The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Moments in Teaching

We all have that coworker we can’t stand, and if you don’t… we got some bad news for you.   Grab your tickets for the Bored Teachers Comedy Tour here: https://bit.ly/BTCTSpring25TOD   Get Teachers Off Duty Premium to access EXCLUSIVE content at: https://teachersoffduty.supercast.com/   Check out our MERCH! https://shop.boredteachers.com   Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.beacons.ai/teachersoffdutypod   _________________________________ There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a bit quirky, but some teachers really like to push those limits. Our hosts Gabe Dannenbring, Bri Richardson, and Anna Kowal know that better than anyone, and they're going to be sharing the worst things their fellow teachers do that drive the rest of the school crazy.  We all know that teachers are a unique breed, and sometimes their quirks can make things a bit… interesting. For example Bri shares a hilarious tale about a teacher who always insists on wearing a different themed outfit for each day of the week. While some may roll their eyes, tune in to find out Bri’s optimistic point of view on this situation. But it's not all quirks and icks, our hosts also discuss the delightful surprises their fellow teachers bring to the table. Whether it's homemade goodies at staff meetings or a sweet thank-you note, these teachers know how to dish out kindness and create a positive school culture.   Jump right to it! 2:35 - Defining the Perfect Coworker 8:50 - Coffee Run Etiquette 14:40 - Staff Room Confessions 22:15 - Classroom Fragrances Face-off 28:30 - What Success Really Means So grab that morning coffee and prepare to cringe with us on this week's episode of Teachers Off Duty.  Teachers get your perks!! This episode is brought to you by: Uncommon Goods | To get 15% off your next gift, go to https://www.uncommongoods.com/tod   Dinnerly | For up to 27 free meals, head to https://dinnerly.com/offer/tod and use code "TOD". _________________________________________________ Teachers Off Duty - a Bored Teachers podcast  

These kids really made all this hard work worth it!   Grab your tickets for the Bored Teachers Comedy Tour here: https://bit.ly/TODBTCT    Get Teachers Off Duty Premium to access EXCLUSIVE content at: https://teachersoffduty.supercast.com/   Check out our MERCH! https://shop.boredteachers.com   Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.beacons.ai/teachersoffdutypod   _________________________________   We can't speak for everyone, but we didn't become teachers for the pay, or the free coffee in the breakroom, we did it for the gratifying experience of helping students learn. Through Parent Teacher conferences,and surprise admin visits, it’s easy to lose track of all that, however this week our hosts Gabe Dannenbring, Anna Kowal, and Bri Richardson will be reminding you why we all became teachers in the first place.  Sometimes it's about the little things, small gestures that our students do that remind us that our hard work is appreciated. Bri reminisces how much a simple heartfelt compliment from a student can mean to her and how much it brightens up her entire day.  Now while we all appreciate the small things in life, sometimes it's really about those life changing revelations. As educators, our main goal is, and you’d never believe… is to educate. So we're excited to share our favorite moments of witnessing our students' transformations and those powerful "aha" moments.   Jump Right To It! 2:45 Teaching Triumphs Revealed 8:30 Classroom Confessions 15:00 Laughter in Learning 20:30 Student Stories That Inspire 26:50 Embracing Educational Challenges 35:10 Heartfelt Teaching Moments   So if you need a bit of an emotional pick me up, then tune into this week's episode of Teachers Off Duty.  Teachers get your perks!! This episode is brought to you by: Uncommon Goods | To get 15% off your next gift, go to https://www.uncommongoods.com/tod  _________________________________________________ Teachers Off Duty - a Bored Teachers podcast  

Casualties of the copy machine—every teacher's unsung Halloween horror. Grab your tickets for the Bored Teachers Comedy Tour here: https://bit.ly/TODBTCT    Get Teachers Off Duty Premium to access EXCLUSIVE content at: https://teachersoffduty.supercast.com/    Check out our MERCH! https://shop.boredteachers.com   Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.beacons.ai/teachersoffdutypod   _________________________________ It's about that time of the year, and we're getting pretty spooky on this week's episode of Teachers Off Duty. Our hosts Bri Richardson, Gabe Dannenbring, and Anna Kowal have been through a countless amount of Halloween shenanigans in their times as teachers, so this week they're going to be sharing their most hilariously spooky classroom stories. When people dress up for halloween, they normally want to be a marvel character, a police officer, or something along those lines, however our hosts had a few different ideas. We'll never forget how one year Gabe decided to go as the green M&M, and let's just say it didn't go over well.  As adults we are not exactly that scared of Freddy Kruger or Jason Voorhees, however there are plenty of things that terrify us in our daily lives. From being asked to stay after school to someone absolutely destroying the teacher bathroom, the life of an educator can truly be petrifying, and our hosts are sharing their funniest stories this week.   Jump right to it! 2:15 - Middle School Halloween Tales 7:30 - Unwanted Classroom Visitors 13:20 - Educational Equity vs. Fire Alarms 19:45 - Copy Machine Nightmares 25:30 - Teaching "The Miracle of Life" 32:10 - Staff Bathroom Mysteries   So grab your pumpkin spice latte and enjoy this spooky episode of Teachers Off Duty, and happy Halloween Teachers!   Teachers get your perks!! This episode is brought to you by: Mint Mobile | New customers get 3 months of unlimited premium wireless for just $15 a month by going to https://Mintmobile.com/TOD.    Dinnerly | Head to https://Dinnerly.com/offer/TOD and use code "TOD" for up to 27 free meals!   _________________________________________________ Teachers Off Duty - a Bored Teachers podcast  

