DC just announced all virtual

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would prefer less instructional time if it meant that my child had more time with kids in his group level. I think my son's teacher did an excellent job during the spring because she had small groups of kids based on their level in English and Math. I don't see how that can be replicated if the teacher has to provide 2-3 per day of instructional time. I think that the only way that can be accomplished is if the teacher provides instruction to the entire class without small group break outs. Am I wrong?

Take 30 minutes to an hour off for a read aloud or whole class community building or social studies/science. Then break the class into groups of 7-9 students on same level and give each group 30 minutes reading/writing instruction, and 30 minutes math instruction. Then maybe another 30 minutes follow-up on independent work for each group Teacher is providing 4-5 hours of live instructions and your kids are getting 2. They cant teach whole class online at once and expect kids to learn.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I am a middle school teacher who did live lessons in the spring. Overall, it was decent. I didn’t have to worry about the everyday behavior issues, which meant we could actually focus on the content itself. Some of my students who struggled to stay on task in person were able to blossom due to the lack of distraction. One on one tutoring session also worked really well. Overall, I’m excited about finding ways to have student collaboration this fall.

Thank you—that’s great to hear. My middle schooler just completed a summer math class run by his school, and it was very well-done. Three hours each day, 20+ kids in the class, one teacher. It’s possible to do this well.

Are you talking about the Deal SMAC program? I agree - that was super well-done and everyone talking about lazy teachers on here can shut up, because DC’s teacher was teaching three-plus hours, and then doing office hours and study sessions for another hour or two AND grading the daily assignments, tests, and retakes. She was doing at least 8 hours and day and the kids loved her.

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This makes me upset that all kids in DC can't get this. Why just Deal students?

You know it’s an accelerated summer math class, right? So they do four terms worth of math 7 or math 8 in order to move to math 8 or algebra 1 in 7th grade. I don’t think all kids in DC want to do six hours of math (that’s what DC was doing this week). There were numerous summer learning opportunities provided by DCPS for different grade levels - you had to sign up and they were all virtual this summer - but they are not to be confused with summer school or ESY (which is for special needs kids.) DCPS provides a lot of summer stuff and they put the information out at kids’ schools, or this year, online.

I heard about summer school. I wasn't aware that they had advanced math options in the summer at other schools. To my knowledge, other DCPS middle schools do not have the same offerings as Deal. That is not fair especially now.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:2 hours of live instruction is BS. I would love to tell my boss that I can only work for 2 hours a day and see how that goes.

our kids will be on for 2 hours but not as a whole 26 student class. Teachers are going to have to break the class into groups of three - so 6 hours Of live instruction for them. Be kind to teachers, they will be teaching more than they ever have in their lives.

You had me til that snarky bit.

I don't think that was snarky. Instead of being able to teach one thing for an hour, they now will have to teach that one thing three times, but will still need to grade work, prep etc. So yes, they are going to be doing significantly more work.

PP here. it wasn't snarky at all. Teachers work hard in the classroom but they will be working at least twice as hard now. I do trust my kids teachers will do it - teach live 6 hours a day to groups of 7 or 8 kids - because that is the only way for kids to learn. Be kind. They will be killing themselves just like we will be killing ourselves. Ideally the only ones not stressed and overburdened will be the kids.

I apologize, I misunderstood. I though you were implying we barely work. Those comments actually upset me a lot. I don’t want distance learning either I promise!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:2 hours of live instruction is BS. I would love to tell my boss that I can only work for 2 hours a day and see how that goes.

You do realize that the 2 hours of live instruction is for YOUR child. After their 2 hours are up the teacher will then move on to work with another group.

AND those 2 hours take prep, and at least 3 hours of your child's regular school day consists of transitions, lunch, recess, and specials.

My friend that’s a reach. I am a teacher and unless you have poor classroom management all of those things take up about 2 ish hours.

Lunch/recess 1 hour - specials 45 min - transitions 15- MAYBE 25 min total.

If transitions take an hour in 15 of the day please get training on that, it’s super important and will definitely make life easier.

It’s actually not a reach. Every school's schedule is likely different. For example, students at my school have one hour for lunch and recess, 45 minutes for specials four days per week and two 45 minutes specials once per week. So yes, there can be days where students are out of the classroom for up to three hours. We also have nearly 800 students at my school. If multiple grades transition at the same time, the transitions take longer. It is not directly related to classroom management.

That’s not the norm, my school also implemented that extra specials for a while-some days we had 2. But that was because of the DCPS mandate for more PE. We hired another PE teacher.

I’m saying it’s a reach because that schedule will not be kept during DL. That would not prioritize student learning and I’m betting like my admin, yours knows that as well.

But thanks for the reminder, I forgot about the odd ‘2 specials a day’ phase, which meant more Leap meeting, awful...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:44% of students don't have devices....

Bloody brilliant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would prefer less instructional time if it meant that my child had more time with kids in his group level. I think my son's teacher did an excellent job during the spring because she had small groups of kids based on their level in English and Math. I don't see how that can be replicated if the teacher has to provide 2-3 per day of instructional time. I think that the only way that can be accomplished is if the teacher provides instruction to the entire class without small group break outs. Am I wrong?

