What are schools/teachers doing this summer to make DL actually work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher Here!! I am so tired of the excuse that DL did not work. I understand some of the complaints at the ES and MS level, but if your child is in HS and distance learning did not work, it was because your kid did not do the assignments. The amount of parents I called and they were so surprised when I told them their kids were not doing any assignments or showing up to class was insane. How about you be a parent and make sure your kids does the assignments. I would say that about 90% of my standard level and 75% of my honors students did not do the assignments. At a certain point I stopped calling because it was a waste of my time. Making grades optional was a huge mistake and by making assignments count in the Fall DL will make the process better. However, if you choose DL or we have to return to DL at some point parents will have to do more for distance learning. Check SIS and make sure your kids are completing assignments, which is something you should be doing already.

All that said I want to go back, I am a young healthy teacher and I feel safe, but I understand why older teachers do not and DL can be effective, but your kid has to take control of his own education or they are going to do poor in college anyway. College is not hard, it is just that kids don't spend time studying. In school I spend 60% of my time keep kids on task and 40% teaching. This is the sad truth, but DL can work the kids just have to mature. I teach 10 graders btw

This is a great viewpoint, thank you.

And, agreed, making classes pass/fail, or the like was a huge mistake. I hate how everyone feels like they have to pussyfoot around these kids and use the excuse that DL isn't effective. Personally, I think parents ought to take away devices if kids aren't turning in homework. Unfortunately, I have firsthand experience of a co-parenting situation with rising 11/12 graders where one of the parents refuses to hold the kids accountable, to the detriment of the other parent's ability to do so. You can imagine what the spring was like. It was a giant disaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher Here!! I am so tired of the excuse that DL did not work. I understand some of the complaints at the ES and MS level, but if your child is in HS and distance learning did not work, it was because your kid did not do the assignments. The amount of parents I called and they were so surprised when I told them their kids were not doing any assignments or showing up to class was insane. How about you be a parent and make sure your kids does the assignments. I would say that about 90% of my standard level and 75% of my honors students did not do the assignments. At a certain point I stopped calling because it was a waste of my time. Making grades optional was a huge mistake and by making assignments count in the Fall DL will make the process better. However, if you choose DL or we have to return to DL at some point parents will have to do more for distance learning. Check SIS and make sure your kids are completing assignments, which is something you should be doing already.

All that said I want to go back, I am a young healthy teacher and I feel safe, but I understand why older teachers do not and DL can be effective, but your kid has to take control of his own education or they are going to do poor in college anyway. College is not hard, it is just that kids don't spend time studying. In school I spend 60% of my time keep kids on task and 40% teaching. This is the sad truth, but DL can work the kids just have to mature. I teach 10 graders btw

I’m the OP and my eldest is a 2nd grader who is behind in reading. More than 2/3s of the kids we are talking about (K-12) aren’t in high school.

[Anonymous]

As a professor, I had essentially three days to convert my in person classes to online DL classes. It was really hard but I did it.

Now, this summer, I am completely revamping my classes so I will have both a regular, in-person version of class and an online version of class ready to go. I am on a 9 month contract, like most professors, and so I am spending my unpaid time preparing for teaching in the fall, whether it be DL, F2F, or hybrid. We honestly don't how what it will be, so we are ALL preparing for any circumstances.

So if I can do prepare for a very uncertain fall, why can't k-12 teachers? Most college professors don't make much more than senior-level teachers; we have serious writing and research loads along with our teaching obligations; and most of us also have major administrative work. So our workloads are similar too. What makes teachers so entitled, besides the thug-like backing of their unions?

[Anonymous]

The early release days mean early release for students. We spend the rest of the day in PDs or meeting or parent teacher conferences. We have one per year where we can do grading or planning. So on most early release days, I still have to stay after school to get my grading and planning done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are spending too much time wringing their hands about whether there can be some f2f instruction, instead of doubling down on distance learning for the fall and preparing to make it substantially better than it was in the spring.

+1 . I was fun or the hybrid at first, but now it feels like it Will turn out to be two options that will have minimal planning. If they had just gone full on for DL from the beginning, they could have robust and synchronous dl. I realize they couldn’t have spoken that from the beginning but it would’ve been prudent for them to plan for that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a professor, I had essentially three days to convert my in person classes to online DL classes. It was really hard but I did it.

