Teacher accountability for paperwork

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interim report at Thanksgiving, grade is A.
After winter break there's now a 0 from a missing assignment from before interim, and average grade for class is now a C.
Told that grades from before interims can't be changed.

Please. Drop to your knees and thank God this is your biggest problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you would achieve better results by lobbying the board to ensure that teachers get more planning and grading time.

They'd rather squeeze out higher salaries and stronger benefits for the teachers in their final years before retirement.

Look at the pay charts. Young teachers are getting shafted to do the same work. Often more work, since they're still preparing some of their own lesson plans and materials.

If you catch a teacher creating a lesson plan instead of using the standard materials, report her to the equity office.

That depends on the class.

This. I prepare all my own content

[Anonymous]

Teachers teach. I am a National Board Certified teacher. We are experts in teaching. Yet, we are drowning in paperwork. You know what I don't have time to do... paperwork. Documenting all of the times that I have contacted parents of students who are failing. Documenting all of the times that I have asked a student to come in at lunch to make up or redo assignments. Why is it my job to prove that the student turned in Zero assignments? or wrote 2 sentences for their National History Day project that we spent 3 months working on. Parents have instant access to grades. Yet, parents complain that they didn't know their kid was failing, because when I tried to call them multiple times, they don't answer the phone or return my call. When I text them with Remind, they apparently didn't get it. When I send messages through Synergy or myMCPS Classroom or Outlook, they don't get them.

My planning time over the last 25 years has not changed. I still get 45 minutes a day to plan, grade, create and copy. On top of that, I have to fit in parent contact and all of the other paperwork. Parents complain, so now I have to post all of my lessons online, even if students don't touch the computer in class. But, I have to do for the student who sat in my class and did nothing in the hopes that they will go home and do the work. Oh, and I have to fit in all of the IEP paperwork. Every year, this increases.

I have been teaching for 25 years. I will be leaving at the end of the year. You know why? Paperwork. And because parents think I am lazy.

[Anonymous]

Also, MCEA has negotiated us a nice big planning period everyday (which we have stolen from us by admin to full in for the dire teacher shortage- they ignore when we get our legal rights taken away and they live bomb us when they need more free work. Further, they blame us in our appraisals when the kids are acting violent in class. Then they fire the teacher and report on their paperwork that they quit. Corruption in education runs deep.

[Anonymous]

They " love bomb us" when they want to use us teachers. Your so great, your such a good teacher, you are great at dealing with these crazy kids, I could never do that they say. The public needs to know that teachers are used and abused on a massive scale

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why others are annoyed at the suggestion. Students need to know how they are doing and get feedback.

They do, but the human beings have to come ahead of the grading. Lessons need to be taught in real time. Kids who are having trouble need help. Kids who are curious need their questions answered. Kids who are moving from place to place (depending on age) need to be escorted and supervised. There isn't down time to grade during the workday, and while I can't much think of any career that doesn't have time off the clock, there is no mathematical way for teachers to turn back work right away, and doubly so if there are to be comments and feedback. Autograding of rote recollection exercises doesn't solve that problem, either: rote memorization can be a small piece of a larger puzzle (like with languages or math facts), but it has to be contextualized and used, not just drilled. And programming a customized autograded multiple-choice quiz takes way, way longer than actually administering it.

Teachers work hard, way harder than most people know or appreciate. Take your interest in your own kid and multiply it by 30+. Then multiply that 30+ x at least 5 for MS and HS. Then imagine that you are on the receiving end of that many needs simply as part of your regular job, and the vast majority of those needs don't come from adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Teacher's paperwork is all tracked in Canvas/Synergy/Vue

How do we convince admin to look at the data and put pressure on the 10% who are terrible at maintaining their paperwork, to make them file lessons/assignment/grades properly?

Who is “we?” Your power begins and ends with your votes for school board. Take the ego down a notch.

Board members are going to get in there to tell teachers to grade?? Ha! But you could communicate with Taylor to let him know your principal(s) are not making sure their teachers are grading on time/actually entering AND synching grades on time.

Nobody is making sure teachers have time to do any of that.

In the case of professional jobs, employees are expected to manage their own available time to complete their assigned work by the deadlines provided.

Teachers don't have "their own available time."

Yes, they do.

When? When do they consistently have time during their work day that isn't taken over by meetings, covering for colleagues etc?

Sounds like the same challenges any salaried professional faces.

No, not “any” salaried professional. I’m not buying that.

Grading, planning, responding to parents, updating data, checking accommodations, attending meetings… these are all critical parts of our job. Added together, those tasks are comfortably half our job; it’s the half that makes our time in the classroom run smoothly.

We may receive 30 minutes a day to get it done, and it can easily be over 4 hours of work. And those 30 minutes are often taken away by some last-minute need, like covering for a colleague.

