APS Lucy Calkins- how does this happen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The first thing that needs to be done in regular classrooms at the early elementary level is to get rid of the kids who can't sit still and behave. Put them in separate classes and stop hiding behind IEPs - They literally take up time that could be used for literacy or any other subject. I don't know how much time is literally wasted because one or more kids consistently distract the rest of the class every day. Parents, you know who you are because these kids obviously live with you and I know of many cases that ate junk food all day, watched tv or played video games for hours at a time, and had very few rules to follow in their life. This is probably the single biggest complaint parents with kids in disruptive classes have and I know of more than a few teachers who couldn't stand these kids either because their parents won't allow teachers to punish them or remove them from the class.

You are truly an awful person. I hope you leave for private school.

Do you enjoy going to a movie theater and while watching a movie have 3 other patrons running around the theater, making noise, flicking the lights on and off and screaming? Because that is basically what it is like trying to learn with these mentally disturbed kids in the classroom.

Last year I was in my sons classroom helping and this crazy kid flipped his desk over in a rage. Do you have any clue how much chaos this caused in a 4th grade classroom? A loud bang and supplies and crap everywhere and a 9yr old having a tantrum. It ruined the entire lesson.

Pathetic. These kids need to head back to the special ed classes.

Lobby the government because they make the laws. The parents of these kids often due to have their kids included in NT classes. It’s terrible for all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are barely a developed nation at this point in any way, including education.

We are barely a developed nation BECAUSE our education system sucks. It all starts there.

Would be nice if our country funded education the way it funds the pentagon, huh.

Schools are failing our kids by wasting the money we give them, but sure! Let’s give them more!

Yes, we give schools too much money.

JFC. Are you a troll?

I’m not saying we give them too much money. I said that what they are currently given isn’t used wisely. Can you understand the difference, or is your reading comprehension lacking? (Were you trained to read by Lucy Calkins? LOL)

We need to fix the actual problem by eliminating crappy curricula. Have teachers use materials that actually work.

I’m simply saying that money alone won’t fix this issue. Plenty of philanthropists and even the US government have already tried. It didn’t work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The first thing that needs to be done in regular classrooms at the early elementary level is to get rid of the kids who can't sit still and behave. Put them in separate classes and stop hiding behind IEPs - They literally take up time that could be used for literacy or any other subject. I don't know how much time is literally wasted because one or more kids consistently distract the rest of the class every day. Parents, you know who you are because these kids obviously live with you and I know of many cases that ate junk food all day, watched tv or played video games for hours at a time, and had very few rules to follow in their life. This is probably the single biggest complaint parents with kids in disruptive classes have and I know of more than a few teachers who couldn't stand these kids either because their parents won't allow teachers to punish them or remove them from the class.

You are truly an awful person. I hope you leave for private school.

Do you enjoy going to a movie theater and while watching a movie have 3 other patrons running around the theater, making noise, flicking the lights on and off and screaming? Because that is basically what it is like trying to learn with these mentally disturbed kids in the classroom.

Last year I was in my sons classroom helping and this crazy kid flipped his desk over in a rage. Do you have any clue how much chaos this caused in a 4th grade classroom? A loud bang and supplies and crap everywhere and a 9yr old having a tantrum. It ruined the entire lesson.

Pathetic. These kids need to head back to the special ed classes.

Lobby the government because they make the laws. The parents of these kids often due to have their kids included in NT classes. It’s terrible for all.

I’d bet changing the curriculum to something that actually engages children would eliminate over half of the problem. Many of those kids probably aren’t in need of special services, but are just bored to death. It would make it easier to identify those that truly need the extra help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fact is, we need teachers to be told WHAT to teach, with general guidelines of how to teach it. The selected curriculum needs to be proven to actually work. There are many options out there. Having teachers decide what to teach is a nightmare.

Good teachers are energetic, engaging, and know how to manage a classroom well.

