I'm an MCPS elementary school teacher...AMA

[Anonymous]

MoCo parents do a lot of outside of school math supplementation with tutors and classes.

At what age do you recommend starting this? (Since you agree that it's impossible to do differentiation in math classes with a wide range of student abilities.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I teach in a Title I school with a huge population of EMLs. Eureka is good, CKLA is fine but not great for many them, but it’s actually the pacing guide that MCPS requires us to follow is how our kids end up with gaps. It moves too fast. And I know this is controversial, but I think classes should be grouped by ability and they should switch for different subjects. If a kid is good at math then they go to a higher math classroom at math time. The way it’s divided that there is a big range of abilities in each class means that none of the kids are really getting what they need.

I’m curious what grade you teach? I’m a 5th grade teacher at a high FARMS school, and the pacing and rigor in Eureka in years above our kids. It seems to be fine in primary for our school, but once the kids reach 4th, the language demand increase a lot. In addition, the 5th curriculum is dependent on full memory of the 4th grade curriculum which our kids don’t come in with. We can get the kids to pass tests, but not to understand the concepts. For example, we are just finishing up the 2nd module that has students divide with 2 digit divisors with and without decimals, including estimating and reasoning (understanding that the quotient of 45.9 and 9 will be 10 times greater than the quotient of 45.9 and 90). Our kids are so far from that. Can they divide? Sure, well, if they make lists of multiples. Can they reason and do the word problems? Not even close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you truly feel about the horrible behaviors that are now being left in the classroom?

And the complete failure of modern parenting.

Many parents do a good job.

Sounds to me like she is saying only the girl parents do. 🙄

Sounds like OP teaches in a high income school. Honestly, having worked in both, I'd say that behavioral/parenting issues in UMC communities are far worse with boys, whereas in working class communities the issues are more equally distributed.

I have a long theory about it that boils down to: Many UMC women are accustomed to being valued for their physical traits, and develop a weird fixation with their son liking them. It's all very oedipal. It's also why you hear UMC women taking a lot of pride in how physically attractive and desirable to women their sons are. Watch The Hunting Wives for more context.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach in a Title I school with a huge population of EMLs. Eureka is good, CKLA is fine but not great for many them, but it’s actually the pacing guide that MCPS requires us to follow is how our kids end up with gaps. It moves too fast. And I know this is controversial, but I think classes should be grouped by ability and they should switch for different subjects. If a kid is good at math then they go to a higher math classroom at math time. The way it’s divided that there is a big range of abilities in each class means that none of the kids are really getting what they need.

I’m curious what grade you teach? I’m a 5th grade teacher at a high FARMS school, and the pacing and rigor in Eureka in years above our kids. It seems to be fine in primary for our school, but once the kids reach 4th, the language demand increase a lot. In addition, the 5th curriculum is dependent on full memory of the 4th grade curriculum which our kids don’t come in with. We can get the kids to pass tests, but not to understand the concepts. For example, we are just finishing up the 2nd module that has students divide with 2 digit divisors with and without decimals, including estimating and reasoning (understanding that the quotient of 45.9 and 9 will be 10 times greater than the quotient of 45.9 and 90). Our kids are so far from that. Can they divide? Sure, well, if they make lists of multiples. Can they reason and do the word problems? Not even close.

I’m not a teacher, but I do wonder about the math curriculum that are heavy on words and whether that’s making things unnecessarily harder for EML students or those who are behind in literacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does parent advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens in schools or even in an individual classroom?

Zero chance. And a question to ponder..... Does teacher advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens at home????

Also...my students are rarely on their Chromebooks. Is that where the parent concerns are? Are you all going to fight for their to be less screen use in college too? Teaching students how to properly utilize screens is important. It's part of life.

I use the Boxlight to teach with bc it's efficient and engaging. I'm not showing them YouTube videos all day long on it or anything....

DP it is not my imagination that my kids' teacher used YouTube videos instead of reading books to kids in kindergarten. My kid memorized the sound effects.

Maybe offer to buy the books the teachers need for them so they don’t need to find them online.

I would be happy to buy anything the teachers ask for, but approaching the teacher months later when my kid tells me what's going on and saying "Hey I heard you are showing kids YouTube videos of common children's books instead of reading them in person, I am happy to buy it for you" seems passive aggressive and not likely to go well for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does parent advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens in schools or even in an individual classroom?

Zero chance. And a question to ponder..... Does teacher advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens at home????

Also...my students are rarely on their Chromebooks. Is that where the parent concerns are? Are you all going to fight for their to be less screen use in college too? Teaching students how to properly utilize screens is important. It's part of life.

I use the Boxlight to teach with bc it's efficient and engaging. I'm not showing them YouTube videos all day long on it or anything....

