Audrey Macmillan

Part time teacher of maths (and s'times computing) full time Mum to fab 9 yr old and sleep averse 7 yr old! Avid reader, aging rock fan, follower of politics.

[Audrey Macmillan @audproctor77]

@mrallanmaths One of my top Higher kids said they should have given us textbooks…

[Audrey Macmillan @audproctor77]

@cierzo1 @GCSE_Macbeth I read it as Daisy saying the article suggests all that is needed is tinted overlays and weighted blankets…and that’s ridiculous.

[researchED Scotland @researchEDScot1]

So it’s @tombennett71 time, and here’s his 9 point behaviour plan for Scotland’s schools. It’s based on visiting schools around the world and finding out what works best. #rEDEdinburgh

[Dr Gianfranco Conti @gianfrancocont9]

12 non-negotiables when teaching tough classes (from my workshop on Motivating reluctant learners).

[Audrey Macmillan @audproctor77]

🥹😢

[Travis Akers 🇺🇸 @travisakers]

A message from a Kindergarten teacher:

After forty years in the classroom, my career ended with one small sentence from a six-year-old:

“My dad says people like you don’t matter anymore.”

No sneer. No malice. Just quiet honesty — the kind that cuts deeper because it’s innocent. He blinked, then added, “You don’t even have a TikTok.”

My name is Mrs. Clara Holt, and for four decades, I taught kindergarten in a small Denver suburb. Today, I stacked the last box on my desk and locked the door behind me.

When I started teaching in the early 1980s, it felt like a promise — a shared belief that what we did mattered. We weren’t rich, but we were valued. Parents brought warm cookies to parent nights. Kids gave you handmade cards with hearts that didn’t quite line up. Watching a child sound out their first sentence felt like magic.

But that world slowly slipped away. The job I once knew has been replaced by exhaustion, red tape, and a kind of loneliness I can’t quite describe.

My evenings used to be filled with construction paper, glitter, and glue sticks. Now they’re spent filling out digital reports to protect myself from angry emails or lawsuits. I’ve been yelled at by parents in front of twenty-five children — one filming me with his phone while I tried to calm another child mid-meltdown.

And the kids… they’ve changed too. Not by choice.

They arrive tired, anxious, overstimulated. Their tiny fingers know how to swipe a screen before they can hold a crayon. Some can’t make eye contact or wait in line. We’re expected to fix all of it — to patch the gaps, heal the trauma, teach the curriculum, and document every move — in six hours a day, with resources that barely fill a drawer.

The little reading corner I once built, full of soft beanbags and paper stars, was replaced by data charts and “learning metrics.” A young principal once told me, “Clara, maybe you’re too nurturing. The district wants measurable results.”

As if kindness were a weakness.

Still, I stayed. Because of the small, holy moments that no spreadsheet could measure —
a whisper of, “You remind me of my grandma.”
a shaky note that read, “I feel safe here.”
a quiet boy finally meeting my eyes and saying, “I read the whole page.”

Those tiny sparks were my reason to keep showing up.

But this last year broke something in me.

The aggression grew sharper. The laughter in the staff room turned to silence. The light went out of so many eyes. I watched brilliant teachers — my friends — vanish under the weight of burnout, their joy replaced by survival.

I felt myself fading too, like chalk on a board that’s been wiped one too many times.

So today, I began my goodbye. I pulled faded art off the walls and tucked thirty years of handmade cards into a single box. In the back of a drawer, I found a letter from a student from 1998:

“Thank you for loving me when I was hard to love.”

I sat on the floor and cried.

No party. No applause. Just a handshake from a young principal who called me “Ma’am” while checking his notifications.

I left my rocking chair behind, and my sticker box too. What I carried with me were the memories — the faces of hundreds of children who once trusted me enough to reach out their hands and learn. That can’t be uploaded. It can’t be measured. It can’t be replaced.

I miss when teachers were partners, not targets. When parents and educators worked side by side, not in opposition. When schools cared more about wonder than numbers.

So if you know a teacher — any teacher — thank them. Not with a mug or a gift card, but with your words. With your respect. With your understanding that behind every test score is a heart that cared enough to try.

Because in a world that often overlooks them, teachers are the ones who never forget our children.

[Audrey Macmillan @audproctor77]

@mrallanmaths It will be worth it! Happy holidays 🎉

[Kevin McLaughlin @_kevinmcl]

David Goodwin asks “What are they learning?” and warns us not to confuse learning with performance. Performance is misleading. #rED25 @MrGoodwin23

[SoL in the Wild @SoLInTheWild]

Something that fascinates me about memory is how two students sitting next to each other who receive the exact same instruction, explanations, examples with the same choral response, turn and talk, MWB and one can brain dump for days and the other claims to remember nothing. 🤔

[Audrey Macmillan @audproctor77]

👇

[EvidentlyReading @EvidentlyR]

Today a teacher told me about a math PD she attended this summer.

The presenter told the attendees - some of them relatively new teachers - that she wished "nobody taught the standard algorithms in math."

No... just no. (1/3)

[Maliha @CaffeinatedLiha]

Reading LATE at night is a whole different vibe. When everyone and everything is silent, like nothing else exists except you and your book. It's the kind of quiet magic that makes your soul exhale!

[Audrey Macmillan @audproctor77]

@mrallanmaths @ShakinthatChalk Infinity symbol...

[Audrey Macmillan @audproctor77]

💔

[🎸 Rock History 🎸 @historyrock_]

Ozzy gave it his all until the very last moment. That's what makes the difference between a musician and a legend.

[Audrey Macmillan @audproctor77]

Yass keep listening to this song, great version 💙

[a.🍍| fan account @BroodingAnanas]

another day, another video of A Place For My Head to be obsessed with😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

🎥: as_ssha on Instagram

[Alex Cole @acnewsitics]

BREAKING: Old Man with Swollen Ankles is Still On Epstein's List

[Matthew Rimmer @MatthewRimmer]

Everyone in the UK has melted because of the heat but we’re all glued to @BBCTwo watching one of the best sets of all time.

#Queen #LiveAid #LiveAid40 #LiveAidAt40

[Being Scottish @BeingScots]

Much-loved childrens TV presenter Glen Michael has died at the age of 99. Who remembers watching him every Sunday on STV? With his wee dug and his talking lamp Paladin. His ‘Cartoon Cavalcade’ was a godsend for kids when we had a tiny amount of TV channels.

[Audrey Macmillan @audproctor77]

@TimothyImholt @robfmac

[Audrey Macmillan @audproctor77]

Important article…
“Struggle should only be induced after students have experienced success”

[David Didau @DavidDidau]

@dylanwiliam @teacherhead https://t.co/gQFp5xdWkH

[Audrey Macmillan @audproctor77]

@teacherhead @dylanwiliam I’m really interested in this…is there something you can recommend to read, or has it been a combination of factors that have influenced you, please?

[Ross Greer @Ross_Greer]

Not one person demanding that @BobbyVylan is arrested for his 'Death to the IDF' chant has said anything about the British citizens serving in the IDF who have committed actual war crimes in Palestine.

If you think a chant is more criminal than murder & genocide, get a grip.