask the child because he might get mad at them. I am not making this up. She actually said she didn’t want him to be mad at her, and she wanted us to email her every day instead of just talking to her child.
  • show up 45 minutes late to pick up their child from an after-school program, because, hey, I’m just a teacher. I don’t have a life or family and would be honored to sit outside a school in the dark with your child while you finished shopping.
  • wait beside your car at the end of the day. If the word that comes to mind is stalker, you hit the nail on the head.
  • threaten to call the district office because they don’t like a grade their child EARNED. Hey, if you don’t like the grade, maybe she should have spent more than 10 minutes in the class before mine doing it.
  • are helicopter parents. Nuff said!

But, this all pales in comparison to my BIGGEST PET PEEVE.

The latest parenting craze driving teachers crazy.

Lawnmower parents

These are the parents who go to whatever lengths necessary to prevent their child from having to face adversity, struggle or failure. Instead of preparing their children for challenges, they mow obstacles down so their kids won’t experience them.

This is one of the most disturbing trends in education that I have witnessed. Although these parents are probably well-meaning, what they are actually doing is emotionally crippling their children. These are kids who will grow up never having to face adversity or learn coping skills. They will be unable to rely on problem-solving techniques they should have honed through the years.

 

Well, there you have it. Teachers’ Pet Peeves. I’m sure I didn’t even scratch the surface, but it’s nice to know you’re not alone out there – feeling peeved.

Related

Filed Under: Resources, Student Wrangling, Survival Tips Tagged With: cheating, parents, pet peeves, students

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

I'm a book reading, animal loving student wrangling, lesson writing teacher.
I love sharing ideas, resources, and school survival tips on my blog.
Learn More About Me

Visit My Stores!

Teachers Pay Teachers Amazon

New From The Blog

Alexa in the Classroom: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Censoring Our Thoughts: Banned Books

Teachers’ Pet Peeves

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Back in Time

Before Footer

My walking accountability partner. #slowandsteady My walking accountability partner.
#slowandsteady #oldschoolandstillcool
#MentorMonday We’ve all had THISE conferences; #MentorMonday

We’ve all had THISE conferences; the ones that you dread having but know that it has to be done. If you’ve been teaching for longer than 15 minutes, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

During one such conference, a certain teacher (who will remain nameless - Literary Sherri 😂) was seriously discussing the student’s lack of effort and attitude in class. At one point, she leaned forward to emphasize her point, and her chair 🪑shot out from underneath her.

After a couple of awkward seconds, 🤦‍♀️ the father of the student walked around the desk and helped her back into her chair.

She continued on with the conference 🤷‍♀️ as if nothing had happened.

Moral of the story - 👍🏻 Always remain calm - even when you fall out of your chair.

Anyone else out there have a “fall out of your chair” moment to share?

#WriteOn #oldschoolandstillcool #neverletthemseeyousweat #LiterarySherrirocks
This was a hard prompt to write, mainly because I This was a hard prompt to write, mainly because I cry like a baby whenever I read this book. 📓📝
It did give me one of the coolest moments of my teaching career, though. I was reading the book aloud (because I believe in reading aloud no matter what age) and got choked up. Okay, I admit it. I was crying like a baby. 😭😭😭
I told the kids to give me a second and as I sat there trying to pull myself together, I heard a voice continue reading where I had stopped. When that voice quit reading another took over. 📚
I was still crying, but now it was for an entirely different reason. I’ll always treasure that memory and hope this resource can help you make some memories of your own. 
Check it out; I think you’ll like it. 
Link in comments. 📓📝
Write On!
Jamie
#writingprompts #oldschoolsndstillcool #WriteOn #wheretheredferngrows #olddanandlittleann #teachingmemories #sometimestheysurpriseyou
#accfcg #accfcg

Footer

Lessons on TpT to check out!

  • Awesome Videos
  • All Bundles
  • Grammar & Vocabulary Lessons
  • Writing Prompts
  • Text Evidence Writing Lessons
  • Text Dependent Analysis Prompts
  • Public Speaking Lessons
  • Writing Program Lessons
  • Home
  • BLOG
  • About Me
  • Curriculum
  • Shop
  • Professional Development
Content Copyright Write On! With Jamie 2017-2021. Site Design By A Little Peace of Africa

Cookies

This site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some are essential to make our site work. Others help us improve your user experience or to allow us to track behavior and user patterns. By using the site you agree to these terms. View the terms here.