Our Zoom Teacher Keeps Her Camera Off

[Anonymous]

I bought a document camera.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bandwidth shouldn't be a problem because MCPS is providing internet for the those who don't have it.

DD's teacher is doing this in summer school too. Parents are very annoyed and it's unprofessional. I understand if she needs to do it sometimes due to her having her own kids at home or some other issue that comes up but to do it as a matter of policy is pretty lazy.

This is THE silliest comment I've read on here.

Do you know anything about bandwidth?

Chiming in about a subject that you clearly have little to no knowledge in, isn't just "pretty lazy" it's downright ignorant as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bandwidth shouldn't be a problem because MCPS is providing internet for the those who don't have it.

DD's teacher is doing this in summer school too. Parents are very annoyed and it's unprofessional. I understand if she needs to do it sometimes due to her having her own kids at home or some other issue that comes up but to do it as a matter of policy is pretty lazy.

This is THE silliest comment I've read on here.

Do you know anything about bandwidth?

Chiming in about a subject that you clearly have little to no knowledge in, isn't just "pretty lazy" it's downright ignorant as well.

This sums up the American Problem. People are too ignorant of their own ignorance..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really? I’m a teacher, it would never have crossed my mind to keep my camera off during a lesson. Your child has had three classes, right? Maybe she has a baby who needed to be breastfed at the worst possible time? (If that had been me, I would have come up with some explanation for the kids and emailed parents immediately after the class, but that’s me.)

I would see what happens in the next class. If it happens again, I would email her. I’d probably go with a “don’t know if you know this but your camera is off” route. If the response indicates that she is intentionally keeping it off and plans to continue to do so, I would probably stop sending my kid to the class and let the principal know that, given the likelihood of continued DL this fall, my child wouldn’t do well in this teacher’s class for this reason.

To other parents reading this, please know that most teachers really are trying to think of ways to make DL better than it was this spring. We did what we could with what we had (no autonomy, no preparation); the fall will be better.

EBer here, so highly supportive, but what would the teacher have done prior to covid?

The entitlement among teachers at the moment is INCREDIBLE. They don't have to work, but they shouldn't be getting paid until they're willing and able to do their jobs. Period. Each teacher needs to decide for him/herself and then notify their principal. The idea of keeping full pay while arguing about which conditions you're willing to work under is outrageous. In every other situation, people don't get paid while they're negotiating whether they're going to take a job or not. You do the negotiating, accept the job, start working, and THEN get paid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? I’m a teacher, it would never have crossed my mind to keep my camera off during a lesson. Your child has had three classes, right? Maybe she has a baby who needed to be breastfed at the worst possible time? (If that had been me, I would have come up with some explanation for the kids and emailed parents immediately after the class, but that’s me.)

I would see what happens in the next class. If it happens again, I would email her. I’d probably go with a “don’t know if you know this but your camera is off” route. If the response indicates that she is intentionally keeping it off and plans to continue to do so, I would probably stop sending my kid to the class and let the principal know that, given the likelihood of continued DL this fall, my child wouldn’t do well in this teacher’s class for this reason.

To other parents reading this, please know that most teachers really are trying to think of ways to make DL better than it was this spring. We did what we could with what we had (no autonomy, no preparation); the fall will be better.

EBer here, so highly supportive, but what would the teacher have done prior to covid?

The entitlement among teachers at the moment is INCREDIBLE. They don't have to work, but they shouldn't be getting paid until they're willing and able to do their jobs. Period. Each teacher needs to decide for him/herself and then notify their principal. The idea of keeping full pay while arguing about which conditions you're willing to work under is outrageous. In every other situation, people don't get paid while they're negotiating whether they're going to take a job or not. You do the negotiating, accept the job, start working, and THEN get paid.

#1. Can you explain this? DL is not work for 6 hours? What are teachers doing then? it's not what you want but it IS work. Someone else's work from home is work but teaching kids during a pandemic is not?

#2. Unless a teacher signed up for summer school, there is no full pay right now. It's is like being unemployed for for 2 months.

