MCPS elem parents weigh in- what changes need to be made???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Smaller class sizes -- at the very least in elementary school. The default mood of so many teachers and administrators is pure exasperation because there are just too many kids to rein in a classroom, in a grade, in a school. I think small children feed off that kind of noise and chaos and relentless adult negativity and subsequently up the ante attention/behavior-wise when they otherwise might not in a different context. Return the freaking Chromebooks and hire more teachers and build more schools.

Amen. Smaller class sizes, especially in early years. No one I know outside of MCPS has a kindergarten class as big as ours with only one teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Laptops -- and smartboards for that matter -- are useless classroom distractions if they don't alleviate the problem I see all too often -- teachers whose primary mode of interaction with their (too many) students is irritation. Seriously, when's the last time you were in a K-2 classroom?

Why are you so frequently in the classrooms of a large enough number of teachers for you to be able to generalize?

[Anonymous]

This is what I want (AT THE VERY LEAST) from MCPS -

Webpage(s) that contains -

1) Detailed curriculum - broken down by grade level, subjects and quarters - AND that lists the textbooks (chapter #) and other resources that MCPS teachers use to teach, for each UNIT.

2) And that is easily accessible from MCPS and School websites. I hate that to reach any information I have to make multiple click throughs and then have a link that opens a PDF file. The usability of the website sucks!

3) And that the information is on the web page in plain HTML. I hate getting links that opens up DOC and PDF files.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Smaller class sizes -- at the very least in elementary school. The default mood of so many teachers and administrators is pure exasperation because there are just too many kids to rein in a classroom, in a grade, in a school. I think small children feed off that kind of noise and chaos and relentless adult negativity and subsequently up the ante attention/behavior-wise when they otherwise might not in a different context. Return the freaking Chromebooks and hire more teachers and build more schools.

Amen. Smaller class sizes, especially in early years. No one I know outside of MCPS has a kindergarten class as big as ours with only one teacher.

+1

Smaller class sizes in K-2 especially. It's a necessity for the younger kids. If they can't afford to higher more teachers, hire an aide. Or hire college kids as interns. My friend out of state's K class has an intern come in twice a week to help the K teacher. It's great for the intern and helps the teacher immensely. There needs to be more adults around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Laptops -- and smartboards for that matter -- are useless classroom distractions if they don't alleviate the problem I see all too often -- teachers whose primary mode of interaction with their (too many) students is irritation. Seriously, when's the last time you were in a K-2 classroom?

Why are you so frequently in the classrooms of a large enough number of teachers for you to be able to generalize?

I'm not the PP, but I agree with her completely. I volunteer a ton at the ES, in both of my kids' classrooms. Being a teacher is tough, tough, tough. Especially when you are overworked, and have ridiculously large class sizes. And, when the Prometheum board sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. The Prometheum board is great for showing kids movies at recess, or at dismissal. Not for much else. I haven't talked to a single K teacher who raves about having the Prometheum board in her classroom.

Has your experience been different? I would love to hear about how you think the Prometheum board has increased learning in K/1st grade for your kids. Can you explain?

[Anonymous]

My kids didn't have Promethean boards in K/1. They had them in older elementary grades, though, and reported that the teachers loved them.

However, I don't understand how this relates to the PP's statement that the teachers' primary mode of interaction with their students is irritation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids didn't have Promethean boards in K/1. They had them in older elementary grades, though, and reported that the teachers loved them.

However, I don't understand how this relates to the PP's statement that the teachers' primary mode of interaction with their students is irritation.

She's saying if less money was spent on the boards or chrome books, the school could higher additional help for the teacher and lessen the irritation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids didn't have Promethean boards in K/1. They had them in older elementary grades, though, and reported that the teachers loved them.

However, I don't understand how this relates to the PP's statement that the teachers' primary mode of interaction with their students is irritation.

She's saying if less money was spent on the boards or chrome books, the school could higher additional help for the teacher and lessen the irritation.

The money for the Promethean boards came from the capital budget, from a federal program to support technology in schools (the E-Rate program). MCPS could not have used this money for teacher salaries. Teacher salaries come from the operating budget.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/105343645/Starr-Revises-Memo-for-Surprise-Purchase-of-2-000-Promethean-Boards
http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oii/nonpublic/erate.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids didn't have Promethean boards in K/1. They had them in older elementary grades, though, and reported that the teachers loved them.

However, I don't understand how this relates to the PP's statement that the teachers' primary mode of interaction with their students is irritation.

I can completely see how Promethean boards could benefit kids in the older elementary grades. But, they are truly a huge waste of money for kids in K/1st grade. There is really nothing that a teacher can do better with a Promethean board than she can do any other way.

I think the PP was commenting about teachers being irritated due to large class sizes, and possibly being frustrated by the technology not always working the way it's supposed to (which is what I've noticed often happens).

If the money for the boards came out of a different budget, that's fine. I still feel like all these Promethean boards in the lower grades are just a waste. There had to have been better uses for that money.

