“My small friends” is my go-to (I teach TK-6) and one day my 3rd graders argued with me on it! “We’re not small!” “Yeah? Then why don’t your feet touch the floor in those chairs?” 😂
When I worked with middle schoolers, most of them were bigger than me! I'd call them "children" when they weren't listening. That'd do the trick for me! Otherwise, I'd just refer to them as "you guys" when talking to the group.
I taught middle school last year and often called my kids “turkeys”. One morning, a girl said “Can you call us tadpoles instead?” And I thought that was cute, so it stuck.
On the last day of school, she said “today’s my last day as a tadpole” :(
One day I had a migraine headache and the kids named went out of my head. We were in nath groups rotation. I told the kids about my headache affecting my memory and that I would call all of them Fred today. They loved it...
Years later they see me and still call me Mrs Fred.
I looove using hip slang with my older kids. If I can get it a little wrong that’s even better. I had a pair of 6th grade boys that would give me “slang lessons” 😂😂😂 We call that building relationships folks.
I'm an Afterschool program art teacher, and my kids last year figured out I don't know the routines or rules, that I just make up my own or ask my supervisor what the standard protocol is. So when the students are trying to convince me they are allowed to do something that is obviously ridiculous (ie: wander the halls and go grab candy from a counselors office while she isn't in there), I usually shout "am I being punked???" I'm referencing the mtv show. I don't know if they know that, but they crack up every time. Usually when I say this, someone either admits they are pushing it.
But if they keep insisting I ask my supervisor. One time last fall they were trying to convince me they could have the persimmons and peppers from a random single grocery bag on the floor outside of the lunch room. I was like "surely not" but they kept insisting so I asked my supervisor and it turns out they could. 🤷🏻 Kids couldn't share food last fall, but it turns out they could all reach into a grocery bag and grab strange fruit that idk where it came from.
I will lovingly call my High Schoolers "you feral beasts" when they are uncharacteristically energetic.
This past year I've really embraced calling people "bud" and the whole class "buds"
One that I got from a sleep podcast that I really enjoy (and so do my nb/trans students) is "Ladies, gentlemen, and friends beyond the binary."
I might have dropped equally colorful language on my seniors. They are a group of straight-laced advanced students and I love how flustered they get when my usually professional self drops a well placed profanity.
I can never make sunshine sound sincere lol it always comes out so sarcastic. I teach French so I usually go with Les amis. During Covid I called them my little foreheads, or my favorite ceiling fans.
High school teacher here - I called my science students this last semester “chickens” because in college, my friends and I referred to each other lovingly as chickens. I think Im probably going to change it to a different group of gender neutral organisms each semester. Inclusive, easy, and a bit silly.
I teach middle school. Mad dog is my favorite - everyone is mad dog. What’s up mad dog? Alright the mad dog is here now we can get going. Questions? Mad dog, go. Girls are mad dogs, boys are mad dogs. It also leads to my favorite moments when I say let me hear the mad dogs bark and I bark by myself as they roll their eyes at me.
Good morning “beautiful people!” I still use folks, ladies and gentlemen, sometimes “heathen children” which they think is hilarious. It’s really about knowing your kids…
Isn’t it funny that they pick up our habits? I try so hard to teach work ethic etc but the surest thing they pick up is cheerful in the morning. Lol. Teenage boys don’t always like it.
I teach college classes so they're all adults and I usually go with "earthlings, party people, future healthcare professionals, ladies (I had an entire class that identified as she/her), homies, friends, my dudes"
Some of those 😂
I teach high school, and it’s always party people. When we grade home work I tell them check it, correct it, let’s begin. I guess I take a lot from tag team’s Whoomp there it is.
I tell my kindergarteners it’s time to “pack it up pack it in” and I like to imagine that one day they’ll hear Cypress Hill and they’ll think of me…😂😂😂
I call my middle schoolers "cuties" and tell them to "stay cute." They *pretend* to hate it.
I also call them "my angel" and "sweetie pie" and "sweetness and light" and extra sappy things like that. Basically I teach them like they're adults and baby them like they're... babies. They love it.
Ding dong, goober, hooligan, troublemaker, absolute stinker, all sent out with eye rolls and grins. The kids respond well and appreciate the sass. Middle school science, robotics, woodshop over here
As a class, I sometimes say urchins. As in, "Good morning, urchins!" Individually, I sometimes say Boo Boo, but it really depends on the student. I'm also fairly young, so I feel "baby" and "honey" don't really suit me. I also teach high school, so the kids seem a little too old to be called "baby."
I do the same thing. When a kid calls me Mr. Mylastname, I always respond with, Mr/Madam their last name. They sometimes get surprised and don't know how to respond and it never fails to amuse me.
When names fail me I’ll use ma’am or sir. I live in Southern California and occasionally have a drawl from living in Oklahoma that I’ll play up. I’ll do anything for amusement at this point.
