OTT 265: We Do Not Care Club Teacher Chapter: Humor, Burnout, and the Power of Saying ‘Nope’

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The birth of "The We Do Not Care Club: Teacher Chapter" might be the most honest conversation about educator burnout you'll hear this year. After discovering a hilarious TikTok creator who gave women permission to stop caring about societal expectations during menopause, I realized teachers desperately needed the same liberation.

What started as a few casual videos quickly erupted into a movement. Teachers everywhere began contributing their own "we do not care" statements—powerful declarations of boundaries that challenge the normalized absurdities of our profession. "We do not care if someone calls in sick. You did not hire us to teach two classes at once." "We do not care about every single data point. We're teaching children, not numbers."

This isn't about abandoning our dedication to students or education—quite the opposite. It's about reclaiming our humanity in a system that too often treats teachers as endless resources to be depleted rather than professionals to be respected. When we say "we do not care" about unpaid summer work, pointless meetings, or using our own money for classroom supplies, we're creating space to deeply care about what truly matters: our students, our teaching practice, and yes, our own wellbeing.

The laughter and validation flowing through this community reveals something powerful—we're not alone in our frustrations. For too long, toxic positivity has forced teachers to smile through impossible demands while questioning our own right to feel overwhelmed. The We Do Not Care Club offers a different path: one where humor becomes survival, community becomes resistance, and saying "nope" becomes an act of professional self-preservation.

Ready to join the teacher chapter? Download free sub plans from the link in the show notes, then share what you no longer care about. Together, we're building a more sustainable vision of teaching—one where educators can thrive, not just survive. Because you're doing enough, you are enough, and you absolutely belong in the We Do Not Care Club.

We Do Not Care Club Teacher Chapter on TikTok

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to One Tired Teacher.
Episode 265, the we Do Not CareClub.
Teacher chapter humor, burnoutand the power of saying nope.
This week we're tossing toxicpositivity out the window, we're
shaking off the endlessexpectations and we're talking

(00:21):
about what it really means to bean exhausted, overextended,
deeply passionate educator who'slearning to say nope with love
and a little bit of sarcasm.
And listen, I'm not here totell you to take a bubble bath
and magically feel better.
This episode is about humor assurvival, community as

(00:44):
resistance and giving yourselfpermission to let go of the
stuff that doesn't serve youanymore.
I hope you stick around.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Welcome to One Tired Teacher.
And even though she may need anap, this teacher is ready to
wake up and speak her truthabout the trials and treasures
of teaching here.
She is wide awake.
Wait, she's not asleep rightnow, is she?
She is awake right.
Okay, From Trina Devery,Teaching and Learning your host,
Trina Devery.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Hey, so today I'm taking you on a little journey
because I have I startedsomething on TikTok and it's
really taken off and I'm veryexcited about it and I want to
share it with my favoritelisteners of One Tired Teacher.
So let me take you back.
Not long ago I stumbled acrossa hilarious and painfully

(01:45):
relatable TikTok creator namedJess Melanie.
She made videos for women inperimenopause and menopause that
had me laughing and noddinglike yep, that's me.
She called it the we Do NotCare Club and it gave me life.
So naturally I thought you knowwhat teachers need?
Their own chapter, because ifanyone deserves a little

(02:09):
collective venting andvalidation, it's teachers, it's
us, I mean, come on.
So I started making a few we DoNot Care Club teacher chapter
videos just for fun, just tolaugh.
But the response has been wildand it has been like an eye

(02:30):
opener of like all the thingsthat used to really piss me off
and I'm going to say piss, sorry, really make me mad in
education.
That still make me mad ineducation, the things that I'm
tired of, the things thatbasically pushed me out of the
classroom and out of aprofession that I'm tired of,
the things that basically pushedme out of the classroom and out
of a profession that I lovedmore than anything are still
happening, if not worse, andit's just mind boggling to me.

(02:55):
And so it's been refreshing tobe like in the trenches with
people and feel like I don'tknow.
It's almost been empowering totalk about it and to allow other
people to talk about it in asafe place and then share.
Other teacher we do not carethings so that people can like

(03:17):
kind of stand up together.
So here's just a few of theoriginal we Do Not Care Club
entries Like this is what Istarted off with, like I could
have.
I was like on a roll when Ifirst started writing some and
it's we do not care if someonecold and sick.
You did not hire us to teachtwo classes at once.

(03:40):
We do not care if you want asnake peek night in July.
You didn't hire us to work inJuly.
We do not care if a teachercomes in late.
We don't need a passive,aggressive email blasted to
everyone on the staff.
We do not care if the newcurriculum hasn't arrived.

