Does the teacher in mcps check his or her school emails at home?

[Anonymous]

Do and can are different questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do and can are different questions.

I am sorry my English is not good. I thought I can ask the question and this forum has been helpful for foreigners like me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In a 40 hour work week if you divide my time evenly with all students each one gets 14 minutes (providing I don't eat, attend department/staff meetings or use the bathroom). In that time I need to do everything for that student: teach them the content, make their lessons, make their tests, grade their papers, attend their IEP meetings, meet with their counselors, co-plan with team members, adopt new materials, disaggregate data to inform instruction, etc. When you take into consideration all of the "back-end" stuff that takes place it takes it down to maybe 4 or 5 minutes per student. If each email takes 2-5 minutes it eats into my most limited of resources: time.

Of course I spend more time than this working because their are more needs than will fit into a 40 hour week, but their are not enough hours in the day to get everything done to high standards all the time. I'm not trying to justify it because I try really, really hard to get everything done to the best of my ability (like almost all of the teachers I know). The reality is that something has to give. And if something has to give it will never, ever be the well-being of my students or the teaching quality they receive.

Such a bullshit answer. You don't spend individual time with each student, I've not seen any results of superior Instruction come home. The writing assignments are laughable. I can't imagine it would take any time to put a P or an A on every paper. There are maybe a handful of comments that come home every year on any assignment. Tests are few and far between and are not created by teachers. You probably spend more time at the copying machine than anything else, making copies of that horrible curriculum.

There were excellent teachers in my child's HGC, the rest have been mediocre and honestly overpaid for their level of performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a 40 hour work week if you divide my time evenly with all students each one gets 14 minutes (providing I don't eat, attend department/staff meetings or use the bathroom). In that time I need to do everything for that student: teach them the content, make their lessons, make their tests, grade their papers, attend their IEP meetings, meet with their counselors, co-plan with team members, adopt new materials, disaggregate data to inform instruction, etc. When you take into consideration all of the "back-end" stuff that takes place it takes it down to maybe 4 or 5 minutes per student. If each email takes 2-5 minutes it eats into my most limited of resources: time.

Of course I spend more time than this working because their are more needs than will fit into a 40 hour week, but their are not enough hours in the day to get everything done to high standards all the time. I'm not trying to justify it because I try really, really hard to get everything done to the best of my ability (like almost all of the teachers I know). The reality is that something has to give. And if something has to give it will never, ever be the well-being of my students or the teaching quality they receive.

Such a bullshit answer. You don't spend individual time with each student, I've not seen any results of superior Instruction come home. The writing assignments are laughable. I can't imagine it would take any time to put a P or an A on every paper. There are maybe a handful of comments that come home every year on any assignment. Tests are few and far between and are not created by teachers. You probably spend more time at the copying machine than anything else, making copies of that horrible curriculum.

There were excellent teachers in my child's HGC, the rest have been mediocre and honestly overpaid for their level of performance.

I'm sorry. Try homeschooling! It is clear that you have mastery of pedagogy and your child would benefit greatly from your meaningful feedback and superior time management skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a 40 hour work week if you divide my time evenly with all students each one gets 14 minutes (providing I don't eat, attend department/staff meetings or use the bathroom). In that time I need to do everything for that student: teach them the content, make their lessons, make their tests, grade their papers, attend their IEP meetings, meet with their counselors, co-plan with team members, adopt new materials, disaggregate data to inform instruction, etc. When you take into consideration all of the "back-end" stuff that takes place it takes it down to maybe 4 or 5 minutes per student. If each email takes 2-5 minutes it eats into my most limited of resources: time.

Of course I spend more time than this working because their are more needs than will fit into a 40 hour week, but their are not enough hours in the day to get everything done to high standards all the time. I'm not trying to justify it because I try really, really hard to get everything done to the best of my ability (like almost all of the teachers I know). The reality is that something has to give. And if something has to give it will never, ever be the well-being of my students or the teaching quality they receive.

Such a bullshit answer. You don't spend individual time with each student, I've not seen any results of superior Instruction come home. The writing assignments are laughable. I can't imagine it would take any time to put a P or an A on every paper. There are maybe a handful of comments that come home every year on any assignment. Tests are few and far between and are not created by teachers. You probably spend more time at the copying machine than anything else, making copies of that horrible curriculum.

There were excellent teachers in my child's HGC, the rest have been mediocre and honestly overpaid for their level of performance.

