#the teacher chronicles

[babyseraphim]

the best part of being a music teacher is that i get to teach a 12 year old kid to play video game themes on the piano and then teach an amazing 70 year grandma to sing jazz standards all in the span of an hour and a half

and then i had, like, 4 last minute cancellations, so now i get to sit and work on writing while still getting paid to be in the studio

[this-is-lit]

The Teacher Chronicles

by Abi Black

Meet Jane Austen and her three friends — Megan Thyme, Daisy Rhyme, and Alexandria Lions — dedicated educators. Jane, passionate about teaching and journalism, faces a crisis when Adrian Darcy threatens to dismantle the school's thriving journalism program. Determined to save it, Jane enlists her friends' support, but each are grappling with personal challenges of their own. As pressures mount and friendships are tested, these four women must navigate love, loss, and the complexities of their careers. With resilience and unwavering friendship, they discover that sometimes the greatest lessons are learned outside the classroom.

The Teacher Chronicles by Abi Black is the story of Jane, Daisy, Alex, and Megan, four teachers who experience turmoil on the job and in their personal lives over several months during the school year. The narrative is an ensemble cast, but Jane Austen, whose storyline loosely mimics her namesake’s, is the A-plot.

Black’s tale is an idealized fantasy version of teaching and follows the camaraderie of four friends during adversity caused by the school board and their own misunderstandings. Chronicles is a bubblegum pop, twee narrative that would make an excellent adaptation for an original Hallmark movie. The women have stereotypical relationship drama, there are a lot of tears, and storylines are wrapped up tidily with the promise of happily-ever-afters. Jane, Daisy, Alex, and Megan are interchangeable as characters who haven’t matured much past high-school mindsets and give the impression of listening to your friend vent about their problems and realizing they are the problem. Much of the interpersonal conflicts in this tale could be easily solved with basic communication, and bigger conflicts are solved more so with deus ex machinas and less so with the characters taking the initiative to fix their own problems. Emotional beats fall flat with characters telling their feelings instead of showing, and several plot points that would have benefited from detail to engage the reader and convince them of relationship building are glossed over with time jumps. The women’s love interests don’t exist much past providing plot points and are solid examples of “women writing men,” and there are one too many sage older mentors who only exist to pop in with kernels of wisdom. The reader must keep in mind at all times that this story is meant to be a fantasied telling to suspend their disbelief.

Readers who love soapy dramas with happy endings and aren’t looking to put too much thought into a quick book may find this novel good for a light read during a commute or a waiting room. Readers who love Austen, are real-life educators, or are used to a bit more substance even with their fun reads may want to give this a pass.

I received an ACR from Reedsy Discovery

[gothamite-rambler]

Talia's surprise visit

Carrie: Damian, there's... There's a woman at the window holding a sign with your name on it.

Damian (turning to face the window): Hm? Oh not today!

He caught sight of his mother, Talia, her nose nearly glued to the glass. The moment she noticed him, she lifted a small cloth lunch bag and waved enthusiastically with her other hand.

Damian groaned and buried his face in his hands. Carrie chuckled, patting his shoulder as Talia began knocking at the window.

Carrie: Is she a crazy person? We can notify the principal.

Damian: She’s not crazy—just a little... unhinged. But no, that’s just my mother.

Carrie: Oh... from Canada?

Damian: Yep, she’s visiting and freaking promised she wouldn’t do any more ‘surprise’ visits.

Carrie: She’s done this before?

Damian: This wasn’t the first school I attended since moving to Gotham.

Carrie giggled as Talia knocked on the window and gestured for it to be opened. Thankfully, they were on the first floor this time, but Damian was still not in the mood for this today. A kid wandered over and slid the window open.

Talia (loudly): Dami! Damian! Over here, baby!

Talia waved enthusiastically while Damian kept his face hidden in his hands. Some kids snickered at the spectacle, but Carrie shot them a glare, shushing a few of them.

Carrie: Um, Dami, she’s calling you.

Damian (muffled): I’m not here.

Carrie: He says he’s not here!

Talia tilted her head, laughing, clearly unfazed by her son’s embarrassment.

Talia: Just tell him I brought a snack! Also, where's your teacher? She left you kids alone?

An art student with paint splotches on his cheeks chimed in from nearby.

Kid: Bathroom break.

Talia (shaking her head): Unprofessional. I’ll have a word with her.

Talia smoothly stepped through the window, making her entrance into the classroom.

Damian: She’s coming in through the window?

Carrie: Yep.

A few seconds passed, and the familiar scent of Talia's perfume reached Damian.

Damian: She’s next to me?

Carrie (snickering): Yep... Sorry, I tried to stop her.

Carrie waved at Talia.

Carrie: Hi, Dami’s mom, I’m his friend, Carrie.

Talia clapped her hands excitedly, then scooped up Damian, spinning him around in a tight hug.

Talia: Look at you, making friends!

Damian: Mother—

Talia: Don’t tell your father I dropped by! I dare the school to try to drag me out of here though!

Damian: Mother!

Talia: I came for a surprise visit to bring you a healthy lunch. I don’t trust these cheap meals.

Damian: Mother!!

Talia rubbed Damian's cheek affectionately.

Talia: Have you been taking his vitamins?