We are told what to teach and what not to teach. I can say that last year when I taught in FCPS I was told not to explicitly teach spelling or grammar. Lucy Calkins addresses that stuff for like literally a second and it’s not explicit. My kids never had phonics bc Lucy didn’t add that until 2017 (I hear it’s not even good but it’s better than nothing). And I’m sorry but we’re you always engaged in school? I remember getting hired as a kid and that’s just part of school. I also got bored sometimes in colleges and had to take many classes I had zero interest in. As an adult I’ve had jobs where I’ve been bored. In an office I was bored. With teaching I’m usually not bored, but sometimes I am bored with what I have to teach and the way I have to teach it. Being bored and dealing with it are skills kids should master. It will help them should they go to college and when they’re working adults. Boredom is a part of life. Kids these days seem to always feel bored because they’re used to video games, you tube, etc. always at their thumbs to provide entertainment. Sometimes my students say they’re bored and that’s just part of life. Other times they’re having a good time but those lessons designed to be fun are treats. Sometimes a lesson is boring to some students and exciting to the students who are interested in the topic.

Stop blaming teachers for your kid being bored. It’s seriously a part of life. No college professor is going to sing and dance and put on a whole performance to keep your kid from feeling bored. Same with managers when they’re working adults someday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The first thing that needs to be done in regular classrooms at the early elementary level is to get rid of the kids who can't sit still and behave. Put them in separate classes and stop hiding behind IEPs - They literally take up time that could be used for literacy or any other subject. I don't know how much time is literally wasted because one or more kids consistently distract the rest of the class every day. Parents, you know who you are because these kids obviously live with you and I know of many cases that ate junk food all day, watched tv or played video games for hours at a time, and had very few rules to follow in their life. This is probably the single biggest complaint parents with kids in disruptive classes have and I know of more than a few teachers who couldn't stand these kids either because their parents won't allow teachers to punish them or remove them from the class.

You are truly an awful person. I hope you leave for private school.

Do you enjoy going to a movie theater and while watching a movie have 3 other patrons running around the theater, making noise, flicking the lights on and off and screaming? Because that is basically what it is like trying to learn with these mentally disturbed kids in the classroom.

Last year I was in my sons classroom helping and this crazy kid flipped his desk over in a rage. Do you have any clue how much chaos this caused in a 4th grade classroom? A loud bang and supplies and crap everywhere and a 9yr old having a tantrum. It ruined the entire lesson.

Pathetic. These kids need to head back to the special ed classes.

You should start with yourself. How did you become such a shitty, uninformed person? Time for some self-reflection.

Start at home.

+1. Every child is guaranteed a free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. “Behavior” is not a qualifier for a full time SPED classroom. Children learn compassion, empathy, and resilience (which your children could probably use based on your response) from being in a classroom with all kinds of different people. You don’t prepare kids for life by teaching them in a vacuum with no problems.

Enroll in private school if you don’t like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact is, we need teachers to be told WHAT to teach, with general guidelines of how to teach it. The selected curriculum needs to be proven to actually work. There are many options out there. Having teachers decide what to teach is a nightmare.

Good teachers are energetic, engaging, and know how to manage a classroom well.

We are told what to teach and what not to teach. I can say that last year when I taught in FCPS I was told not to explicitly teach spelling or grammar. Lucy Calkins addresses that stuff for like literally a second and it’s not explicit. My kids never had phonics bc Lucy didn’t add that until 2017 (I hear it’s not even good but it’s better than nothing). And I’m sorry but we’re you always engaged in school? I remember getting hired as a kid and that’s just part of school. I also got bored sometimes in colleges and had to take many classes I had zero interest in. As an adult I’ve had jobs where I’ve been bored. In an office I was bored. With teaching I’m usually not bored, but sometimes I am bored with what I have to teach and the way I have to teach it. Being bored and dealing with it are skills kids should master. It will help them should they go to college and when they’re working adults. Boredom is a part of life. Kids these days seem to always feel bored because they’re used to video games, you tube, etc. always at their thumbs to provide entertainment. Sometimes my students say they’re bored and that’s just part of life. Other times they’re having a good time but those lessons designed to be fun are treats. Sometimes a lesson is boring to some students and exciting to the students who are interested in the topic.

Stop blaming teachers for your kid being bored. It’s seriously a part of life. No college professor is going to sing and dance and put on a whole performance to keep your kid from feeling bored. Same with managers when they’re working adults someday.

DP. This makes me really sad. No, I was rarely bored at school. I had a great, engaging education all the way through my advanced degree. It included a strong foundation in grammar, spelling and writing in early years, which facilitated advanced learning and thinking later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fact is, we need teachers to be told WHAT to teach, with general guidelines of how to teach it. The selected curriculum needs to be proven to actually work. There are many options out there. Having teachers decide what to teach is a nightmare.

Good teachers are energetic, engaging, and know how to manage a classroom well.

