No grades in the grade book

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like time to start a class action when admin force us to work double time and our union is complacent to make a contract and then happy to break it and side with admin to fire us. What the heck is the point of having a contract or a union for that matter. They take our money and fight us with it.

Where do I sign up!?? I’m ready to join that suit asap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Normal, I would. Teachers make all kind of excuses but it’s absurd.

150 essays at 15 minutes each takes 37.5 sustained hours of grading. That’s 37.5 extra hours of unpaid work to get done in 10 days.

I don’t call that an excuse. I call it an explanation. And I agree it is absurd. It’s absurd that we consider that workload acceptable.

It is absurd! But it’s also how things work in most jobs. It’s an American work expectation problem.

No, this is not true in most jobs. Not saying that teaching is the *only* job where this happens, but there are lots of jobs where there is little or no work expected outside of work hours. And many of the others that do expect that heavy of a load pay a lot better than teaching. In other words, if teachers leave, most of them can find a lower workload or better pay or both. We need to wrestle with this or we are going to continue to struggle with recruiting and retaining good teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Normal, I would. Teachers make all kind of excuses but it’s absurd.

150 essays at 15 minutes each takes 37.5 sustained hours of grading. That’s 37.5 extra hours of unpaid work to get done in 10 days.

I don’t call that an excuse. I call it an explanation. And I agree it is absurd. It’s absurd that we consider that workload acceptable.

It is absurd! But it’s also how things work in most jobs. It’s an American work expectation problem.

No, this is not true in most jobs. Not saying that teaching is the *only* job where this happens, but there are lots of jobs where there is little or no work expected outside of work hours. And many of the others that do expect that heavy of a load pay a lot better than teaching. In other words, if teachers leave, most of them can find a lower workload or better pay or both. We need to wrestle with this or we are going to continue to struggle with recruiting and retaining good teachers.

I’ve watched many of my coworkers transition to other fields. 100% of the ones I’ve kept up with make more money and/or work fewer hours. They all report being much happier.

Teaching has a longevity problem. People burn out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By HS I never followed up with teachers. That was my kids’ job and they usually seemed to know how they were doing in classes. If they didn’t and I thought it was important, I had them follow up with their teacher. It seems extreme for a parent to be contacting the teacher absent special needs.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like time to start a class action when admin force us to work double time and our union is complacent to make a contract and then happy to break it and side with admin to fire us. What the heck is the point of having a contract or a union for that matter. They take our money and fight us with it.

Where do I sign up!?? I’m ready to join that suit asap.

Teachers don’t need a suit, ya’ll and ya’ll union just need to truly come together. Teachers collectively have more power than they realize. If an entire school came together and was like, yep people who deserve to fail are failing this year. What is Admin going to do, fire everyone? Now imagine if most of the district did that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a HS teacher and my grades are up to date. But I’m sitting at my kitchen table on Sunday morning getting my grading done. There is almost no time to grade during the school day.

Have a f**king medal.
My mother was a teacher and she graded every single night.
Teachers these days are lazy f'x who think the only time they "work" is when they're in the school building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a HS teacher and my grades are up to date. But I’m sitting at my kitchen table on Sunday morning getting my grading done. There is almost no time to grade during the school day.

Have a f**king medal.
My mother was a teacher and she graded every single night.
Teachers these days are lazy f'x who think the only time they "work" is when they're in the school building.

Wow. Okay.

I graded 3 hours Friday night, 6 hours yesterday, and I’m on track for 8 hours today. That’s an extra 17 hours I’m tacking onto my work week. That’s after putting in 10-12 hour days Monday through Friday.

Personally, I don’t see how a standard 60-65 hour work week makes me lazy.

And perhaps if your mother had more time to spend with you, you’d be less hostile in adulthood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By HS I never followed up with teachers. That was my kids’ job and they usually seemed to know how they were doing in classes. If they didn’t and I thought it was important, I had them follow up with their teacher. It seems extreme for a parent to be contacting the teacher absent special needs.

You sound like a checked out parent.

DP. That’s not a checked out parent. That’s a parent teaching their children to advocate for themselves. That’s an important life lesson. If you continue to step in and fix things for them, how will they learn?

If your kid will advocate great but the teachers not grading don’t respond either.

Some teachers figure the 10th graders actually care and will respond faster than to a parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a common problem. Get your kid to follow it up with the teacher and failing that you should contact the Assistant Principal in charge of academics.

