APS MS Class size - do teachers know all students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a specialist in elementary school and see 650+ kids each week. I could give pretty involved feedback on at least 450 of them. I think the key to not getting lost is to either have a good personality or work hard, you don’t need both to stand out. My own kid gets tons of feedback and investment from his APS middle school teachers so far, I’ve been really impressed with them.

My DD Is really shy so “good personality” may not come into play unless teacher reaches out frequently. Hard worker, not sure, she works hard when she feels connected to the teacher so maybe we have chicken egg problem is teachers won’t connect easily unless you stand out in those ways?

Make sure she is comfortable and capable responding to greetings. That’s part of my daily duties, you wouldn’t believe how many kids totally ignore a simple good morning. I don’t take it personally of course but I do know which kids usually say hello and it helps with connection building. It’s also a great life skill in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were only 2 classes with 30+ kids in all of the APS middle schools combined last year. You should look at the data. https://www.apsva.us/statistics/enrollment/

I see we are zoned for WMS, hence why i hear about big classes despite it being undererrolled.

In most middle schools, class size is only 21, that's great!

If that’s true it’s maddening… my elementary class is above 25!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a specialist in elementary school and see 650+ kids each week. I could give pretty involved feedback on at least 450 of them. I think the key to not getting lost is to either have a good personality or work hard, you don’t need both to stand out. My own kid gets tons of feedback and investment from his APS middle school teachers so far, I’ve been really impressed with them.

My DD Is really shy so “good personality” may not come into play unless teacher reaches out frequently. Hard worker, not sure, she works hard when she feels connected to the teacher so maybe we have chicken egg problem is teachers won’t connect easily unless you stand out in those ways?

Make sure she is comfortable and capable responding to greetings. That’s part of my daily duties, you wouldn’t believe how many kids totally ignore a simple good morning. I don’t take it personally of course but I do know which kids usually say hello and it helps with connection building. It’s also a great life skill in general.

This is a good point. I’m a high school teacher and I stand by my door greeting students every day. (This is how I practice names at the start of each year, too. I struggle learning 140 names in a couple weeks.)

Many students return the greeting, but others walk past with no acknowledgement. I don’t take it personally either, and I’ll just try again the next day, but simple greetings do help build connections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are 5th grade parents and wondering about the middle school experience at APS in regards to class size and how well teachers know their students? Our DD really thrives when she has personal investment from her teachers, and when she has had more aloof teachers she has struggled to stay motivated.

It’s a bad dynamic I know, and we are working with a therapist on building her executive function and motivation outside of having a nurturing teacher — the real world is certainly not full of people who care about how you do.

But at least for now, if you are a quiet kid, how well will your core subject teachers “know” you. Like English, math, history? I’ve heard there can be 30 kids in a class, and that each teacher can teach 6 class — so that’s 180 students? Is there a lot of discussion in class, to engage quiet students? Small group work or projects where teacher floats around and works with them? Teachers are really good at knowing a lot of students, but this sure seems like a LOT of kids.

While they may know your kid, no teacher can provide consistent, meaningful feedback to that many students. Even spending 5 minutes per student to grade their papers results in many, many hours of unpaid work.

So those “meaty” writing assignments you all describe? Teacher slaps a “Well done!” sticker on top without actually reading it.

Guess how things turn out when your 4.0 student arrives to college. Womp.

[Anonymous]

My friend teaches middle school in APS so I got the inside scoop. They have hundreds of kids. They know the trouble makers by name. They may never keep straight the quiet nice girls. Hard to distinguish Larla from Lila from Lola, etc. my friend feels bad about this but she’s human. This is public school.

Can you afford private OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friend teaches middle school in APS so I got the inside scoop. They have hundreds of kids. They know the trouble makers by name. They may never keep straight the quiet nice girls. Hard to distinguish Larla from Lila from Lola, etc. my friend feels bad about this but she’s human. This is public school.

Can you afford private OP?

That is not consistent with teachers I know (I am one)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend teaches middle school in APS so I got the inside scoop. They have hundreds of kids. They know the trouble makers by name. They may never keep straight the quiet nice girls. Hard to distinguish Larla from Lila from Lola, etc. my friend feels bad about this but she’s human. This is public school.

Can you afford private OP?

That is not consistent with teachers I know (I am one)

Probably a generational thing. Older teachers are much more versed in remembering names and faces — even used to have to know phone numbers.

Now everyone’s memory is on their phone and the muscle has atrophied. Maybe we need a school social network so teachers can keep track of names and faces.

But yeah with 140 kids, they may know your kids names, but knowing “them” and engaging with them while dealing with all the other issues in 2024 classrooms, it’s a roll of the dice.

SNL captures the zeitgeist: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttska8oXZP4

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend teaches middle school in APS so I got the inside scoop. They have hundreds of kids. They know the trouble makers by name. They may never keep straight the quiet nice girls. Hard to distinguish Larla from Lila from Lola, etc. my friend feels bad about this but she’s human. This is public school.