So teaching relies on off-hours. Not occasionally. Always. Every single day.

Yes, this happens to SOME other professionals. Again: nobody is disputing that. And that’s not okay for them, either. If your job demands many of your home hours to get essential work done, then you’re being taken advantage of as well.

Have you ever worked in any other profession? The vast majority of salaried jobs today require after hours work. It's expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers teach. I am a National Board Certified teacher. We are experts in teaching. Yet, we are drowning in paperwork. You know what I don't have time to do... paperwork. Documenting all of the times that I have contacted parents of students who are failing. Documenting all of the times that I have asked a student to come in at lunch to make up or redo assignments. Why is it my job to prove that the student turned in Zero assignments? or wrote 2 sentences for their National History Day project that we spent 3 months working on. Parents have instant access to grades. Yet, parents complain that they didn't know their kid was failing, because when I tried to call them multiple times, they don't answer the phone or return my call. When I text them with Remind, they apparently didn't get it. When I send messages through Synergy or myMCPS Classroom or Outlook, they don't get them.

My planning time over the last 25 years has not changed. I still get 45 minutes a day to plan, grade, create and copy. On top of that, I have to fit in parent contact and all of the other paperwork. Parents complain, so now I have to post all of my lessons online, even if students don't touch the computer in class. But, I have to do for the student who sat in my class and did nothing in the hopes that they will go home and do the work. Oh, and I have to fit in all of the IEP paperwork. Every year, this increases.

I have been teaching for 25 years. I will be leaving at the end of the year. You know why? Paperwork. And because parents think I am lazy.

You're a good teacher. Many teachers don't grade until the end of the quarter. That's a legitimate complaint.

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of this stems from U.S. culture today and how kids are coddled. Many teachers spend a lot of their energy on classroom management and are exhausted by the time the school day is done. You won't find this type of lack of respect for teachers and other adults in many other countries and it gives the teachers more bandwidth to do things like grade on time.

I agree that teachers should always have a dedicated planning period that should not be taken away unless under the most dire circumstances but doing that is not going to fix the barriers in the classroom to better teaching and learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher's paperwork is all tracked in Canvas/Synergy/Vue

How do we convince admin to look at the data and put pressure on the 10% who are terrible at maintaining their paperwork, to make them file lessons/assignment/grades properly?

Who is “we?” Your power begins and ends with your votes for school board. Take the ego down a notch.

Board members are going to get in there to tell teachers to grade?? Ha! But you could communicate with Taylor to let him know your principal(s) are not making sure their teachers are grading on time/actually entering AND synching grades on time.

Nobody is making sure teachers have time to do any of that.

In the case of professional jobs, employees are expected to manage their own available time to complete their assigned work by the deadlines provided.

Teachers don't have "their own available time."

Yes, they do.

When? When do they consistently have time during their work day that isn't taken over by meetings, covering for colleagues etc?

Sounds like the same challenges any salaried professional faces.

No, not “any” salaried professional. I’m not buying that.

Grading, planning, responding to parents, updating data, checking accommodations, attending meetings… these are all critical parts of our job. Added together, those tasks are comfortably half our job; it’s the half that makes our time in the classroom run smoothly.

We may receive 30 minutes a day to get it done, and it can easily be over 4 hours of work. And those 30 minutes are often taken away by some last-minute need, like covering for a colleague.

So teaching relies on off-hours. Not occasionally. Always. Every single day.

Yes, this happens to SOME other professionals. Again: nobody is disputing that. And that’s not okay for them, either. If your job demands many of your home hours to get essential work done, then you’re being taken advantage of as well.

Have you ever worked in any other profession? The vast majority of salaried jobs today require after hours work. It's expected.

This is just not true. Some do, some don't, and ones that do usually have structured overtime, built-in rest days, or substantially higher pay than what teachers get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why others are annoyed at the suggestion. Students need to know how they are doing and get feedback.

They do, but the human beings have to come ahead of the grading. Lessons need to be taught in real time. Kids who are having trouble need help. Kids who are curious need their questions answered. Kids who are moving from place to place (depending on age) need to be escorted and supervised. There isn't down time to grade during the workday, and while I can't much think of any career that doesn't have time off the clock, there is no mathematical way for teachers to turn back work right away, and doubly so if there are to be comments and feedback. Autograding of rote recollection exercises doesn't solve that problem, either: rote memorization can be a small piece of a larger puzzle (like with languages or math facts), but it has to be contextualized and used, not just drilled. And programming a customized autograded multiple-choice quiz takes way, way longer than actually administering it.

Teachers work hard, way harder than most people know or appreciate. Take your interest in your own kid and multiply it by 30+. Then multiply that 30+ x at least 5 for MS and HS. Then imagine that you are on the receiving end of that many needs simply as part of your regular job, and the vast majority of those needs don't come from adults.

