Teachers, what surprised you most about the profession?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess how little respect we get as professionals...also parents!! So many parents think they know better than we do, and try to tell us how to do our jobs. Hopefully distance learning has been an eye opener for them, but DCUM makes me question that.
Also how people expect us to be working 24/7. I have parents who call me at any hour and even on the weekends. I have a life too!

No. It’s not the same. I’m working full time and teaching on breaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers: are there any federal or state policies that need to change to make teaching easier and more effective? (Aside from the obvious funding answer)

Outside of larger, expensive measures like smaller class sizes or hiring more teachers/aides, I think the easiest thing would be a return to textbooks, and by textbooks I don’t mean the actual physical textbooks, but the online component that goes with it. I am a math teacher, and during the shutdown a textbook company is temporarily allowing teachers in my district access to the online component of the program for free, and it has made a world of difference. There are a gazillion resources Laid out for us that would normally take us hours upon hours to scour the internet to try to find on our own. We are begging our principal to buy this program for us next year, but with budget cuts happening, I’m not holding my breath.

I looked at the VAS textbook with my students the other day. VAS is the only subject with a text in my grade. The students have hard copies at school and there’s an online version. With the online version you literally need to click until you get to the page you need! So if students need to read page 200 , there wasn’t just a link to take you there. I don’t teach VAS but was helping my students. Also, the print was rather small and I’m not sure why everything needs to be on screens. Sure it saves paper but at school they have hard copies anyway. I asked my students if they prefer the hard textbook and they all said yes.... So I agree that they need textbooks down here, but hard texts. The online versions are subpar due to the screen issue, page turning, and small font. I also don’t see why VAS is the only subject with a textbook. Origo is called a textbook by admin and that makes me laugh because the kids can’t even see it. It’s essentially a collection of weird math lessons only the teacher can log on to see. There’s far better math programs but VA probably chose Origo because it also has a list of VA standards. Maybe they could just choose a math program to follow in order rather than have crazy standards all over the place...

The online textbook that we are using isn't simply an online textbook. It comes with a ton of resources for the teacher. I would probably never have my students use the actual textbook but it sure save me a lot of time with lesson planning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish we could go back to teaching the basics in the early grades. None of this ridiculous close reading for 90 minutes a day. Kids need to listen to books but not imitate high school and college kids by spending entire classes doing an analysis of why the author chose that vocab word instead of this one. Do kindergarteners who can barely write their names and hold a pencil need to be wasting time talking about shades of meaning? Nope. Math needs to be simpler because there are students who cannot handle learned 10 different "strategies" to add single digit numbers. We need to pre-test students for math and regroup them for each unit. The slower kids just need to basics. The higher kids can handle all of those strategies. We also need more recess. 10-15 minutes per day for little kids is not nearly enough.

As a parent, I’d like to see schools stop doing this too. But, who makes these decisions? Who has the power to change it? Is this decision at the state level? Do individuals districts decide? Principals?

Educational philosophies come into vogue, and any educator who doesn't buy into it is viewed as old fashioned, too traditional, etc. Teacher colleges are mainly responsible for a lot of what is commonly considered "best practices" also a lot of education organizations come up with these trends. For example, the way math is currently taught is not the fault of common core, it can actually be attributed to the National Counselor for Teacher's of Mathematics. Their opinion on how math should be taught influences the teaching colleges, textbook publishers, and so forth and that becomes how math is taught. It is the same for many other subjects. In History, there is a huge push to analyze primary documents, even in 6th grade. I'm not sure where that idea came from. But it is now considered "best practices" for teaching Social Studies, so any SS teacher who thinks it's a load of crap knows better than to say anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop using suspension, graduation and teacher retention rates as such a big part of administrators' evaluations. It leads to major classroom disruption, low expectations for students and we are graduating kids that don't have basic skills to be successful in college.

Also stop pushing college as the only option. Lots of kids spend money taking remedial classes in college, don't graduate and have debt for the rest of their lives. Our low expectations are really harmful to students.

I would argue that this push for everyone to go to college is too high expectations for everyone. Fit is what we need to look at for each student. Do students even want to go to college? Let them know what else is available to them. I shouldn't be college or nothing.

