High school Grades entered at last minute that impact 25-50% or more of grade for quarter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We tell you that we need people running and overseeing FCPS who care about the basic operations of the school system, and you keep voting for flaky equity warriors who pay scant attention to the day-to-day functioning of the system.

We tell you that we don’t want right-wing MAGA candidates that are worried about banning books and more worried about who is in what locker room and using what bathroom then they are about the day-to-day functioning of the system but the candidate I met outside my kids polling place would only discuss who is using what bathroom.

Run some moderates that actually care about education and you might have success. Keep putting of Trump supporters and right-wing nut jobs and I will hold my nose and vote for the equity warriors.

This isn’t hard. Run candidates that talk about education, education policy, and are not only interested in returning the US to the 1950’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are busy. They don't have time to grade assignments.

If you don't have enough time and have to choose to do do something, so be it. But choose to not do something else. Something that doesn't so adversely affect the very students you are ostensibly there to help.

I’m a teacher and a different poster. I don’t agree with a lot of what I read on this thread. If teachers haven’t updated in a month, that’s bad. If teachers are putting tons of grades in last minute, that’s bad. If there’s only 1-2 assignments, that’s bad.

But…

It’s hard to prioritize grading. If I’m not planned, I literally can’t teach. I’d end up sitting in the front of the room unprepared, simply staring at my students. Planning takes precedence over grading 100% of the time. It has to.

I have to respond to parents and students within 48 hours. I get a ton of emails. If I don’t respond, the emails compound and parents get angrier. Email takes precedence over grading.

I wish it wasn’t like this, but it is. We don’t get a lot of unstructured time at work. Most of our work actually gets done at home. I also wish that wasn’t the case.

Welcome to the working world, where you have to prioritize. And do work at home, just like most of us. But, if you're not giving the feedback and grades in a timely manner, it doesn't matter what you're teaching in class. The two go hand in hand.

Welcome to the real world where teachers are leaving the profession in droves - no one is going to force them to work 60-hour weeks anymore.

I absolutely agree. I’m one of the 60+ hour a week teachers. I get graded work back quickly, but I give up almost every night and weekend to do that. Why is that okay?

I hate when people say “other professions have to work outside hours.” No kidding. Yet somehow we respect those other professions while we belittle teachers.

Clearly teachers are done being exploited in this manner. My department is losing 4 more at the end of the year, and the workhorses among us (like me) are slowing down.

I left the classroom at the end of the 2022 school year (after 15 years) and don’t miss all the BS at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think people comprehend teaching. It’s like this. I write 9 one-act plays every day for the following day- phonics, reading groups (3), math, math groups (3) science/social studies. Then I perform them. Luckily my planning is at the end of the day so I have time to think how those lessons went and write the next days’s plans. Obviously my 45 minute planning isn’t enough time to write these plans and grade and have IEP/504/data meetings and meet with parents so often the planning is fine around 10pm. Grading happens in the morning before school. I get a 45 minute lunch (now) to decompress. This job is really multiple people’s job. Likening this to a play, I’m the playwright, all of the actors, stagehands, directors, costume people, ushers, head of the house, etc. We all joke we need to hire a secretary since the data entry and testing itself takes a few additional hours each week. It’s exhausting and young adults know they can find easier jobs where they earn much more.

Don't teachers recycle their lessons year in/year out?

Why would a teacher need to recreate every single lesson plan, for every single class, year in and year out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We tell you that we need people running and overseeing FCPS who care about the basic operations of the school system, and you keep voting for flaky equity warriors who pay scant attention to the day-to-day functioning of the system.

We tell you that we don’t want right-wing MAGA candidates that are worried about banning books and more worried about who is in what locker room and using what bathroom then they are about the day-to-day functioning of the system but the candidate I met outside my kids polling place would only discuss who is using what bathroom.

Run some moderates that actually care about education and you might have success. Keep putting of Trump supporters and right-wing nut jobs and I will hold my nose and vote for the equity warriors.

This isn’t hard. Run candidates that talk about education, education policy, and are not only interested in returning the US to the 1950’s.

AMEN!

It was so disappointing to find out that the SB candidate that had significant experience in the school system also was a Comet Pizzagate/J6 er.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers have 150 students to deal with & we really don't care anymore. Flame all you want.

Dereralick of duty u should be fired, grades must be updated weekly

[Anonymous]

How many teacher work days do you all need u should get this done daily or weekly

[Anonymous]

This was a problem five years when we had HS students in FCPS. I see nothing has changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers have 150 students to deal with & we really don't care anymore. Flame all you want.