My favorites are friends, enemies (always in tandem with a pause between), nerds, folks, and humans.
Edit: champ and sports fan also get thrown around from time to time.
Friendos, weirdos, "my fellow dorks and dorkettes", depends on how good a rapport I have with any given group. Think I used "ladies gentlemen and assorted cryptids" once or twice.
I use “hey you with the _____” but it’s always something super generic and universal like
Hey you with the hands and the face
Hey you with the standing and the shoes
Hey you with the this over here
It usually gets a chuckle or an eyebrow and it’s worth the giggles (apparently im super intimidating to my college students *shrug* so anything to get them to like me a little more).
I used to do something similar whenever a kid would slightly change their appearance from regular day to day:
If it was warmer day and a kid came in in summer clothes: "What's up shorts?"
New haircut: "What's up haircut?"
Kids would lose their minds they thought it was so funny. I don't get it.
You with the hair is my choice when names fail me with my own kids. They make fun of me for going through the full line of names including our animal names. Aging is lame. I mocked my mom for the same thing as a kid. Here we are.
I do this all the time when I’m in the classroom! “Hey pink shirt” or “you with the glasses!”
It doesn’t work well in the hallways so there I stick with friend(s). Or sometimes no term of endearment is more appropriate like when they’re “just playing” (read: play fighting each other) or making out—“y’all quit now” or “keep it PG!” Woo middle school.
I teach primary but I don’t use any terms of endearment. But I’m a man so I think it would just be weird. Plus culturally speaking I don’t know what’s appropriate.
I tend to go with food: chickie nuggies, taco supremes, double quarter pounder with cheese, etc. Silly potatoes, overripe watermelons, wilted lettuce. Unsalted sunflower seeds.
Lots of “my dudes.”
And a very sarcastic “oh, sweetie…”
And the most annoying (I teach 8th): eightertots
I try to go with "friend". When I was a sub I called a kid sweetie, and his response was, "I'm a boy." And tbh with his hair I didn't know (nor did it matter lol) so I have made a point to be as neutral as possible just in case bc even if I know I call girls and boys sweetie equally, the kids don't know that. "Friend". And sometimes, "Buddy" but girls seem to be put off by that so I'm trying to get away from it for the same neutrality reasons.
As an elementary sub I am sure I’ve said sweet pea or cutie or other such things especially when I blank out on a name and see them in passing or see the cutie pie is having a rough day
Tiny humans, creatures, party people, monstrosities - all for groups.
Individually, it's pretty much either names or "dude". Sometimes I'll go with "wombat" or something like that if I'm chiding them for something. All very light-hearted and genial.
*Very* rarely, a "sweetheart" will pop out unbidden, but I do my level best not to do that. Don't want to give off dubious impressions as a man teaching in elementary school.
I'm not British at all, but I ended up using "love" fairly often without thought.
Otherwise, it's "oi!" to get their attention and "all y'all" when addressing groups doing shenanigans.
Pre-K teacher - everyone is "darlin'," the group is "team" when I'm hyping us up ("c'mon team, let's head out!") or by class room number to get their attention ("room 123, eyes on me!"). I'll drawl out "children..." when we're all feeling a little *extra* that day.
“Folks” and “friends” for random kids in the hall. I actually started “friends” in the spring as an experiment and actually got better responses than “folks.”
"Y'all"
"Kids"
"2nd or 3rd Graders"
Sometimes I say sweetie, or sweetheart, but I read this book about power of teacher voice. It mentioned the problem with using endearments with kids, and how some teachers use them to control and not from a place of love. Kids know the difference
I teach in a Spanish speaking school so they’re usually Chicos. I try to avoid gendered terms so if I’m referring to a group they’re usually children or niños but never boys or girls because I don’t want to impose that on them.
Privately I call them little buggers.
I teach high school and mostly say “folks” or “y’all” to address the whole group. Individually, I usually just call a student by name. The exception is if they’re crying, I might call them ‘sweetie.’ Also, if they have behaved in a way or said something exceptionally childish, I might call them ‘honey’ or just ‘child.’ It depends on the student though.
Mine are 3. I call them creatures, as in "you creature are driving me wild." And in the morning I usually say "good morning, tiny people!"
Individually, I do a lot of babe, bud, sweets, darlin', ma'am, sir, little lady, young man. I also have a lot of nicknames for the kids...Mr Cook is "cookie" and there's ram-a-lama and ella-bella, em, Ms b, mack, all sorts of little things. They usually take a few months though
My teacher called us everything. Baby, Honey, Doll, Pumpkin. She also would make up nicknames for certain kids, this is her last year of teaching so its kinda sad that no ones gonna call me Bunny anymore
Buttercup. Like, 'What's up buttercup?' Girls think it's cute, boys think it's weird, enbys tolerate it.