That's a blanket generalization and deeply unfair to all the hard-working dedicated and effective teachers out there. Shame on you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a 40 hour work week if you divide my time evenly with all students each one gets 14 minutes (providing I don't eat, attend department/staff meetings or use the bathroom). In that time I need to do everything for that student: teach them the content, make their lessons, make their tests, grade their papers, attend their IEP meetings, meet with their counselors, co-plan with team members, adopt new materials, disaggregate data to inform instruction, etc. When you take into consideration all of the "back-end" stuff that takes place it takes it down to maybe 4 or 5 minutes per student. If each email takes 2-5 minutes it eats into my most limited of resources: time.

Of course I spend more time than this working because their are more needs than will fit into a 40 hour week, but their are not enough hours in the day to get everything done to high standards all the time. I'm not trying to justify it because I try really, really hard to get everything done to the best of my ability (like almost all of the teachers I know). The reality is that something has to give. And if something has to give it will never, ever be the well-being of my students or the teaching quality they receive.

Such a bullshit answer. You don't spend individual time with each student, I've not seen any results of superior Instruction come home. The writing assignments are laughable. I can't imagine it would take any time to put a P or an A on every paper. There are maybe a handful of comments that come home every year on any assignment. Tests are few and far between and are not created by teachers. You probably spend more time at the copying machine than anything else, making copies of that horrible curriculum.

There were excellent teachers in my child's HGC, the rest have been mediocre and honestly overpaid for their level of performance.

Hidden brag alert!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a 40 hour work week if you divide my time evenly with all students each one gets 14 minutes (providing I don't eat, attend department/staff meetings or use the bathroom). In that time I need to do everything for that student: teach them the content, make their lessons, make their tests, grade their papers, attend their IEP meetings, meet with their counselors, co-plan with team members, adopt new materials, disaggregate data to inform instruction, etc. When you take into consideration all of the "back-end" stuff that takes place it takes it down to maybe 4 or 5 minutes per student. If each email takes 2-5 minutes it eats into my most limited of resources: time.

Of course I spend more time than this working because their are more needs than will fit into a 40 hour week, but their are not enough hours in the day to get everything done to high standards all the time. I'm not trying to justify it because I try really, really hard to get everything done to the best of my ability (like almost all of the teachers I know). The reality is that something has to give. And if something has to give it will never, ever be the well-being of my students or the teaching quality they receive.

Such a bullshit answer. You don't spend individual time with each student, I've not seen any results of superior Instruction come home. The writing assignments are laughable. I can't imagine it would take any time to put a P or an A on every paper. There are maybe a handful of comments that come home every year on any assignment. Tests are few and far between and are not created by teachers. You probably spend more time at the copying machine than anything else, making copies of that horrible curriculum.

There were excellent teachers in my child's HGC, the rest have been mediocre and honestly overpaid for their level of performance.

Trust me, the school has opinions about you and your parenting and entitlement too. HGC kids usually find there are tons of kids in their home school who didn't do a gifted program but are just as smart and capable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish people would stop with the teacher bashing. Then people wonder why all the good ones end up leaving....

+100

If those gripers think they could do a better job for the same pay and benefits, I wish they would.

[Anonymous]

I'm checking email off and on today, but I am doing triage when it comes to responding. A lot of the information, students and parents are requesting (such as the arrangements for makeup exams) has already been disseminated to the public via the MCPS website. I have also posted this same info to both Edline and Google classroom AND sent out group emails via Edline. I'm focusing on emails that are time sensitive and require information that isn't otherwise available.
Meanwhile, I've received a lot of cute or really funny emails from my 6th and 7th graders. Some sent me pictures of them building snow forts or snowpeople with a social studies theme. Others are sending me snow day memes. I'm enjoying these messages and responding to every single one. I'm also answering technical questions about the assignments that I posted beginning 1/26. The mom who is freaking out on 1/28 about whether I can cover all the MP 3 curriculum by 3/23? She can wait until Monday for a reply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a 40 hour work week if you divide my time evenly with all students each one gets 14 minutes (providing I don't eat, attend department/staff meetings or use the bathroom). In that time I need to do everything for that student: teach them the content, make their lessons, make their tests, grade their papers, attend their IEP meetings, meet with their counselors, co-plan with team members, adopt new materials, disaggregate data to inform instruction, etc. When you take into consideration all of the "back-end" stuff that takes place it takes it down to maybe 4 or 5 minutes per student. If each email takes 2-5 minutes it eats into my most limited of resources: time.

Of course I spend more time than this working because their are more needs than will fit into a 40 hour week, but their are not enough hours in the day to get everything done to high standards all the time. I'm not trying to justify it because I try really, really hard to get everything done to the best of my ability (like almost all of the teachers I know). The reality is that something has to give. And if something has to give it will never, ever be the well-being of my students or the teaching quality they receive.