I appreciate all that. I really do.
Teachers should do themselves a favor and assign less high-stakes graded work that they don't have time to grade. Win-win!

[Anonymous]

I taught at international and American schools overseas for many years. At a minimum, I had 45 minutes for lunch (duty free), and two planning periods (45 minutes each) per day. The kids went to ESOL or FL for one of those periods and a special (art, music, PE, etc) for another period. Many schools also had half-day Wednesdays so teachers could have meetings and get planning/grading done. Teachers in the US have the most teaching time of any other country. 45 minutes per day (if there isn't a meeting during that time) isn't enough to do all of the planning, grading, parent contact, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not really sure what you mean with "maintaining their paperwork, to make them file lessons/assignment/grades properly". Lessons are available for the student in class. Students are to be in class and complete the learning in class. Long are the days of asynchronous lessons. Assignments are given out in class. Students have access to work in the classroom. I post them in myMCPS Classroom, if that is where I want them to complete it. But often times it is done on paper.

As a teacher, paperwork is the last thing on my list of things to do. It is the first thing that I cut. This is one of the many reasons why teachers are overworked. We have to plan the lesson. Make copies of the handouts/worksheets/assignments. That alone can take time because the copy machines are always broken or there is a line. Then we have to teach the lesson. Students are expected to complete the work in class and then possibly for homework. Students then turn in the assignment. I grade it. And this is all for one lesson/class. I have three preps, so this is tripled. 5 days a week, 25 lessons per week, if I am lucky I get 5 45 minute planning periods a week to do all of this.

Maybe stop blaming teachers and fight for appropriate time for teachers to complete these tasks that you want us to do.

There should be a student teacher for every higher level course!!

Noooooo, that is not the solution for overly worked teachers - student-teachers are students that the teacher is also teaching. That is a whole extra set of lesson plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why others are annoyed at the suggestion. Students need to know how they are doing and get feedback.

They do, but the human beings have to come ahead of the grading. Lessons need to be taught in real time. Kids who are having trouble need help. Kids who are curious need their questions answered. Kids who are moving from place to place (depending on age) need to be escorted and supervised. There isn't down time to grade during the workday, and while I can't much think of any career that doesn't have time off the clock, there is no mathematical way for teachers to turn back work right away, and doubly so if there are to be comments and feedback. Autograding of rote recollection exercises doesn't solve that problem, either: rote memorization can be a small piece of a larger puzzle (like with languages or math facts), but it has to be contextualized and used, not just drilled. And programming a customized autograded multiple-choice quiz takes way, way longer than actually administering it.

Teachers work hard, way harder than most people know or appreciate. Take your interest in your own kid and multiply it by 30+. Then multiply that 30+ x at least 5 for MS and HS. Then imagine that you are on the receiving end of that many needs simply as part of your regular job, and the vast majority of those needs don't come from adults.

I appreciate all that. I really do.
Teachers should do themselves a favor and assign less high-stakes graded work that they don't have time to grade. Win-win!

You don't appreciate it. You really don't. Parents should do themselves a favor, take a breath, and find somebody else's neck upon which to breath down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not really sure what you mean with "maintaining their paperwork, to make them file lessons/assignment/grades properly". Lessons are available for the student in class. Students are to be in class and complete the learning in class. Long are the days of asynchronous lessons. Assignments are given out in class. Students have access to work in the classroom. I post them in myMCPS Classroom, if that is where I want them to complete it. But often times it is done on paper.

As a teacher, paperwork is the last thing on my list of things to do. It is the first thing that I cut. This is one of the many reasons why teachers are overworked. We have to plan the lesson. Make copies of the handouts/worksheets/assignments. That alone can take time because the copy machines are always broken or there is a line. Then we have to teach the lesson. Students are expected to complete the work in class and then possibly for homework. Students then turn in the assignment. I grade it. And this is all for one lesson/class. I have three preps, so this is tripled. 5 days a week, 25 lessons per week, if I am lucky I get 5 45 minute planning periods a week to do all of this.

Maybe stop blaming teachers and fight for appropriate time for teachers to complete these tasks that you want us to do.

There should be a student teacher for every higher level course!!

Tell me you’re not a teacher without telling me you’re not a teacher.
Student teachers are there to learn how to teach. They are not in any way able to take over in a significant way. Usually having one means more work for the cooperating teacher and more, you got it, paperwork.

Not a student teacher. But the model could be one in which each course has co-teachers. It could be a PT gig, they could attract more qualified adults if it was PT, maybe. Adults who left profession for parenthood but still are qualified etc..

Smaller class sizes would help. Some teachers are stuck with 30+ students per class and a total of 5 classes. Multiple preps + special education kids who need specific accommodations and ESOL kids as well . It’s a lot to keep up with