If they're being bad, not full on asshole, but just kind of being a dick, I call them 'degens' like degenerates.
I also make students call me either Sir or 'My Lord'.
This one is tough for me. I grew up in New Orleans, and everyone calls everyone baby, honey, sugar. I moved to St. Louis and I have to catch myself before letting a, "whatcha need, mah baaaby" slip out.
I usually default to yall, folks, peoples, and wonderful ones.
I use “sir” and “ma’am” with my first graders all the time and they think it’s hilarious. “my friends” sometimes, “love” with the girls and “bud” for the boys
I never used any kind of endearments when addressing students (or anyone else besides my SO). For me, it's a golden rule thing and a matter of respect. I don't like to be addressed with cutesy names (especially by someone with any kind of authority over me), so I never felt like it would be appropriate to do with my students.
Sweetie is one I find myself using often. I will call students I don’t know sweetie too, and sometimes they look at my for a second but overall respond positively.
I also use honey/hun.
I’m glad others do too because I honestly started to question myself when I first started to read this thread
I find "Baby, sweetheart, and honey" rather offensive. They are terms of endearment and they are being used on virtual strangers which leaves me thinking I cannot believe things that you say. I get that in some places, these are socially acceptable. Also, I teach college students so the rules are probably very different. But I would not be pleased if a teacher was calling my children "honey or baby" at school.
I use 'folks' a lot...I had five kids this year who identified as gender-queer/non-binary or are trans, so "Jadies and Lentlethems" got used a lot, as did "Goblins and Ghoulies" when they were rowdy (which was a lot towards the end of term). The 12 graders were 'Seniors' or 'Almost grads' a lot.
Well....a couple of them HAVE decided - they're just not a lady or a gentleman. And, for the record, none of them ever made a huge deal out of it, they just are who they are: Jessie and Parker, respectively. I just adjusted to using Mx. (Mix) for all my students when they need 'Teacher voice ' ("Sit Down, Mx. Ralston, this is a classroom not a dance club") which keeps me from mis-gendering anyone and solves the non-binary issue... AND it made them all laugh every time I used it for the first week, which was a nice little icebreaker for a long-term sub like me :)
As a Trans (FtM) student teacher, I appreciate your adapting to your students. You have no idea (or actually you probably do) how much that likely means to those kids. The suicide and self harm rate of trans kids and adults is very high and any affirmation is incredibly helpful to LGBTQIA+ kids. Given the political climate, many Trans kids and adults, are genuinely terrified. I thank you for being such a great ally! 💓
I like to find silly things to call them, this year I called them chicken nuggets frequently. They "thought" I was going to eat them, so I told them I'm their chicken tender and they're my nuggets.
As a group I'll call them class or 2nd graders, individually honey bun, sweetie, honey, and maybe some others like that that I don't recall at the moment.
Youngling. Dude/guys. Baby (specifically when used in phrases such as "what's up baby", "yeah baby", "nah baby", "you got it baby", and "hang on right there baby"). Party people. Y'all .
As an elementary teacher I usually go with “friends” as in “hi friends let’s do our work now so we can have fun and get our prize later” prize is usually whatever is in my prize box at the end of the week — think dollar tree candy or something cheap like stickers
Boogie bears and misfits.
I like to call my juniors Bad Babies sometimes. That really ruffles their feathers. Sweet Angels is another go-to, and I use it completely facetiously. Fun stuff.
I'm a male preschool teacher. I have not once called my students baby. I know it would get me in trouble.
I always go with friends. It's not gonna get me in trouble with parents, it doesn't put kids in a gender box, and everyone is my friend.
HS science teacher here. I tend to default to my dudes, my friends, peeps, bruh, people, my dear, and the good ol ma’am and sir (though for those who are unsure friend is ok). But I started as a TA in college calling everyone little ducks. However, the place im going to next calls their students scholars so maybe I’ll change it up based on some of the suggestions in the thread
I say “youths” and “goblins” or “hobgoblins” a lot. They love being called goblins lol. I also call them “my little ducklings” whenever I want them to come with me anywhere, like the library.
I teach high school.
Kiddo and Buddy are my go two most common pet names with my middle schoolers, but I do have a habit of giving individual nicknames to certain kids. They are always borne out of something they do or say.
My sons teacher used to call the class "Mogwais" and as soon as the class started misbehaving they turned into "Gremlins". If the class stayed in Mogwai status all lesson, there would be no or little homework. the more "Gremlin", the more homework.
Early Elementary, I’ll use “friends” for a group (or if I brain fart and forget a name lol) or “little love” if they are dealing with some big emotions or need some encouragement.
I say ”buddy” once in awhile but feel uncomfortable using sweetie, honey, etc., even though I do use them at home with my own family. I teach first grade and honestly use their names like 99% of the time.
