healthier high schools from a teacher perspective

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:notes to our principal

Start School Later: Consider delaying the start of the school day to after 8:30 AM. Research shows that later start times can significantly benefit students who are currently showing signs of exhaustion. This change is not only age-appropriate but has also been linked to improved student performance and well-being.

Cell Phone Use and Mental Health: There is a growing concern about cell phone addiction and its detrimental effects on students in the classroom. With mental health issues at unprecedented levels among youth, it is crucial to address and manage cell phone usage to foster a healthier learning environment and care for our kids addictions.

Notes to you:

Later Start time: No, some parents have to drive their kids and a later start time is an issue with work. Its also an issue with outside activities. Those activities enhance kids physical and mental well being. Instead be a parent and enhance a bed time.

Cell phone use: As a teacher, start teaching again. Don't do few google slides and call it a day. Use a real textbook, teach a lesson, review the homework from the previous day and hold kids accountable. Kids are partly on cell phones because they are bored. Your class is boring and not stimulating. Fix it. (and thank you to the teachers who do teach and put in an effort - referring to two we had last year who were life changing).

Newsflash: teachers ARE teaching. Kids simply don't care how stimulating a lesson is, they care only about their phones. You'd know this if you stepped foot in a classroom instead of smugly posting from behind a screen. It's very clear you are completely blind to how phones are negatively impacting classrooms across the country, but continue to live in your world of delusion. You're the problem.

+1 million

[Anonymous]

Can teachers also stop taking out their phones from their back pocket every class period? Or stop doing their online shopping while students look at their phones - err complete assignments on the Chromebook?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As to delaying start times, how do you intend to compensate for the hardship this creates for families depending on older siblings to look after younger siblings after school or for kids who have to work to contribute to the family’s income? I don’t think it will help a student’s well-being and performance if their younger siblings are removed from the home by CPS and their parents are being charged for leaving young children unattended, or if the family faces food and/or housing insecurity from loss of income of the high schoolers after-school jobs.

As for cellphones, I’m confused by what, specifically, you’re objecting to. If you’re objecting to phone usage in class, I think everyone agrees that would be problematic and is already against policy, although perhaps the policy needs to be enforced more vigorously. If you’re objecting to a student’s use of a cellphone at home, I think you’re being shortsighted, sanctimonious, and presumptuous. Indubitably, there is some content students access on cellphones that can be extremely damaging. There is also content that can be educational and provide other positive benefits. Basically it’s a tool that allows access to electronic media, that like any media should be judged on the content rather than the format. I think most problematic content is not uniquely dependent on cellphones, but could be accessed through most electronic devices (laptops, desktops, tablets, etc.). Are you suggesting that high school students should regress to the ‘80s and rely on print versions of encyclopedias for research and typewriters to prepare their essays?

If you’re concerned about how the student’s home life is affecting their physical, mental, and emotional well-being, have you considered the effects of having marijuana smokers in their home? Even if the student doesn’t smoke themselves, we learned from tobacco that exposure to secondhand smoke is also serious. According to the CDC, not only can can secondhand exposure make someone high (which would seem to impair a student’s attempt to do homework and study), it can also have longterm impacts on a developing brain including causing problems with attention, motivation, and memory. If you want to try and regulate a student’s home life, this would seem to be more urgent than whether they have access to a cellphone.

People always romanticize poverty. How many families are actually relying on the income of their high school student to pay for food?

[Anonymous]

DP. It's romanticizing poverty to point out that some kids have to work to contribute to their families' income?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can teachers also stop taking out their phones from their back pocket every class period? Or stop doing their online shopping while students look at their phones - err complete assignments on the Chromebook?

What world are you living in? Unless you have actual proof, you just sound like the insane person you actually are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:notes to our principal

Start School Later: Consider delaying the start of the school day to after 8:30 AM. Research shows that later start times can significantly benefit students who are currently showing signs of exhaustion. This change is not only age-appropriate but has also been linked to improved student performance and well-being.

Cell Phone Use and Mental Health: There is a growing concern about cell phone addiction and its detrimental effects on students in the classroom. With mental health issues at unprecedented levels among youth, it is crucial to address and manage cell phone usage to foster a healthier learning environment and care for our kids addictions.

Notes to you:

Later Start time: No, some parents have to drive their kids and a later start time is an issue with work. Its also an issue with outside activities. Those activities enhance kids physical and mental well being. Instead be a parent and enhance a bed time.

Cell phone use: As a teacher, start teaching again. Don't do few google slides and call it a day. Use a real textbook, teach a lesson, review the homework from the previous day and hold kids accountable. Kids are partly on cell phones because they are bored. Your class is boring and not stimulating. Fix it. (and thank you to the teachers who do teach and put in an effort - referring to two we had last year who were life changing).

Newsflash: teachers ARE teaching. Kids simply don't care how stimulating a lesson is, they care only about their phones. You'd know this if you stepped foot in a classroom instead of smugly posting from behind a screen. It's very clear you are completely blind to how phones are negatively impacting classrooms across the country, but continue to live in your world of delusion. You're the problem.

+1 million

DCUM tells MCPS grade inflation to hold my beer!

[Anonymous]

Are teachers who require students to keep phones in a pouch or pocket during class time finding that students are more engaged now? Or are students finding other things to do instead on their Chromebook while you teach?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are teachers who require students to keep phones in a pouch or pocket during class time finding that students are more engaged now? Or are students finding other things to do instead on their Chromebook while you teach?

10 years from now, we will look back and think what were we doing giving every kid a chromebook?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:notes to our principal

Start School Later: Consider delaying the start of the school day to after 8:30 AM. Research shows that later start times can significantly benefit students who are currently showing signs of exhaustion. This change is not only age-appropriate but has also been linked to improved student performance and well-being.

Cell Phone Use and Mental Health: There is a growing concern about cell phone addiction and its detrimental effects on students in the classroom. With mental health issues at unprecedented levels among youth, it is crucial to address and manage cell phone usage to foster a healthier learning environment and care for our kids addictions.

Let's contact US Surgeon General for your first point. That could maybe help change the thinking among many adults who are unwilling to even consider the benefits of later school start times. Students- contact your MCPS SMOB.

[Anonymous]

Are teachers also not using their own cell phones in class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are teachers also not using their own cell phones in class?

Why are teachers treated like children so often?

I leave my phone silenced on my desk. I have my own children. I have an ill spouse at home. I also have a parent who regularly needs to go to the hospital.

I am a professional adult with many real-world responsibilities and obligations. If I see a text about one of the people above, I wait until I have a good opportunity to check it. If it’s important, I step outside. (This happens rarely.) if it isn’t, I wait and respond at the end of the day.

I will not be treated like a child simply because I work with children. I suspect you would expect the same if you were in my situation.