Teacher here, ready to throw in the towel...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't teachers have 2 months this summer to drum up a plan for kids home sick? Arguably, if a kid is sick, why should they do work? They are sick. Mark assignments as 100%, give missed math lesson sheets when they return so they can catch up.

I'll drum up some plans if they paid me to but they didn't.

Lots of government employees work OT unpaid. Especially ones who have people relying on them for their welfare. Like children relying on YOU for their education. Don't be a clock watcher.

That’s funny, we aren’t even allowed to move our cars on our prep periods. We can’t walk out the door thirty seconds before the official end of day, even if all the kids are gone. Our jobs have zero flexibility. We don’t get PTO, have to schedule doctor’s appointments on holidays, and are tasked with completing virtual meetings and trainings on site for no reason. Everyone knows that teachers work a ton of unpaid overtime. Everyone wants to watch the clock when it comes to teachers, but god forbid teachers draw boundaries or ask to be respected and paid for your time.

At my school, if you want to physically leave the building during our 30 min lunch, you have to fill out a leave slip. That means I can’t go grab a prescription from CVS, make a private phone call in my car, or even take a walk in the fresh air.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't teachers have 2 months this summer to drum up a plan for kids home sick? Arguably, if a kid is sick, why should they do work? They are sick. Mark assignments as 100%, give missed math lesson sheets when they return so they can catch up.

I'll drum up some plans if they paid me to but they didn't.

Lots of government employees work OT unpaid. Especially ones who have people relying on them for their welfare. Like children relying on YOU for their education. Don't be a clock watcher.

That’s funny, we aren’t even allowed to move our cars on our prep periods. We can’t walk out the door thirty seconds before the official end of day, even if all the kids are gone. Our jobs have zero flexibility. We don’t get PTO, have to schedule doctor’s appointments on holidays, and are tasked with completing virtual meetings and trainings on site for no reason. Everyone knows that teachers work a ton of unpaid overtime. Everyone wants to watch the clock when it comes to teachers, but god forbid teachers draw boundaries or ask to be respected and paid for your time.

At my school, if you want to physically leave the building during our 30 min lunch, you have to fill out a leave slip. That means I can’t go grab a prescription from CVS, make a private phone call in my car, or even take a walk in the fresh air.

What school is that? I’m allowed to do all you mentioned without filling a big brother surveillance slip

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Talking is overrated. All teachers need to shut up about how to deal with stuff, and actually DEAL with stuff!

Maybe we are tired of being the solution to all of society's problems. Maybe we want everyone to know how it really is in schools. We have dealt with our inept school districts for our entire careers. Now you get to see what we have to put up with.

The solution to all of society's problems? Christ lady, get over yourself.

Teachers/Public Schools are asked to:
Detect various forms of abuse and neglect.
Detect rapid gains in BMI or failure to thrive.
Detect mental health issues ranging from anxiety and mild depression to OCD, bipolar, even schizophrenia or more severe.
Identify families in financial crisis or housing insecurity that need a referral to social services.
Supply weather appropriate clothing, bedding, and shoes as well as supplemental food (3 meals + snacks, weekend food).

As a former desperately poor kid who was being abused sexually, I support all that schools do now, but it is too much! Doctors do not also have to see if kids are making educational progress.

Is that your list of “all of society’s problems”

Oh come on now. I’m a school counselor and even I am not expected to detect specific mental health disorders. I am expected to make referrals. You have a counseling department, admins, PPWs and a lot of other layers beyond you. You simply need to be the bridge, and that’s not such a heavy lift. If you’re concerned about a kid, direct them to the appropriate resources and share your concerns with your team. The martyrdom thing is making all educators look bad. My students’ parents are having a tough time, too, and while your feelings are valid, this is the job you took. If you don’t want to do it anymore, that’s fine, even understandable. But please quit with the woe is me stuff, because it’s embarrassing to those of us who are going to roll up our sleeves and just get to work and do the best we can. No one has a crystal ball, and yes, MCPS is a mess, but just take it day by day. Complaining will only keep you stuck in misery.

