Anyone have kids with teachers that are being really demanding right now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is in 5th grade and his teacher is assigning book reports and projects left and right. He just turned in a project which was a PowerPoint on a topic of his choice and she critiqued the hell out of it and he got a 70% on the project. I read the rubric and we made sure each part of the rubric was met, but she had a lot to say that was wrong with it.

She has also assigned a group project which isn’t working too well because they are doing it over video chat and unable to meet up in person. On top of these projects he is assigned up to 40 math problems from the textbook per night which must be done on loose leaf and scanned into the system. Last week they had an assignment for science which had over 50 questions and on Friday, she told the students that she felt like they had worked in groups on the project and this is effectively cheating so she wouldn’t accept it and is assigning a new packet of science questions from the several chapters that they must answer.

Does this sound normal or is it a bit much??

I want to send my kids to your kids' class! The 40 problem depends on which type of problems it is. Frankly, I rather more than less. I am glad to hear the teacher is taking time out to provide feedbacks. We aren't as nearly lucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With distance learning I have a lot more time for grading so I’m providing more specific feedback than usual on work. I’m not grading any harder, but may seem harder because of the volume of comments, but this is a good opportunity to help students improve things that might be overlooked when grading 50 essays during my planning vs during hours of office hours that students may not show up for.

And also we are getting about 1/10th the volume of work. Most kids are barely turning in anything at all so if I only get 5 pieces of writing I can spend 10 minutes on each giving really useful feedback (which is not a grade). That’s a luxury I don’t have when I’m getting 115 assignments.

Thank you for taking the time out to provide feedbacks. As a parent, I appreciate the attention my child would get for improvements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous[b wrote:]I am veteran high school teacher and I do think parents are a lot more hands off at that level, so I say this with that caveat[/b]. But I have never really parents complain, before COVID or after, other than one or two of the infamously difficult/mentally unstable parents who come through every once in a while and everyone, including admin, is well aware of. Honestly, I think that most effective teachers don’t get a lot of complaints because effective teachers are pragmatic, reasonable and efficient. They don’t pile on busy work or have unrealistic expectations (like expecting group work to go smoothly in a virtual setting). I love teaching and there are many great teachers out there. There are also plenty of mediocre ones and a few terrible ones. I think the OP has run into a mediocre teacher who isn’t coping well with this new situation. Just my 2 cents.

And I’m thinking you don’t have a lot of experience with elementary school parents. It’s pretty crappy of you to assume that this teacher is mediocre and not coping well with this situation. It sounds to me like this teacher has been hearing too many complaints from parents and/or admin that they want “real” work that occupies their kids and they want their kids to be “challenged“, and the teachers are told to make sure that this is happening.

You’re right, I can’t say for sure the teacher is mediocre, or good, or bad, based on one post. There is also zero evidence in the OP that the teacher is reacting to admin demands or parent complaints, as you posit.. But it sounds like this teacher is not adjusting expectations to match our new normal. Things online are not the same as in a real classroom. You can’t monitor group work, to make sure students are working equitably, the way you can and should in a live classroom. And you certainly can’t give any kind of traditional assessment and determine whether students are cheating. I don’t think this teacher sounds terrible but sorry, these methods don’t sound very effective either. This teacher sounds overwhelmed and over reactive. When I give an activity that the whole class performs poorly on, or when I am not satisfied with their performance, that means it is time for ME to reflect and do better. Accusing kids of cheating and giving extra work is not productive in this time and place, or really ever.