Take 30 minutes to an hour off for a read aloud or whole class community building or social studies/science. Then break the class into groups of 7-9 students on same level and give each group 30 minutes reading/writing instruction, and 30 minutes math instruction. Then maybe another 30 minutes follow-up on independent work for each group Teacher is providing 4-5 hours of live instructions and your kids are getting 2. They cant teach whole class online at once and expect kids to learn.

Not a K-2 teacher but I’d do one whole group morning meeting -30 min and one whole group social emotional 30 min

And then 5 groups -30 min x2 =1 hour each kid

Total teacher time live -6 hours

Or

Half group morning meeting half group SEL x2- 1 hr per kid

3 groups 30 min x2


Total teacher time live - 5 hours

Either way it’s a lot of live time the teacher has to figure and juggle. I know small groups will have more emphasis, especially in the younger grades.

[Anonymous]

Guys!!! Teachers are required to do 2 hours of live a day. TOTAL for k-2. Not small groups. You all make up foolishness & then get all huffy when it’s not true.

[Anonymous]

This is a pretty crazy out there idea, but maybe we could wait to see what schedules actually look like before we go ballistic that teachers are getting paid for 2 hours of work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guys!!! Teachers are required to do 2 hours of live a day. TOTAL for k-2. Not small groups. You all make up foolishness & then get all huffy when it’s not true.

You asked for DL, now you have to deliver. You are required to teach kids and if kids can't learn over zoom in groups of 26, and they can't, then you are going to have to figure out some way to teach them, likely A LOT more time live with small groups. Your job is to teach (so students can learn) and your job just got a lot harder. So did everyone's - it's a pandemic. Suck it up.

[Anonymous]

Absolute we would need two teacher training days for a week. Let’s say Monday and Friday

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a pretty crazy out there idea, but maybe we could wait to see what schedules actually look like before we go ballistic that teachers are getting paid for 2 hours of work?

Even if it was 2 hours they’d be doing 3 hours of work lol, can’t forget planning!! Also lunch is paid (like many jobs)

So really what would be unaccounted for is about 3 hours of our time. I personally plan to do small groups just like in the classroom, an hour will likely have to be whole group as unfortunate as that is. There isn’t enough time since I’ll be running 4 small groups.

[Anonymous]

Is there a way to get hazardous pay added to DL? Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a pretty crazy out there idea, but maybe we could wait to see what schedules actually look like before we go ballistic that teachers are getting paid for 2 hours of work?

Even if it was 2 hours they’d be doing 3 hours of work lol, can’t forget planning!! Also lunch is paid (like many jobs)

So really what would be unaccounted for is about 3 hours of our time. I personally plan to do small groups just like in the classroom, an hour will likely have to be whole group as unfortunate as that is. There isn’t enough time since I’ll be running 4 small groups.

Wait - people get a paid lunch hour? I eat at my desk most days, but I also work more than 40 hours most weeks. And i make less than a DC school teacher. Anyway, if your students aren't learning you aren't really teaching. I'm sorry this is going to be so hard, but it i going to be a hard year. The good news is you won't die, right? The bad news is DL is really time consuming to do well. I appreciate all my kids teachers, but I will require my kids learn this year. I didn't in the spring, but this situation is no longer temporary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a pretty crazy out there idea, but maybe we could wait to see what schedules actually look like before we go ballistic that teachers are getting paid for 2 hours of work?

Even if it was 2 hours they’d be doing 3 hours of work lol, can’t forget planning!! Also lunch is paid (like many jobs)

So really what would be unaccounted for is about 3 hours of our time. I personally plan to do small groups just like in the classroom, an hour will likely have to be whole group as unfortunate as that is. There isn’t enough time since I’ll be running 4 small groups.

Wait - people get a paid lunch hour? I eat at my desk most days, but I also work more than 40 hours most weeks. And i make less than a DC school teacher. Anyway, if your students aren't learning you aren't really teaching. I'm sorry this is going to be so hard, but it i going to be a hard year. The good news is you won't die, right? The bad news is DL is really time consuming to do well. I appreciate all my kids teachers, but I will require my kids learn this year. I didn't in the spring, but this situation is no longer temporary.

Yes people get a paid lunch, the majority of jobs that require a degree and/or tests to obtain the job.
Your attitude is very odd, most teachers also work more than 40 hours a week and many end up eating their lunch during their supposed time to plan.

And planning is work sweetie, unless you want the lessons to come from my ass. And you definitely don’t appreciate teachers with your veiled insults and attitude.
My post was not complaining about DL, I said it’s unfortunate that I’ll have to do an hour of whole group or I won’t get to do small groups the way I want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Guys!!! Teachers are required to do 2 hours of live a day. TOTAL for k-2. Not small groups. You all make up foolishness & then get all huffy when it’s not true.

You asked for DL, now you have to deliver. You are required to teach kids and if kids can't learn over zoom in groups of 26, and they can't, then you are going to have to figure out some way to teach them, likely A LOT more time live with small groups. Your job is to teach (so students can learn) and your job just got a lot harder. So did everyone's - it's a pandemic. Suck it up.

Your teacher is going to give you 2 hours of whole group and then do small groups with the rest of the class. That’d be some nice karma for your snarky attitude.
You don’t dictate what teachers do, if your child can’t do whole group and the teacher determines everyone else can tough.
Get your kid a 504 or IEP for additional help and services.