MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another issue with cell phones is that students use them to cheat. Kids are constantly texting each other answers to test questions and also try to google answers. Cheating has become an epidemic in MCPS high schools

Right because there was never cheating before phones. Just more creativity.

You are right. There was always cheating. This did not start with phones. However, since phones have become so common, it is much, much worse.

Then, as a teacher take back your classroom and start by communicating with those parents interested.

I suspect you’re the same parent who has been combative throughout this thread.

You clearly know how to do our job. I encourage you to join us in the classroom and show us how it’s done. Come “take back a classroom” and put the disruptive students and unsupportive admin in line.

(You won’t, of course. Deep down, you know it’s bad and you know teachers are overworked and abused. Your combativeness does serve a purpose, fortunately. You’re demonstrating one of a teacher’s many frustrations: parents who think this job is easy simply because they sat in a classroom themselves decades ago.)

I’d be happy to volunteer in school but our school does not allow parent volunteers. However, even with all that, your job is to manage your classroom and complaining about things that will not change doesn’t help.

Our job is not to manage our classrooms. Our job is to teach the future generation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends - if they have an iep? I’d tell them that most of the services are delivered by the general Ed teacher because inclusion spec Ed teachers are stretched too thin and we spend so much time on paperwork and not with kids. I’d also tell them no matter what they “advocate for” in the iep, it doesn’t actually happen during the school day due to limited resources and time so half the time we just agree to make you go away

+1. And most of these times it's supervisors who tell us what to say and agree. It's not pretty but this is honest because the system refuses to staff appropriately.

You have a very strange concept of “honest.” Agreeing to provide something in an IEP that you know you will not be able to provide is not consistent with any definition of “honest” that I’m aware of.

We literally are NOT allowed to say we can’t provide it. What don’t you get about that?

You can certainly say you *won’t* provide it. And if you know you’re not going to, how would it be “honest” to say otherwise?

Obviously that could lead to due process complaints if those services/supports are really warranted. But if it makes you feel any better, that process is so corrupt in Maryland that parents literally never win.

I am a sp ed mom. Lying doesn't stop at IEP. Because once they agreed to do something to make the parents "go away" - the teachers have to collect data, enter it in the system and report twice a year. So it's not just semi-innocent forced-by-administration lie. Every teacher that agreed to do something they know they can't/won't do also has to forge records, make up data and lie in writing on the mid-year and end-year progress report. It's not an innocent, "my hands are tied" situation. This is active forgery to circumvent a federal law (IDEA). You absolutely can take it to your prised union and refuse to forge records to your administrator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another issue with cell phones is that students use them to cheat. Kids are constantly texting each other answers to test questions and also try to google answers. Cheating has become an epidemic in MCPS high schools

Right because there was never cheating before phones. Just more creativity.

You are right. There was always cheating. This did not start with phones. However, since phones have become so common, it is much, much worse.

Then, as a teacher take back your classroom and start by communicating with those parents interested.

I suspect you’re the same parent who has been combative throughout this thread.

You clearly know how to do our job. I encourage you to join us in the classroom and show us how it’s done. Come “take back a classroom” and put the disruptive students and unsupportive admin in line.

(You won’t, of course. Deep down, you know it’s bad and you know teachers are overworked and abused. Your combativeness does serve a purpose, fortunately. You’re demonstrating one of a teacher’s many frustrations: parents who think this job is easy simply because they sat in a classroom themselves decades ago.)

I’d be happy to volunteer in school but our school does not allow parent volunteers. However, even with all that, your job is to manage your classroom and complaining about things that will not change doesn’t help.

Our job is not to manage our classrooms. Our job is to teach the future generation.

If you. An ot manage a classroom, you cannot teach. Maybe that’s part of the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another issue with cell phones is that students use them to cheat. Kids are constantly texting each other answers to test questions and also try to google answers. Cheating has become an epidemic in MCPS high schools

Right because there was never cheating before phones. Just more creativity.

You are right. There was always cheating. This did not start with phones. However, since phones have become so common, it is much, much worse.

Then, as a teacher take back your classroom and start by communicating with those parents interested.

I suspect you’re the same parent who has been combative throughout this thread.

You clearly know how to do our job. I encourage you to join us in the classroom and show us how it’s done. Come “take back a classroom” and put the disruptive students and unsupportive admin in line.

(You won’t, of course. Deep down, you know it’s bad and you know teachers are overworked and abused. Your combativeness does serve a purpose, fortunately. You’re demonstrating one of a teacher’s many frustrations: parents who think this job is easy simply because they sat in a classroom themselves decades ago.)

I’d be happy to volunteer in school but our school does not allow parent volunteers. However, even with all that, your job is to manage your classroom and complaining about things that will not change doesn’t help.

Our job is not to manage our classrooms. Our job is to teach the future generation.

If you. An ot manage a classroom, you cannot teach. Maybe that’s part of the issue.

Oops. If you don’t have classroom management, you cannot teach. If you just want to teach perfect kids, public schools are not for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That they should be supplementing at home. We aren't allowed to give ELA homework in the early grades (maybe that will change if we ever get a new curriculum) so instead we tell families to “read” when what I really want them to do is a few minutes of fluency drills to reinforce what I’m teaching in class.

