Teachers- what to wear to school?

[Anonymous]

I'm beginning my practicum placement soon and will be doing 20 hours of classroom observation/co teaching at a local high school. Teachers- what do I wear? This environment feels tricky- I don't want to go too casual and look like I'm trying to fit in with the kids, but I'm not walking in in a suit and heels either like this is a corporate environment. Any tips? I'm 30, FWIW.

[Anonymous]

dressy casual

Pants are always a good choice. You don't need suits.




cute dresses - but obviously not this short

[Anonymous]

Find comfortable shoes, and build your outfit from there.

[Anonymous]

Flats.

I am a career switcher so I had a closet full of business casual dresses and sweaters. I throw a cardigan over anything sleeveless.

You will see the gamut. Some teachers wear jeans and polos, others wear khakis and ties. Some women do capris and sandals, others wear heels and blouses.

But flats. Definitely flats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flats.

I am a career switcher so I had a closet full of business casual dresses and sweaters. I throw a cardigan over anything sleeveless.

You will see the gamut. Some teachers wear jeans and polos, others wear khakis and ties. Some women do capris and sandals, others wear heels and blouses.

But flats. Definitely flats.

+1

I was also a career changer, but from public health tech to education so I was used to casual and needed to dress up a bit. I usually wear a dress, skirt or dress pants and a blouse with a cardi available because the HVAC in my school is very chancy. I only wear corporate-style clothing on the first day of school, BTSN, and the November parent-teacher conference days. Occasionally, I indulge in the jeans & school logo tee Friday uniform of most coworkers.

[Anonymous]

Tunic dress (in a substantial fabric with 3/4 or long sleeves), black leggings, black flats. Professional bag. Hair should be neat and tidy. Simple makeup. Stud earrings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm beginning my practicum placement soon and will be doing 20 hours of classroom observation/co teaching at a local high school. Teachers- what do I wear? This environment feels tricky- I don't want to go too casual and look like I'm trying to fit in with the kids, but I'm not walking in in a suit and heels either like this is a corporate environment. Any tips? I'm 30, FWIW.

In a high school think Casual Friday in a corporate environment. You need all of the essential covered up. Make sure when you bend over that everything stays in place because all it takes is for one time for some kid to run with it. You don't have to wear heels, casual flats are more practical. Button down shirts, slacks or Khakis, and nice accessories are all you need. Skip the skirts and dresses unless it is something that you need to dress up for like conferences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm beginning my practicum placement soon and will be doing 20 hours of classroom observation/co teaching at a local high school. Teachers- what do I wear? This environment feels tricky- I don't want to go too casual and look like I'm trying to fit in with the kids, but I'm not walking in in a suit and heels either like this is a corporate environment. Any tips? I'm 30, FWIW.

In a high school think Casual Friday in a corporate environment. You need all of the essential covered up. Make sure when you bend over that everything stays in place because all it takes is for one time for some kid to run with it. You don't have to wear heels, casual flats are more practical. Button down shirts, slacks or Khakis, and nice accessories are all you need. Skip the skirts and dresses unless it is something that you need to dress up for like conferences.

You don't think a fall dress is appropriate?

[Anonymous]

Dresses are fine, but honestly I'd find ones that are longer than the upper thigh length dresses that are popular now - as posted in the pic above. In a HS classroom, I think fall dresses hitting at/above the knee with boots are fine -- if you're ok standing in boots all day.

As the PP says, make sure everything stays covered up that should stay covered up. HS boys aren't known for their maturity. I still remember the new young math teacher in high school who wore light colored pants one day, that must have also been made of a thin fabric -- you could see very visible panty lines of her lacy panties that she wore that day; I was a very unobservant, unfashionable girl and I noticed. The boys had a field day with it and that poor teacher was the butt of all jokes for months; I remember walking into her classroom one day and someone had drawn a pair of legs/pants with visible panties -- and I'm sure she was subject to lots more of that stuff that we didn't see bc she got rid of it before we could.

[Anonymous]

I wear dresses every day, and most of them end right above the knee.

I'm not a fan of pants because I agree with the PPs that flats are essential, but the way fabric pools around the feet of my flat-wearing colleagues looks frumpy: this is the classic dowdy school ma'arm uniform, I think. "Nice" pants do NOT look good with flats, even if they are "tailored". Sorry.

I wore heels with nice pants sometimes when I was a first and second year teacher, but eventually realized that heels aren't made for women who need to periodically walk around a classroom and do "duty" outside. So dresses and flats it is.

[Anonymous]

Ann Taylor has a Teacher Discount, and Jcrew used to have one as well.

[Anonymous]

Tunics with straight leg pants/leggings. Comfortable shoes, many teachers wear danskos, but don't invest in those quite yet.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thanks for the tips. Obviously I'm not a schlub day to day but yeah, going into an environment with teenagers, I wanted to be mindful. I went to Loft and got some loose pullover sweaters, fall colored skinny cords, and long sweaters to put over more form fitting shirts. Definitely no cleavage. I have a few knee length sweater dresses that I think should be okay and some low heeled knee high boots and booties. I know I'm probably overthinking it but I really didn't want to go in there looking inappropriate or too casual or like I was trying to be "cool teacher." I will definitely hold off the Danskos from now

[Anonymous]

I recommend the no-iron machine washable button downs from Brooks Brothers. They retail for $90-something but go on sale all the time for half that.

Comfy ankle length black pants. High waisted (you bend over a lot) skinny corduroys or jeans in different colors.

Flats.

[Anonymous]

jeans and a blazer, maybe? jeans and a cute shirt? Definitely make sure they ride pretty high. Teachers put their butts in students' faces more than one would think.