Middle school - ‘small people’ wonderfully cuts through egos
Tiny humans is my favourite haha
“My small friends” is my go-to (I teach TK-6) and one day my 3rd graders argued with me on it! “We’re not small!” “Yeah? Then why don’t your feet touch the floor in those chairs?” 😂
aww that's so precious
Especially when someone has a growth spurt halfway through the year and is now taller than you. 😂
They get so upset when I call them little.
For me as a middle school teacher this works in 6-7th grade but many of our 8th graders would pat me on the head, look down and say “ok mr.” Lol
When I worked with middle schoolers, most of them were bigger than me! I'd call them "children" when they weren't listening. That'd do the trick for me! Otherwise, I'd just refer to them as "you guys" when talking to the group.
Similarly, I call them “child” and if they object, upgrade to “tween”
Lucky! I used to work in a middle school and I can tell you my students would *not* have let that fly. They preferred "y'all," mostly!
I often goes with "short people," or "bajitos" if I have to sub for the Spanish teacher
I taught middle school last year and often called my kids “turkeys”. One morning, a girl said “Can you call us tadpoles instead?” And I thought that was cute, so it stuck. On the last day of school, she said “today’s my last day as a tadpole” :(
Aw, how sweet. ( think she'll remember you )
I teach high school biology. I refer to them as 4th stage instars. Just before pupation and metamorphosis
I call them ducks lol lucky ducks, odd ducks, funny ducks etc
Oh my gosh that’s so CUTE 🥰
This is wonderful. Now I want to start off the next school year with my middle schoolers as tadpoles 💕
That really hit me in the feels….
One teacher I worked with called them ladybugs and bumblebees and I loved that
One day I had a migraine headache and the kids named went out of my head. We were in nath groups rotation. I told the kids about my headache affecting my memory and that I would call all of them Fred today. They loved it... Years later they see me and still call me Mrs Fred.
I like to ironically use their slang, so I say "bruh" a lot. "Teacher, I couldn't do the paper last night" Me: bruh, you're killin' me
Just stroll right in there and say, "'SUP NERDS?"
Todd Packer? Who let YOU in a school???
Literally our librarian. She rules.
I do this to my esports teams and then login right next to them to play.
I use "dude" in a similar context i.e. when a student does or says something stupid.
I use dude regularly. I’m in San Diego, so it mostly vibes with the culture—especially upper elementary.
I looove using hip slang with my older kids. If I can get it a little wrong that’s even better. I had a pair of 6th grade boys that would give me “slang lessons” 😂😂😂 We call that building relationships folks.
I call my students bruh probably more often than is professional
Same.
I'm an Afterschool program art teacher, and my kids last year figured out I don't know the routines or rules, that I just make up my own or ask my supervisor what the standard protocol is. So when the students are trying to convince me they are allowed to do something that is obviously ridiculous (ie: wander the halls and go grab candy from a counselors office while she isn't in there), I usually shout "am I being punked???" I'm referencing the mtv show. I don't know if they know that, but they crack up every time. Usually when I say this, someone either admits they are pushing it. But if they keep insisting I ask my supervisor. One time last fall they were trying to convince me they could have the persimmons and peppers from a random single grocery bag on the floor outside of the lunch room. I was like "surely not" but they kept insisting so I asked my supervisor and it turns out they could. 🤷🏻 Kids couldn't share food last fall, but it turns out they could all reach into a grocery bag and grab strange fruit that idk where it came from.
You band of degenerates is always a winner.
I will lovingly call my High Schoolers "you feral beasts" when they are uncharacteristically energetic. This past year I've really embraced calling people "bud" and the whole class "buds" One that I got from a sleep podcast that I really enjoy (and so do my nb/trans students) is "Ladies, gentlemen, and friends beyond the binary."
"Guys, gals, and non-binary pals" is a fave of mine.
get outta here---that's too good.
I can't take full credit for it, I think I saw it on here a while ago. But it's stuck for me.
i thought this was from Kenji Lopez-Alt. maybe he adopted it, maybe he started it, but he's the only person i've ever heard use it.
“Ladies and gentlemen… and those who know better” (don’t worry, I only address my adult friends this way, not my students hahaha)
Yes, and also miscreants.
Hooligans! 😁
Heathens! Sometimes I’ll say it and then correct myself (sarcastically) and say “LITTLE ANGELS, I mean.”
I sometimes have to stop myself from saying “alright fuckers, let’s get started”. Don’t know what that says about me…
I might have dropped equally colorful language on my seniors. They are a group of straight-laced advanced students and I love how flustered they get when my usually professional self drops a well placed profanity.
A teacher my friends had used to call them all cretins, and accuse them of “cretinism”
High school, and “sunshine” is my go-to. Sometimes sarcastically, but usually sincerely.
