What are schools/teachers doing this summer to make DL actually work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand this.

Those of us in the professional world are managing ourselves via zoom or goto meetings.

To the PP who hasn't done anything because there hasn't been any direction: why on earth would you wait until the last minute to figure out how YOU are going to handle this? Why aren't you working out some options for teaching the content that you, presumably, teach every year?

I get that kids are different animals than adults - sure they are. But DL does NOT need to be that hard.

Frankly, if these kids can play those effing first person shooter games and the like for HOURS on end, it's time for the excuses that DL can't work to STOP. They are MORE than happy to be on their computers for five hours a day. Maybe, just maybe, it's time to acknowledge that this portion of this generation - and their teachers - are going to have to ADAPT.

Create a syllabus, create expectations (Larla must be present and paying attention on the zoom, just as she would be expected to in class, or there are consequences), and deliver the education you are being paid to deliver.

Is it optimal? Perhaps not. Will some kids struggle? Undoubtedly. Might some kids have to be left back, because of x, y, or z, reason? Possibly. But it's time for teachers to stop whining about what they CAN'T do, and figure out the alternative options they CAN offer.

FFS.

You would think that our educators would have a wealth of both creative and critical thinking skills. Figure it out, people.

You're making a lot of assumptions here. I teach elementary self-contained special education. Why would I create a syllabus? That's totally developmentally inappropriate. I also have no ability to set expectations. That's up to the district and my administration. I can't just demand that all students do x without the directive coming from above. If my administration says that students can just log in and write "I hate school!" on google classroom and that counts as their daily attendance, then that's the policy. You have no idea what I did with my class in the spring, so telling me that it was poorly done and inadequate is meaningless. You don't have any evidence either way. Likewise, I could say that you were inept and unwilling to support your child's learning throughout DL, but I don't have any information to back that up. That's why I would never make a baseless claim like that about another person's work ethic.

You're also wrong to suggest that I should be working throughout the summer to better meet your expectations in the fall. You have no idea what I did with my class in the spring. We are ten month employees, and we do not get paid for the two months that school is not in attendance. Anything that I do over the summer is on my time and is absolutely voluntary. I don't owe parents, students, or administrators a single minute of my summer. Districts that want teachers to participate in specific trainings have the option of offering them paid on a per session basis, and they do so. We have not been offered that. For people who think that teachers should just "love students" so much that money is not important, please stop arguing that you need to go back to work in the fall. Do you not "love" your own children so much that your salary is of no consequence at all? One would expect parents would have a higher bar for love of children than teachers, and they should be able to just cast aside their own material needs. No? Then pay me for MY work.

If you allow your child to play shooting games for hours each day that then you should really take a look in the mirror-that's really abysmal parenting.

First of all, all one has to do is go to the tweens and teens page to see just how many kids are being permitted boatloads of screen time - FPS games or otherwise, you tube, tik tok, etc. I don't personally subscribe to this approach - but what I am saying is that these kids have zero problem being on their screens for hours on end. If it is necessary, then this tendency/preference/ability needs to be harnessed for their learning in such a dire time as this.

As to your point about the very specific niche in which you teach? Maybe those are the situations for which F2F learning is reserved.

As to the bolded above, I should hope that is not the case and, if so, those making such directives should be fired.

And, finally, to your point about being a 10 month contract worker, well, maybe it's time to revamp the education system and go to a year round format, since you seem to think that you aren't paid for your work. Oh, and, PLENTY of us do what's above and beyond our 40 hour workweek - without compensation. How many professionals do you hear say: oops, I just hit 40 hours, sorry boss, no can do, gonna have to let that deadline slip. Yeah right. We work nights, weekends, early mornings, vacations. So, cry me a river on that one - teachers don''t deserve such special treatment when the rest of the professional world has to manage their work to meet the expectations of their clients.

[Anonymous]

You saying that you sometimes work late is not even remotely the same as expecting TWO MONTHS of unpaid work. Teachers work after school, on weekends, and on vacations, as well, but I think you'll be hard pressed to find another profession where you are essentially furloughed for several months each year and people demand that you continue working during that time. We have strict contracts regarding hours worked, and our jobs are not like office jobs. I can't waltz in with a latte at 10:00 am as most of the people who work in offices do, or take a leisurely hour and a half lunch and expense it to the company. If I walk in the door at 8:01, disciplinary action is taken. If I walk out the door before 3:00, disciplinary action is taken. I can't flex my hours and leave at 1:00 so I can go the doctor, get ready to host Thanksgiving dinner, catch an earlier flight, pick someone up at the airport, etc. I can't decide I'm working from home when the weather is bad like my friends who work in corporate can, and then screw around all day. We don't accrue vacation time. I also don't get any of the perks that corporate workers do-a stipend for my phone, my internet, my car, etc. Teachers don't get performance bonuses, either. Maybe take a look around at all the perks offered in the corporate world before telling teachers they have it so good.

