As if Zoom Kindergarten isn't difficult enough

[Anonymous]

Classes rarely stay the same with a long term sub - if you're lucky enough to get a long term sub instead of a parade of short term subs.

And some DCUMers want us to get rid of all the teachers and replace them with long term subs...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oof, I went through this last year. My kiddo's kindergarten teacher was literally 2 months from retirement when the pandemic hit. She was wonderful, seasoned, and beloved in person, but it was PAINFUL to watch her struggle with DL. I felt so bad. She went from best teacher to nonexistent, and it was rough for the kids.

I'm sure this sub had no idea what she was in for, either. Would it be possible to reach out to the school for support?

What kind of support do you think the school could/would provide? I can't imagine that they could get a different sub. Even if someone else is available, I assume for political and other reasons it is near impossible to have someone replaced. They aren't going to let us join the classes of the other K teachers, even though that is slightly more conceivable than it would be with in-person school.

I'm not even sure what I would ask for, assuming I wanted to limit asks to things that were plausible.

Someone (probably a para) can be assigned to help her with the technology. This could be possible if enough parents have the same issue.

Or the principal could ask a more experienced teacher to help mentor this sub. They can’t help if they don’t know there’s a problem.

I agree the principal needs to know what is going on, but I don't think it is realistic for the other teachers to meaningfully mentor this sub. They are all busy trying to deal with their own classes and I don't think it is reasonable to expect them to spend much time trying to help the sub on anything but really discrete issues. Even if they were willing to spend a lot of time helping, I'm not sure it would make a big difference. They might be able to assist with some of the technical know-how, but so many of the other issues seem to be beyond what they could help with.

[Anonymous]

Maybe as to switch teachers but I doubt they will do that. We had that last year in person and had multiple subs through maternity leave in an older grade and it was terrible. Covid was the only relief we got from a bad year after the teacher did come back and was checked out and didn't care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oof, I went through this last year. My kiddo's kindergarten teacher was literally 2 months from retirement when the pandemic hit. She was wonderful, seasoned, and beloved in person, but it was PAINFUL to watch her struggle with DL. I felt so bad. She went from best teacher to nonexistent, and it was rough for the kids.

I'm sure this sub had no idea what she was in for, either. Would it be possible to reach out to the school for support?

What kind of support do you think the school could/would provide? I can't imagine that they could get a different sub. Even if someone else is available, I assume for political and other reasons it is near impossible to have someone replaced. They aren't going to let us join the classes of the other K teachers, even though that is slightly more conceivable than it would be with in-person school.

I'm not even sure what I would ask for, assuming I wanted to limit asks to things that were plausible.

Someone (probably a para) can be assigned to help her with the technology. This could be possible if enough parents have the same issue.

Or the principal could ask a more experienced teacher to help mentor this sub. They can’t help if they don’t know there’s a problem.

We had issues with a long-term sub who had trouble controlling the class, and even the conscientious kids were getting behind because she wasn't able to cover all the material, so a group of parents arranged to meet with the principal and discuss options. The principal tried to work with her to improve, observing and giving feedback, pairing her with more experienced teachers, and so on, but eventually they had to replace her. I felt terrible because she was very nice, and was clearly trying hard, but she just didn't have enough experience or sheer force of personality to keep the class focused and learning.

I think it helped that we had specific examples of what wasn't working, and the parents tried to approach it from a supportive position, rather than an accusatory one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Classes rarely stay the same with a long term sub - if you're lucky enough to get a long term sub instead of a parade of short term subs.

And some DCUMers want us to get rid of all the teachers and replace them with long term subs...

What do people think will happen if a teacher get covid and is out for a few weeks? We had 4 long term subs and multiple day subs and then random subs when the teacher came back regularly. It was a waste of a year.

[Anonymous]

Job opening: kindergarten class teacher. NO ACCENTS CAN APPLY

Dcum is gonna dcum

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you keeping her enrolled in that school? It is so easy to homeschool kindergarten. Or find a preschool that is offering kindergarten. With what you are describing it seems pointless to continue.

+1 virtual prek is utterly pointless. your kid is better off just reading books with you at home and watching phonics shows and playing outside with friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you keeping her enrolled in that school? It is so easy to homeschool kindergarten. Or find a preschool that is offering kindergarten. With what you are describing it seems pointless to continue.

+1 virtual prek is utterly pointless. your kid is better off just reading books with you at home and watching phonics shows and playing outside with friends.

meant virtual K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Job opening: kindergarten class teacher. NO ACCENTS CAN APPLY

Dcum is gonna dcum

Do you really not think it is an issue if a Kindergarten teacher has a thick enough accent so that the students can't understand the teacher? That's very different than no accents can apply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Job opening: kindergarten class teacher. NO ACCENTS CAN APPLY

Dcum is gonna dcum

Do you really not think it is an issue if a Kindergarten teacher has a thick enough accent so that the students can't understand the teacher? That's very different than no accents can apply.

Pp here- yes i think it is an issue...to upper middle class people who are not as familiar with working class people with accents.

Correction: NO THICK ACCENTS CAN APPLY

[Anonymous]

What are you doing for childcare while you work? Why can’t that person just go over sounds and letters with your child? Skip virtual K. We are using the Logic of English curriculum and our babysitter is doing it with our kid in K. He is doing great, writing in cursive, and reading basic words fluently much more than either of our other kids who did K in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plan for the whole year to be like this, OP.

The teacher is not coming back. It’s going to be the rest of the year this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oof, I went through this last year. My kiddo's kindergarten teacher was literally 2 months from retirement when the pandemic hit. She was wonderful, seasoned, and beloved in person, but it was PAINFUL to watch her struggle with DL. I felt so bad. She went from best teacher to nonexistent, and it was rough for the kids.

I'm sure this sub had no idea what she was in for, either. Would it be possible to reach out to the school for support?

What kind of support do you think the school could/would provide? I can't imagine that they could get a different sub. Even if someone else is available, I assume for political and other reasons it is near impossible to have someone replaced. They aren't going to let us join the classes of the other K teachers, even though that is slightly more conceivable than it would be with in-person school.

I'm not even sure what I would ask for, assuming I wanted to limit asks to things that were plausible.

At my school the expectation is we support subs to ensure students are still getting a high quality education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Classes rarely stay the same with a long term sub - if you're lucky enough to get a long term sub instead of a parade of short term subs.

And some DCUMers want us to get rid of all the teachers and replace them with long term subs...

DCUM simultaneously thinks you can fire all the teachers to teach them a lesson but also will complain if they're a child gets either a first year inexperienced teacher or a bad long term sub

[Anonymous]

K? I’d pull her and homeschool—reading, simple writing, add, subtract.

Find some kid-appropriate history/science shows.

I think even if you slapped an iPad with a reading and math app in front of her for an hour a day, she’s getting a better education.

Kahn Academy is great for math.