Schools often have different classroom management techniques that you must implement. Some schools are PBIS. Some are Responsive Classroom. Where I was last year the school said the kids were to be intrinsically motivated. We weren’t supposed to do stuff like PBIS or implement reward systems like Class Dojo or marble jars where the student could earn whole class prizes. So in my first year I was told not to do any of that and do you think my classroom was managed well just expecting the kids to be intrinsically motivated? It wasn’t! I heard some teachers did marble jars and other reward systems and to just keep it on the down low. I eventually established a PBIS system that got kids participating and staying on task much more frequently. It helped me and I think it helped the kids because the often off task kids wanted that attention for doing as they should. This kept them from distracting the students who didn’t struggle as much with staying on task. I had seen PBIS in schools as a sub and I think it works for younger grades. I mean kids need to learn to do what’s expected without constant recognition or the chance to win a prize, but they get weened off it and I’ve subbed every grade level and the PBIS ES kids were well behaved in MS and HS. Where I subbed I never really had behavior problems and I hear a lot of subs experience those. So IMO the ES did a great job establishing a school wide classroom management policy to teach the kids proper behavior. Being told your school doesn’t have a school wide behavior system and the kids should just be intrinsically motivated in ES was a bit crazy. It clearly didn’t work for most teachers since most went against the rule and used Class Dojo and the like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact is, we need teachers to be told WHAT to teach, with general guidelines of how to teach it. The selected curriculum needs to be proven to actually work. There are many options out there. Having teachers decide what to teach is a nightmare.

Good teachers are energetic, engaging, and know how to manage a classroom well.

We are told what to teach and what not to teach. I can say that last year when I taught in FCPS I was told not to explicitly teach spelling or grammar. Lucy Calkins addresses that stuff for like literally a second and it’s not explicit. My kids never had phonics bc Lucy didn’t add that until 2017 (I hear it’s not even good but it’s better than nothing). And I’m sorry but we’re you always engaged in school? I remember getting hired as a kid and that’s just part of school. I also got bored sometimes in colleges and had to take many classes I had zero interest in. As an adult I’ve had jobs where I’ve been bored. In an office I was bored. With teaching I’m usually not bored, but sometimes I am bored with what I have to teach and the way I have to teach it. Being bored and dealing with it are skills kids should master. It will help them should they go to college and when they’re working adults. Boredom is a part of life. Kids these days seem to always feel bored because they’re used to video games, you tube, etc. always at their thumbs to provide entertainment. Sometimes my students say they’re bored and that’s just part of life. Other times they’re having a good time but those lessons designed to be fun are treats. Sometimes a lesson is boring to some students and exciting to the students who are interested in the topic.


LOL! Of course boredom is a part of life. I’m actually not a fan of over-scheduling my child’s day, as periods of boredom are awesome for inspiring creativity.

This does NOT mean that it’s acceptable to bore children to death in elementary school. (“Sorry kiddo. I know you’re only 7, but boredom is part of life. Better get used to it.” — Really?)

Of course we have all been bored in school at times. Hopefully, most of us have had engaging teachers that have taught engaging material. I know I have, and those were the classes in which I learned the most!

All of these teacher responses are depressing me. Where is the logic?
Stop blaming teachers for your kid being bored. It’s seriously a part of life. No college professor is going to sing and dance and put on a whole performance to keep your kid from feeling bored. Same with managers when they’re working adults someday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact is, we need teachers to be told WHAT to teach, with general guidelines of how to teach it. The selected curriculum needs to be proven to actually work. There are many options out there. Having teachers decide what to teach is a nightmare.

Good teachers are energetic, engaging, and know how to manage a classroom well.

We are told what to teach and what not to teach. I can say that last year when I taught in FCPS I was told not to explicitly teach spelling or grammar. Lucy Calkins addresses that stuff for like literally a second and it’s not explicit. My kids never had phonics bc Lucy didn’t add that until 2017 (I hear it’s not even good but it’s better than nothing). And I’m sorry but we’re you always engaged in school? I remember getting hired as a kid and that’s just part of school. I also got bored sometimes in colleges and had to take many classes I had zero interest in. As an adult I’ve had jobs where I’ve been bored. In an office I was bored. With teaching I’m usually not bored, but sometimes I am bored with what I have to teach and the way I have to teach it. Being bored and dealing with it are skills kids should master. It will help them should they go to college and when they’re working adults. Boredom is a part of life. Kids these days seem to always feel bored because they’re used to video games, you tube, etc. always at their thumbs to provide entertainment. Sometimes my students say they’re bored and that’s just part of life. Other times they’re having a good time but those lessons designed to be fun are treats. Sometimes a lesson is boring to some students and exciting to the students who are interested in the topic.