I am PP but I feel like my comment wasn’t clear. I think we have low expectations for high school (lowest grade is a 50%, high percent of grade is participation, etc.). We basically hand out diplomas for coming to school and turning in work and it leads to unprepared students.

[Anonymous]

I agree with that PP.

[Anonymous]

DD’s Ap calc teacher told the class that she only got an 1110 on the sat. She was a great teacher though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD’s Ap calc teacher told the class that she only got an 1110 on the sat. She was a great teacher though

That's an average score. Nothing wrong with it.

[Anonymous]

What surprised me was how much, each year, no matter how hard it is, that I fall in love with my class. They are quirky and funny, cute and sweet and yeah, I totally love them!
-30 year veteran teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What surprised me was how much, each year, no matter how hard it is, that I fall in love with my class. They are quirky and funny, cute and sweet and yeah, I totally love them!
-30 year veteran teacher

I love my students, too. It is a surprise. I am fond of my sixth graders from the start, but the ones who really take a seat in my heart are the older middle schoolers that seem are so prickly and too cool, but really just want to be loved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my list of surprises, I also didn't include stuff about basic resources! It's become so normal for me, I forget that it would be shocking to others. Also shocking was the level of internal segregation. The school serves a wealthy (mostly white) neighborhood and a poorer (mostly Hispanic) neighborhood. The student body is about 50-50%. But really there are two schools going on inside the one school.

I don't work in a DC metro area school. It's a midsize district in a city location (high school).

Bathrooms never have hand soap. Toilet paper runs out midway through the year and then there is no toilet paper or hand soap. Rooms are overcrowded and never have enough desks or books.

We are allowed one box of kleenex and one whiteboard pen per week (not enough). Copies are limited and the copier is frequently broke

I'm not sure how they expect us to teach with no way to write on the board, no way photocopy a sheet, and no books - but they do.

The school is pretty much segregated with the wealthy white kids taking APs and honors classes- which are smaller since not everyone can get in, participating in extracurricular activities, and doing sports. The poorer kids of color are in large remedial or standard classes. They never seem to be able to get eligible for sports or onto any teams. They are often given the newer, less experienced teachers who can't control a classroom.

After requesting supplies from parents with little success, one honors geometry teacher gave her students extra credit for bringing in kleenex, paper towels, whiteboard markers, hand soap and hand sanitizer. She was flooded with supplies by the involved parents who wanted their kids to get the extra credit.

This describes every MCPS school I’ve subbed or taught in for 20 years. Even the WS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm hoping to start my Master's in ECE in September. Am I better off being an aid and making money by tutoring?
I really don't want all the drama that comes with being a teacher.

What's your current job and financial situation? It's not always easy to find regular tutoring, especially if you don't have a credential/Master's, though that might change if distance learning continues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish we could go back to teaching the basics in the early grades. None of this ridiculous close reading for 90 minutes a day. Kids need to listen to books but not imitate high school and college kids by spending entire classes doing an analysis of why the author chose that vocab word instead of this one. Do kindergarteners who can barely write their names and hold a pencil need to be wasting time talking about shades of meaning? Nope. Math needs to be simpler because there are students who cannot handle learned 10 different "strategies" to add single digit numbers. We need to pre-test students for math and regroup them for each unit. The slower kids just need to basics. The higher kids can handle all of those strategies. We also need more recess. 10-15 minutes per day for little kids is not nearly enough.

As a parent, I’d like to see schools stop doing this too. But, who makes these decisions? Who has the power to change it? Is this decision at the state level? Do individuals districts decide? Principals?

Educational philosophies come into vogue, and any educator who doesn't buy into it is viewed as old fashioned, too traditional, etc. Teacher colleges are mainly responsible for a lot of what is commonly considered "best practices" also a lot of education organizations come up with these trends. For example, the way math is currently taught is not the fault of common core, it can actually be attributed to the National Counselor for Teacher's of Mathematics. Their opinion on how math should be taught influences the teaching colleges, textbook publishers, and so forth and that becomes how math is taught. It is the same for many other subjects. In History, there is a huge push to analyze primary documents, even in 6th grade. I'm not sure where that idea came from. But it is now considered "best practices" for teaching Social Studies, so any SS teacher who thinks it's a load of crap knows better than to say anything.