You wouldn't believe what started this fight in the hallway….   Grab your tickets for the Bored Teachers Comedy Tour here: https://bit.ly/TODBTCT  TOD Live episodes at the Saved By the Beach Bored Teachers Comedy Fest 2025: https://www.savedbythebeachfest.com     Get Teachers Off Duty Premium to access EXCLUSIVE content at: https://teachersoffduty.supercast.com/   Check out our MERCH! https://shop.boredteachers.com   Listen to the podcast anywhere you stream your favorite shows: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/69pLuB4cKPCP8UG3eCImfP Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teachers-off-duty/id1602160612   Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.beacons.ai/teachersoffdutypod   _________________________________ We’ve all seen a good fight in our days, and they can get pretty intense but this week on Teachers Off Duty our hosts Gabe Dannenbring, Bri Richardson, and Anna Kowal share some of the funnier sides of these classroom feuds. As teachers, we all know when kids get caught up in their feelings, they can really say the wildest things. From cafeteria crusades to classroom quarrels, we’ve really seen it all, and you wouldn't believe some of the things these kids decide is worth getting into a screaming match over.  Don't worry, we have better comebacks than most of our students, and the funnier kids have taught us theirs, so you'd be sure to laugh at this week's episode of Teachers Off Duty. Teachers get your perks!! This episode is brought to you by: Better help | BetterHelp | Visit https://betterhelp.com/TOD  to get 10% off your first month. Manscaped | Visit https://Manscaped.com and get 20% off + free shipping with the code TOD at checkout.   _________________________________________________ Teachers Off Duty - a Bored Teachers podcast

You know, if the teacher is 15 minutes late we get to go home… Right?  🚨 Big Announcement! 🚨 The Teachers Off Duty Podcast is hosting its very FIRST LIVE event—and YOU’RE invited! Join us for an epic 3-day getaway in Cancun at the first ever Bored Teachers Comedy Festival! 🌴 Get ready for sun, laughter, and unforgettable moments with your teacher besties. Sign up to be the first to know when tickets go on sale for this ultimate teacher vacation! ✈️ savedbythebeachfest.com Grab your tickets for the Bored Teachers Comedy Tour here: https://bit.ly/TODBTCT   Get Teachers Off Duty Premium to access EXCLUSIVE content at: https://teachersoffduty.supercast.com/ Check out our MERCH! https://shop.boredteachers.com Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.beacons.ai/teachersoffdutypod _________________________________ Certainly they weren’t talking about teachers when they were making the rules for school, right? Well, this week on Teachers Off Duty our hosts Gabe Dannenbring, Bri Richardson, and Jess Smith have a chat about the rules that they don't have to follow at school.  As teachers, we are entitled to a couple privileges, and were not just talking about free coffee in the teacher's lounge. We're talking about the rules that just don't apply to us, such as being able to check our phones in class, or taking a bit of a long bathroom break. At the end of the day teaching does have its privileges, or should these double standards be actually enforced? Tune in as we share our thoughts! While on paper it seems pretty cut and dry, we should all follow the same rules, teachers have quite a bit to deal with when it comes to the chaos of the classroom. Us teachers try to play it cool, but we all know that the overstimulation that can come with teaching can become extremely mentally taxing; so maybe teachers taking an extra ten minutes on their bathroom break is the least of our problems.    Jump right to it! 2:34 - Teacher Tardiness Tales 9:15 - Classroom Confessions 16:42 - After-Hours Teacher Antics 24:58 - Rule-Breaking Revelations 33:11 - Staff Meeting Secrets 39:47 - Debate: Classroom Chaos So don’t listen to podcasts while in the classroom because we do think that's against the rules… But if you do, make sure it's this week's episode of Teachers Off Duty. _________________________________________________ Teachers Off Duty - a Bored Teachers podcast