As OP of this thread, I just want to mention that I have NOT been posting the majority of teacher complaints here. I don't know if it is one other teacher or multiple teacher, but my complaints are pretty much limited to what I stated in my OP --that I just don't have it in me anymore to keep "pivoting". The rest of this stuff I either don't experience at my school or else just accept it as the way teaching is these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools have been operating in person all around the country for quite some time now. My kids went back in person in FCPS elementary for 4th quarter last school year. They did not have a single case of covid. I think it's going to be fine. And I think they will roll with whatever happens. I know in FCPS, the health department is responsible for handling contact tracing and determining quarantine. Anecdotally, they seem to rarely to quarantining a whole classroom. I just don't think it's going to be that difficult to figure things out as they come.

Was it a full class last year? Did they eat crammed into the cafeteria? Was community spread high then? Was Delta around then? Things have changed since the spring.

DP. For much of my family:
Yes, full class.
Yes, crammed into the cafeteria.
Yes, community spread was high
No, Delta was no around, but rates of infection were nuts in their area
They played sports too!
And had in-person graduation. Not a single kid, teacher, or staff is dead. People might have died from something else though.

Spring 2021 and summer, the kids in ES were facing the teacher, all in one direction, and their desks were separated in class. Not facing each other like this year, with flexible seating as they used to do pre-Covid. So not its not the same as before, nothing is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools have been operating in person all around the country for quite some time now. My kids went back in person in FCPS elementary for 4th quarter last school year. They did not have a single case of covid. I think it's going to be fine. And I think they will roll with whatever happens. I know in FCPS, the health department is responsible for handling contact tracing and determining quarantine. Anecdotally, they seem to rarely to quarantining a whole classroom. I just don't think it's going to be that difficult to figure things out as they come.

Was it a full class last year? Did they eat crammed into the cafeteria? Was community spread high then? Was Delta around then? Things have changed since the spring.

DP. For much of my family:
Yes, full class.
Yes, crammed into the cafeteria.
Yes, community spread was high
No, Delta was no around, but rates of infection were nuts in their area
They played sports too!
And had in-person graduation. Not a single kid, teacher, or staff is dead. People might have died from something else though.

Spring 2021 and summer, the kids in ES were facing the teacher, all in one direction, and their desks were separated in class. Not facing each other like this year, with flexible seating as they used to do pre-Covid. So not its not the same as before, nothing is.

"But the SEATING is different! We can't compare!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't teachers have 2 months this summer to drum up a plan for kids home sick? Arguably, if a kid is sick, why should they do work? They are sick. Mark assignments as 100%, give missed math lesson sheets when they return so they can catch up.

I'll drum up some plans if they paid me to but they didn't.

Lots of government employees work OT unpaid. Especially ones who have people relying on them for their welfare. Like children relying on YOU for their education. Don't be a clock watcher.

That’s funny, we aren’t even allowed to move our cars on our prep periods. We can’t walk out the door thirty seconds before the official end of day, even if all the kids are gone. Our jobs have zero flexibility. We don’t get PTO, have to schedule doctor’s appointments on holidays, and are tasked with completing virtual meetings and trainings on site for no reason. Everyone knows that teachers work a ton of unpaid overtime. Everyone wants to watch the clock when it comes to teachers, but god forbid teachers draw boundaries or ask to be respected and paid for your time.

At my school, if you want to physically leave the building during our 30 min lunch, you have to fill out a leave slip. That means I can’t go grab a prescription from CVS, make a private phone call in my car, or even take a walk in the fresh air.

What school is that? I’m allowed to do all you mentioned without filling a big brother surveillance slip

Eastern MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Talking is overrated. All teachers need to shut up about how to deal with stuff, and actually DEAL with stuff!

Oh, is it up to teachers to determine policy?

[Anonymous]

Op here -- this nuttiness is what I'm worried about.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/995134.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here -- this nuttiness is what I'm worried about.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/995134.page

These kids are still in daycare They are still playing sports. The parents are at work. It isn't practical to quarantine for 10 days because of a negative covid test. I was stuck in that loop over spring break with a child who had allergies. I won't test again for allergy-like symptoms unless my child's doctor explicitly tells me to. I was proactive and my child missed more school than necessary if I had waited for the doctor to make the call (who said we didn't need to test based on her runny nose).

I think once schools open back up again and the transition is behind us, people will realize how similar to the hybrid classes of the spring, the sky does not fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't teachers have 2 months this summer to drum up a plan for kids home sick? Arguably, if a kid is sick, why should they do work? They are sick. Mark assignments as 100%, give missed math lesson sheets when they return so they can catch up.

