Telling your students...

ThePregosaurus · August 2014

So it's back to school time. The students are officially back Sept 2nd here (barf!) and I'm fairly certain my pregnancy won't go unnoticed. Does anybody have any fun ways of making an official announcement to your students or are you just gonna let them play the guessing game? I teach high schoolers and I'm pretty sure at least one of them is going to ask me if I'm pregnant (no filters), to which I plan to respond with a mortified expression and some kind of sarcastic comment about food and weight gain (yeah.. I basically plan to embarrass a student for about 10 seconds lol). If, for some reason, nobody asks though, I feel like I should make some kind of mention of it. So what have you gals been doing? Any fun ideas?

Hazel622 · August 2014

I teach labs to mostly freshmen in college and I wear a lab coat while teaching. I don't plan on mentioning it... I'm sure they will figure it out at some point. But I would like to think of funny comebacks if a student asks or points it out...

ltp10 · August 2014

I am a middle school counselor and none of my students or teachers knew before break began. Now that I am showing, some of the teachers have asked and others look at me funny

We have an all staff meeting Friday where we make announcements of things that happened over the summer, so I'll announce that I"m pregnant so they don't feel uncomfortable around me. As for the students, still don't know. I don't have all of them in class, but I'm sure I'll mention something the first week during my classes about how we have a new student to the school who will be in this class with us or something cheesy.

magentamom · August 2014

I teach in the humanities at the college level. I will share my news on the first day of classes, because I am due Dec 1 (before the semester ends). Some of my students are juniors/seniors whom I have worked with for several semesters, so I am sure they will be happy for me. Btw: male colleague in a different department said he had no idea when I casually mentioned my pregnancy. I am definitely showing, so...

aggiejenn37 · August 2014

I teach first grade- also no filter- so I'm sure they will ask about it/ pet my belly right away! Either way, I'm sending home a "meet the teacher" note with some basic info about me, including the fact that I'm expecting. I'm sure the parents will want to know about their child's teacher being out for 3 months!

ebilbao · August 2014

I teach high school and just told students before the end of last year. If they didn't know, I would just say it matter-of-factly as part of my intro for the year, since I am guessing you are going to have to address your maternity leave and coverage on the first day.

frenchy816 · August 2014

I'm not much help because I teach HS foreign language online, but my students have been finding out because I use the 'pregnancy brain' excuse when I forget to send them something or make a silly mistake and they squeal.

brookey79 · August 2014

I teach grade 1 and I'm just expecting that one of the kiddies will ask me on the first day of school! I'm sure the parents will

. I think it would be easier to have a fun way to tell them if it was later in the school year and I knew them all really well already. It's a bit different when they'll only know me pregnant.

SereJane · August 2014

I teach middle school and my teaching partner and I did a fill in the blank puzzle at the end of the school year that answered the question 'what is something to look forward to next school year?' Of course with 8th graders many started answering things about high school. The puzzle was The mylastname Babies. Once they got The and mylastname, a girl raised her hand and goes 'b'???? And then it was mayhem. Kids coming up to hug me, say congrats. They were so sweet-some kids even teared up. I had those kids for two years so it was pretty cool.

agsgrrl · August 2014

I am not a teacher but I have a question about the ones who teach younger ones, have you ever had a parent get weird like they don't want their child to know babies grow inside bellies? It's back to school haircut time and I'm a stylist. I was working on a regular client mom yesterday, she was asking about my pregnancy and I talked about baby/touched my belly. Her 8 year old daughter literally had no idea that that's where they came from. I kinda got a look like 'why did you have to mention your belly?' I don't expect that to happen a lot to me but it made me wonder if it ever got awkward for the expecting teacher?

katykat03 · August 2014

I teach 3 year olds and its kind of an abstract thing for them until I get bigger. I've noticed as my belly grows, they're starting ask if I have a baby in there and I'm being honest with them. I've also let a lot of the parents know, so they're aware I'll be out for a while around Christmas.

The kids that know and understand are excited and ask if its a boy or a girl and what the baby's name is, but more than half of my class is completely uninterested at this point. Lol. Its the age though.

cynplus2 · August 2014

I teach grade 7 to 200 students. I won't mention it unless someone asks me.

arynras · August 2014

A friend of mine who taught second grade did a game of hangman with her students to tell them. Last year, I told my kiddos (kindergarten) through a morning message. This year, I have it posted in my biography on the school website so the parents are aware. I'll probably tell the kiddos when I do a little "about me" session on the first day.

arynras · August 2014

Also, I've come to realize that students really appreciate knowing about you.
I remember being in middle school, high school and college and I always did better and was more interested in classes where the teacher or professor took 5-10 min out of the first day to tell us about themselves. And teaching elementary, throughout the year kids love to hear personal stories that can relate to the lessons. Hearing about their teacher's "outside of school" world is always intriguing as I think it is for any grade level. I think your students would appreciate it if you told them.

aggiejenn37 · August 2014

@arynras‌ I told my firsties at the end of last year with a morning message too! It was the cutest thing and they were all so excited.