Dereralick of duty u should be fired, grades must be updated weekly

Do you honestly believe anybody’s gonna fire a teacher for not grading in a timely fashion nowadays? This is nothing new and it’s not gonna change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think people comprehend teaching. It’s like this. I write 9 one-act plays every day for the following day- phonics, reading groups (3), math, math groups (3) science/social studies. Then I perform them. Luckily my planning is at the end of the day so I have time to think how those lessons went and write the next days’s plans. Obviously my 45 minute planning isn’t enough time to write these plans and grade and have IEP/504/data meetings and meet with parents so often the planning is fine around 10pm. Grading happens in the morning before school. I get a 45 minute lunch (now) to decompress. This job is really multiple people’s job. Likening this to a play, I’m the playwright, all of the actors, stagehands, directors, costume people, ushers, head of the house, etc. We all joke we need to hire a secretary since the data entry and testing itself takes a few additional hours each week. It’s exhausting and young adults know they can find easier jobs where they earn much more.

Don't teachers recycle their lessons year in/year out?

Why would a teacher need to recreate every single lesson plan, for every single class, year in and year out?

Things always change. A teacher may be changing grades, including high school. Even English 9 and English 11 are completely different. Obviously math science and history at the different grade levels are different.

If you do stay in the same grade for multiple years, then the standards often change. And even with all of that the county makes changes to how they want you to teach the standards. In addition, the county pushes down different technology which forces us to change the lessons.

Then, if none of those things change, the kids change. I’ve been teaching for 20 years and I cannot use the lesson plans that I use 20 years ago because the kids’ needs are different.

[Anonymous]

I never knew my grade from some of my classses...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was a problem five years when we had HS students in FCPS. I see nothing has changed.

Was this when they had IG Pro and they had to email you the grade sheet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was a problem five years when we had HS students in FCPS. I see nothing has changed.

Things have gotten much, much worse for teachers.

The workload has piled to such astronomical heights at this point that even the most experienced teachers with the biggest bag of tricks can’t keep up.

Several teachers have sincerely tried to explain the workload. These aren’t complaints. They are illustrations that explain why grading is challenging and why so many teachers are leaving the profession.

But DCUM continues to be DCUM. Any time a thread is about teachers, posters with no experience with teaching complain about how teachers should get it done. If teachers have it so easy, why aren’t there major lines of people fighting for each opening?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was a problem five years when we had HS students in FCPS. I see nothing has changed.

Things have gotten much, much worse for teachers.

The workload has piled to such astronomical heights at this point that even the most experienced teachers with the biggest bag of tricks can’t keep up.

Several teachers have sincerely tried to explain the workload. These aren’t complaints. They are illustrations that explain why grading is challenging and why so many teachers are leaving the profession.

But DCUM continues to be DCUM. Any time a thread is about teachers, posters with no experience with teaching complain about how teachers should get it done. If teachers have it so easy, why aren’t there major lines of people fighting for each opening?

It seems to me, given the teacher shortages, that what help can be more easily provided, would be administrative. Why do teachers have to do all the grading and entering in gradebooks? Maybe have a shared resource for each subject that can help with grading, and entering stuff? Wouldn't that free the teachers up to spend more time on their lesson plans and meetings where they have to be involved?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was a problem five years when we had HS students in FCPS. I see nothing has changed.

Things have gotten much, much worse for teachers.

The workload has piled to such astronomical heights at this point that even the most experienced teachers with the biggest bag of tricks can’t keep up.

Several teachers have sincerely tried to explain the workload. These aren’t complaints. They are illustrations that explain why grading is challenging and why so many teachers are leaving the profession.

But DCUM continues to be DCUM. Any time a thread is about teachers, posters with no experience with teaching complain about how teachers should get it done. If teachers have it so easy, why aren’t there major lines of people fighting for each opening?

It seems to me, given the teacher shortages, that what help can be more easily provided, would be administrative. Why do teachers have to do all the grading and entering in gradebooks? Maybe have a shared resource for each subject that can help with grading, and entering stuff? Wouldn't that free the teachers up to spend more time on their lesson plans and meetings where they have to be involved?

+100
Honestly having specific things to advocate for - like shifting grading & grade entering & copying to admin support staff roles & pushing for $ for that - would be concretely useful. I agree that it seems teaching has become impossible lately but the specifics on how to return it to possible are less clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think people comprehend teaching. It’s like this. I write 9 one-act plays every day for the following day- phonics, reading groups (3), math, math groups (3) science/social studies. Then I perform them. Luckily my planning is at the end of the day so I have time to think how those lessons went and write the next days’s plans. Obviously my 45 minute planning isn’t enough time to write these plans and grade and have IEP/504/data meetings and meet with parents so often the planning is fine around 10pm. Grading happens in the morning before school. I get a 45 minute lunch (now) to decompress. This job is really multiple people’s job. Likening this to a play, I’m the playwright, all of the actors, stagehands, directors, costume people, ushers, head of the house, etc. We all joke we need to hire a secretary since the data entry and testing itself takes a few additional hours each week. It’s exhausting and young adults know they can find easier jobs where they earn much more.

Don't teachers recycle their lessons year in/year out?

Why would a teacher need to recreate every single lesson plan, for every single class, year in and year out?

Ask admin, who chastise us for reusing lesson plans from year to year.