What qualities does it take to make a parent easy or difficult to work with?    Grab your tickets for the Bored Teachers Comedy Tour here: https://bit.ly/TODBTCT    Get Teachers Off Duty Premium to access EXCLUSIVE content at: https://teachersoffduty.supercast.com/   Check out our MERCH! https://shop.boredteachers.com   Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.beacons.ai/teachersoffdutypod _________________________________   The dynamics of teacher-parent relationships can be dicey to say the least, and on this week's episode of Teachers Off Duty, our hosts Gabe Dannenbring, Bri Richardson, and Jess Smith are going to go over the trials and tribulations with dealing with parents.  From defining boundaries to learning to say “no”, trying to collaborate with our students' parents can get quite difficult, but we have some tips and tricks to nailing your next parent-teacher conference. For example, apparently it’s a teacher's job to make sure their students are regular? The amount of times we’ve been asked to check our students' poops for problems is absolutely insane! Talk about a crappy job amiright?  It's important to remember at the end of the day we should all be working together to make sure we make the best situation for our students to grow and learn. Our hosts finish off their conversation by pointing out how absurd it is that teachers and parents can be at odds with each other, because we’re truly on the same team.    Jump right to it! 3:50 - Working with Parents 7:58 - Personal Experiences of Overwork 7:00 - Parent-Teacher Relationships and Perspectives 16:20 - Challenges of Communication 23:00 - Dealing with Difficult Parent Requests 32:00 - Embarrassing Parent-Teacher Conferences 42:30 - Setting Boundaries 45:00 - Balancing Parent Expectations and Teacher Workload 54:30 - Teamwork Between Teachers and Parents   So don't worry too much, you have plenty of time before that parent teacher conference, so sit back, relax, and enjoy this week's episode of Teachers Off Duty.   Teachers get your perks!! This episode is brought to you by: Brisk Teaching | Head to https://www.briskteaching.com  and download Brisk Teaching for free today. _________________________________________________ Teachers Off Duty - a Bored Teachers podcast  

As R.L Stein once said, viewers beware, you're in for a scare…   Grab your tickets for the Bored Teachers Comedy Tour here: https://bit.ly/TODBTCT    Get Teachers Off Duty Premium to access EXCLUSIVE content at: https://teachersoffduty.supercast.com/   Check out our MERCH! https://shop.boredteachers.com   Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.beacons.ai/teachersoffdutypod   _________________________________ Our hosts Gabe Dannenbring, Bri Richardson, and Jess Smith celebrate Halloween on this week's episode of Teachers Off Duty by diving into the world of ghost stories, haunted schools, and eerie encounters in the classroom. Do you believe in the paranormal? Because we do, and we share our strategy on how we would react to some of the most spine-tingling spectral situations you could imagine. It's all in good fun... unless you’re afraid of ghosts! Kids have the craziest imaginations, and as teachers we get to hear all the terrifying tales that they end up coming up with. Apparently anything can be haunted these days, we recently heard a story about a possessed pottery wheel named Patrick? We don't know what our students think is so scary about a pottery wheel, but it's definitely an entertaining idea.    Jump right to it! 9:39 - The Harry Potter Debate 16:55 - Do You Believe in Ghosts? 24:36 - Ouija Board in Class? 28:06 - Spooky Stories & Haunted Schools 38:19 - The Swing Set Ghost So get prepared to sleep with your lights on, because we're getting pretty spooky on this week's episode of Teachers Off Duty.    Teachers get your perks!! This episode is brought to you by: MintMobile | New customers get 3 months of unlimited premium wireless for just $15 a month by going to https://Mintmobile.com/TOD.  Brisk Teaching | Head to https://www.briskteaching.com and download Brisk Teaching for free today. _________________________________________________ Teachers Off Duty - a Bored Teachers podcast