This is actually very helpful. How do we find out what to drill them on? There is no textbook or handout that they bring home. What would you recommend to a parent who has bandwidth and motivation to reinforce at home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another issue with cell phones is that students use them to cheat. Kids are constantly texting each other answers to test questions and also try to google answers. Cheating has become an epidemic in MCPS high schools

Right because there was never cheating before phones. Just more creativity.

You are right. There was always cheating. This did not start with phones. However, since phones have become so common, it is much, much worse.

Then, as a teacher take back your classroom and start by communicating with those parents interested.

I suspect you’re the same parent who has been combative throughout this thread.

You clearly know how to do our job. I encourage you to join us in the classroom and show us how it’s done. Come “take back a classroom” and put the disruptive students and unsupportive admin in line.

(You won’t, of course. Deep down, you know it’s bad and you know teachers are overworked and abused. Your combativeness does serve a purpose, fortunately. You’re demonstrating one of a teacher’s many frustrations: parents who think this job is easy simply because they sat in a classroom themselves decades ago.)

I’d be happy to volunteer in school but our school does not allow parent volunteers. However, even with all that, your job is to manage your classroom and complaining about things that will not change doesn’t help.

As a fellow parent, parents like you give us such a bad name. How are teachers to blame for kids' bad behavior? Teachers are literally making the news for being assaulted by out-of-control teens when they attempt to take away their phones. And yet you still think it's the teachers who aren't doing enough? Can you get off your high horse and get a grip on reality?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That they should be supplementing at home. We aren't allowed to give ELA homework in the early grades (maybe that will change if we ever get a new curriculum) so instead we tell families to “read” when what I really want them to do is a few minutes of fluency drills to reinforce what I’m teaching in class.

This is actually very helpful. How do we find out what to drill them on? There is no textbook or handout that they bring home. What would you recommend to a parent who has bandwidth and motivation to reinforce at home?

SPED teacher and parent... I wish they would teach HOW to study. How to make index flash cards or even the online ones. Then parents can help drill or know what the material is too. I've taught kids over the years how to make flash cards and while they don't all buy in, those who do make great strides. It helps bring into focus WHAT they need to know and provide a structure for learning it. It's not everyone's learning style, but when it clicks for someone it's one of the things I've seen that makes the most difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, new topic!

I would tell them that complaints from parents go much further with admin than complaints from teachers. Be the squeaky wheel. We try to fix problems but often can’t without ruffling our boss’s feathers or risking our own jobs.

Some of us will not do that as we don’t want teachers in trouble, especially the ones who will retaliate against the kids and we know admin does not care.

Oops, I have told parents this. More than once.

[Anonymous]

I finally quit teaching but here is one thing: how your child's year in my classroom will be is largely depend on the luck of the draw of who his or her other classmates are.

There are some years that you get a really enjoyable cohort of students. By enjoyable I am not talking about academically advanced instead it is when there are no massive behavior problems, not many kids who whine or pester relentlessly, and no really difficult parents. Those years I pour my heart and soul into the job. We could do fun projects, I was willing to stay late to help students, I spent more money for supplies to do these projects or activities, etc. I still think about the students I had those really enjoyable years.

Other years when there is a really difficult cohort I am not doing anything extra. Not one thing. I do my job then go home and think of what else I can do. One year there was a student who regularly destroyed the classroom by ripping down things no the walls, throwing things, cussing me out, as well as spitting and hitting. If he was just ripping down things but not hurting anyone then he wasn't stopped because he wasn't being a danger to others.

Then there was another year a parent who wanted what the parent and attorney thought was reasonable but really wasn't so there were endless IEP meetings that lasted for hours during the school day. So those days I had to make sub plans and all the other students had to miss out on my instruction. Then there were endless emails from that parent even though I was required to summarize every afternoon how the child's day went, document a gazillion things, accommodate for that one student. The accommodations were so onerous that it took away from the other 23 students. It just isn't fair that one student should take up half of your teaching time which happens when you are required to make sure the student is looking at you before you deliver instruction, check for understanding with that student before moving on, then write the directions on the board, etc. The other students have to wait even if they all can go at a faster pace because you have to spend so much time redirecting the student. Then you have to mark down on a paper every few minutes if the student is on task. Then check in with the student after they have begun to work, allow the student to give verbal answers instead of writing them down if the student chooses, provide alternative assignments if it is too difficult, etc. The list seemed endless.

Then added to those two previous situations, then you might have students added to the mix who are just annoying- students who whine, parents who want to volunteer so they can gossip about other kids, and just other difficult situations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends - if they have an iep? I’d tell them that most of the services are delivered by the general Ed teacher because inclusion spec Ed teachers are stretched too thin and we spend so much time on paperwork and not with kids. I’d also tell them no matter what they “advocate for” in the iep, it doesn’t actually happen during the school day due to limited resources and time so half the time we just agree to make you go away

+1. And most of these times it's supervisors who tell us what to say and agree. It's not pretty but this is honest because the system refuses to staff appropriately.