(04:03):
You did not pay us to write ourown.
We do not care about fun workbonding.
We just want to get in ourclasses and then go home.
We do not care about theschool-wide theme.
Unless you gave us money fordecorating, we will be sticking

(04:26):
to our own theme.
And my very personal favoritewe do not care.
If you don't want us to use TPT, I will buy the emergency
subplans I need.
I'll vet the materials myselfbecause I have a brain.

(04:48):
Thank you very much.
So these were just a few of theoriginal.
We do not care.
And then I got a lot ofresponses of things that other
teachers do not care about and Iwant to be clear before I share
some of these.
It's because I did have.
I've had one person and all thehundreds of comments.
One person say you know, wecare about teaching and

(05:12):
education and I'm like thatYou've missed the whole point.
We do care about teaching, wedo care about education, we do
care about the children.
It's just that we don't careabout education, we do care
about the children.
It's just that we don't careabout the crap and we don't care
about people using the childrenagainst us, to manipulate us,

(05:32):
to make things harder for us.
So here are some comments thatteachers responded with, and
this is how the club grew fasterTeachers have flooded my
messages with their own.
We do not care entries, andhonestly they were gold.
Here's a sampling from theteacher chapter.
We do not care if materialsrelate Poor planning on your

(05:57):
part is not an emergency on mine.
We do not care about summeremails.
Tell me when I'm going to getpaid to return.
Fill me in then.
We do not care if class sizelists change 20 times.
Give me the final version andI'll make a plan from there.

(06:19):
We do not care about yourpaperwork emergency.
I'll get it done when it getsdone.
We do not care about Mary'ssorority animal.
We do not need icebreakers.
We are not children, and one ofthe most painful truths

(06:40):
teachers have said again andagain is we don't care about
every single data point.
We're teaching children, notnumbers, children not numbers,
and we know which students needhelp without needing 14
color-coded graphs pinned to ourwalls.

(07:00):
These were just some of theresponses I have gotten.
So many more than that.
You can see them all on TikTok,on Trina, underscore Debra E,
and I would love to hear whatyou have to say.
But let's talk about why itmatters, because this isn't
laziness, this is survival.
Let me say this loud for theteachers in the back this isn't

(07:22):
about being lazy.
This isn't about refusing topour from an empty cup.
It is about refusing to pourfrom an empty cup.
It is refusing to completelygut ourselves, lose our friends
and family, end up in divorce,feel like we didn't raise our

(07:45):
own kids.
That's what it's about.
It's about naming the absurditywe're asked to normalize.
So many of us have been made tofeel like we're not allowed to
feel tired, to feel resentful,to question the expectations.
To be honest with you, when Ifirst created One Tired Teacher,
it was because I felt this wayand I felt like I finally had a

(08:09):
voice and I was going to speakup and I wanted to do this
podcast with a friend and wewere supposed to be two tired
teachers and I was reallyexcited about it, but she felt
like it was too negative and Ithought I don't mean it to be
negative.
I mean it to be supportive ofteachers, but I need it to be

(08:31):
honest, like I want it to behonest about what's happening.
I don't want to sugarcoat it,because that's what they're
training us to do to normalizethe absurdity, and that's that's
not okay.
We're told to smile, to begrateful, to keep going, but
when you're running on fumes andyou're still expected to give

(08:55):
more.
It's exhausting, and that'swhen humor becomes a lifeline.
Community becomes a rebellion,and saying no is the most
powerful act ofself-preservation.
So here's your permission slip,and if you're feeling the weight
today, let me hand you thispermission slip.

(09:16):
You do not have to earn rest.
You do not have to show up toevery meeting smiling.
You do not have to prove youcare by suffering quietly.
In fact, if you need to take aday, do it?

(09:37):
Have a free day of sub plans.
You can download it right now.
Trina Devery,teachingandlearningcom forward
slash sub plans day one.
All one word sub plans day one,and I'll drop it in the show
notes.
Or maybe you just need to notover plan a lesson this week.

(09:57):
You can still grab that freeday and use it for yourself.
Just use the plans for yourselffor that day, so you don't even
have to think about it, becauseyour wellbeing matters not just
for your students, but for you.
So here's what I want to leaveyou with.
If you've got something thatyou no longer care about, drop

(10:19):
it in the comments or message meon Instagram or on TikTok.
I'll add it to the list fornext time.
Let's keep building thisteacher chapter together,
because laughter is powerful andso is saying nope, until next
time.
You're doing enough, you areenough and you absolutely belong

(10:43):
in the we Do Not Care Clubteacher chapter.
Talk to you soon.
Remember to sleep tight sweetdreams and sleep tight.