Teachers, how is your mental health?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We got told that we would send home students who don't/won't wear their masks correctly. They haven't done this at all and it's a constant battle to get them to keep their masks over their noses, not to share food, not to touch. I'm so tired.

Which grade? I teach third and the wearing of masks is something my students are really good about doing.

I’m in FCPS. We are definitely behind in the pacing,largely due to i-Ready, VGA, DRA and DSA in addition to having to stop class to deal with inappropriate and disruptive behaviors.

I haven’t started any small groups yet. There just isn’t enough time to effectively plan. This upcoming week will be the second in a row in which I will have only 2 hours of planning to work on what I choose to get done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mental health is shit and I'm not coming back after winter break. Already told my principal. They're going to have a hard time replacing me (specialized high school science subject) but I can't do it anymore. I'll make a lot more money working with tech companies and my life will be much less stressful.

DH left in March because we are a high risk family. He took an engineering job. Much more lucrative and better hours, plus WFH for the most part. His position was filled by a LTS last spring. They kept this person on this year, but not as a new hire, suggesting that he is a warm body and not really qualified.

[Anonymous]

aside from the above suggestion to write to teachers expressing thanks, is there anything we can do to help? I'd imagine not bug teachers about dumb things (my school's list serve had parents worried about the type of snacks being served, as an example), but anything else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:aside from the above suggestion to write to teachers expressing thanks, is there anything we can do to help? I'd imagine not bug teachers about dumb things (my school's list serve had parents worried about the type of snacks being served, as an example), but anything else?

^^we, being parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We got told that we would send home students who don't/won't wear their masks correctly. They haven't done this at all and it's a constant battle to get them to keep their masks over their noses, not to share food, not to touch. I'm so tired.

Many of my students show up without masks so we give them the one size fits all mask. Guess what? It's WAY too big for little kids so it is constantly hanging off their face. It looks like a cloth diaper. We had a positive case in my class this week. I bet it was my one student who wears this saggy cloth mask every day that doesn't fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:aside from the above suggestion to write to teachers expressing thanks, is there anything we can do to help? I'd imagine not bug teachers about dumb things (my school's list serve had parents worried about the type of snacks being served, as an example), but anything else?

How to help? Teach your kids manners and respect even if the kids around them aren't acting appropriately. Many kids act as if they have run the show at home for a year and a half and now they want to continue acting that way at school. It's been very rough with behaviors. There are plenty of kids just flat-out refusing to do anything they don't want to do. Other kids disrupt class frequently because their attention spans are non-existent. I've had some parent conferences where the students yells and mouths off to the parent during the conference and the parent actually responds to them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got told that we would send home students who don't/won't wear their masks correctly. They haven't done this at all and it's a constant battle to get them to keep their masks over their noses, not to share food, not to touch. I'm so tired.

Many of my students show up without masks so we give them the one size fits all mask. Guess what? It's WAY too big for little kids so it is constantly hanging off their face. It looks like a cloth diaper. We had a positive case in my class this week. I bet it was my one student who wears this saggy cloth mask every day that doesn't fit.

Tie knots in the loops about halfway down the length and if that still isn't small enough then twist the loops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got told that we would send home students who don't/won't wear their masks correctly. They haven't done this at all and it's a constant battle to get them to keep their masks over their noses, not to share food, not to touch. I'm so tired.

Which grade? I teach third and the wearing of masks is something my students are really good about doing.

I’m in FCPS. We are definitely behind in the pacing,largely due to i-Ready, VGA, DRA and DSA in addition to having to stop class to deal with inappropriate and disruptive behaviors.

I haven’t started any small groups yet. There just isn’t enough time to effectively plan. This upcoming week will be the second in a row in which I will have only 2 hours of planning to work on what I choose to get done.

Same. I teach middle school. I would say that we're at least 2 weeks off. Which is crazy because it is October. Ours is mostly due to testing. No one seems to think about the impact on teaching when these tests get planned.

Re the masks, we have great compliance for the masks. We're at maybe 98% compliance and if a mask slips, you can point to your nose and the mask goes right back up. Obviously the 2% are being noncompliant for a reason. I think they should be sent home. A little parental pressure would do them a world of good because their parents want them in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got told that we would send home students who don't/won't wear their masks correctly. They haven't done this at all and it's a constant battle to get them to keep their masks over their noses, not to share food, not to touch. I'm so tired.