DP it is not my imagination that my kids' teacher used YouTube videos instead of reading books to kids in kindergarten. My kid memorized the sound effects.

Maybe offer to buy the books the teachers need for them so they don’t need to find them online.

I would be happy to buy anything the teachers ask for, but approaching the teacher months later when my kid tells me what's going on and saying "Hey I heard you are showing kids YouTube videos of common children's books instead of reading them in person, I am happy to buy it for you" seems passive aggressive and not likely to go well for me.

This post makes me laugh at the discrepancy within our county. You’ll buy a read aloud book that will be read once a year, yet the parents in my school can’t purchase pencils. Teachers cannot and should not be expected to pay for a real aloud book that is used 1x a year. The school should provide it. If it’s not in the building, then we use the next best option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does parent advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens in schools or even in an individual classroom?

Zero chance. And a question to ponder..... Does teacher advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens at home????

Also...my students are rarely on their Chromebooks. Is that where the parent concerns are? Are you all going to fight for their to be less screen use in college too? Teaching students how to properly utilize screens is important. It's part of life.

I use the Boxlight to teach with bc it's efficient and engaging. I'm not showing them YouTube videos all day long on it or anything....

DP it is not my imagination that my kids' teacher used YouTube videos instead of reading books to kids in kindergarten. My kid memorized the sound effects.

Maybe offer to buy the books the teachers need for them so they don’t need to find them online.

I would be happy to buy anything the teachers ask for, but approaching the teacher months later when my kid tells me what's going on and saying "Hey I heard you are showing kids YouTube videos of common children's books instead of reading them in person, I am happy to buy it for you" seems passive aggressive and not likely to go well for me.

This post makes me laugh at the discrepancy within our county. You’ll buy a read aloud book that will be read once a year, yet the parents in my school can’t purchase pencils. Teachers cannot and should not be expected to pay for a real aloud book that is used 1x a year. The school should provide it. If it’s not in the building, then we use the next best option.

Agree the school should provide books (that’s crazy that this needs to be said). Why doesn’t it? Why does it invest all of its money on tech instead?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does parent advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens in schools or even in an individual classroom?

Zero chance. And a question to ponder..... Does teacher advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens at home????

Also...my students are rarely on their Chromebooks. Is that where the parent concerns are? Are you all going to fight for their to be less screen use in college too? Teaching students how to properly utilize screens is important. It's part of life.

I use the Boxlight to teach with bc it's efficient and engaging. I'm not showing them YouTube videos all day long on it or anything....

DP it is not my imagination that my kids' teacher used YouTube videos instead of reading books to kids in kindergarten. My kid memorized the sound effects.

Maybe offer to buy the books the teachers need for them so they don’t need to find them online.

I would be happy to buy anything the teachers ask for, but approaching the teacher months later when my kid tells me what's going on and saying "Hey I heard you are showing kids YouTube videos of common children's books instead of reading them in person, I am happy to buy it for you" seems passive aggressive and not likely to go well for me.

This post makes me laugh at the discrepancy within our county. You’ll buy a read aloud book that will be read once a year, yet the parents in my school can’t purchase pencils. Teachers cannot and should not be expected to pay for a real aloud book that is used 1x a year. The school should provide it. If it’s not in the building, then we use the next best option.

Agree the school should provide books (that’s crazy that this needs to be said). Why doesn’t it? Why does it invest all of its money on tech instead?

TBH, because it’s a waste of money. If there are 4 classes in a grade level so they need 4 copies of a book that will probably be used 1x a year for a few years until the next curriculum change. Then multiply that by every school in the county. Not a very good use of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does parent advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens in schools or even in an individual classroom?

Zero chance. And a question to ponder..... Does teacher advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens at home????

Also...my students are rarely on their Chromebooks. Is that where the parent concerns are? Are you all going to fight for their to be less screen use in college too? Teaching students how to properly utilize screens is important. It's part of life.

I use the Boxlight to teach with bc it's efficient and engaging. I'm not showing them YouTube videos all day long on it or anything....

DP it is not my imagination that my kids' teacher used YouTube videos instead of reading books to kids in kindergarten. My kid memorized the sound effects.

Maybe offer to buy the books the teachers need for them so they don’t need to find them online.

I would be happy to buy anything the teachers ask for, but approaching the teacher months later when my kid tells me what's going on and saying "Hey I heard you are showing kids YouTube videos of common children's books instead of reading them in person, I am happy to buy it for you" seems passive aggressive and not likely to go well for me.

This post makes me laugh at the discrepancy within our county. You’ll buy a read aloud book that will be read once a year, yet the parents in my school can’t purchase pencils. Teachers cannot and should not be expected to pay for a real aloud book that is used 1x a year. The school should provide it. If it’s not in the building, then we use the next best option.