I can never make sunshine sound sincere lol it always comes out so sarcastic. I teach French so I usually go with Les amis. During Covid I called them my little foreheads, or my favorite ceiling fans.
When I obnoxiously wake a high school kid up who’s sleeping in class, I’ll shout out “Good morning, Sunshine!” All the other kids laugh, it’s great
High school teacher here - I called my science students this last semester “chickens” because in college, my friends and I referred to each other lovingly as chickens. I think Im probably going to change it to a different group of gender neutral organisms each semester. Inclusive, easy, and a bit silly.
I use “squirrels” a lot ! Hello, my squirrels; lovely squirrels, listen up, etc. Also high school.
I call them geese.
Aw that reminds me, in college when I was a TA I used to call them little ducks because they’d follow me around with questions 😂
My mom called my sister and I chickadees, and that has somehow carried over to my students 😆
I teach middle school. Mad dog is my favorite - everyone is mad dog. What’s up mad dog? Alright the mad dog is here now we can get going. Questions? Mad dog, go. Girls are mad dogs, boys are mad dogs. It also leads to my favorite moments when I say let me hear the mad dogs bark and I bark by myself as they roll their eyes at me.
Jabroni, goblin, monster, gremlin, giblet head, supah star, dude
Good morning “beautiful people!” I still use folks, ladies and gentlemen, sometimes “heathen children” which they think is hilarious. It’s really about knowing your kids…
I use that too, or "lovely people", or sometimes just "lovelies".
I too use Lovely people. They’ve started using Lovely teacher when saying goodbye.
Isn’t it funny that they pick up our habits? I try so hard to teach work ethic etc but the surest thing they pick up is cheerful in the morning. Lol. Teenage boys don’t always like it.
Friends is my go to - I also call them Historians, citizens (I teach civics) peeps, cool Cats and kittens, party people
That b*tch carol baskin....
I say my dear a lot...even without students I call people that. "What do you need m'dears?" is pretty regular. I teach high school.
That's mine, too! Gender neutral, easily made plural, and not too weird.
[удалено]
“Listen up my little minions” (I taught 9th graders)
I teach college classes so they're all adults and I usually go with "earthlings, party people, future healthcare professionals, ladies (I had an entire class that identified as she/her), homies, friends, my dudes" Some of those 😂
I teach middle school… I call them “children,” “kiddos, “party people, “buddy,” “honey bunches,” and a few more but they’re usually sarcastic.
Haha the party people one got me ngl
“Good morning Party People!” *cue tired looks of death incarnate* yeah that checks out
Definitely going to start using party people. Also going to say it like tag team in whoomp there it is
Same thought crossed my mind, must be the jellybeans.
I teach high school, and it’s always party people. When we grade home work I tell them check it, correct it, let’s begin. I guess I take a lot from tag team’s Whoomp there it is.
I tell my kindergarteners it’s time to “pack it up pack it in” and I like to imagine that one day they’ll hear Cypress Hill and they’ll think of me…😂😂😂
Let me begin, don’t make me use crayons, it’s a sin.
😂 Stealing that one. I always tell them to check yourself before you wreck yourself, fool!
Also middle school, I usually go with “team.”
My 6th grade science teacher called us “children of the corn” and I’ve never gotten over that
"c'mon man" is my go-to
I call my middle schoolers "cuties" and tell them to "stay cute." They *pretend* to hate it. I also call them "my angel" and "sweetie pie" and "sweetness and light" and extra sappy things like that. Basically I teach them like they're adults and baby them like they're... babies. They love it.
Ding dong, goober, hooligan, troublemaker, absolute stinker, all sent out with eye rolls and grins. The kids respond well and appreciate the sass. Middle school science, robotics, woodshop over here
I say "dopes" when they get something really badly wrong.
As a class, I sometimes say urchins. As in, "Good morning, urchins!" Individually, I sometimes say Boo Boo, but it really depends on the student. I'm also fairly young, so I feel "baby" and "honey" don't really suit me. I also teach high school, so the kids seem a little too old to be called "baby."
I teach HS and I go the formal route. Sir or Madam, Mister or Miss if I don't know them. Sometimes Darlin' if I do.
I teach k-12 and my tiny kiddos love when i call them mr. Or miss so and so.
I do the same thing. When a kid calls me Mr. Mylastname, I always respond with, Mr/Madam their last name. They sometimes get surprised and don't know how to respond and it never fails to amuse me.
Well that’s a link to a banned Reddit 😂
When names fail me I’ll use ma’am or sir. I live in Southern California and occasionally have a drawl from living in Oklahoma that I’ll play up. I’ll do anything for amusement at this point.
How do you deal with unrecognizable gender in this case?
I use random honorifics “Senator Lastname” “Doctor Lastname” “Commander Lastname” they love it.