Thank you for explaining. And do school boards vote to decide what textbooks to use? Or what philosophy to embrace? Or do these “educational philosophies” slip in without leaders intending it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD’s Ap calc teacher told the class that she only got an 1110 on the sat. She was a great teacher though

How old is the teacher? An 1110 used to be considered a good score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish we could go back to teaching the basics in the early grades. None of this ridiculous close reading for 90 minutes a day. Kids need to listen to books but not imitate high school and college kids by spending entire classes doing an analysis of why the author chose that vocab word instead of this one. Do kindergarteners who can barely write their names and hold a pencil need to be wasting time talking about shades of meaning? Nope. Math needs to be simpler because there are students who cannot handle learned 10 different "strategies" to add single digit numbers. We need to pre-test students for math and regroup them for each unit. The slower kids just need to basics. The higher kids can handle all of those strategies. We also need more recess. 10-15 minutes per day for little kids is not nearly enough.

As a parent, I’d like to see schools stop doing this too. But, who makes these decisions? Who has the power to change it? Is this decision at the state level? Do individuals districts decide? Principals?

Educational philosophies come into vogue, and any educator who doesn't buy into it is viewed as old fashioned, too traditional, etc. Teacher colleges are mainly responsible for a lot of what is commonly considered "best practices" also a lot of education organizations come up with these trends. For example, the way math is currently taught is not the fault of common core, it can actually be attributed to the National Counselor for Teacher's of Mathematics. Their opinion on how math should be taught influences the teaching colleges, textbook publishers, and so forth and that becomes how math is taught. It is the same for many other subjects. In History, there is a huge push to analyze primary documents, even in 6th grade. I'm not sure where that idea came from. But it is now considered "best practices" for teaching Social Studies, so any SS teacher who thinks it's a load of crap knows better than to say anything.

Thank you for explaining. And do school boards vote to decide what textbooks to use? Or what philosophy to embrace? Or do these “educational philosophies” slip in without leaders intending it?

No, school boards don’t vote on textbooks and no one officially decides what philosophy a district has, it’s just that certain philosophies come into vogue as being the “correct” philosophy to have, same as in all other areas of society.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish we could go back to teaching the basics in the early grades. None of this ridiculous close reading for 90 minutes a day. Kids need to listen to books but not imitate high school and college kids by spending entire classes doing an analysis of why the author chose that vocab word instead of this one. Do kindergarteners who can barely write their names and hold a pencil need to be wasting time talking about shades of meaning? Nope. Math needs to be simpler because there are students who cannot handle learned 10 different "strategies" to add single digit numbers. We need to pre-test students for math and regroup them for each unit. The slower kids just need to basics. The higher kids can handle all of those strategies. We also need more recess. 10-15 minutes per day for little kids is not nearly enough.

As a parent, I’d like to see schools stop doing this too. But, who makes these decisions? Who has the power to change it? Is this decision at the state level? Do individuals districts decide? Principals?

Educational philosophies come into vogue, and any educator who doesn't buy into it is viewed as old fashioned, too traditional, etc. Teacher colleges are mainly responsible for a lot of what is commonly considered "best practices" also a lot of education organizations come up with these trends. For example, the way math is currently taught is not the fault of common core, it can actually be attributed to the National Counselor for Teacher's of Mathematics. Their opinion on how math should be taught influences the teaching colleges, textbook publishers, and so forth and that becomes how math is taught. It is the same for many other subjects. In History, there is a huge push to analyze primary documents, even in 6th grade. I'm not sure where that idea came from. But it is now considered "best practices" for teaching Social Studies, so any SS teacher who thinks it's a load of crap knows better than to say anything.

Thank you for explaining. And do school boards vote to decide what textbooks to use? Or what philosophy to embrace? Or do these “educational philosophies” slip in without leaders intending it?

No, school boards don’t vote on textbooks and no one officially decides what philosophy a district has, it’s just that certain philosophies come into vogue as being the “correct” philosophy to have, same as in all other areas of society.

Actually in further thinking about it, I would say academia is responsible for determining what the accepted educational philosophies are.