Teachers who gossip: a cautionary tale

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers talk. But in my experience, the moms standing outside the school and at the bus stop are even worse. They will trash talk another mom's child in a heartbeat. Overheard it too many times to count from a distance, because I avoid most other moms like the plague.

1. Teachers are paid to teach, not gossip.

2. Teachers shouldn’t be playing with their teacher friends during class time...particularly with a live mic and a classroom of students.

3. The trash talk was inappropriate. Period. No excuses.

Saying “stupid house fraus gossip at the bus stop, too” isn’t a justification.

This is stupid.
We all do things on work time that we aren't paid to do. Like going to the washroom

Middle school teachers (like students) have transition breaks between classes.

There’s no excuse for a teacher to be on her phone while class is in session talking about another student with her camera and mic on.

Duh!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers talk. But in my experience, the moms standing outside the school and at the bus stop are even worse. They will trash talk another mom's child in a heartbeat. Overheard it too many times to count from a distance, because I avoid most other moms like the plague.

1. Teachers are paid to teach, not gossip.

2. Teachers shouldn’t be playing with their teacher friends during class time...particularly with a live mic and a classroom of students.

3. The trash talk was inappropriate. Period. No excuses.

Saying “stupid house fraus gossip at the bus stop, too” isn’t a justification.

This is stupid.
We all do things on work time that we aren't paid to do. Like going to the washroom

But this one front of students. Baristas can gossip at work too but not while they’re ringing someone up (about them!)

[Anonymous]

OP, what are you going to do with this information? I am genuinely curious. Also, what exactly was said? Everyone’s level of inappropriate is different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, what are you going to do with this information? I am genuinely curious. Also, what exactly was said? Everyone’s level of inappropriate is different.

I posted here. Hopefully one of the two mcps middle school teachers involved will see it and try harder to not talk about students on their cell phones during class with the video and mic 🎤 on.

Maybe mcps middle school principals will see this post and remind staff to behave professionally?

I’m not calling the school. The teachers know students saw/heard.

I will not say what the teacher said. It was objectively inappropriate to be on a cell phone talking about a student in the first place. What she actually said was not kind and wasn’t even correct. She was kvetching. It was weird. My kid thought it was mean, and so did I.

Be better, teachers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The kids could see her talking on her phone.

Apparently, she talks on her phone during class regularly. One time she unboxed a delivery during class.

Occasionally talking on phone, one time unboxing a delivery I can accept, but regularly talking on the phone? That really should be reported.

Would you talk on your phone on camera if you were zooming with your boss? Yes

Would you unbox a delivery on camera in front of your box? yes

How many hours a day do middle school teachers even work? How hard is it to focus on instruction during class?

[Anonymous]

Op, if this is true, and you keep asserting it is, you need to speak up because this is very different than 2 coworkers kvetching - a student hearing a teacher complain about him/her is outrageous and could be devastating to the kid’s self esteem. Tell the kid’s parent or an admin but tell someone and you are a witness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, if this is true, and you keep asserting it is, you need to speak up because this is very different than 2 coworkers kvetching - a student hearing a teacher complain about him/her is outrageous and could be devastating to the kid’s self esteem. Tell the kid’s parent or an admin but tell someone and you are a witness.

I agree. And I say this as someone who is very pro-teacher and feels that they should be given a lot of grace in this crazy year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At least she was fully dressed. One time in my office we had a very large town hall, Two people were have a side chat thinking they were on mute. They were totallly bashing the speaker, It was awful.

Cool story, but what does being dressed have to do with anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, if this is true, and you keep asserting it is, you need to speak up because this is very different than 2 coworkers kvetching - a student hearing a teacher complain about him/her is outrageous and could be devastating to the kid’s self esteem. Tell the kid’s parent or an admin but tell someone and you are a witness.

I agree. And I say this as someone who is very pro-teacher and feels that they should be given a lot of grace in this crazy year.

I agree as well. Admin needs to know about this situation.

[Anonymous]

why aren't you going to say anything, OP? Seems odd that you wouldn't. This is egregious behavior!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:why aren't you going to say anything, OP? Seems odd that you wouldn't. This is egregious behavior!

+1

You need to report.

That poor kid will face bullying from his/her peers because of this. Report!!

[Anonymous]

Was the recording active? If so, you should definitely report it immediately so that the principal can watch it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why aren't you going to say anything, OP? Seems odd that you wouldn't. This is egregious behavior!

+1

You need to report.

That poor kid will face bullying from his/her peers because of this. Report!!

The kid will not face bullying from peers. The kid was essentially being bullied by the teacher. The kids thought the teacher was being a jerk.

My experience with teachers and administration has been hit or miss. Some handle tough situations with grace, while others hold grudges that transcend the school year and student and impact younger siblings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, just to clarify...
Your kids had their computer on, and the class was still there (or the video link for the class was still on and active) and a teacher left that on and then called up another teacher and was talking about a kid?
That's... really bad.
I'm pro-teacher, but that should be reported.

Yep. That’s what happened.

Zoom doesn’t work that way.

Class was in session, and kids were supposed to be working independently.

Camera and microphone were on.

The teacher picked up her cell phone and called another teacher to trash talk a kid.

All the students saw and heard what was going on.

Kids messaged the teacher in chat to tell her that the mic was on and they could hear her.

She eventually glanced at the chat, realized her mistake, etc.

This happened. Today. This afternoon. MCPS middle school.

Zoom/video absolutely works this way.

My team would just send a text. No way would call each other to complain about a student. We absolutely complain about students to each other. And sometimes that vent is what is needed to move on without being totally drained by the psychic vampire parents some of our students have. Such as the student who tells you at the end of class that they were frozen the entire Zoom and didn’t hear any of the lesson, can you reteaching it during lunch. And this happens 3 times a month, but they can’t watch the Zoom recording because after school their parents takes away their computer and makes them practice piano, their native language, and do math problems until bed time. And thinking this is a joke, you ask the parent who says it’s true and you should reteach during lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, just to clarify...
Your kids had their computer on, and the class was still there (or the video link for the class was still on and active) and a teacher left that on and then called up another teacher and was talking about a kid?
That's... really bad.
I'm pro-teacher, but that should be reported.

Yep. That’s what happened.

Zoom doesn’t work that way.

Class was in session, and kids were supposed to be working independently.

Camera and microphone were on.

The teacher picked up her cell phone and called another teacher to trash talk a kid.

All the students saw and heard what was going on.

Kids messaged the teacher in chat to tell her that the mic was on and they could hear her.

She eventually glanced at the chat, realized her mistake, etc.

This happened. Today. This afternoon. MCPS middle school.

Zoom/video absolutely works this way.

My team would just send a text. No way would call each other to complain about a student. We absolutely complain about students to each other. And sometimes that vent is what is needed to move on without being totally drained by the psychic vampire parents some of our students have. Such as the student who tells you at the end of class that they were frozen the entire Zoom and didn’t hear any of the lesson, can you reteaching it during lunch. And this happens 3 times a month, but they can’t watch the Zoom recording because after school their parents takes away their computer and makes them practice piano, their native language, and do math problems until bed time. And thinking this is a joke, you ask the parent who says it’s true and you should reteach during lunch.

Cry me a river. You chose to be a teacher-gripe with your colleagues if you must but it’s ridiculous to act surprised that some kids have difficult parents. Also, ridiculous if this is an attempt to excuse egregiously unprofessional behavior toward a child. -someone with a hard job but enough sense to not be perpetually surprised at the challenges of the work