I also have a feeling your coworkers don't hit each other, try to run out the door, bite you, or come in coughing and refuse to leave. Your job is not the same, so just stop trying to compare your compensation and your job expectations with ours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand this.

Those of us in the professional world are managing ourselves via zoom or goto meetings.

To the PP who hasn't done anything because there hasn't been any direction: why on earth would you wait until the last minute to figure out how YOU are going to handle this? Why aren't you working out some options for teaching the content that you, presumably, teach every year?

I get that kids are different animals than adults - sure they are. But DL does NOT need to be that hard.

Frankly, if these kids can play those effing first person shooter games and the like for HOURS on end, it's time for the excuses that DL can't work to STOP. They are MORE than happy to be on their computers for five hours a day. Maybe, just maybe, it's time to acknowledge that this portion of this generation - and their teachers - are going to have to ADAPT.

Create a syllabus, create expectations (Larla must be present and paying attention on the zoom, just as she would be expected to in class, or there are consequences), and deliver the education you are being paid to deliver.

Is it optimal? Perhaps not. Will some kids struggle? Undoubtedly. Might some kids have to be left back, because of x, y, or z, reason? Possibly. But it's time for teachers to stop whining about what they CAN'T do, and figure out the alternative options they CAN offer.

FFS.

You would think that our educators would have a wealth of both creative and critical thinking skills. Figure it out, people.

Many teachers (myself included), are doing just that, working to completely overhaul their curricula during the summer. Where the "no guidance" comes in is that it's disheartening to consider that I'll be spending an enormous quantity of time making plans that may never see the light of day because leadership hasn't decided what the fall looks like yet. This is time that's totally uncompensated, material costs out of pocket, etc., but, honestly, that doesn't bother me.

What bothers me is the vast waste of critical time. Instead of embracing distance learning, working to train teachers who struggled during the fall, because it's a totally different pedagogy than in-person learning (I literally have a master's degree in this, my MP3 and MP4 were tight and well-executed, I'd love to work to support teachers who don't have that expertise). But, instead, we've all been left to our own devices, to reinvent the wheel school by school, department by department, teacher by teacher.

This is not a new problem; this is just exposing pre-existing failures to coordinate, communicate, and invest in professional development. Remember when MCPS rolled out the flagship Canvas myMCPS platform, and didn't train anyone - teachers, students, or parents? We haven't put in the groundwork to properly support the entire county overhauling the way it conducts education in a few months. This isn't "Mr. So-and-So is a lazy teacher, and didn't plan well!" - this is a total collapse of the institution of schooling, and we're all doing our best to keep up.

So ... we are doing things. This is a global catastrophe, and, actually, I don't begrudge you your annoyed, flippant attitude. The fall is going to be a mess, but it's not because teachers aren't working, or because unions are obstructing this or that. It's because our entire country from the federal government on down has dragged its feet making the hard decisions. Nobody wanted to hear "we'll be remote in the fall", and so we haven't announced it yet, even though it should be clear to everyone that that's where we're heading.

Best,
a DCC AP teacher <3

[Anonymous]

Complaining about the dangers of returning to school while they shop at Target and post vacation pics from the beach.

[Anonymous]

My district is switching to Schoology as a learning platform. So far I have volunteered my time for 2.5 days of training on it, and I have more later this month. I am playing around with it for part of every day to learn its functionality, and when I am closer to my return date, I will start creating lessons in it. I am not starting that now because I want more guidance on what my days and lessons will look like—I’m a specialized teacher and I will design something completely different if I visit the kids in their classroom vs. have them come to me vs. livestream to their class from my room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So ... we are doing things. This is a global catastrophe, and, actually, I don't begrudge you your annoyed, flippant attitude. The fall is going to be a mess, but it's not because teachers aren't working, or because unions are obstructing this or that. It's because our entire country from the federal government on down has dragged its feet making the hard decisions. Nobody wanted to hear "we'll be remote in the fall", and so we haven't announced it yet, even though it should be clear to everyone that that's where we're heading.

Best,
a DCC AP teacher <3

THANK YOU.

The government has failed parents AND teachers AND students in failing to slow spread of COVID. Other countries in Europe managed to slow it down. We did not do the things we needed to do. It isn't the fault of the teachers.

[Anonymous]

You do know that many elementary teachers in the county don’t even know what grade they will be teaching in the fall right now. There are always changes happening in the summer. I’ve taught grades k-3 so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand this.