Now, this summer, I am completely revamping my classes so I will have both a regular, in-person version of class and an online version of class ready to go. I am on a 9 month contract, like most professors, and so I am spending my unpaid time preparing for teaching in the fall, whether it be DL, F2F, or hybrid. We honestly don't how what it will be, so we are ALL preparing for any circumstances.

So if I can do prepare for a very uncertain fall, why can't k-12 teachers? Most college professors don't make much more than senior-level teachers; we have serious writing and research loads along with our teaching obligations; and most of us also have major administrative work. So our workloads are similar too. What makes teachers so entitled, besides the thug-like backing of their unions?

Why? It’s because I don’t make enough money during the school year to pay my bills. Like many teachers, I work in the summer. I’m also taking a course so I can renew my certification. So no, I am not spending my weekends during the summer doing school related work. I already spend many hours during the school year working on the weekends grading and planning. Thats nice that the PP can afford to revamp his curriculum to make it accessible online but I don’t. At least half of the time, my grade level is changed from June to August so I’m not planning anything for a grade I may not end up teaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand this.

Those of us in the professional world are managing ourselves via zoom or goto meetings.

To the PP who hasn't done anything because there hasn't been any direction: why on earth would you wait until the last minute to figure out how YOU are going to handle this? Why aren't you working out some options for teaching the content that you, presumably, teach every year?

I get that kids are different animals than adults - sure they are. But DL does NOT need to be that hard.

Frankly, if these kids can play those effing first person shooter games and the like for HOURS on end, it's time for the excuses that DL can't work to STOP. They are MORE than happy to be on their computers for five hours a day. Maybe, just maybe, it's time to acknowledge that this portion of this generation - and their teachers - are going to have to ADAPT.

Create a syllabus, create expectations (Larla must be present and paying attention on the zoom, just as she would be expected to in class, or there are consequences), and deliver the education you are being paid to deliver.

Is it optimal? Perhaps not. Will some kids struggle? Undoubtedly. Might some kids have to be left back, because of x, y, or z, reason? Possibly. But it's time for teachers to stop whining about what they CAN'T do, and figure out the alternative options they CAN offer.

FFS.

You would think that our educators would have a wealth of both creative and critical thinking skills. Figure it out, people.

Swoon. Love you! (Ie -+ 100)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand this.

Those of us in the professional world are managing ourselves via zoom or goto meetings.

To the PP who hasn't done anything because there hasn't been any direction: why on earth would you wait until the last minute to figure out how YOU are going to handle this? Why aren't you working out some options for teaching the content that you, presumably, teach every year?

I get that kids are different animals than adults - sure they are. But DL does NOT need to be that hard.

Frankly, if these kids can play those effing first person shooter games and the like for HOURS on end, it's time for the excuses that DL can't work to STOP. They are MORE than happy to be on their computers for five hours a day. Maybe, just maybe, it's time to acknowledge that this portion of this generation - and their teachers - are going to have to ADAPT.

Create a syllabus, create expectations (Larla must be present and paying attention on the zoom, just as she would be expected to in class, or there are consequences), and deliver the education you are being paid to deliver.

Is it optimal? Perhaps not. Will some kids struggle? Undoubtedly. Might some kids have to be left back, because of x, y, or z, reason? Possibly. But it's time for teachers to stop whining about what they CAN'T do, and figure out the alternative options they CAN offer.

FFS.

You would think that our educators would have a wealth of both creative and critical thinking skills. Figure it out, people.

You're making a lot of assumptions here. I teach elementary self-contained special education. Why would I create a syllabus? That's totally developmentally inappropriate. I also have no ability to set expectations. That's up to the district and my administration. I can't just demand that all students do x without the directive coming from above. If my administration says that students can just log in and write "I hate school!" on google classroom and that counts as their daily attendance, then that's the policy. You have no idea what I did with my class in the spring, so telling me that it was poorly done and inadequate is meaningless. You don't have any evidence either way. Likewise, I could say that you were inept and unwilling to support your child's learning throughout DL, but I don't have any information to back that up. That's why I would never make a baseless claim like that about another person's work ethic.

