I'm an MCPS elementary school teacher...AMA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So teachers you won't go silently apeshit when you see me letting my kid play starfall for 20 minutes at Cava?

I don't give a shit what they do with you at Cava.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So teachers you won't go silently apeshit when you see me letting my kid play starfall for 20 minutes at Cava?

I don't give a shit what they do with you at Cava.

PP does

[Anonymous]

Screens for me but not for thee should be the MCPS motto

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does parent advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens in schools or even in an individual classroom?

Zero chance. And a question to ponder..... Does teacher advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens at home????

Also...my students are rarely on their Chromebooks. Is that where the parent concerns are? Are you all going to fight for their to be less screen use in college too? Teaching students how to properly utilize screens is important. It's part of life.

I use the Boxlight to teach with bc it's efficient and engaging. I'm not showing them YouTube videos all day long on it or anything....

DP it is not my imagination that my kids' teacher used YouTube videos instead of reading books to kids in kindergarten. My kid memorized the sound effects.

Maybe offer to buy the books the teachers need for them so they don’t need to find them online.

Taylor needs $15 million for 6 artificial turf football fields. Buy your own books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does parent advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens in schools or even in an individual classroom?

Zero chance. And a question to ponder..... Does teacher advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens at home????

Also...my students are rarely on their Chromebooks. Is that where the parent concerns are? Are you all going to fight for their to be less screen use in college too? Teaching students how to properly utilize screens is important. It's part of life.

I use the Boxlight to teach with bc it's efficient and engaging. I'm not showing them YouTube videos all day long on it or anything....

My kids are zero screens so throwing it back to the family doesn’t work in this case, the problem is schools.

We are an extremely low-screen family (no phones or personal tablets at all, just some limited TV time with family plus a typing class on the computer and that's about it) and I agree with the teacher that the problem is in the homes. My kids are not being destroyed by screen time at school -- they get some limited Chromebook time during solo work time and the teachers often use a smart board to teach. This does not in any way undo our low screen approach and my kids have great attention spans, are comfortable with books and pencil and paper, and aren't being exposed to inappropriate content.

The issue is that other parents allow liberal screen use at home, are sending even elementary kids to school with phones and tablets, and dont' seem to care. These kids have all this exposure to garbage content, especially on YouTube and TikTok (don't even get me started with elementary age kids having access to TikTok, it is absolutely rotting their brains). They are coming to school with info about that content, plus have awful attention spans, are disruptive, try to abuse the use of Chromebooks in class, never read outside school. These kids are actively diminishing the educational experience and the teachers can't do anything about it.

Your beef is with other parents, but there's nothing you can do about it. They don't care and think people like you and I are crazy and condescending.

I can be upset that MCPS uses screens in schools unnecessarily and also know that other parents are coming to school with terrible attention spans because of their screen use. MCPS is supposed to educate my kids. I can’t do anything about other parents (and yes most of them think we are being holier than thou by making this choice for our families). So yeah I don’t appreciate the way teachers simply don’t care about screen time because they assume all the kids are getting even more at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Screens for me but not for thee should be the MCPS motto

Teacher mostly use screens to engage and occupy kids while they work with other kids. For instance, our teachers use screen time (with educational apps) for kids during small group time, because the screens keep the kids she's not working with engaged so she can provide direct instruction during that time. It's a tool to help her do her job.

This is akin to a parent letting a child watch a TV show while they make dinner -- using screens to facilitate parenting.

But it is different than a parent planting a kid on a tablet so the parent can sit and stare at their own phone. THIS is the behavior a lot of us are objecting to. If teachers were putting kids on screens so they could sit in the corner of the classroom and scroll twitter, trust me, people would be upset about it. And that is precisely what a lot of parents do with their kids and it's why their kids are addicted to screens. No kid is developing a screen addiction because they spend 20 minutes on a Chromebook doing a math app while waiting for their teacher to get to their small group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does parent advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens in schools or even in an individual classroom?

Zero chance. And a question to ponder..... Does teacher advocacy have any chance of reducing the use of screens at home????

Also...my students are rarely on their Chromebooks. Is that where the parent concerns are? Are you all going to fight for their to be less screen use in college too? Teaching students how to properly utilize screens is important. It's part of life.

