Teachers: Has Distance Learning Changed your View of your School?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My school is truly a warm, loving place to be. We are an early childhood building only. We are super data driven, in the respect that no one or nearly no one falls through the cracks. But at the same time, kids and their little hearts come before data. I've seen my colleagues do amazing things. Our families? Absolutely phenomenal. Our kids? Omg, the best around. We are not perfect and we know that, we are looking for ways to improve as much as possible for next year. While online learning is not great for young kids, it is and will be all we have come next year. We're going to keep trying to reach every family. And my principal, as far as I'm concerned, she walks on water.

So good to hear! What school? I want to enroll my little one there!

I'm a former DC teacher and parent and I posted above. Sorry, we moved a few years ago to the midwest. I guess I shouldn't have posted here. I just lurk because there are things I miss about DC. I do really, really love my school though. I wish my own kids could go there! They go to our neighborhood school, which is good, but not quite the same feeling as the one I work in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My school is truly a warm, loving place to be. We are an early childhood building only. We are super data driven, in the respect that no one or nearly no one falls through the cracks. But at the same time, kids and their little hearts come before data. I've seen my colleagues do amazing things. Our families? Absolutely phenomenal. Our kids? Omg, the best around. We are not perfect and we know that, we are looking for ways to improve as much as possible for next year. While online learning is not great for young kids, it is and will be all we have come next year. We're going to keep trying to reach every family. And my principal, as far as I'm concerned, she walks on water.

So good to hear! What school? I want to enroll my little one there!

I'm a former DC teacher and parent and I posted above. Sorry, we moved a few years ago to the midwest. I guess I shouldn't have posted here. I just lurk because there are things I miss about DC. I do really, really love my school though. I wish my own kids could go there! They go to our neighborhood school, which is good, but not quite the same feeling as the one I work in.

Haha of course this school doesn’t exist in Dc.

[Anonymous]

Someone asked what parents would like to see.
I would like to see fewer pointless zoom sessions (that are NOT lessons), fewer assignments that we don’t even get notified about, and more actual zoom lessons followed by practice. It is easy to check out if you are one of 30+ students but it is better than anything else really.
One teacher follows this model. Another gives assignments and just does Q&As. Not the same at all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone asked what parents would like to see.
I would like to see fewer pointless zoom sessions (that are NOT lessons), fewer assignments that we don’t even get notified about, and more actual zoom lessons followed by practice. It is easy to check out if you are one of 30+ students but it is better than anything else really.
One teacher follows this model. Another gives assignments and just does Q&As. Not the same at all!

No. This entire thread is just for teachers. Parents legit have every other thread.
Start a new ‘my kids teacher sucks’ thread. You’ll get 1000 folks to jump on board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone asked what parents would like to see.
I would like to see fewer pointless zoom sessions (that are NOT lessons), fewer assignments that we don’t even get notified about, and more actual zoom lessons followed by practice. It is easy to check out if you are one of 30+ students but it is better than anything else really.
One teacher follows this model. Another gives assignments and just does Q&As. Not the same at all!

Just want to remind you we are not allowed to do live lessons from an equity standpoint. We must pre record to send out so families can watch when it works for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone asked what parents would like to see.
I would like to see fewer pointless zoom sessions (that are NOT lessons), fewer assignments that we don’t even get notified about, and more actual zoom lessons followed by practice. It is easy to check out if you are one of 30+ students but it is better than anything else really.
One teacher follows this model. Another gives assignments and just does Q&As. Not the same at all!

Just want to remind you we are not allowed to do live lessons from an equity standpoint. We must pre record to send out so families can watch when it works for them.

Sorry, I didn’t know that. Our teachers record their live session for those who couldn’t make it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone asked what parents would like to see.
I would like to see fewer pointless zoom sessions (that are NOT lessons), fewer assignments that we don’t even get notified about, and more actual zoom lessons followed by practice. It is easy to check out if you are one of 30+ students but it is better than anything else really.
One teacher follows this model. Another gives assignments and just does Q&As. Not the same at all!

No. This entire thread is just for teachers. Parents legit have every other thread.
Start a new ‘my kids teacher sucks’ thread. You’ll get 1000 folks to jump on board.

Someone did ask, I swear. And also one of the teachers is really great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think our school rose to the occasion and leadership is doing the best they can given the situation.

Interacting with parents has been the absolute worst part of the DL experience. May 29th can't come soon enough. Although we are in quarantine, I cannot stomach another parent email/weekend phone call/ text about mundane nonsense.

I'm sure they feel the same way and have noticed how badly you've checked out.

I am not a teacher, I am support staff, for many years, and I can tell you that almost every teacher I've known or worked with feels the same about parents. It's not that they hate them (although some do) it's that they have to deal with a lot of "mundane nonsense" and it's the thing they dislike most about being a teacher. I can imagine that now it's is exponentially worse.

It has nothing to do with a teacher being "checked out" although I'm sure some are weaker at this than others.

[Anonymous]

What are some examples of mundane nonsense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are some examples of mundane nonsense?

1. Telling me your theories about school reopening
2. Trash talking my co-workers
3. Asking me my theories about school in the fall
4. Telling me how hard it is to parent & work right now. Because no one else, including me has kids
5. Telling me your family therapist told you to stop with distance learning- but you don’t take the advice
6. Telling me about your marriage issues.
7. Asking me if I’ll wear a face mask in the fall
8. Demanding to go in the building to get Larlas coat
9. Loosing the zoom link
10. Thinking you are ‘teacher’ because you read a book to your kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are some examples of mundane nonsense?