You're also wrong to suggest that I should be working throughout the summer to better meet your expectations in the fall. You have no idea what I did with my class in the spring. We are ten month employees, and we do not get paid for the two months that school is not in attendance. Anything that I do over the summer is on my time and is absolutely voluntary. I don't owe parents, students, or administrators a single minute of my summer. Districts that want teachers to participate in specific trainings have the option of offering them paid on a per session basis, and they do so. We have not been offered that. For people who think that teachers should just "love students" so much that money is not important, please stop arguing that you need to go back to work in the fall. Do you not "love" your own children so much that your salary is of no consequence at all? One would expect parents would have a higher bar for love of children than teachers, and they should be able to just cast aside their own material needs. No? Then pay me for MY work.

If you allow your child to play shooting games for hours each day that then you should really take a look in the mirror-that's really abysmal parenting.

You are dense or obstinate. You choose (Meaning—do you REALLY think the poster was opining about SPED?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a professor, I had essentially three days to convert my in person classes to online DL classes. It was really hard but I did it.

Now, this summer, I am completely revamping my classes so I will have both a regular, in-person version of class and an online version of class ready to go. I am on a 9 month contract, like most professors, and so I am spending my unpaid time preparing for teaching in the fall, whether it be DL, F2F, or hybrid. We honestly don't how what it will be, so we are ALL preparing for any circumstances.

So if I can do prepare for a very uncertain fall, why can't k-12 teachers? Most college professors don't make much more than senior-level teachers; we have serious writing and research loads along with our teaching obligations; and most of us also have major administrative work. So our workloads are similar too. What makes teachers so entitled, besides the thug-like backing of their unions?

Why? It’s because I don’t make enough money during the school year to pay my bills. Like many teachers, I work in the summer. I’m also taking a course so I can renew my certification. So no, I am not spending my weekends during the summer doing school related work. I already spend many hours during the school year working on the weekends grading and planning. Thats nice that the PP can afford to revamp his curriculum to make it accessible online but I don’t. At least half of the time, my grade level is changed from June to August so I’m not planning anything for a grade I may not end up teaching.

Most professors don’t make more than public school teachers. But this professor PP clearly sees him or herself as a subject matter expert and/or career professional. You do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand this.

Those of us in the professional world are managing ourselves via zoom or goto meetings.

To the PP who hasn't done anything because there hasn't been any direction: why on earth would you wait until the last minute to figure out how YOU are going to handle this? Why aren't you working out some options for teaching the content that you, presumably, teach every year?

I get that kids are different animals than adults - sure they are. But DL does NOT need to be that hard.

Frankly, if these kids can play those effing first person shooter games and the like for HOURS on end, it's time for the excuses that DL can't work to STOP. They are MORE than happy to be on their computers for five hours a day. Maybe, just maybe, it's time to acknowledge that this portion of this generation - and their teachers - are going to have to ADAPT.

Create a syllabus, create expectations (Larla must be present and paying attention on the zoom, just as she would be expected to in class, or there are consequences), and deliver the education you are being paid to deliver.

Is it optimal? Perhaps not. Will some kids struggle? Undoubtedly. Might some kids have to be left back, because of x, y, or z, reason? Possibly. But it's time for teachers to stop whining about what they CAN'T do, and figure out the alternative options they CAN offer.

FFS.

You would think that our educators would have a wealth of both creative and critical thinking skills. Figure it out, people.

You're making a lot of assumptions here. I teach elementary self-contained special education. Why would I create a syllabus? That's totally developmentally inappropriate. I also have no ability to set expectations. That's up to the district and my administration. I can't just demand that all students do x without the directive coming from above. If my administration says that students can just log in and write "I hate school!" on google classroom and that counts as their daily attendance, then that's the policy. You have no idea what I did with my class in the spring, so telling me that it was poorly done and inadequate is meaningless. You don't have any evidence either way. Likewise, I could say that you were inept and unwilling to support your child's learning throughout DL, but I don't have any information to back that up. That's why I would never make a baseless claim like that about another person's work ethic.

You're also wrong to suggest that I should be working throughout the summer to better meet your expectations in the fall. You have no idea what I did with my class in the spring. We are ten month employees, and we do not get paid for the two months that school is not in attendance. Anything that I do over the summer is on my time and is absolutely voluntary. I don't owe parents, students, or administrators a single minute of my summer. Districts that want teachers to participate in specific trainings have the option of offering them paid on a per session basis, and they do so. We have not been offered that. For people who think that teachers should just "love students" so much that money is not important, please stop arguing that you need to go back to work in the fall. Do you not "love" your own children so much that your salary is of no consequence at all? One would expect parents would have a higher bar for love of children than teachers, and they should be able to just cast aside their own material needs. No? Then pay me for MY work.