Yes, it’s a common problem. It will remain a common problem until teachers are given work time to get grading done.

I do recommend reaching out to administration, though. That will help them remember how big of a problem this is. Keep in mind administrators don’t have papers to grade, so they have likely forgotten what it’s like to take that load home each night.

Our admin are useless but its the teachers responsibilty to grade and if they cannot be doing it, its on them to talk to their admin and get help, not the parents. If you want students to follow the rules, you need teachers to as well.

Teachers are speaking up. They are also quitting. The workload is BEYOND crushing.

If parents are angry, then parents should also speak up. I’m in full support of that. I’ve been in this field a very long time, long enough to realize that teachers’ voices are often ignored and that we are considered disposable. If we push back, we are often pushed out. Parents have more of a voice.

But until teachers are given work time to get work done, I don’t know how this will change. It’s absolutely absurd that teachers are required to work literally DOZENS of extra hours a pay period.

As a parent advocate whose voice has been ignored and has seen others parents' voices ignored by MCPS for years, I can assure that's not the case.

The only "voice" that works with MCPS is lawsuits and bad media coverage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like time to start a class action when admin force us to work double time and our union is complacent to make a contract and then happy to break it and side with admin to fire us. What the heck is the point of having a contract or a union for that matter. They take our money and fight us with it.

Correct. Teachers need to hold MCEA accountable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a HS teacher and my grades are up to date. But I’m sitting at my kitchen table on Sunday morning getting my grading done. There is almost no time to grade during the school day.

Have a f**king medal.
My mother was a teacher and she graded every single night.
Teachers these days are lazy f'x who think the only time they "work" is when they're in the school building.

Wow. Okay.

I graded 3 hours Friday night, 6 hours yesterday, and I’m on track for 8 hours today. That’s an extra 17 hours I’m tacking onto my work week. That’s after putting in 10-12 hour days Monday through Friday.

Personally, I don’t see how a standard 60-65 hour work week makes me lazy.

And perhaps if your mother had more time to spend with you, you’d be less hostile in adulthood.

Maybe so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a HS teacher and my grades are up to date. But I’m sitting at my kitchen table on Sunday morning getting my grading done. There is almost no time to grade during the school day.

Have a f**king medal.
My mother was a teacher and she graded every single night.
Teachers these days are lazy f'x who think the only time they "work" is when they're in the school building.

Seek the help you so desperately need. As of now, you sound like a miserable,pathetic person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a HS teacher and my grades are up to date. But I’m sitting at my kitchen table on Sunday morning getting my grading done. There is almost no time to grade during the school day.

Have a f**king medal.
My mother was a teacher and she graded every single night.
Teachers these days are lazy f'x who think the only time they "work" is when they're in the school building.

Yikes. Sorry teachers, this is an unhinged parent who does not represent the majority of parents. I’m sorry you have to deal with some of the crazies

[Anonymous]

To the OP-
I'm a long time high school teacher, and here's my perspective.
If the AP classes are in graduation requirements (AP Bio, AP Lang, AP US, etc), then I would say that teachers should have grades in by this point. I've taught those types of AP, and I was well aware of the need to keep grades up to date as much as possible. I would say that your student should talk to the teacher. If that doesn't get a resolution, then you should email the teacher. Plus, you don't know exactly what is going on. It could be that Canvas is not syncing up properly with Synergy or some other explanation as to why you're not seeing grades online. Best to check in with the teacher first.
If the class is an elective AP, I would say let the student follow up and be patient. In those classes, teachers tend to get the grades in slower since the students want to be there and most likely know the teacher ahead of time. We still should have grades in at this point, but sometimes getting the grades published drops as a priority behind other demands of the teacher's time, especially if they're teaching multiple preps. I've been in this situation before, and I just come clean with the kids. Eventually, I get things right with plenty of time for the kids to make adjustments.
Hope that helps

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By HS I never followed up with teachers. That was my kids’ job and they usually seemed to know how they were doing in classes. If they didn’t and I thought it was important, I had them follow up with their teacher. It seems extreme for a parent to be contacting the teacher absent special needs.

You sound like a checked out parent.

DP. That’s not a checked out parent. That’s a parent teaching their children to advocate for themselves. That’s an important life lesson. If you continue to step in and fix things for them, how will they learn?

If your kid will advocate great but the teachers not grading don’t respond either.

Some teachers figure the 10th graders actually care and will respond faster than to a parent.

They don’t respond to the kids, which is the problem. They don’t post grades, etc.