Which grade? I teach third and the wearing of masks is something my students are really good about doing.

I’m in FCPS. We are definitely behind in the pacing,largely due to i-Ready, VGA, DRA and DSA in addition to having to stop class to deal with inappropriate and disruptive behaviors.

I haven’t started any small groups yet. There just isn’t enough time to effectively plan. This upcoming week will be the second in a row in which I will have only 2 hours of planning to work on what I choose to get done.

Middle school. Some of them are really good about keeping the masks on, but the ones that are not good at keeping them down cause daily battles about it. Some my students are vaccinated, but I teach all three grade levels at my school and have two mixed-grade periods with vaccinated and students who are too young to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We got told that we would send home students who don't/won't wear their masks correctly. They haven't done this at all and it's a constant battle to get them to keep their masks over their noses, not to share food, not to touch. I'm so tired.

Many of my students show up without masks so we give them the one size fits all mask. Guess what? It's WAY too big for little kids so it is constantly hanging off their face. It looks like a cloth diaper. We had a positive case in my class this week. I bet it was my one student who wears this saggy cloth mask every day that doesn't fit.

Tie knots in the loops about halfway down the length and if that still isn't small enough then twist the loops.

We do that every day and the material still sags. The material is like the same material used in cloth diapers back in the day. It's very thick and the kids can't breathe well with it on so they pull it down. It sags and since it has no elastic, that's the way it stays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:aside from the above suggestion to write to teachers expressing thanks, is there anything we can do to help? I'd imagine not bug teachers about dumb things (my school's list serve had parents worried about the type of snacks being served, as an example), but anything else?

How to help? Teach your kids manners and respect even if the kids around them aren't acting appropriately. Many kids act as if they have run the show at home for a year and a half and now they want to continue acting that way at school. It's been very rough with behaviors. There are plenty of kids just flat-out refusing to do anything they don't want to do. Other kids disrupt class frequently because their attention spans are non-existent. I've had some parent conferences where the students yells and mouths off to the parent during the conference and the parent actually responds to them!

I’m assuming the PP you are responding to isn’t that kind of parent. She wants to help.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much the good parents and students can do. Occasionally, speak up when others start to blame everything on teachers. Kids are running amok in public as well. Watched three kids destroy the Halloween section in CVS yesterday. Opening candy bags while mom stood in line. They left a mess and the store will take the loss. Technically not stealing but out of control.

[Anonymous]

I was in the grocery store today and saw multiple kids acting nuts while the adults they were with didn't bat an eye. There is a lot of lazy parenting going on. By the time your kid is in ES, they should know how to behave at a store. These kids were running down the aisles dodging carts and yelling. One kid screamed across a few aisles to get someone's attention. They were all 9 or older. Old enough to have some self-control.

[Anonymous]

Honest question - are these behavioral issues limited to public schools? Are these problems still popping up in various upscale private schools in the area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in the grocery store today and saw multiple kids acting nuts while the adults they were with didn't bat an eye. There is a lot of lazy parenting going on. By the time your kid is in ES, they should know how to behave at a store. These kids were running down the aisles dodging carts and yelling. One kid screamed across a few aisles to get someone's attention. They were all 9 or older. Old enough to have some self-control.

I empathize with teachers this year but you need to cut the parents some slack as well. The ones who have been trying to juggle full time jobs while unexpectedly supervising their children’s virtual learning for the last 1.5 years /dealing with quarantines and alternatingly being demonized for taking their kids to places unnecessarily or for failing to adequately socialize them. Frankly a lot of parents are just burnt out too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in the grocery store today and saw multiple kids acting nuts while the adults they were with didn't bat an eye. There is a lot of lazy parenting going on. By the time your kid is in ES, they should know how to behave at a store. These kids were running down the aisles dodging carts and yelling. One kid screamed across a few aisles to get someone's attention. They were all 9 or older. Old enough to have some self-control.

I empathize with teachers this year but you need to cut the parents some slack as well. The ones who have been trying to juggle full time jobs while unexpectedly supervising their children’s virtual learning for the last 1.5 years /dealing with quarantines and alternatingly being demonized for taking their kids to places unnecessarily or for failing to adequately socialize them. Frankly a lot of parents are just burnt out too.

So because parents are tired, they shouldn't have to raise their kids? Who else is going to do it? Everyone is tired. Stop making excuses.