Stop blaming teachers for your kid being bored. It’s seriously a part of life. No college professor is going to sing and dance and put on a whole performance to keep your kid from feeling bored. Same with managers when they’re working adults someday.

LOL! Of course boredom is a part of life. I’m actually not a fan of over-scheduling my child’s day, as periods of boredom are awesome for inspiring creativity.

This does NOT mean that it’s acceptable to bore children to death in elementary school. (“Sorry kiddo. I know you’re only 7, but boredom is part of life. Better get used to it.” — Really?)

Of course we have all been bored in school at times. Hopefully, most of us have had engaging teachers that have taught engaging material. I know I have, and those were the classes in which I learned the most!

All of these teacher responses are depressing me. Where is the logic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact is, we need teachers to be told WHAT to teach, with general guidelines of how to teach it. The selected curriculum needs to be proven to actually work. There are many options out there. Having teachers decide what to teach is a nightmare.

Good teachers are energetic, engaging, and know how to manage a classroom well.

We are told what to teach and what not to teach. I can say that last year when I taught in FCPS I was told not to explicitly teach spelling or grammar. Lucy Calkins addresses that stuff for like literally a second and it’s not explicit. My kids never had phonics bc Lucy didn’t add that until 2017 (I hear it’s not even good but it’s better than nothing). And I’m sorry but we’re you always engaged in school? I remember getting hired as a kid and that’s just part of school. I also got bored sometimes in colleges and had to take many classes I had zero interest in. As an adult I’ve had jobs where I’ve been bored. In an office I was bored. With teaching I’m usually not bored, but sometimes I am bored with what I have to teach and the way I have to teach it. Being bored and dealing with it are skills kids should master. It will help them should they go to college and when they’re working adults. Boredom is a part of life. Kids these days seem to always feel bored because they’re used to video games, you tube, etc. always at their thumbs to provide entertainment. Sometimes my students say they’re bored and that’s just part of life. Other times they’re having a good time but those lessons designed to be fun are treats. Sometimes a lesson is boring to some students and exciting to the students who are interested in the topic.

Stop blaming teachers for your kid being bored. It’s seriously a part of life. No college professor is going to sing and dance and put on a whole performance to keep your kid from feeling bored. Same with managers when they’re working adults someday.

DP. This makes me really sad. No, I was rarely bored at school. I had a great, engaging education all the way through my advanced degree. It included a strong foundation in grammar, spelling and writing in early years, which facilitated advanced learning and thinking later.

Some of it probably comes down to the person. I was diagnosed with ADD in HS. I do tend to get bored easily. But I never acted out as a kid in school. I often just stared out the window, doodled but still listened while the teachers spoke or during read aloud, in HS sometimes I would put my head down to rest but I still listened. It’s important to know how to still listen to what’s being taught so you learn it but deal with boredom in a way that doesn’t disrupt other students and take all of the teacher’s attention.

If you had such engaging teachers I think you should become one and see if those methods your teachers used are something your employer would allow you to use and if they still work. Kids have so much tech at their fingertips that I swear most just get bored so easily no matter what school or classroom you’re in... If you think you know some secret then by all means release it! How did your teachers making spelling and grammar fun enough to have a 100% engaged class? Please do share! I’d love to try these methods if my boss allows it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact is, we need teachers to be told WHAT to teach, with general guidelines of how to teach it. The selected curriculum needs to be proven to actually work. There are many options out there. Having teachers decide what to teach is a nightmare.

Good teachers are energetic, engaging, and know how to manage a classroom well.

We are told what to teach and what not to teach. I can say that last year when I taught in FCPS I was told not to explicitly teach spelling or grammar. Lucy Calkins addresses that stuff for like literally a second and it’s not explicit. My kids never had phonics bc Lucy didn’t add that until 2017 (I hear it’s not even good but it’s better than nothing). And I’m sorry but we’re you always engaged in school? I remember getting hired as a kid and that’s just part of school. I also got bored sometimes in colleges and had to take many classes I had zero interest in. As an adult I’ve had jobs where I’ve been bored. In an office I was bored. With teaching I’m usually not bored, but sometimes I am bored with what I have to teach and the way I have to teach it. Being bored and dealing with it are skills kids should master. It will help them should they go to college and when they’re working adults. Boredom is a part of life. Kids these days seem to always feel bored because they’re used to video games, you tube, etc. always at their thumbs to provide entertainment. Sometimes my students say they’re bored and that’s just part of life. Other times they’re having a good time but those lessons designed to be fun are treats. Sometimes a lesson is boring to some students and exciting to the students who are interested in the topic.