You have a very strange concept of “honest.” Agreeing to provide something in an IEP that you know you will not be able to provide is not consistent with any definition of “honest” that I’m aware of.

We literally are NOT allowed to say we can’t provide it. What don’t you get about that?

You can certainly say you *won’t* provide it. And if you know you’re not going to, how would it be “honest” to say otherwise?

Obviously that could lead to due process complaints if those services/supports are really warranted. But if it makes you feel any better, that process is so corrupt in Maryland that parents literally never win.

I am a sp ed mom. Lying doesn't stop at IEP. Because once they agreed to do something to make the parents "go away" - the teachers have to collect data, enter it in the system and report twice a year. So it's not just semi-innocent forced-by-administration lie. Every teacher that agreed to do something they know they can't/won't do also has to forge records, make up data and lie in writing on the mid-year and end-year progress report. It's not an innocent, "my hands are tied" situation. This is active forgery to circumvent a federal law (IDEA). You absolutely can take it to your prised union and refuse to forge records to your administrator.

I quit teaching Sped classes at one school for this very reason. I was set up to fail and nobody - the admin, the lawyers, the parents - cared. I was literally told to be in two places at once or my job would be in jeopardy. When I tried to explain that I’m not superhuman and I physically can’t do what was required, I was threaded. So I quit. This is why we have such a shortage. Sped teachers can’t perform miracles no matter how much the paperwork and the parents demand it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends - if they have an iep? I’d tell them that most of the services are delivered by the general Ed teacher because inclusion spec Ed teachers are stretched too thin and we spend so much time on paperwork and not with kids. I’d also tell them no matter what they “advocate for” in the iep, it doesn’t actually happen during the school day due to limited resources and time so half the time we just agree to make you go away

+1. And most of these times it's supervisors who tell us what to say and agree. It's not pretty but this is honest because the system refuses to staff appropriately.

You have a very strange concept of “honest.” Agreeing to provide something in an IEP that you know you will not be able to provide is not consistent with any definition of “honest” that I’m aware of.

We literally are NOT allowed to say we can’t provide it. What don’t you get about that?

You can certainly say you *won’t* provide it. And if you know you’re not going to, how would it be “honest” to say otherwise?

Obviously that could lead to due process complaints if those services/supports are really warranted. But if it makes you feel any better, that process is so corrupt in Maryland that parents literally never win.

I am a sp ed mom. Lying doesn't stop at IEP. Because once they agreed to do something to make the parents "go away" - the teachers have to collect data, enter it in the system and report twice a year. So it's not just semi-innocent forced-by-administration lie. Every teacher that agreed to do something they know they can't/won't do also has to forge records, make up data and lie in writing on the mid-year and end-year progress report. It's not an innocent, "my hands are tied" situation. This is active forgery to circumvent a federal law (IDEA). You absolutely can take it to your prised union and refuse to forge records to your administrator.

I quit teaching Sped classes at one school for this very reason. I was set up to fail and nobody - the admin, the lawyers, the parents - cared. I was literally told to be in two places at once or my job would be in jeopardy. When I tried to explain that I’m not superhuman and I physically can’t do what was required, I was threaded. So I quit. This is why we have such a shortage. Sped teachers can’t perform miracles no matter how much the paperwork and the parents demand it.

Oops… threatened, not threaded.

[Anonymous]

Don't you all see?? There isn't one problem, there are many. And it's cyclical and because we aren't working as a team, that's where it fails. Part of why America is falling behind on education is because of the individualism promoted in our culture. My life, my needs, my family. There's not a "we are all in this together" mentality and that's why we are failing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:.... you are required to make sure the student is looking at you before you deliver instruction, check for understanding with that student before moving on, then write the directions on the board, etc. The other students have to wait even if they all can go at a faster pace because you have to spend so much time redirecting the student. Then you have to mark down on a paper every few minutes if the student is on task. Then check in with the student after they have begun to work, allow the student to give verbal answers instead of writing them down if the student chooses, provide alternative assignments if it is too difficult, etc....

Is this typical of an iep, or is this an especially unusual case?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't you all see?? There isn't one problem, there are many. And it's cyclical and because we aren't working as a team, that's where it fails. Part of why America is falling behind on education is because of the individualism promoted in our culture. My life, my needs, my family. There's not a "we are all in this together" mentality and that's why we are failing.

I'd say the opposite.

We're asking too much from society, and taking too little responsibility for individual selves and our families.

Teacher after teacher has said that their job is literally impossible. Why?

Because we're asking them to do EVERYTHING for kids--nutrition, behavior, academics, special needs, ESOL, G&T, etc., etc., etc.

Society simply cannot do that. Individual parents need to step up and take much more responsibility for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't you all see?? There isn't one problem, there are many. And it's cyclical and because we aren't working as a team, that's where it fails. Part of why America is falling behind on education is because of the individualism promoted in our culture. My life, my needs, my family. There's not a "we are all in this together" mentality and that's why we are failing.

Some of us very much do.