As if Zoom Kindergarten isn't difficult enough

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD's teacher recently left on maternity leave and things have been pretty brutal with the long term substitute. She isn't fluid with the computer so lots of time is lost as she tries to go back and forth between things. We are also having audio tech issues that we didn't have before, leading me to think she may have inadequate wifi to run these calls. She seems to be reading off of a script and doesn't adapt well to any sort of variation. She speaks in a very soft, monotone voice that is very hard to stay engaged with. Finally, she has a very thick accent that is hard for me to understand and even more difficult for the kids. This is particularly problematic because a lot of K is learning letters and what sounds they make and that is much harder with the accent. Obviously, there is nothing the teacher can do about he accent and it isn't her "fault," but it is going to make it really hard for the kids to learn.

Before this, things had been going . . . ok. To her credit, DD was able to more or less stay engaged despite the ours in front of a screen and the difficulty of doing remote learning as a 5-yr old. I doubt she was learning as much as she would have in real school, but it wasn't worthless. Now, she is already growing really frustrated about not being able to understand or be understood. She has gotten extremely fidgety and is no longer engaged the way she was when the teacher was (frankly) far more engaging.

I guess this is just a vent. I have no delusions that there is anything we can do about it. I just hope the regular teacher actually returns as planned because, if I knew it was going to be like this the whole year, I don't know that I would keep her in the class.

She never should have been placed in such a job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

So sick and tired of all the homeschool evangelism on a public school board. next time somebody's struggling with homeschool I should go to The homeschool board and say have you tried enrolling the kid back in public school where there's professionals in the what they're doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

You have no idea what my socioeconomic status is or the degree to which my daughter has or has not been exposed to accents to this point. Nor is she the only one having trouble understanding the teacher, which includes kids who come from homes where English is not the first language.

It is particularly problematic for K. Even 1st or 2nd would be a lot less of a big deal because by then students know their letters and what sound they make. In K, many students are learning to differentiate the sounds made, for example, by "a," "e," and "i," which are fairly subtle differences. Figuring that out when you have trouble understanding the teacher is far more difficult.

And, although you clearly want to focus on the accent, that is not the only issue with the teacher, as explained in my OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

So sick and tired of all the homeschool evangelism on a public school board. next time somebody's struggling with homeschool I should go to The homeschool board and say have you tried enrolling the kid back in public school where there's professionals in the what they're doing.

NP. I’m not a “homeschool evangelist” but I did pull my kindergartner out of school in October and started homeschooling. I plan to reenroll next school year or possibly earlier if schools open up next Spring.
I think homeschooling is a legitimate option that Kindergarten parents should consider. I will admit that I secretly hope all Kindergarten parents pull their kids out which would send a message to the school board.

[Anonymous]

OP - if this is for a K class... then you are not alone in wondering whether this particular sub was a good choice. I have been listening in on the classes and its really difficult to understand what she is attempting to communicate. The subs internet connection is also really bad.

My DH wants to pull our kid from class but we don't know where to go and feel like this year sucks and we are powerless. This is VERY different from prior experiences at this school and even within the same school in other K classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - if this is for a K class... then you are not alone in wondering whether this particular sub was a good choice. I have been listening in on the classes and its really difficult to understand what she is attempting to communicate. The subs internet connection is also really bad.

My DH wants to pull our kid from class but we don't know where to go and feel like this year sucks and we are powerless. This is VERY different from prior experiences at this school and even within the same school in other K classes.

Bad internet connections aren't unique to subs! Alas...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - if this is for a K class... then you are not alone in wondering whether this particular sub was a good choice. I have been listening in on the classes and its really difficult to understand what she is attempting to communicate. The subs internet connection is also really bad.

My DH wants to pull our kid from class but we don't know where to go and feel like this year sucks and we are powerless. This is VERY different from prior experiences at this school and even within the same school in other K classes.

Bad internet connections aren't unique to subs! Alas...

That's true, but MCPS has been spending a ton of time and effort to make sure students have functioning internet. It would be nice if they could try to do the same for teachers.