Can you afford private OP?

That is not consistent with teachers I know (I am one)

Probably a generational thing. Older teachers are much more versed in remembering names and faces — even used to have to know phone numbers.

Now everyone’s memory is on their phone and the muscle has atrophied. Maybe we need a school social network so teachers can keep track of names and faces.

But yeah with 140 kids, they may know your kids names, but knowing “them” and engaging with them while dealing with all the other issues in 2024 classrooms, it’s a roll of the dice.

SNL captures the zeitgeist: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttska8oXZP4

Might be. I’m old

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend teaches middle school in APS so I got the inside scoop. They have hundreds of kids. They know the trouble makers by name. They may never keep straight the quiet nice girls. Hard to distinguish Larla from Lila from Lola, etc. my friend feels bad about this but she’s human. This is public school.

Can you afford private OP?

That is not consistent with teachers I know (I am one)

Probably a generational thing. Older teachers are much more versed in remembering names and faces — even used to have to know phone numbers.

Now everyone’s memory is on their phone and the muscle has atrophied. Maybe we need a school social network so teachers can keep track of names and faces.

But yeah with 140 kids, they may know your kids names, but knowing “them” and engaging with them while dealing with all the other issues in 2024 classrooms, it’s a roll of the dice.

SNL captures the zeitgeist: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttska8oXZP4

Which APS MS teachers have 140 kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend teaches middle school in APS so I got the inside scoop. They have hundreds of kids. They know the trouble makers by name. They may never keep straight the quiet nice girls. Hard to distinguish Larla from Lila from Lola, etc. my friend feels bad about this but she’s human. This is public school.

Can you afford private OP?

That is not consistent with teachers I know (I am one)

Probably a generational thing. Older teachers are much more versed in remembering names and faces — even used to have to know phone numbers.

Now everyone’s memory is on their phone and the muscle has atrophied. Maybe we need a school social network so teachers can keep track of names and faces.

But yeah with 140 kids, they may know your kids names, but knowing “them” and engaging with them while dealing with all the other issues in 2024 classrooms, it’s a roll of the dice.

SNL captures the zeitgeist: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttska8oXZP4

No my friend is on the older side. This isn't a phone thing. I think it just depends on the person. Some people are better at this than others. The teachers have a lot of students to keep track of!

[Anonymous]

He's thriving in private high school and I do somewhat regret that we didn't move him earlier. APS is a challenging school system for introverts, especially if your kid is also not a stellar athlete.

Can you elaborate? Not quite getting what kind of school would be good for non-athletic introverts.

We have a kid who is, overall, somewhat introverted, but excels in sports. The sports they are most active in, however, are done entirely outside of APS, now and in the future (because the sports are either not offered or APS is not very good in it.)

Like OP, our child is also in 5th grade and we are looking into the different MS or possibly even private, because we have not been impressed with our experience thus far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My friend teaches middle school in APS so I got the inside scoop. They have hundreds of kids. They know the trouble makers by name. They may never keep straight the quiet nice girls. Hard to distinguish Larla from Lila from Lola, etc. my friend feels bad about this but she’s human. This is public school.

Can you afford private OP?

That is not consistent with teachers I know (I am one)

Probably a generational thing. Older teachers are much more versed in remembering names and faces — even used to have to know phone numbers.

Now everyone’s memory is on their phone and the muscle has atrophied. Maybe we need a school social network so teachers can keep track of names and faces.

But yeah with 140 kids, they may know your kids names, but knowing “them” and engaging with them while dealing with all the other issues in 2024 classrooms, it’s a roll of the dice.

SNL captures the zeitgeist: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttska8oXZP4

Which APS MS teachers have 140 kids?

Not DHMS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friend teaches middle school in APS so I got the inside scoop. They have hundreds of kids. They know the trouble makers by name. They may never keep straight the quiet nice girls. Hard to distinguish Larla from Lila from Lola, etc. my friend feels bad about this but she’s human. This is public school.

Can you afford private OP?

Hundreds?

PE teacher?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friend teaches middle school in APS so I got the inside scoop. They have hundreds of kids. They know the trouble makers by name. They may never keep straight the quiet nice girls. Hard to distinguish Larla from Lila from Lola, etc. my friend feels bad about this but she’s human. This is public school.

Can you afford private OP?

This is fake news. Teachers have to learn kids names. They might forget them the day after school ends, but teachers who do not know all the students names that they have that year are a very small minority. Teachers are required to fill out 504 teacher narratives, attend IEP meetings, hand out papers by name and keep track of students during fire drills and and any other emergency situation. It would be negligent if a teacher did not know their students names by the end of September.

[Anonymous]

My kid went to Gunston, and the teachers definitely knew his name & knew things about him. He’s not a trouble maker nor an extrovert.

PE/band/orchestra teachers likely have hundreds of kids. But even 5 classes of 30 kids is 150. A lot, but the teachers know their names, in my experience.