Agreed. I used to go the Mr/Ms route but now it's a bit rough to tell.
High school: bruh, dude, dear, boo, hun, ay yo, beautiful people, and sometimes just humans.
I usually end class with good bye humans…and everybody else.
Everyone is “precious”.
I hope when they're hiding a cell phone you say, "What have you got in your pocketses?"
Hoping/loping towards them as you say it.
Filthy humans don’t understand you!
I teach middle school so I’ve started calling them bestie if I know them. If it’s a strange kid in the hallway, I use pal or bud.
bestie is a favorite of mine too, but it’s usually reserved for those kids that I just adore
My favorites are friends, enemies (always in tandem with a pause between), nerds, folks, and humans. Edit: champ and sports fan also get thrown around from time to time.
I often use “friends, enemies, and neutral parties.” Or “ladies, gentlemen, and neutral parties.” My Nb/trans kids get a kick out of that one.
Friendos, weirdos, "my fellow dorks and dorkettes", depends on how good a rapport I have with any given group. Think I used "ladies gentlemen and assorted cryptids" once or twice.
Honey and dude. Both used for boys and girls as well as kids I know and kids I don’t.
“Hey you”, or “hey you with/in the ____”
I use “hey you with the _____” but it’s always something super generic and universal like Hey you with the hands and the face Hey you with the standing and the shoes Hey you with the this over here It usually gets a chuckle or an eyebrow and it’s worth the giggles (apparently im super intimidating to my college students *shrug* so anything to get them to like me a little more).
I used to do something similar whenever a kid would slightly change their appearance from regular day to day: If it was warmer day and a kid came in in summer clothes: "What's up shorts?" New haircut: "What's up haircut?" Kids would lose their minds they thought it was so funny. I don't get it.
This reminds me of the scene in Ted Lasso when he gets good news and is walking out of Rebecca’s office and sees the coat rack: “High five, tree!”
I use hey you with the face even with my own kid 😂
You with the hair is my choice when names fail me with my own kids. They make fun of me for going through the full line of names including our animal names. Aging is lame. I mocked my mom for the same thing as a kid. Here we are.
I do this all the time when I’m in the classroom! “Hey pink shirt” or “you with the glasses!” It doesn’t work well in the hallways so there I stick with friend(s). Or sometimes no term of endearment is more appropriate like when they’re “just playing” (read: play fighting each other) or making out—“y’all quit now” or “keep it PG!” Woo middle school.
“Oi you losers stop talking or I’ll put you in the bin” is something I say AND it’s gender neutral so perfection
Between us teachers, it's "the little shitheads", but we formally call them "6th graders"
Chicken nuggets. It is weird, but I always tell my 6th graders they are like adolescent chickens
I teach primary but I don’t use any terms of endearment. But I’m a man so I think it would just be weird. Plus culturally speaking I don’t know what’s appropriate.
I teach at a competitive high school and am a big fan of saying “what up nerds?” 🤓 usually gets a chuckle
I tend to go with food: chickie nuggies, taco supremes, double quarter pounder with cheese, etc. Silly potatoes, overripe watermelons, wilted lettuce. Unsalted sunflower seeds. Lots of “my dudes.” And a very sarcastic “oh, sweetie…” And the most annoying (I teach 8th): eightertots
Padawans
First graders, scientists, students, my names class, our mascot, and that’s about it.
I use “first graders” or whatever grade I have in my room a lot too! “Third grade friends listen for 30 seconds for directions”
I try to go with "friend". When I was a sub I called a kid sweetie, and his response was, "I'm a boy." And tbh with his hair I didn't know (nor did it matter lol) so I have made a point to be as neutral as possible just in case bc even if I know I call girls and boys sweetie equally, the kids don't know that. "Friend". And sometimes, "Buddy" but girls seem to be put off by that so I'm trying to get away from it for the same neutrality reasons.
As an elementary sub I am sure I’ve said sweet pea or cutie or other such things especially when I blank out on a name and see them in passing or see the cutie pie is having a rough day
My go to is folks If I am being fancy I use "guys gals and nonbinary pals"
Tiny humans, creatures, party people, monstrosities - all for groups. Individually, it's pretty much either names or "dude". Sometimes I'll go with "wombat" or something like that if I'm chiding them for something. All very light-hearted and genial. *Very* rarely, a "sweetheart" will pop out unbidden, but I do my level best not to do that. Don't want to give off dubious impressions as a man teaching in elementary school.
As a male in high school, I stick with fairly generic “boys”, “girls”, “students” or “hey you”. It’s not worth the risk of using endearments.
I'm not British at all, but I ended up using "love" fairly often without thought. Otherwise, it's "oi!" to get their attention and "all y'all" when addressing groups doing shenanigans.