So, why do we need to do a dance party in the staff meeting again?    Grab your tickets for the Bored Teachers Comedy Tour here: https://bit.ly/TODBTCT  Get Teachers Off Duty Premium to access EXCLUSIVE content at: https://teachersoffduty.supercast.com/ Check out our MERCH! https://shop.boredteachers.com  Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.beacons.ai/teachersoffdutypod   _________________________________   You’d think staff meetings would be boring but strap in for these ridiculous stories! Our hosts Gabe Dannenbring, Bri Richardson, and Jess Smith are about to spill the tea on some of the funniest stories from the most bizarre staff meetings they've attended on this week's episode of Teachers Off Duty. As teachers we deal with too many shenanigans to count, even in our staff meetings; from a principal making teachers run in a "flock of geese" formation (whatever that means), to staff meetings that unexpectedly turned into singalongs or dance parties, they've seen it all! By the way - beware of those “anonymous” surveys. You won’t believe what one principal made his teachers do after receiving negative feedback. We don’t want to give too much away, but it’s pretty petty.    Jump right to it! 8:31 - Worst Staff Meeting Experiences 12:01 - Therapy and Boundary Setting for Teachers 13:31 - Cahoots and Gamifying Staff Meetings 16:31 - Teachers Quitting Dramatically 19:01 - Funny Games at Staff Meetings 23:31 - Fights at Staff Meetings   We promise we won’t be as boring as your usual staff meeting as you join us for this week's episode of Teachers Off Duty.   Teachers get your perks!! This episode is brought to you by: BetterHelp | Visit https://betterhelp.com/TOD to get 10% off your first month. Brisk Teaching | Head to https://www.briskteaching.com and download Brisk Teaching for free today.   _________________________________________________ Teachers Off Duty - a Bored Teachers podcast

Can saying 'no' actually make you a better teacher?   Grab your tickets for the Bored Teachers Comedy Tour here: https://bit.ly/TODBTCT    Get Teachers Off Duty Premium to access EXCLUSIVE content at: https://teachersoffduty.supercast.com/    Check out our MERCH! https://shop.boredteachers.com   Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.beacons.ai/teachersoffdutypod   _________________________________   From saying "no" to overwork and underappreciated responsibilities, to discussing the harsh financial realities teachers face, our hosts Gabe Dannenbring, Leslie Rob, and Tyler Jackowski are FED UP. From dodging lunch duty like a ninja to telling yourself it’s OKAY to take a mental health day, our hosts Gabe Dannenbring, Leslie Rob, and Tyler Jackowski are FED UP with the everyday struggles of balancing work, life, and sanity. Leslie, Gabe, and Tyler share their funniest stories about first-year teaching nightmares, side hustles (yes, some of us have to work with our students... as bosses), and the art of avoiding unnecessary extra duties. Plus, we stir some drama on why coaching might not be as glamorous as it sounds and how learning to say “no” can actually make you a better teacher. Listen up as we break down the myth of summers off, why teachers should vent (but wisely!), and the best ways to embrace your teacher tribe. And don’t worry—we’ve got plenty of laughs to get you through those tough days. Tune in or we’ll assign you extra recess duty! Teachers get your perks!! This episode is brought to you by: Brisk Teaching | Head to https://www.briskteaching.com and download Brisk Teaching for free today. _________________________________________________ Teachers Off Duty - a Bored Teachers podcast

From breakups to viral TikToks, student drama isn't what it used to be… Grab your tickets for the Bored Teachers Comedy Tour here: https://bit.ly/TODBTCT   Check out our MERCH! https://shop.boredteachers.com Get Teachers Off Duty Premium to access EXCLUSIVE content at: https://teachersoffduty.supercast.com/   Listen to the podcast anywhere you stream your favorite shows: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/69pLuB4cKPCP8UG3eCImfP Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teachers-off-duty/id1602160612   Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.beacons.ai/teachersoffdutypod   _________________________________   Welcome back to Teachers Off Duty! This week our hosts Gabe Dannenbring, Leslie Rob, and Tyler Jackowski spill the tea, and share their wildest classroom drama stories! We all know how dramatic our students can be, and it's been like that for years, however unlike previous generations, they now have a platform to share their drama right in the palm of their hands. With the high availability of social media and technology, drama in school has been heavily amplified, and almost impossible to escape. While students used to be able to break up with their school sweetheart, and only have her immediate friends talk about them, now kids are dealing with the entire school knowing every detail of a potentially messy breakup. So with all that being said, how do us teachers deal with all this drama? Tune in to find out! Nowadays, most of our social life has found itself on the internet, which is great for keeping up with long distance friends or sharing cat memes with your mother, but with all these positives there's always the flip side to it. We're talking about online bullying, and as social media influencers, we’ve dealt with our fair share of haters, and this week we're going to be sharing not only our negative experiences with people on the internet, but also how we've been able to deal with online negativity.   Finally, we wrap up with a discussion on how drama spreads quickly on social media, and how it often leads to unintended consequences. We share our personal experiences of social media drama in the classroom, but most importantly we emphasize the importance of maintaining a positive and supportive community both online and in real life.   Jump right to it! 6:54 - Student Drama in the Classroom 13:12 - Middle School Relationships and Breakups 21:10 - Promise Rings and Teenage Love 23:33 - April Fool's Laxative Prank 25:30 - Teacher Relationships and Drama 31:30 - Social Media's Impact on Student Drama 38:42 - Bullying and Positivity in Social Media   So tell your friends because we just posted some spicy drama on this week's episode of Teachers Off Duty.