Those of us in the professional world are managing ourselves via zoom or goto meetings.

To the PP who hasn't done anything because there hasn't been any direction: why on earth would you wait until the last minute to figure out how YOU are going to handle this? Why aren't you working out some options for teaching the content that you, presumably, teach every year?

I get that kids are different animals than adults - sure they are. But DL does NOT need to be that hard.

Frankly, if these kids can play those effing first person shooter games and the like for HOURS on end, it's time for the excuses that DL can't work to STOP. They are MORE than happy to be on their computers for five hours a day. Maybe, just maybe, it's time to acknowledge that this portion of this generation - and their teachers - are going to have to ADAPT.

Create a syllabus, create expectations (Larla must be present and paying attention on the zoom, just as she would be expected to in class, or there are consequences), and deliver the education you are being paid to deliver.

Is it optimal? Perhaps not. Will some kids struggle? Undoubtedly. Might some kids have to be left back, because of x, y, or z, reason? Possibly. But it's time for teachers to stop whining about what they CAN'T do, and figure out the alternative options they CAN offer.

FFS.

You would think that our educators would have a wealth of both creative and critical thinking skills. Figure it out, people.

Many teachers (myself included), are doing just that, working to completely overhaul their curricula during the summer. Where the "no guidance" comes in is that it's disheartening to consider that I'll be spending an enormous quantity of time making plans that may never see the light of day because leadership hasn't decided what the fall looks like yet. This is time that's totally uncompensated, material costs out of pocket, etc., but, honestly, that doesn't bother me.

What bothers me is the vast waste of critical time. Instead of embracing distance learning, working to train teachers who struggled during the fall, because it's a totally different pedagogy than in-person learning (I literally have a master's degree in this, my MP3 and MP4 were tight and well-executed, I'd love to work to support teachers who don't have that expertise). But, instead, we've all been left to our own devices, to reinvent the wheel school by school, department by department, teacher by teacher.

This is not a new problem; this is just exposing pre-existing failures to coordinate, communicate, and invest in professional development. Remember when MCPS rolled out the flagship Canvas myMCPS platform, and didn't train anyone - teachers, students, or parents? We haven't put in the groundwork to properly support the entire county overhauling the way it conducts education in a few months. This isn't "Mr. So-and-So is a lazy teacher, and didn't plan well!" - this is a total collapse of the institution of schooling, and we're all doing our best to keep up.

So ... we are doing things. This is a global catastrophe, and, actually, I don't begrudge you your annoyed, flippant attitude. The fall is going to be a mess, but it's not because teachers aren't working, or because unions are obstructing this or that. It's because our entire country from the federal government on down has dragged its feet making the hard decisions. Nobody wanted to hear "we'll be remote in the fall", and so we haven't announced it yet, even though it should be clear to everyone that that's where we're heading.

Best,
a DCC AP teacher <3

I’m OP, and this is exactly what I’m afraid of: no one wants to acknowledge we are still going to be DL, so we aren’t planning properly for this increasingly obvious result. So we will have the worst of both worlds: the same inadequate DL we had in the spring. While like many parents I would love to just return to full time in person learning, I am scared we are squandering our opportunity to look this problem in the eye and address it well.

Reassuring to see one teacher post they’re doing training for new software.

[Anonymous]

My county (Prince George's County Public Schools) did a week of tech training at the end of the school year.

I just checked my work email and we are not required but HIGHLY ENCOURAGED to take a training next week on some digital math tools (I don't teach math so I'm not sure what these are but I guess they are linked to our math textbooks).

[Anonymous]

Private school teacher here. We did pretty well with dl, but the school has offered weekly workshops that we can choose from throughout the summer.

[Anonymous]

wish I could...HS teacher...my school hasn't even confirmed which classes I will be teaching yet, because they need to figure out the master schedule. fingers crossed it's one I've taught before!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You saying that you sometimes work late is not even remotely the same as expecting TWO MONTHS of unpaid work. Teachers work after school, on weekends, and on vacations, as well, but I think you'll be hard pressed to find another profession where you are essentially furloughed for several months each year and people demand that you continue working during that time. We have strict contracts regarding hours worked, and our jobs are not like office jobs. I can't waltz in with a latte at 10:00 am as most of the people who work in offices do, or take a leisurely hour and a half lunch and expense it to the company. If I walk in the door at 8:01, disciplinary action is taken. If I walk out the door before 3:00, disciplinary action is taken. I can't flex my hours and leave at 1:00 so I can go the doctor, get ready to host Thanksgiving dinner, catch an earlier flight, pick someone up at the airport, etc. I can't decide I'm working from home when the weather is bad like my friends who work in corporate can, and then screw around all day. We don't accrue vacation time. I also don't get any of the perks that corporate workers do-a stipend for my phone, my internet, my car, etc. Teachers don't get performance bonuses, either. Maybe take a look around at all the perks offered in the corporate world before telling teachers they have it so good.