Such a bullshit answer. You don't spend individual time with each student, I've not seen any results of superior Instruction come home. The writing assignments are laughable. I can't imagine it would take any time to put a P or an A on every paper. There are maybe a handful of comments that come home every year on any assignment. Tests are few and far between and are not created by teachers. You probably spend more time at the copying machine than anything else, making copies of that horrible curriculum.

There were excellent teachers in my child's HGC, the rest have been mediocre and honestly overpaid for their level of performance.

And you wonder why the teachers aren't responding right away to emails? LOL...your answer is above in the attitude of the bolded poster. I don't blame them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Such a bullshit answer. You don't spend individual time with each student, I've not seen any results of superior Instruction come home. The writing assignments are laughable. I can't imagine it would take any time to put a P or an A on every paper. There are maybe a handful of comments that come home every year on any assignment. Tests are few and far between and are not created by teachers. You probably spend more time at the copying machine than anything else, making copies of that horrible curriculum.

There were excellent teachers in my child's HGC, the rest have been mediocre and honestly overpaid for their level of performance.

Teachers know this translates as, "My child had all perfect grades in middle school. She is so smart. She didn't learn any study skills because, did I mention? SHE IS SO SMART! She didn't need to study she just remembers everything. Therefore, other 'regular kids' at this 'regular school' couldn't possibly be as smart as her. The system is wrong and the school is flawed. The only reason she is getting lower grades than the other kids is because the teachers here are mediocre and overpaid for their level of performance."

Yes. I've seen this exact same type of parent response dozens of times. The thing is that the kids are typically reasonably smart, but some intelligence is developmental and some of it is just plain hard work. Bright kids with poor study skills and low grit don't get straight A's in high school PERIOD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a 40 hour work week if you divide my time evenly with all students each one gets 14 minutes (providing I don't eat, attend department/staff meetings or use the bathroom). In that time I need to do everything for that student: teach them the content, make their lessons, make their tests, grade their papers, attend their IEP meetings, meet with their counselors, co-plan with team members, adopt new materials, disaggregate data to inform instruction, etc. When you take into consideration all of the "back-end" stuff that takes place it takes it down to maybe 4 or 5 minutes per student. If each email takes 2-5 minutes it eats into my most limited of resources: time.

Of course I spend more time than this working because their are more needs than will fit into a 40 hour week, but their are not enough hours in the day to get everything done to high standards all the time. I'm not trying to justify it because I try really, really hard to get everything done to the best of my ability (like almost all of the teachers I know). The reality is that something has to give. And if something has to give it will never, ever be the well-being of my students or the teaching quality they receive.

Such a bullshit answer. You don't spend individual time with each student, I've not seen any results of superior Instruction come home. The writing assignments are laughable. I can't imagine it would take any time to put a P or an A on every paper. There are maybe a handful of comments that come home every year on any assignment. Tests are few and far between and are not created by teachers. You probably spend more time at the copying machine than anything else, making copies of that horrible curriculum.

There were excellent teachers in my child's HGC, the rest have been mediocre and honestly overpaid for their level of performance.

I'm sorry you're too poor for private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do and can are different questions.

I am sorry my English is not good. I thought I can ask the question and this forum has been helpful for foreigners like me.

And it has "devolved" into a fight, OP.

Your English is fine.

Here's the bottom line - Yes, teachers often do send out and respond to emails on snow days and holidays, but they don't have to. My daughter's teachers often send out brief summaries each week. I appreciate it, but as a teacher overloaded with large classes and hundreds of essays to grade on a regular basis, I understand why some teachers refuse to open their email during certain times.

So send out those emails. Once teachers are "back on the clock," they have 24 hours to respond.

[Anonymous]

Such a bullshit answer. You don't spend individual time with each student, I've not seen any results of superior Instruction come home. The writing assignments are laughable. I can't imagine it would take any time to put a P or an A on every paper. There are maybe a handful of comments that come home every year on any assignment. Tests are few and far between and are not created by teachers. You probably spend more time at the copying machine than anything else, making copies of that horrible curriculum.

There were excellent teachers in my child's HGC, the rest have been mediocre and honestly overpaid for their level of performance.

aw, PP - Your child isn't doing too well in REGULAR middle school, eh?

You know there's a range of "brilliance" accepted into HGCs Not all kids are in the top tier.

hint
hint

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish people would stop with the teacher bashing. Then people wonder why all the good ones end up leaving....

+100

If those gripers think they could do a better job for the same pay and benefits, I wish they would.

They get paid $50-110K a year for working 180 days. They get tenure, pension, health, dental and life insurance. They have every holiday, breaks and summers off. They need to go to college for 4yrs and two of them can be community college. I fail to see why they have it so bad?