I'll drum up some plans if they paid me to but they didn't.

Lots of government employees work OT unpaid. Especially ones who have people relying on them for their welfare. Like children relying on YOU for their education. Don't be a clock watcher.

That’s funny, we aren’t even allowed to move our cars on our prep periods. We can’t walk out the door thirty seconds before the official end of day, even if all the kids are gone. Our jobs have zero flexibility. We don’t get PTO, have to schedule doctor’s appointments on holidays, and are tasked with completing virtual meetings and trainings on site for no reason. Everyone knows that teachers work a ton of unpaid overtime. Everyone wants to watch the clock when it comes to teachers, but god forbid teachers draw boundaries or ask to be respected and paid for your time.

At my school, if you want to physically leave the building during our 30 min lunch, you have to fill out a leave slip. That means I can’t go grab a prescription from CVS, make a private phone call in my car, or even take a walk in the fresh air.

We have a similar policy. We cannot even go out the door to sit in our cars to eat lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know NOW that you will need to have work for kids who will be out sick and quarantining. That is not a maybe. It is a fact.

Frankly perhaps one good thing to come from this will be teachers and schools figuring out that it needs to be possible to miss school for a few days for illness without falling impossibly behind. In my view that means we actually do need textbooks and workbooks since saying read pages x to Y and do pages a to b in the workbook is much more doable than teachers inventing things on their own. But maybe someone else has a different solution…

New poster. Workbooks are dandy for elementary. But they do nothing actually to instruct MS and especially HS students. Rote learning is beloved by some but it doesn't prepare students very well for college. I'll definitely agree that for a few days it's fine just to read and respond to the reading etc. but considering we can expect highly contagious Delta to keep kids out longer and keep more kids out, well, some students could end up with a large amount time spent doing of textbook-and-workbook "education." So much for learning critical thinking, discussion skills, group participation and group project skills that are important for college and/or employment. Let's get more aggressive about masking and distancing and requiring vaccines for ALL rather than caving in to the idea that, oh well, have those workbooks ready.

[Anonymous]

I don’t even know what’s going on here. My entire curriculum is on Canvas/my computer from last year. I just plan on reposting what I have for any student(s) who quarantine, if it unfortunately comes to that.

Not much has changed standards-wise in my district.

[Anonymous]

"New poster. Workbooks are dandy for elementary. But they do nothing actually to instruct MS and especially HS students. Rote learning is beloved by some but it doesn't prepare students very well for college. I'll definitely agree that for a few days it's fine just to read and respond to the reading etc. but considering we can expect highly contagious Delta to keep kids out longer and keep more kids out, well, some students could end up with a large amount time spent doing of textbook-and-workbook "education." So much for learning critical thinking, discussion skills, group participation and group project skills that are important for college and/or employment. Let's get more aggressive about masking and distancing and requiring vaccines for ALL rather than caving in to the idea that, oh well, have those workbooks ready."

MS/HS should be following CDC reccs and not mandating quartantining for kids who can prove they are vaccinated. If they do that, the biggest quartantine risk is for ES kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"New poster. Workbooks are dandy for elementary. But they do nothing actually to instruct MS and especially HS students. Rote learning is beloved by some but it doesn't prepare students very well for college. I'll definitely agree that for a few days it's fine just to read and respond to the reading etc. but considering we can expect highly contagious Delta to keep kids out longer and keep more kids out, well, some students could end up with a large amount time spent doing of textbook-and-workbook "education." So much for learning critical thinking, discussion skills, group participation and group project skills that are important for college and/or employment. Let's get more aggressive about masking and distancing and requiring vaccines for ALL rather than caving in to the idea that, oh well, have those workbooks ready."

MS/HS should be following CDC reccs and not mandating quartantining for kids who can prove they are vaccinated. If they do that, the biggest quartantine risk is for ES kids.

Still better than virtual learning. There were no critical thinking skills being taught or built in our home last year. It was tough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this real?

My school district has lots of plans in place. Teachers got to go packs this week in case the class needs to go virtual. I just don’t feel this way and wonder if you are a troll. Apologies if you are not but where do you teach?

this sounds incredibly real. I'm a HS teacher in APS and we don't even know the schedule for the first week of school, let alone what happens when we or our students need to be absent/quarantine. just because your one school has things in place doesn't mean every other school does, especially during a pandemic

+1 another teacher here and this is 100% accurate