1. Telling me your theories about school reopening
2. Trash talking my co-workers
3. Asking me my theories about school in the fall
4. Telling me how hard it is to parent & work right now. Because no one else, including me has kids
5. Telling me your family therapist told you to stop with distance learning- but you don’t take the advice
6. Telling me about your marriage issues.
7. Asking me if I’ll wear a face mask in the fall
8. Demanding to go in the building to get Larlas coat
9. Loosing the zoom link
10. Thinking you are ‘teacher’ because you read a book to your kid

New poster, but here are some more.

11. Requesting a zoom meeting with a teacher when you can just send an email.
12. Asking for me to send you your own email with everything your kid needs to do, even though it’s all in the google classroom.
13. CC’ing the principal unnecessarily on an initial email asking about why your kid got a certain grade.
14. Sending a novel of an email talking about your concerns.
15. Joining your child’s zoom lessons and wanting to talk when I have a lesson to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone asked what parents would like to see.
I would like to see fewer pointless zoom sessions (that are NOT lessons), fewer assignments that we don’t even get notified about, and more actual zoom lessons followed by practice. It is easy to check out if you are one of 30+ students but it is better than anything else really.
One teacher follows this model. Another gives assignments and just does Q&As. Not the same at all!

Just want to remind you we are not allowed to do live lessons from an equity standpoint. We must pre record to send out so families can watch when it works for them.

Sorry, I didn’t know that. Our teachers record their live session for those who couldn’t make it.

We aren't allowed to record live sessions unless every parent signs off on allowing that, just like we can't record our own teaching when we're in the building. FERPA. I'm surprised your district allows this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are some examples of mundane nonsense?

1. Telling me your theories about school reopening
2. Trash talking my co-workers
3. Asking me my theories about school in the fall
4. Telling me how hard it is to parent & work right now. Because no one else, including me has kids
5. Telling me your family therapist told you to stop with distance learning- but you don’t take the advice
6. Telling me about your marriage issues.
7. Asking me if I’ll wear a face mask in the fall
8. Demanding to go in the building to get Larlas coat
9. Loosing the zoom link
10. Thinking you are ‘teacher’ because you read a book to your kid

New poster, but here are some more.

11. Requesting a zoom meeting with a teacher when you can just send an email.
12. Asking for me to send you your own email with everything your kid needs to do, even though it’s all in the google classroom.
13. CC’ing the principal unnecessarily on an initial email asking about why your kid got a certain grade.
14. Sending a novel of an email talking about your concerns.
15. Joining your child’s zoom lessons and wanting to talk when I have a lesson to do.

16. Emailing me requesting that I grade all of the assignments you’ve completed (oh sorry I mean your elementary school aged child)-at 1 am
17. Emailing me asking how you can be sure that I know “as soon as” you complete an assignment (there are no due dates)
18. Writing announcements every single day stating that your child is present instead of commenting on the thread specifically designated for that purpose because your child is SPECIAL
19. Posting your child’s completed assignments as announcements for everyone to see instead of just clicking submit
20. Showing up at the very end of a scheduled live lesson and then asking if I can teach it again
21. Showing up in the middle of a lesson and interrupting when all the other students are muted

[Anonymous]

For me the constant requests to remind them where to find this or that (um just scroll through my website and you'll see it) and the "I forgot the password" request drives me nuts. I get at least 3 requests each week because parents lose the passwords.

And all the tech help!!! I am going to ask my principal if we can just have parents contact our tech department directly. This should not be my job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are some examples of mundane nonsense?

1. Telling me your theories about school reopening
2. Trash talking my co-workers
3. Asking me my theories about school in the fall
4. Telling me how hard it is to parent & work right now. Because no one else, including me has kids
5. Telling me your family therapist told you to stop with distance learning- but you don’t take the advice
6. Telling me about your marriage issues.
7. Asking me if I’ll wear a face mask in the fall
8. Demanding to go in the building to get Larlas coat
9. Loosing the zoom link
10. Thinking you are ‘teacher’ because you read a book to your kid

New poster, but here are some more.

11. Requesting a zoom meeting with a teacher when you can just send an email.
12. Asking for me to send you your own email with everything your kid needs to do, even though it’s all in the google classroom.
13. CC’ing the principal unnecessarily on an initial email asking about why your kid got a certain grade.
14. Sending a novel of an email talking about your concerns.
15. Joining your child’s zoom lessons and wanting to talk when I have a lesson to do.

16. Emailing me requesting that I grade all of the assignments you’ve completed (oh sorry I mean your elementary school aged child)-at 1 am
17. Emailing me asking how you can be sure that I know “as soon as” you complete an assignment (there are no due dates)
18. Writing announcements every single day stating that your child is present instead of commenting on the thread specifically designated for that purpose because your child is SPECIAL
19. Posting your child’s completed assignments as announcements for everyone to see instead of just clicking submit
20. Showing up at the very end of a scheduled live lesson and then asking if I can teach it again
21. Showing up in the middle of a lesson and interrupting when all the other students are muted

From a fellow teacher - please work on establishing and enforcing boundaries. A lot of these things are avoidable,