If you allow your child to play shooting games for hours each day that then you should really take a look in the mirror-that's really abysmal parenting.

You are dense or obstinate. You choose (Meaning—do you REALLY think the poster was opining about SPED?)

Sorry, this response is totally incoherent. I can’t formulate a response because I have no idea what you’re trying to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

So if I can do prepare for a very uncertain fall, why can't k-12 teachers? Most college professors don't make much more than senior-level teachers; we have serious writing and research loads along with our teaching obligations; and most of us also have major administrative work. So our workloads are similar too. What makes teachers so entitled, besides the thug-like backing of their unions?

I'll tell you why in my case: I am an elementary school teacher and don't have as much autonomy as you do. My school district will tell me what I am supposed to teach and how I should teach it; which lessons should be face to face and which should be prerecorded, which platforms we should use, and which we must no longer use. We are told which hours (and how many hours) we need to teach and when we may not teach.

Although I hope it doesn't happen, I could start school next fall and be told I am assigned to teach not 2nd grade but 5th grade. I could be presented with a set of prerecorded lectures from the central office and be told my job is to use these lectures plus a new program our school just adopted. I could be told to no longer use Google Classroom, we are switching to Schoolology.

So I am not going to invest a lot of time in planning courses until I have all the information I will need to do so.

[Anonymous]

I brought home materials to prep my first quarter lessons, but my principal can’t yet tell me what I am teaching or how I will be teaching it—although I put in for hybrid, my specialized classes may need to be online and they don’t know if it would be asynchronous or synchronous. I literally don’t KNOW what or how I will be teaching yet. They HOPE to tell me by Early August, and then I can start prepping.

I’m a prepper and never mind summer planning (it saves me from those marathon days at the beginning of the year), but I can’t plan until I know what I am planning for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know about schools, but as a teacher I have gotten no information so I'm not able to plan very much.

That's how I feel too. If I knew the plan, I would definitely start thinking about how to make it work well, but at the moment I don't know the schedule or what my role will be.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand this.

Those of us in the professional world are managing ourselves via zoom or goto meetings.

To the PP who hasn't done anything because there hasn't been any direction: why on earth would you wait until the last minute to figure out how YOU are going to handle this? Why aren't you working out some options for teaching the content that you, presumably, teach every year?

I get that kids are different animals than adults - sure they are. But DL does NOT need to be that hard.

Frankly, if these kids can play those effing first person shooter games and the like for HOURS on end, it's time for the excuses that DL can't work to STOP. They are MORE than happy to be on their computers for five hours a day. Maybe, just maybe, it's time to acknowledge that this portion of this generation - and their teachers - are going to have to ADAPT.

Create a syllabus, create expectations (Larla must be present and paying attention on the zoom, just as she would be expected to in class, or there are consequences), and deliver the education you are being paid to deliver.

Is it optimal? Perhaps not. Will some kids struggle? Undoubtedly. Might some kids have to be left back, because of x, y, or z, reason? Possibly. But it's time for teachers to stop whining about what they CAN'T do, and figure out the alternative options they CAN offer.

FFS.

You would think that our educators would have a wealth of both creative and critical thinking skills. Figure it out, people.

You're making a lot of assumptions here. I teach elementary self-contained special education. Why would I create a syllabus? That's totally developmentally inappropriate. I also have no ability to set expectations. That's up to the district and my administration. I can't just demand that all students do x without the directive coming from above. If my administration says that students can just log in and write "I hate school!" on google classroom and that counts as their daily attendance, then that's the policy. You have no idea what I did with my class in the spring, so telling me that it was poorly done and inadequate is meaningless. You don't have any evidence either way. Likewise, I could say that you were inept and unwilling to support your child's learning throughout DL, but I don't have any information to back that up. That's why I would never make a baseless claim like that about another person's work ethic.