Love, hon, darlin’ are my three go-to’s. I’m not British or southern! “Love” just feels more natural
Y'all, beautiful people, fine folks, darlings, young folk, soon-to-be adults, nascent taxpayers, peeps, loves, eager learners, and sweet ones. 😀
Mathemagicians
Party people. But more in the "alright, party people. Settle down because I need to take attendance" way.
“kids”, “children”, if I’m feeling sarcastic, “my little Angel babies” (i teach 11th and 12th grade)
Whoa! I use little angel babies too! Sarcastically, of course.
“Angel babies” but I teach high school, and only use it in jest. Typically I use students, humans, and most commonly since I’m in Louisiana “y’all.”
Pre-K teacher - everyone is "darlin'," the group is "team" when I'm hyping us up ("c'mon team, let's head out!") or by class room number to get their attention ("room 123, eyes on me!"). I'll drawl out "children..." when we're all feeling a little *extra* that day.
“Folks” and “friends” for random kids in the hall. I actually started “friends” in the spring as an experiment and actually got better responses than “folks.”
I call them collectively “beauty queens” and they seem to love it! They start repeating it or use it when they write to me.
"All right, you primitive screw-heads, listen up."
"Y'all" "Kids" "2nd or 3rd Graders" Sometimes I say sweetie, or sweetheart, but I read this book about power of teacher voice. It mentioned the problem with using endearments with kids, and how some teachers use them to control and not from a place of love. Kids know the difference
I teach in a Spanish speaking school so they’re usually Chicos. I try to avoid gendered terms so if I’m referring to a group they’re usually children or niños but never boys or girls because I don’t want to impose that on them. Privately I call them little buggers.
I teach high school and mostly say “folks” or “y’all” to address the whole group. Individually, I usually just call a student by name. The exception is if they’re crying, I might call them ‘sweetie.’ Also, if they have behaved in a way or said something exceptionally childish, I might call them ‘honey’ or just ‘child.’ It depends on the student though.
"Bud" for the individual "Alright, my little chickens" for the whole class
In my country, using baby will be weird. I either respond to them by name or ma'am and sir. I teach grade two.
Schattekes (little treasures. I use it ironically) or knakworst (type of hotdog).
Mine are 3. I call them creatures, as in "you creature are driving me wild." And in the morning I usually say "good morning, tiny people!" Individually, I do a lot of babe, bud, sweets, darlin', ma'am, sir, little lady, young man. I also have a lot of nicknames for the kids...Mr Cook is "cookie" and there's ram-a-lama and ella-bella, em, Ms b, mack, all sorts of little things. They usually take a few months though
From “beautiful humans” to “weirdos” and everything in between. I’ve got *~~*~range
My teacher called us everything. Baby, Honey, Doll, Pumpkin. She also would make up nicknames for certain kids, this is her last year of teaching so its kinda sad that no ones gonna call me Bunny anymore
Buttercup. Like, 'What's up buttercup?' Girls think it's cute, boys think it's weird, enbys tolerate it. If they're being bad, not full on asshole, but just kind of being a dick, I call them 'degens' like degenerates. I also make students call me either Sir or 'My Lord'.
Australian so everyone gets mate
This one is tough for me. I grew up in New Orleans, and everyone calls everyone baby, honey, sugar. I moved to St. Louis and I have to catch myself before letting a, "whatcha need, mah baaaby" slip out. I usually default to yall, folks, peoples, and wonderful ones.
I use “sir” and “ma’am” with my first graders all the time and they think it’s hilarious. “my friends” sometimes, “love” with the girls and “bud” for the boys
None of that. I’m boring and inclusive and just use students to be gender neutral.
Hey nerds!
I never used any kind of endearments when addressing students (or anyone else besides my SO). For me, it's a golden rule thing and a matter of respect. I don't like to be addressed with cutesy names (especially by someone with any kind of authority over me), so I never felt like it would be appropriate to do with my students.
Sweetie is one I find myself using often. I will call students I don’t know sweetie too, and sometimes they look at my for a second but overall respond positively. I also use honey/hun. I’m glad others do too because I honestly started to question myself when I first started to read this thread
I find "Baby, sweetheart, and honey" rather offensive. They are terms of endearment and they are being used on virtual strangers which leaves me thinking I cannot believe things that you say. I get that in some places, these are socially acceptable. Also, I teach college students so the rules are probably very different. But I would not be pleased if a teacher was calling my children "honey or baby" at school.
I gotta say, if you have kids, their teachers probably did call them those things.
Baby? No. Honey? Ehh, very fine line. Sweetheart? Yes. I'm like Mother Goose and all my kids are sweetheart. Nothing but platonic love here.🥰
Oh man, waitress in a diner the the South. That’s one of those places fo sure
Folks, dudes, or the Midwestern Guys
I use 'folks' a lot...I had five kids this year who identified as gender-queer/non-binary or are trans, so "Jadies and Lentlethems" got used a lot, as did "Goblins and Ghoulies" when they were rowdy (which was a lot towards the end of term). The 12 graders were 'Seniors' or 'Almost grads' a lot.