There is a media center full of books in my kid's school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MoCo parents do a lot of outside of school math supplementation with tutors and classes.

At what age do you recommend starting this? (Since you agree that it's impossible to do differentiation in math classes with a wide range of student abilities.)

Start supplementing by 2nd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach in a Title I school with a huge population of EMLs. Eureka is good, CKLA is fine but not great for many them, but it’s actually the pacing guide that MCPS requires us to follow is how our kids end up with gaps. It moves too fast. And I know this is controversial, but I think classes should be grouped by ability and they should switch for different subjects. If a kid is good at math then they go to a higher math classroom at math time. The way it’s divided that there is a big range of abilities in each class means that none of the kids are really getting what they need.

I’m curious what grade you teach? I’m a 5th grade teacher at a high FARMS school, and the pacing and rigor in Eureka in years above our kids. It seems to be fine in primary for our school, but once the kids reach 4th, the language demand increase a lot. In addition, the 5th curriculum is dependent on full memory of the 4th grade curriculum which our kids don’t come in with. We can get the kids to pass tests, but not to understand the concepts. For example, we are just finishing up the 2nd module that has students divide with 2 digit divisors with and without decimals, including estimating and reasoning (understanding that the quotient of 45.9 and 9 will be 10 times greater than the quotient of 45.9 and 90). Our kids are so far from that. Can they divide? Sure, well, if they make lists of multiples. Can they reason and do the word problems? Not even close.

I teach 3rd grade, so the concepts are easier than 5th. The word problems do pose a problem, they need a lot of hand holding. Ultimately I believe if they were allowed to go slower they would get many of the concepts the way Eureka teaches. A majority of them will never be high flyers, but I do think they could learn a lot if we had more time with them per concept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach in a Title I school with a huge population of EMLs. Eureka is good, CKLA is fine but not great for many them, but it’s actually the pacing guide that MCPS requires us to follow is how our kids end up with gaps. It moves too fast. And I know this is controversial, but I think classes should be grouped by ability and they should switch for different subjects. If a kid is good at math then they go to a higher math classroom at math time. The way it’s divided that there is a big range of abilities in each class means that none of the kids are really getting what they need.

I completely agree. I student taught years ago in a 3rd grade classroom. The three classroom teachers gave pre-tests for each math unit and then they sent kids who had mastered that topic to one teacher. The other two teachers had the kids who still needed more practice and the very low students who still had gaps. The lowest class was the smallest one and had the special ed teacher (and me) in it. It wasn’t always the same exact kids in each group. It depended on their prior knowledge of the math topic. It worked out well for everyone.

That’s fantastic, I’m glad the admin allowed this to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does parent advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens in schools or even in an individual classroom?

Zero chance. And a question to ponder..... Does teacher advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens at home????

Also...my students are rarely on their Chromebooks. Is that where the parent concerns are? Are you all going to fight for their to be less screen use in college too? Teaching students how to properly utilize screens is important. It's part of life.

I use the Boxlight to teach with bc it's efficient and engaging. I'm not showing them YouTube videos all day long on it or anything....

What is Boxlight and how do you use it? -DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does parent advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens in schools or even in an individual classroom?

Zero chance. And a question to ponder..... Does teacher advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens at home????

Also...my students are rarely on their Chromebooks. Is that where the parent concerns are? Are you all going to fight for their to be less screen use in college too? Teaching students how to properly utilize screens is important. It's part of life.

I use the Boxlight to teach with bc it's efficient and engaging. I'm not showing them YouTube videos all day long on it or anything....

My kids are zero screens so throwing it back to the family doesn’t work in this case, the problem is schools.

Not sure how you envision this working out in their future. It's like families who are no sugar. Their kids end up binging on sugar when they can bc they haven't been taught moderation or regulation. Teach your kids how to use screens appropriately and responsibly. They're going to have to use them in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does parent advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens in schools or even in an individual classroom?

Zero chance. And a question to ponder..... Does teacher advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens at home????

Also...my students are rarely on their Chromebooks. Is that where the parent concerns are? Are you all going to fight for their to be less screen use in college too? Teaching students how to properly utilize screens is important. It's part of life.

I use the Boxlight to teach with bc it's efficient and engaging. I'm not showing them YouTube videos all day long on it or anything....

What is Boxlight and how do you use it? -DP

A boxlight is just this generation’s chalkboard/whiteboard/overhead projector. They have way more capability like being used as a computer or TV, but the people calling for them to be taken away are ridiculous. I like it much better than all previous screens. The board is large and kids can actually see things, I can solve math problems on paper that are projected so students can actually see them- and so my back is not turned.