I also have a feeling your coworkers don't hit each other, try to run out the door, bite you, or come in coughing and refuse to leave. Your job is not the same, so just stop trying to compare your compensation and your job expectations with ours.

Lots of teachers phoned it in in March-June. Parents saw that and frankly that is what’s driving this push to get better options for fall. Now you need to do better, All those rules you just recited? Are not going to happen with asynchronous DL.so just cut it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You saying that you sometimes work late is not even remotely the same as expecting TWO MONTHS of unpaid work. Teachers work after school, on weekends, and on vacations, as well, but I think you'll be hard pressed to find another profession where you are essentially furloughed for several months each year and people demand that you continue working during that time. We have strict contracts regarding hours worked, and our jobs are not like office jobs. I can't waltz in with a latte at 10:00 am as most of the people who work in offices do, or take a leisurely hour and a half lunch and expense it to the company. If I walk in the door at 8:01, disciplinary action is taken. If I walk out the door before 3:00, disciplinary action is taken. I can't flex my hours and leave at 1:00 so I can go the doctor, get ready to host Thanksgiving dinner, catch an earlier flight, pick someone up at the airport, etc. I can't decide I'm working from home when the weather is bad like my friends who work in corporate can, and then screw around all day. We don't accrue vacation time. I also don't get any of the perks that corporate workers do-a stipend for my phone, my internet, my car, etc. Teachers don't get performance bonuses, either. Maybe take a look around at all the perks offered in the corporate world before telling teachers they have it so good.

I also have a feeling your coworkers don't hit each other, try to run out the door, bite you, or come in coughing and refuse to leave. Your job is not the same, so just stop trying to compare your compensation and your job expectations with ours.

Lots of teachers phoned it in in March-June. Parents saw that and frankly that is what’s driving this push to get better options for fall. Now you need to do better, All those rules you just recited? Are not going to happen with asynchronous DL.so just cut it.

No idea what you're talking about, as I had to punch in and out every single day of remote learning at our regularly scheduled times, or I would be docked time/pay. You have no idea what I did so you can stop patronizing me. Stay in your lane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You saying that you sometimes work late is not even remotely the same as expecting TWO MONTHS of unpaid work. Teachers work after school, on weekends, and on vacations, as well, but I think you'll be hard pressed to find another profession where you are essentially furloughed for several months each year and people demand that you continue working during that time. We have strict contracts regarding hours worked, and our jobs are not like office jobs. I can't waltz in with a latte at 10:00 am as most of the people who work in offices do, or take a leisurely hour and a half lunch and expense it to the company. If I walk in the door at 8:01, disciplinary action is taken. If I walk out the door before 3:00, disciplinary action is taken. I can't flex my hours and leave at 1:00 so I can go the doctor, get ready to host Thanksgiving dinner, catch an earlier flight, pick someone up at the airport, etc. I can't decide I'm working from home when the weather is bad like my friends who work in corporate can, and then screw around all day. We don't accrue vacation time. I also don't get any of the perks that corporate workers do-a stipend for my phone, my internet, my car, etc. Teachers don't get performance bonuses, either. Maybe take a look around at all the perks offered in the corporate world before telling teachers they have it so good.

I also have a feeling your coworkers don't hit each other, try to run out the door, bite you, or come in coughing and refuse to leave. Your job is not the same, so just stop trying to compare your compensation and your job expectations with ours.

Lots of teachers phoned it in in March-June. Parents saw that and frankly that is what’s driving this push to get better options for fall. Now you need to do better, All those rules you just recited? Are not going to happen with asynchronous DL.so just cut it.

No idea what you're talking about, as I had to punch in and out every single day of remote learning at our regularly scheduled times, or I would be docked time/pay. You have no idea what I did so you can stop patronizing me. Stay in your lane.

Lol. I was there when this so-called education was delivered. In my school, kids had 30 minutes of live instruction. 30 minutes of recorded specials everyday but held every other week. If you think that’s acceptable for 3-5 grade, you are crazy. You posted all this stuff about how much you worked. When you move to less than 25% of your previous teaching time, you are not work as much. Simple.

For my other kid, teachers had a deadline to post weekly assignments. Would you like to guess how many did so by the deadline? There is a reason parents are worried about DL.

[Anonymous]

I’m not doing anything because I’m working at my summer job so I can pay my bills. I’ll let the 12 month employees figure it all out.