ZAP12 · August 2014

I teach 3rd. I'll probably just mention it in my intro on the first day. "I have a two year old and she's getting a sister in December."

jlbeanza · August 2014

I'm a college professor, and my students could be distressed if they think there isn't a plan for their grades being completed, because I'm due the last day of finals. I know I'll have to share my plans the first day so they won't be stressed. They are adorable overachievers

mlee116 · August 2014

I know this is a little different but DH is a teacher and he included it in his intro on the first day.

ThePregosaurus · August 2014

Love it! This might be the one thing I'm looking forward to about school starting back up! This will be my second year with this group (except the freshmen) so I'm pretty positive I'll be getting some looks.

I had a dream last night that I went back to school and forgot to tell my coworkers. That's totally my subconscious being nervous about calling my department chair later today to tell him (eek!).

I want to second @Hazel622‌ 's thought- Anybody have any funny comebacks for, "Are you pregnant?"

mlee116 · August 2014

ThePregosaurus said:

Love it! This might be the one thing I'm looking forward to about school starting back up! This will be my second year with this group (except the freshmen) so I'm pretty positive I'll be getting some looks. I had a dream last night that I went back to school and forgot to tell my coworkers. That's totally my subconscious being nervous about calling my department chair later today to tell him (eek!). I want to second @Hazel622‌ 's thought- Anybody have any funny comebacks for, "Are you pregnant?"

I have a kind of mean sense of humor (or so they say!) so when someone asks me this, I fake an embarrassed look and say "Um, no!" Then when they look horrified, I say "Just kidding, yes!"

ThePregosaurus · August 2014

@mlee116‌ - Haha I'm the same way. I usually tell whoever said it that that's a dangerous question and make a sad face.

JCM285 · August 2014

I teach eighth grade and although I HATE making personal announcements (it took all I had to announce my pregnancy to principal and teachers on my team at the end of last year), I think I will just mention it on the first day of school so that...A. I can get it over with (my kids are 12 so they will figure it out anyway) and B. the kids will not be as stressed out as they would be if I waited to tell them that Ill be gone for a few months this year. I don't know why announcing makes me so nervous but I teach the same thing to three groups every day, so I'm sure that after the first group, Ill be feeling a bit better :-)

Mvvs82 · August 2014

I teach 7th and 8th grade and I'm in the same boat! Not sure how I'm going to break it to them as I'm still not showing too much. I might just let them figure it out on their own and then give them the "I'm shocked you asked me that question" look if someone asks, but that's mean.... muahahaha!

byrne15 · August 2014

Maybe it's just me...but I don't say a thing!

ebilbao · August 2014

This is a little off topic, but I just wore real shoes to school today and realized my feet are definitely bigger. My shoes, which are normally comfortable, were rubbing in bad places and were KILLING ME. Beware, teachers. Fat feet will sneak up on you.

emp156 · August 2014

i'm teaching 8th grade to 90 students. i'm moving with the same group i taught in 7th last year. they have no idea, but it will take them 30 seconds on day one to figure it out. i'm happy i'm with the same group - they will be really excited about it

LinziLoo09 · August 2014

I'm teaching college. I announced on the first day of class and reassured them that it wouldn't affect the course at all. Since it's a health and wellness class, I've been able to use a couple of pregnancy-related examples too lol --- like encouraging students to research every health claim they hear because of all of the misinformation they may get (ahem...arbitrary 140bpm cardio limit from my doctor).

littleboyermoose · August 2014

I don't feel like I am showing enough to make it obvious, and I was really hoping that I would be. I'm going to have to tell them. I don't think it is fair to let them think I will be around all year. I'm planning on taking a 5 month maternity leave, so there's that too. They will have me for less than half a year. Now I just need to figure out how.

colliebabe · August 2014

No one knew before I left but it's going to be obvious when I get back. I usually have a flat stomach and well, now I don't. Last time around I did have the students guess the sex and then put up the results, and the sub told them it was a girl. That was fun - I will probably do that again this time since we are Team Green again.

I teach 9th grade health, so it's super fun when we get to sexual education!

Want a personalized experience?

Telling your students...

Re: Telling your students...

Choose Another Board

Search Boards