Your Relationship with the Teacher

[Anonymous]

OP, same grade level teachers do long range plans. It is not as detailed as a college syllabus but with good textbooks and workbooks you should be able to afterschool your kid. There are smart teachers at the elementary level who are there because of the convenient time ( vs. being at work before 7 am every day). Their hands are tied because of the asminystrators’ demands. My daughter has an excellent music teacher who would do all kinds of enrichments for the advanced students. Now her hands are tied as the new principal is pushing for visuals and multi sensory instruction making her lessons more colorful and fun but lacking a lot of substance.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is a teacher as are many of my friends. I just do not know how they keep from losing it with parents like this. I have so much admiration for their ability to ignore the stupidity and just teach. I simply cannot imagine dealing with the OP or her kid day after day.

[Anonymous]

The worst teachers I work with are the ones who have everything planned out for the whole year and are so proud that they’ve sent all of their materials to Copy Plus before the kids even walk in the door like it’s an admirable thing that they don’t stray from their original plan. Elementary school is not at all like college. Guess you never had to take a child development course to earn your Ph D?

[Anonymous]

MCPS - you don't. Ours don't want to hear from us or have any input. Supplement at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The worst teachers I work with are the ones who have everything planned out for the whole year and are so proud that they’ve sent all of their materials to Copy Plus before the kids even walk in the door like it’s an admirable thing that they don’t stray from their original plan. Elementary school is not at all like college. Guess you never had to take a child development course to earn your Ph D?

I'd take that over no communication and no information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a teacher as are many of my friends. I just do not know how they keep from losing it with parents like this. I have so much admiration for their ability to ignore the stupidity and just teach. I simply cannot imagine dealing with the OP or her kid day after day.

+1

[Anonymous]

I am curious how many hours a day you plan to spend home schooling in the afternoon. What about a sport or music lessons? Why don't you just home school so you do not have to worry about time restrictions and hw conflicts. School is just for child care?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 13:16.

I wrote as if you were in MCPS. They have curriculum standards on their website, with examples.

You don't need to know in detail what the teacher is doing, OP, because you want your child functioning at a much higher level anyway. You can start doing all 4 operations, and look at various workbooks to see what kind of progression there is. I recommend Beast Academy books for math, and reading and writing books from The Critical Thinking Company's website.

OP here:

I AM NOT IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

But I am confused as to why you expect MCPS to provide quarterly standards and schedules on their website, but are shocked that I would like that same information at my school. The teacher has this information, even if the county does not provide it online. Also, yes, MD has its standards posted online, but that doesn't tell me when and in what progression the teacher has chosen to teach these standards. Teachers have wide latitude in that department.

I simply want to coordinate my scheduling with theirs. That is all.

Why is this a problem that a parent would like to know what a teacher is going to teach their child for the year? I would love for an actual elementary school teacher to reply with why sending a 1-2 page calendar/list/schedule for the year (presumably they already have this planned out) would be difficult or inappropriate, especially given the state of public schools and the obvious need for parental involvement and supplementation.

I have a PhD and I have taught on the college level, so I know what goes into planning a curriculum and you must have a schedule and progression. We were required to give each student a syllabus, a road map of sorts for what is going to go on in the course, what they are going to learn and when. I shouldn't have to wait until after the fact to find out what is working and what is not throughout the year, especially when our time is limited and will have to compete with assigned homework. Again, this school has a very low ranking (in the 500s) and so the students are obviously not doing the best.

PP you replied to.

The problem is not you, it's:

1. The school system that is not organized in the way you expect. Same grade teachers get together to plan weekly, they don't have their stuff planned out for the year. Remember these are little kids we're talking about, their learning speed is not predictable, plus there may be snow days, special events at school, drills, etc, that derail the curriculum, so teachers adjust every week. The teacher cannot give you specifics at the beginning of the year, and if you taught little kids, you'd know that.

2. The teachers. When you explain that you want your child to learn more/better, what they hear is that they aren't good enough. How do you think that makes them feel? They're not going to fall over themselves to help you.

3. Plus, as I tried to explain, you don't need the teacher's input because you should expect your child to be well beyond what they're teaching. You can do it all by your little PhD self! Sometimes these pesky diplomas get int the way of your critical thinking, don't they?

Since you're so rigid about this, you can request information from the Principal on what each grade is going to learn, so you "support" your child. Hopefully they will point you to a resource site. But please don't tell them you're afterschooling. That's not going to be appreciated.

Your first two points are appreciated. It makes sense that they simply don't have that together and how they might take my questions. But to your third point, you still don't quite get about the fact that I have already done it all by my "little PhD self." The problem is that that over-burdens my daughter if I don't know what's going on at the school. Whether a teacher has their stuff together or not, I'm not willing to risk her being negatively impacted, either emotionally or academically, because I don't know what's going on in the classroom outside of 2 parent-teacher meetings a year.

But again, I find it funny that in well-to-do schools with upper income parents, newsletters, clear, transparent curriculum, suggested home exercises, activities, etc. are expected and normalized, teachers are very transparent and host updated class websites for the parents, etc. but in a low-performing school that clearly needs help, a parent is supposed to just sit back and shut up about whatever is being taught.