You're also wrong to suggest that I should be working throughout the summer to better meet your expectations in the fall. You have no idea what I did with my class in the spring. We are ten month employees, and we do not get paid for the two months that school is not in attendance. Anything that I do over the summer is on my time and is absolutely voluntary. I don't owe parents, students, or administrators a single minute of my summer. Districts that want teachers to participate in specific trainings have the option of offering them paid on a per session basis, and they do so. We have not been offered that. For people who think that teachers should just "love students" so much that money is not important, please stop arguing that you need to go back to work in the fall. Do you not "love" your own children so much that your salary is of no consequence at all? One would expect parents would have a higher bar for love of children than teachers, and they should be able to just cast aside their own material needs. No? Then pay me for MY work.

If you allow your child to play shooting games for hours each day that then you should really take a look in the mirror-that's really abysmal parenting.

First of all, all one has to do is go to the tweens and teens page to see just how many kids are being permitted boatloads of screen time - FPS games or otherwise, you tube, tik tok, etc. I don't personally subscribe to this approach - but what I am saying is that these kids have zero problem being on their screens for hours on end. If it is necessary, then this tendency/preference/ability needs to be harnessed for their learning in such a dire time as this.

As to your point about the very specific niche in which you teach? Maybe those are the situations for which F2F learning is reserved.

As to the bolded above, I should hope that is not the case and, if so, those making such directives should be fired.

And, finally, to your point about being a 10 month contract worker, well, maybe it's time to revamp the education system and go to a year round format, since you seem to think that you aren't paid for your work. Oh, and, PLENTY of us do what's above and beyond our 40 hour workweek - without compensation. How many professionals do you hear say: oops, I just hit 40 hours, sorry boss, no can do, gonna have to let that deadline slip. Yeah right. We work nights, weekends, early mornings, vacations. So, cry me a river on that one - teachers don''t deserve such special treatment when the rest of the professional world has to manage their work to meet the expectations of their clients.

During the school year, teachers put in more hours than just about any other profession. All unpaid. I am not going to spend my non contracted summer preparing for something that I don’t know will happen. I’m not even sure if I will have to do DL at all. If so, I do t know what the guidelines will be. The 70 hour weeks is put in during the school year is enough. I’m not going to spend my summer planning for hypotheticals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You saying that you sometimes work late is not even remotely the same as expecting TWO MONTHS of unpaid work. Teachers work after school, on weekends, and on vacations, as well, but I think you'll be hard pressed to find another profession where you are essentially furloughed for several months each year and people demand that you continue working during that time. We have strict contracts regarding hours worked, and our jobs are not like office jobs. I can't waltz in with a latte at 10:00 am as most of the people who work in offices do, or take a leisurely hour and a half lunch and expense it to the company. If I walk in the door at 8:01, disciplinary action is taken. If I walk out the door before 3:00, disciplinary action is taken. I can't flex my hours and leave at 1:00 so I can go the doctor, get ready to host Thanksgiving dinner, catch an earlier flight, pick someone up at the airport, etc. I can't decide I'm working from home when the weather is bad like my friends who work in corporate can, and then screw around all day. We don't accrue vacation time. I also don't get any of the perks that corporate workers do-a stipend for my phone, my internet, my car, etc. Teachers don't get performance bonuses, either. Maybe take a look around at all the perks offered in the corporate world before telling teachers they have it so good.

I also have a feeling your coworkers don't hit each other, try to run out the door, bite you, or come in coughing and refuse to leave. Your job is not the same, so just stop trying to compare your compensation and your job expectations with ours.

Lots of teachers phoned it in in March-June. Parents saw that and frankly that is what’s driving this push to get better options for fall. Now you need to do better, All those rules you just recited? Are not going to happen with asynchronous DL.so just cut it.

No idea what you're talking about, as I had to punch in and out every single day of remote learning at our regularly scheduled times, or I would be docked time/pay. You have no idea what I did so you can stop patronizing me. Stay in your lane.

Lol. I was there when this so-called education was delivered. In my school, kids had 30 minutes of live instruction. 30 minutes of recorded specials everyday but held every other week. If you think that’s acceptable for 3-5 grade, you are crazy. You posted all this stuff about how much you worked. When you move to less than 25% of your previous teaching time, you are not work as much. Simple.

For my other kid, teachers had a deadline to post weekly assignments. Would you like to guess how many did so by the deadline? There is a reason parents are worried about DL.

You keep acting like your kids are in my class. Very bizarre. Once again, you don't know me and you aren't my boss. Back off.

In you original post, you spoke in the collective not just for yourself.