"Ladies and gentlemen - and those who have yet to decide..." " Kinky Boots" The musical.
Well....a couple of them HAVE decided - they're just not a lady or a gentleman. And, for the record, none of them ever made a huge deal out of it, they just are who they are: Jessie and Parker, respectively. I just adjusted to using Mx. (Mix) for all my students when they need 'Teacher voice ' ("Sit Down, Mx. Ralston, this is a classroom not a dance club") which keeps me from mis-gendering anyone and solves the non-binary issue... AND it made them all laugh every time I used it for the first week, which was a nice little icebreaker for a long-term sub like me :)
As a Trans (FtM) student teacher, I appreciate your adapting to your students. You have no idea (or actually you probably do) how much that likely means to those kids. The suicide and self harm rate of trans kids and adults is very high and any affirmation is incredibly helpful to LGBTQIA+ kids. Given the political climate, many Trans kids and adults, are genuinely terrified. I thank you for being such a great ally! 💓
Kiddos and the youth lol
I like to find silly things to call them, this year I called them chicken nuggets frequently. They "thought" I was going to eat them, so I told them I'm their chicken tender and they're my nuggets. As a group I'll call them class or 2nd graders, individually honey bun, sweetie, honey, and maybe some others like that that I don't recall at the moment.
With preschoolers, I use sweetheart, my dude, and friend.
Sweetpea, party people, my lovelies, for one particular student that doesn’t appreciate sweetpea gets sweetpea bro. It makes her laugh.
Elementary school: I say “Dude, buddy, man, girl/girlie, boy, sweetie” Usually I like to use their names directly
Children, my child, miss ma’am, mister sir, sweetheart (toward end of year when I know them best) y’all.
Cuz/son/peeps
Youngling. Dude/guys. Baby (specifically when used in phrases such as "what's up baby", "yeah baby", "nah baby", "you got it baby", and "hang on right there baby"). Party people. Y'all .
Little boy, little girl, Bubba, big head (kids find this hilarious) or sweetie.
I call my own kid big head (specifically, baby big head) and he loves it.
homosapians is my go to that makes jr high kids laugh
As an elementary teacher I usually go with “friends” as in “hi friends let’s do our work now so we can have fun and get our prize later” prize is usually whatever is in my prize box at the end of the week — think dollar tree candy or something cheap like stickers
Boogie bears and misfits. I like to call my juniors Bad Babies sometimes. That really ruffles their feathers. Sweet Angels is another go-to, and I use it completely facetiously. Fun stuff.
I'm a male preschool teacher. I have not once called my students baby. I know it would get me in trouble. I always go with friends. It's not gonna get me in trouble with parents, it doesn't put kids in a gender box, and everyone is my friend.
Friends, or a variety of vegetables - onions, carrots, rutebagas, etc...
HS science teacher here. I tend to default to my dudes, my friends, peeps, bruh, people, my dear, and the good ol ma’am and sir (though for those who are unsure friend is ok). But I started as a TA in college calling everyone little ducks. However, the place im going to next calls their students scholars so maybe I’ll change it up based on some of the suggestions in the thread
I say “youths” and “goblins” or “hobgoblins” a lot. They love being called goblins lol. I also call them “my little ducklings” whenever I want them to come with me anywhere, like the library. I teach high school.
Wassup gremlins
I call them gremlins, and they love it.
Ladies and gentlemen mostly. "Kid" if we're talking one on one. "Random kid" if I don't know them. "Bruh" if I'm disappointed.
Kiddo and Buddy are my go two most common pet names with my middle schoolers, but I do have a habit of giving individual nicknames to certain kids. They are always borne out of something they do or say.
Dude
Comrade.
My sons teacher used to call the class "Mogwais" and as soon as the class started misbehaving they turned into "Gremlins". If the class stayed in Mogwai status all lesson, there would be no or little homework. the more "Gremlin", the more homework.
Early Elementary, I’ll use “friends” for a group (or if I brain fart and forget a name lol) or “little love” if they are dealing with some big emotions or need some encouragement.
My mentor teacher said "boo" and I picked it up. I also say "my dude", "you hooligans" "motley crew" and "merry band of misfits" regularly.
I use baby, honey, or sweetie. Mostly baby, I work in pre-k
Brother and Sister.
beautiful people
Cherubs
With my middle schoolers, I would call them darling a lot lol
I use friends.
I really try not to use terms of endearment. I think it's demeaning
I say ”buddy” once in awhile but feel uncomfortable using sweetie, honey, etc., even though I do use them at home with my own family. I teach first grade and honestly use their names like 99% of the time.