I think you've given all the advice you have to give, so thanks for that.

[Anonymous]

NP here: Can you go to the lead teacher for the grade level and ask them for the plans? or maybe even ask the VP or Principal, telling them about your plans?

Sorry you get such snark here. We are all doing our best and you asked a genuine question and if people do'nt like what you're doing they can just move right along. Good luck, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a teacher as are many of my friends. I just do not know how they keep from losing it with parents like this. I have so much admiration for their ability to ignore the stupidity and just teach. I simply cannot imagine dealing with the OP or her kid day after day.

+1

Geez, some nasty ass people on this forum. OP asked for a way to ask the teacher for their schedule, and ya'll acting like she asking for their blood type and ss#.

OP, try to ignore posts like that. Its an anonymous forum, so they use any chance to let out their bitterness on here. Just ask the teacher for the schedule. If they give it ot you great, you're good to go. If not, then teach your child the most important things and talk to the principal about the lack of transparency. It is not worth going above that for.

It all really depends on the teacher, which will change from year to year, so you don't want to depend on them anyway. But your taxes pay their salary and they are teaching your child so you have the right to ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a teacher as are many of my friends. I just do not know how they keep from losing it with parents like this. I have so much admiration for their ability to ignore the stupidity and just teach. I simply cannot imagine dealing with the OP or her kid day after day.

+1

Geez, some nasty ass people on this forum. OP asked for a way to ask the teacher for their schedule, and ya'll acting like she asking for their blood type and ss#.

OP, try to ignore posts like that. Its an anonymous forum, so they use any chance to let out their bitterness on here. Just ask the teacher for the schedule. If they give it ot you great, you're good to go. If not, then teach your child the most important things and talk to the principal about the lack of transparency. It is not worth going above that for.

It all really depends on the teacher, which will change from year to year, so you don't want to depend on them anyway. But your taxes pay their salary and they are teaching your child so you have the right to ask.

How does having the teacher's schedule help in this situation? If OP knows that ELA is taught from 9:15-11:00 as opposed to 1:30-3:15, how does that help OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a teacher as are many of my friends. I just do not know how they keep from losing it with parents like this. I have so much admiration for their ability to ignore the stupidity and just teach. I simply cannot imagine dealing with the OP or her kid day after day.

Teachers will tell you that OP’s kid is probably fine. At least for now now. That attitude that the students are geniuses and teachers aren’t very smart isn’t internalized until middle school usually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Eliminate all thought of coordinating with the teacher. They won't understand, and above all, they are not experts, YOU are. Elementary school teachers are kind and nurturing, but they're often not the brightest or the most academic-minded people.

No coordination is needed anyway! Elementary school is the only time that homework does not count towards grades, and elementary school grades are not important unless you are preparing your child for a magnet test in 3rd grade or 5th grade. Look it up on the MCPS website, this might be of interest to you if you're in a crappy cluster. There are workbooks on Amazon to help prepare your child for the modified Cogat test MCPS gives (there's also a Raven's advanced matrices added in 5th grade). If your child works on math and reading at home, there is no reason they won't have MAP scores that are several grades above grade level every year, as well as straight As.

So you can ignore the homework if you wish, teachers will rarely complain that it's not finished.

I "afterschooled" (great term, by the way!) my first child because he was GT/LD - gifted, talented and learning disabled, and our otherwise excellent elementary could not really cater to all his needs. I just created my own academic curriculum, as well as occupational and physical therapy activities after school and on weekends. My children also go to their native language school on weekends and have quality music lessons.

Wow. You're terrible.

PP you replied to. I agree I made a generalization (after 8 years of dealing with elementary school teachers) and that a few are wonderful. However none of them will take kindly to what OP wants to do, and who can blame them? They're working hard, and OP is basically telling them that it's insufficient.

So my advice is to not involve the school or teachers at all. Some of us have had to supplement/enrich/afterschool our children for various reasons, and
we've just done it ourselves.

Not experts and not bright are a far cry from not wanting to frustrate teachers with these requests. You really should think twice before you go bashing all educators!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a teacher as are many of my friends. I just do not know how they keep from losing it with parents like this. I have so much admiration for their ability to ignore the stupidity and just teach. I simply cannot imagine dealing with the OP or her kid day after day.

+1

Geez, some nasty ass people on this forum. OP asked for a way to ask the teacher for their schedule, and ya'll acting like she asking for their blood type and ss#.

OP, try to ignore posts like that. Its an anonymous forum, so they use any chance to let out their bitterness on here. Just ask the teacher for the schedule. If they give it ot you great, you're good to go. If not, then teach your child the most important things and talk to the principal about the lack of transparency. It is not worth going above that for.

It all really depends on the teacher, which will change from year to year, so you don't want to depend on them anyway. But your taxes pay their salary and they are teaching your child so you have the right to ask.

Paying taxes doesn't mean that teachers are your employees. Everyone who believes that paying taxes means that they get to treat teachers as their employees and are entitled to do so is an a**hole. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Paying taxes doesn't mean that teachers are your employees. Everyone who believes that paying taxes means that they get to treat teachers as their employees and are entitled to do so is an a**hole. Period.

*golf clap*