Stop blaming teachers for your kid being bored. It’s seriously a part of life. No college professor is going to sing and dance and put on a whole performance to keep your kid from feeling bored. Same with managers when they’re working adults someday.

OMG. Using this logic, we don’t even need teachers. We can train chimps to supervise our children while they read their leveled readers. Is this teacher serious?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact is, we need teachers to be told WHAT to teach, with general guidelines of how to teach it. The selected curriculum needs to be proven to actually work. There are many options out there. Having teachers decide what to teach is a nightmare.

Good teachers are energetic, engaging, and know how to manage a classroom well.

We are told what to teach and what not to teach. I can say that last year when I taught in FCPS I was told not to explicitly teach spelling or grammar. Lucy Calkins addresses that stuff for like literally a second and it’s not explicit. My kids never had phonics bc Lucy didn’t add that until 2017 (I hear it’s not even good but it’s better than nothing). And I’m sorry but we’re you always engaged in school? I remember getting hired as a kid and that’s just part of school. I also got bored sometimes in colleges and had to take many classes I had zero interest in. As an adult I’ve had jobs where I’ve been bored. In an office I was bored. With teaching I’m usually not bored, but sometimes I am bored with what I have to teach and the way I have to teach it. Being bored and dealing with it are skills kids should master. It will help them should they go to college and when they’re working adults. Boredom is a part of life. Kids these days seem to always feel bored because they’re used to video games, you tube, etc. always at their thumbs to provide entertainment. Sometimes my students say they’re bored and that’s just part of life. Other times they’re having a good time but those lessons designed to be fun are treats. Sometimes a lesson is boring to some students and exciting to the students who are interested in the topic.

Stop blaming teachers for your kid being bored. It’s seriously a part of life. No college professor is going to sing and dance and put on a whole performance to keep your kid from feeling bored. Same with managers when they’re working adults someday.

DP. This makes me really sad. No, I was rarely bored at school. I had a great, engaging education all the way through my advanced degree. It included a strong foundation in grammar, spelling and writing in early years, which facilitated advanced learning and thinking later.

This depresses me, too. These teacher responses are very telling. Our kids deserve better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact is, we need teachers to be told WHAT to teach, with general guidelines of how to teach it. The selected curriculum needs to be proven to actually work. There are many options out there. Having teachers decide what to teach is a nightmare.

Good teachers are energetic, engaging, and know how to manage a classroom well.

We are told what to teach and what not to teach. I can say that last year when I taught in FCPS I was told not to explicitly teach spelling or grammar. Lucy Calkins addresses that stuff for like literally a second and it’s not explicit. My kids never had phonics bc Lucy didn’t add that until 2017 (I hear it’s not even good but it’s better than nothing). And I’m sorry but we’re you always engaged in school? I remember getting hired as a kid and that’s just part of school. I also got bored sometimes in colleges and had to take many classes I had zero interest in. As an adult I’ve had jobs where I’ve been bored. In an office I was bored. With teaching I’m usually not bored, but sometimes I am bored with what I have to teach and the way I have to teach it. Being bored and dealing with it are skills kids should master. It will help them should they go to college and when they’re working adults. Boredom is a part of life. Kids these days seem to always feel bored because they’re used to video games, you tube, etc. always at their thumbs to provide entertainment. Sometimes my students say they’re bored and that’s just part of life. Other times they’re having a good time but those lessons designed to be fun are treats. Sometimes a lesson is boring to some students and exciting to the students who are interested in the topic.


LOL! Of course boredom is a part of life. I’m actually not a fan of over-scheduling my child’s day, as periods of boredom are awesome for inspiring creativity.

This does NOT mean that it’s acceptable to bore children to death in elementary school. (“Sorry kiddo. I know you’re only 7, but boredom is part of life. Better get used to it.” — Really?)

Of course we have all been bored in school at times. Hopefully, most of us have had engaging teachers that have taught engaging material. I know I have, and those were the classes in which I learned the most!