Damian (trying to scramble away): Mother, you’re embarrassing me!

Talia: Oh... sorry.

Talia dropped Damian to the ground where he landed with a loud thud, grunting in surprise as a group of kids erupted into giggles. Rubbing his sore backside he sat there, his face burning with embarrassment as he groaned, while Talia looked on with an awkward grin.

Talia: Dami, do you need me to handle these kids' parents?

Damian: No, please! Remember, you’re trying to be less... you.

Talia: Aww, you remembered! You’re one of the reasons I keep my alignment chaotic neutral!

Damian (crossing his arms): Thanks for using the term I suggested. I actually appreciate that.

Talia ruffled his hair affectionately again. While he didn’t mind it, embarrassment washed over him, and he wished to slip out of the spotlight. Just then, the absent teacher walked back into the room, saw Talia, and frowned disapprovingly.

Teacher: Lady, I told you to stop entering my classroom through the window!

Talia shrugged, unconcerned, and set Damian’s bento box lunch on his desk before heading toward the doorway, where the teacher pointed.

Talia (playfully threatening): Don’t get cocky, lady. You’re messing with the wrong woman.

Teacher: I was raised in the worse parts of Staten Island and have been stabbed with scissors by an irate middle schooler. You don’t scare me, get to stepping.

Talia rolled her eyes and exited, frustration palpable.

Carrie: Your mom is...

Damian (sitting back down): Don’t finish that sentence.

Carrie (shrugging with a playful grin): My parents embarrass me too—trust me, I get it.

[wall-maria-around-ba-sing-se]

“I hate Tatsu, he’s the worst character in Xenoblade X”: boring, cliché, 50/50 chance the person saying this simply picked it up off the internet. he’s not even that bad, really

“I hate Bozé, he’s the worst character in Xenoblade X”: sublime, informed, 100% chance the person saying this has not only played the game but likely has also beaten it and completed all of the affinity quests

[the-gods-and-me]

update to the Cool Christian Religious Studies Professor Chronicles

showed him my Hermes devotional bracelet and my Athena devotional necklace, he was super curious about them and loved that i honour my Gods just by walking around!

OH and there was an Odysseus of Ithaca sticker on my other RS teacher's journal, she was so happy i knew who he was! she has a degree in ancient history, too!

[queerstudiesnatural]

my school is having children tell the principal when they feel like adults are being unfair or mean or disrespectful to them or to other kids, and i think that's awesome. like for example this man who looks after them during lunch time allegedly went through the teacher's desk to look at their homework and then proceeded to comment on how some kids did really badly, and compared kids and made mean comments about their school abilities. and they're being listened to and the man is being questioned and might get sanctioned. i think giving kids this voice and this ability to tell other adults they trust when they feel like they're being treated unfairly is so important. children in schools are in such a vulnerable position, with so many different adults who have some kind of power over them, so to have this allotted time to share how they feel about the adults around them can make a huge difference.

[hazellevessque]

IT CAME!! IT FINALLY CAME!!

…the big one

[heronchildlove]

What if... a modern AU where James is Lucie's much older brother, like, he is in college and she is still in pre-school or kindergarten, and one day both his parents are busy so James needs to take lil Lucie to school...

Only to be met with Matthew, the most handsome and most adorable TA ever, greeting kids and parents for this class and making James completely flustered when he says "Oh, so you must be the awesome older brother Luce is always talking about, it's so great to finally meet you, Jamie!" to the point he completely forgets anything else in the world while he listens to Matthew talk about Lucie and what a hoot she is in class just because he doesn't want to stop listening to his voice and then James is very, very late for class that day.

And he starts taking Lucie to school on his way to college muuuch more often after that.

[akkivee]

saburo is such a hater no matter where he is LMAO

[onceuponaoneshotfanfic]

Everyone tell me how cute my Narnia poster is

[babyseraphim]

gonna be honest: it’s a miracle that my vocal students ever understand what the fuck i’m talking about

[lily4731]

In one of my classes today the teacher started speaking of Joyeuse and Durendal.

He then asked if we know some inscriptions ingraved into swords, and my brain was like "I am Cortana, of the same steel and temper as Joyeuse and Durendal".

[therealkaidertrash21]

i just finished my essay about kaider being a good ship, that is almost 600 words long, which is 3x longer than what I'm trained to do in FCE training. And it's super formal because I low-key used it as a way to exercise what I learned for FCE.

should I post it?

[keykeykillag]

…it’s Ms. Kiera 🍏👩🏾‍🏫

[paranoid-radio]

Public school in the rural south is so weird because you have teachers being blatantly transphobic during class (when it doesn't relate to the topic at all) + there's literal vampire smut that you can checkout from the school library with no issue or questions at all

[queerstudiesnatural]

so i ask my students at the end of every music class if one of them wants to play us something on the piano or sing something they've been working on. and today was my last day before the summer holidays so i insisted a bit more than usual because they won't get another chance before september. and at the very end of the class one of my first graders raised his hand and he said he knew a song. i was kind of expecting like a simple do re mi kind of tune since he's only 6, but he got up and played a full piece with two hands that he knew entirely by heart. we all looked at him like 😯. like omg i didn't even know he played piano, and the kid waits until the very last day to be like oh btw i'm a musical genius