#3. I don't think you understand how this works or who is in charge of the decision making process. Can you explain how teachers are able to negotiate right now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? I’m a teacher, it would never have crossed my mind to keep my camera off during a lesson. Your child has had three classes, right? Maybe she has a baby who needed to be breastfed at the worst possible time? (If that had been me, I would have come up with some explanation for the kids and emailed parents immediately after the class, but that’s me.)

I would see what happens in the next class. If it happens again, I would email her. I’d probably go with a “don’t know if you know this but your camera is off” route. If the response indicates that she is intentionally keeping it off and plans to continue to do so, I would probably stop sending my kid to the class and let the principal know that, given the likelihood of continued DL this fall, my child wouldn’t do well in this teacher’s class for this reason.

To other parents reading this, please know that most teachers really are trying to think of ways to make DL better than it was this spring. We did what we could with what we had (no autonomy, no preparation); the fall will be better.

EBer here, so highly supportive, but what would the teacher have done prior to covid?

The entitlement among teachers at the moment is INCREDIBLE. They don't have to work, but they shouldn't be getting paid until they're willing and able to do their jobs. Period. Each teacher needs to decide for him/herself and then notify their principal. The idea of keeping full pay while arguing about which conditions you're willing to work under is outrageous. In every other situation, people don't get paid while they're negotiating whether they're going to take a job or not. You do the negotiating, accept the job, start working, and THEN get paid.

Thank you thank you thank you!!

- Signed a government lawyer who has to report to work 2 months ago.

[Anonymous]

I used google meets to teach in the spring. I would screen share. I refused to use my face on video due to privacy concerns. students screenshot and distort images and share them on social media (I teach middle school).

I am outside DC, but are the teachers required to use video of their face?

[Anonymous]

What teacher do you have in July?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember a column online that recommended people cope with their body dysmorphia by turning off the camera. The columnist was not speaking specifically to teachers, but people who were WAH in general and experiencing a lot of anxiety.

I do not have body dysmorphia, but I am much less nervous when I can’t see myself.

Even little kids are accustomed to celebrity voice over narration for films and commercials. Unless a child is DHOH and relying on lip reading the teacher (unlikely), I think it’s fine.

You have got to be kidding. This is ridiculous and not fine. Are you a teacher? If you are not able to handle teaching with the kids seeing you, you need to resign now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? I’m a teacher, it would never have crossed my mind to keep my camera off during a lesson. Your child has had three classes, right? Maybe she has a baby who needed to be breastfed at the worst possible time? (If that had been me, I would have come up with some explanation for the kids and emailed parents immediately after the class, but that’s me.)

I would see what happens in the next class. If it happens again, I would email her. I’d probably go with a “don’t know if you know this but your camera is off” route. If the response indicates that she is intentionally keeping it off and plans to continue to do so, I would probably stop sending my kid to the class and let the principal know that, given the likelihood of continued DL this fall, my child wouldn’t do well in this teacher’s class for this reason.

To other parents reading this, please know that most teachers really are trying to think of ways to make DL better than it was this spring. We did what we could with what we had (no autonomy, no preparation); the fall will be better.

EBer here, so highly supportive, but what would the teacher have done prior to covid?

The entitlement among teachers at the moment is INCREDIBLE. They don't have to work, but they shouldn't be getting paid until they're willing and able to do their jobs. Period. Each teacher needs to decide for him/herself and then notify their principal. The idea of keeping full pay while arguing about which conditions you're willing to work under is outrageous. In every other situation, people don't get paid while they're negotiating whether they're going to take a job or not. You do the negotiating, accept the job, start working, and THEN get paid.

As a parent I feel the teachers are being completely reasonable whereas many Karens posting on this forum are privileged whiners.

[Anonymous]

I’m a teacher and after we all participated in several zoom trainings and were told over and over that zoom was what we were going to use, admin and central office started sending us emails and messages about how we should NOT be showing faces during zoom sessions...as a teacher who was not familiar with zoom initially and took tracing classes after we shutdown, this made me frustrated.