All of these teacher responses are depressing me. Where is the logic?
Stop blaming teachers for your kid being bored. It’s seriously a part of life. No college professor is going to sing and dance and put on a whole performance to keep your kid from feeling bored. Same with managers when they’re working adults someday.

Actually as a corporate trainer myself who has also had to shift to a horrendously tedious online model, my department ABSOLUTELY works hard to employ different methods to engage people. Content is irrelevant if you bore your audience to inattention. Bored people cannot learn. As a matter of fact when we interview (and I've interviewed a TON of teachers making a career shift) part of the interview process is for that person to present a dry topic to the interview panel and if the candidate is not engaging and creative they are not asked to come back. I've seen no shortage of teachers who really need to find an ENTIRE different line of work.

A good teacher, be it corporate or public educator strives to make the content engaging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact is, we need teachers to be told WHAT to teach, with general guidelines of how to teach it. The selected curriculum needs to be proven to actually work. There are many options out there. Having teachers decide what to teach is a nightmare.

Good teachers are energetic, engaging, and know how to manage a classroom well.

We are told what to teach and what not to teach. I can say that last year when I taught in FCPS I was told not to explicitly teach spelling or grammar. Lucy Calkins addresses that stuff for like literally a second and it’s not explicit. My kids never had phonics bc Lucy didn’t add that until 2017 (I hear it’s not even good but it’s better than nothing). And I’m sorry but we’re you always engaged in school? I remember getting hired as a kid and that’s just part of school. I also got bored sometimes in colleges and had to take many classes I had zero interest in. As an adult I’ve had jobs where I’ve been bored. In an office I was bored. With teaching I’m usually not bored, but sometimes I am bored with what I have to teach and the way I have to teach it. Being bored and dealing with it are skills kids should master. It will help them should they go to college and when they’re working adults. Boredom is a part of life. Kids these days seem to always feel bored because they’re used to video games, you tube, etc. always at their thumbs to provide entertainment. Sometimes my students say they’re bored and that’s just part of life. Other times they’re having a good time but those lessons designed to be fun are treats. Sometimes a lesson is boring to some students and exciting to the students who are interested in the topic.


LOL! Of course boredom is a part of life. I’m actually not a fan of over-scheduling my child’s day, as periods of boredom are awesome for inspiring creativity.

This does NOT mean that it’s acceptable to bore children to death in elementary school. (“Sorry kiddo. I know you’re only 7, but boredom is part of life. Better get used to it.” — Really?)

Of course we have all been bored in school at times. Hopefully, most of us have had engaging teachers that have taught engaging material. I know I have, and those were the classes in which I learned the most!

All of these teacher responses are depressing me. Where is the logic?
Stop blaming teachers for your kid being bored. It’s seriously a part of life. No college professor is going to sing and dance and put on a whole performance to keep your kid from feeling bored. Same with managers when they’re working adults someday.

Actually as a corporate trainer myself who has also had to shift to a horrendously tedious online model, my department ABSOLUTELY works hard to employ different methods to engage people. Content is irrelevant if you bore your audience to inattention. Bored people cannot learn. As a matter of fact when we interview (and I've interviewed a TON of teachers making a career shift) part of the interview process is for that person to present a dry topic to the interview panel and if the candidate is not engaging and creative they are not asked to come back. I've seen no shortage of teachers who really need to find an ENTIRE different line of work.

A good teacher, be it corporate or public educator strives to make the content engaging.

This.

And, the poster above who said we need to better fund education isn’t wrong. Teachers should absolutely make more. However, in order to justify the salary increase, they need to be QUALITY educators.

We need to guard the profession and stop allowing Education to be a backup major. Sure, there are college students out there that choose it as their first option, but I have plenty of friends that chose Elementary Education as their major when they weren’t accepted into other majors with more difficult acceptance standards (Some even joked that they were changing their major to “Coloring.”). It should be more difficult to get an Education degree. This will weed out a lot of the ineffective teachers. In order to do this, however, they need to be paid more.

[Anonymous]

My kids did Lucy Calkins for 6 and 4 years respectively, and were way behind in grammar, structured writing, spelling, vocabulary, and so on. They switched to MCT, and it was like a different universe. Both kids became much stronger writers, had a strong sense of grammar, and started to love their language arts classes.

It's just anecdote, but for my kids, LC was awful, and MCT was a much stronger, much better curriculum.