[Anonymous]

A good teacher can save lot of class time by having everything written out ahad of time so they class is not waiting while she writes ..a math problem or terms that are defined. I once visited my ES on Columbus dayand saw 2 math classes. One teacher might as well have had a chalk board. It was much slower lesson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Laptops -- and smartboards for that matter -- are useless classroom distractions if they don't alleviate the problem I see all too often -- teachers whose primary mode of interaction with their (too many) students is irritation. Seriously, when's the last time you were in a K-2 classroom?

Why are you so frequently in the classrooms of a large enough number of teachers for you to be able to generalize?

I'm not the PP, but I agree with her completely. I volunteer a ton at the ES, in both of my kids' classrooms. Being a teacher is tough, tough, tough. Especially when you are overworked, and have ridiculously large class sizes. And, when the Prometheum board sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. The Prometheum board is great for showing kids movies at recess, or at dismissal. Not for much else. I haven't talked to a single K teacher who raves about having the Prometheum board in her classroom.

Has your experience been different? I would love to hear about how you think the Prometheum board has increased learning in K/1st grade for your kids. Can you explain?

The Promethean board has been a life changing tool for me. It saves time so I can type out the morning message instead of spending time writing it out on chart paper. It allows me to quickly and accurately show visuals to go along with the vocabulary in my lesson to increase comprehensibility for all students. I can create or download engaging Flipcharts to use as a center for additional independent practice or for student-led guided practice. I can color code writing pieces to allow students to make a visual connection with the lesson's objective. For instance, highlighting the beginning/middle/end of a narrative story in different colors, or all of the "describing words", or what have you. I can create activities for students who learn best receptively and have trouble with expressive language but can show what they know by pointing, sorting or matching on the board. Best of all I can save things digitally year to year, and can tweak things after I use them to improve them for next year.

When used correctly, the Promethean board can transform the way you teach. I make tons of resources ahead of time and can pull what I'll need for the day up before school to make the lessons run smoothly and efficiently. If the teacher is not using it that way it is most likely because their "old" way of teaching is ingrained in them and they feel like learning how to use it will be time consuming. Or they're afraid of technology.

The only videos I show are BrainPop Jr. videos, which help to increase comprehensibility of concepts and vocabulary in an age appropriate way.

I don't understand why all teachers who are lucky enough to have Promethean boards don't use them as the incredible tool they can be.

Signed,
Teacher home sick

[Anonymous]

This is what I want (AT THE VERY LEAST) from MCPS -

Webpage(s) that contains -

1) Detailed curriculum - broken down by grade level, subjects and quarters - AND that lists the textbooks (chapter #) and other resources that MCPS teachers use to teach, for each UNIT.

2) And that is easily accessible from MCPS and School websites. I hate that to reach any information I have to make multiple click throughs and then have a link that opens a PDF file. The usability of the website sucks!

3) And that the information is on the web page in plain HTML. I hate getting links that opens up DOC and PDF files.

+1
To be honest, I'd be happy with just #1. Not the color brochure that each of my kids has brought home written in education-speak. For the love of God, why can't my kid get a Math text book in the 5th grade? That could come home occasionally for me to peruse? I'm not against the new methods being taught under Common Core, but how am I supposed to know what they are? If my kid wants help understanding a concept, doesn't MCPS want me to be able to help her? Since nothing is provided to me, I have to fall back on the way I learned name-the-concept in the 5th grade 33 years ago.

Real world example: My kid has learned a different method of long division from her MCPS teacher. She is now doing division by decimals - but the way I learned to do this is not the way she's been taught. If I could read a textbook showing me how it's being taught, I could help her. Instead, I just confuse her by falling back on my old method. (and by the way, I have a hard time understanding what was so wrong with the old way, considering that I still perfectly well understand and remember how to do it 33 years later . . .)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

+1
To be honest, I'd be happy with just #1. Not the color brochure that each of my kids has brought home written in education-speak. For the love of God, why can't my kid get a Math text book in the 5th grade? That could come home occasionally for me to peruse? I'm not against the new methods being taught under Common Core, but how am I supposed to know what they are? If my kid wants help understanding a concept, doesn't MCPS want me to be able to help her? Since nothing is provided to me, I have to fall back on the way I learned name-the-concept in the 5th grade 33 years ago.

Real world example: My kid has learned a different method of long division from her MCPS teacher. She is now doing division by decimals - but the way I learned to do this is not the way she's been taught. If I could read a textbook showing me how it's being taught, I could help her. Instead, I just confuse her by falling back on my old method. (and by the way, I have a hard time understanding what was so wrong with the old way, considering that I still perfectly well understand and remember how to do it 33 years later . . .)

Have you e-mailed the teacher to ask for resources? You could say just what you've said here: how your daughter is doing it is not how you learned it; are there any resources the teacher could refer you to that explain the say your daughter is doing it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Smaller class sizes -- at the very least in elementary school. The default mood of so many teachers and administrators is pure exasperation because there are just too many kids to rein in a classroom, in a grade, in a school. I think small children feed off that kind of noise and chaos and relentless adult negativity and subsequently up the ante attention/behavior-wise when they otherwise might not in a different context. Return the freaking Chromebooks and hire more teachers and build more schools.

+1!

[Anonymous]

Smaller class sizes - we have 27 in a Churchill cluster ES KG.

More outdoor time for the lower grade - 2 recesses a dat