I use the Boxlight to teach with bc it's efficient and engaging. I'm not showing them YouTube videos all day long on it or anything....

My kids are zero screens so throwing it back to the family doesn’t work in this case, the problem is schools.

We are an extremely low-screen family (no phones or personal tablets at all, just some limited TV time with family plus a typing class on the computer and that's about it) and I agree with the teacher that the problem is in the homes. My kids are not being destroyed by screen time at school -- they get some limited Chromebook time during solo work time and the teachers often use a smart board to teach. This does not in any way undo our low screen approach and my kids have great attention spans, are comfortable with books and pencil and paper, and aren't being exposed to inappropriate content.

The issue is that other parents allow liberal screen use at home, are sending even elementary kids to school with phones and tablets, and dont' seem to care. These kids have all this exposure to garbage content, especially on YouTube and TikTok (don't even get me started with elementary age kids having access to TikTok, it is absolutely rotting their brains). They are coming to school with info about that content, plus have awful attention spans, are disruptive, try to abuse the use of Chromebooks in class, never read outside school. These kids are actively diminishing the educational experience and the teachers can't do anything about it.

Your beef is with other parents, but there's nothing you can do about it. They don't care and think people like you and I are crazy and condescending.

I can be upset that MCPS uses screens in schools unnecessarily and also know that other parents are coming to school with terrible attention spans because of their screen use. MCPS is supposed to educate my kids. I can’t do anything about other parents (and yes most of them think we are being holier than thou by making this choice for our families). So yeah I don’t appreciate the way teachers simply don’t care about screen time because they assume all the kids are getting even more at home.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Screens for me but not for thee should be the MCPS motto

Teacher mostly use screens to engage and occupy kids while they work with other kids. For instance, our teachers use screen time (with educational apps) for kids during small group time, because the screens keep the kids she's not working with engaged so she can provide direct instruction during that time. It's a tool to help her do her job.

This is akin to a parent letting a child watch a TV show while they make dinner -- using screens to facilitate parenting.

But it is different than a parent planting a kid on a tablet so the parent can sit and stare at their own phone. THIS is the behavior a lot of us are objecting to. If teachers were putting kids on screens so they could sit in the corner of the classroom and scroll twitter, trust me, people would be upset about it. And that is precisely what a lot of parents do with their kids and it's why their kids are addicted to screens. No kid is developing a screen addiction because they spend 20 minutes on a Chromebook doing a math app while waiting for their teacher to get to their small group.

Many of us would prefer this mot be the case. I do not want my kid using these educational apps that are still a passive distraction. And I do not want her to be “occupied” every second of the day. I would much prefer she read, draw, do a worksheet or do something else rather than be handed a screen. Just like when I make dinner and she occupies herself without a screen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Screens for me but not for thee should be the MCPS motto

Teacher mostly use screens to engage and occupy kids while they work with other kids. For instance, our teachers use screen time (with educational apps) for kids during small group time, because the screens keep the kids she's not working with engaged so she can provide direct instruction during that time. It's a tool to help her do her job.

This is akin to a parent letting a child watch a TV show while they make dinner -- using screens to facilitate parenting.

But it is different than a parent planting a kid on a tablet so the parent can sit and stare at their own phone. THIS is the behavior a lot of us are objecting to. If teachers were putting kids on screens so they could sit in the corner of the classroom and scroll twitter, trust me, people would be upset about it. And that is precisely what a lot of parents do with their kids and it's why their kids are addicted to screens. No kid is developing a screen addiction because they spend 20 minutes on a Chromebook doing a math app while waiting for their teacher to get to their small group.

Many of us would prefer this mot be the case. I do not want my kid using these educational apps that are still a passive distraction. And I do not want her to be “occupied” every second of the day. I would much prefer she read, draw, do a worksheet or do something else rather than be handed a screen. Just like when I make dinner and she occupies herself without a screen.

Sure, I would also prefer that it not be the case. But I live in reality. I wish teachers always had smaller classes and an aide who could work with other kids and keep them engaged. I wish all the kids were showing up to class with the skills to work independently for stretches of time (as my kids are). I also wish parents weren't sometimes so stretched for time that they desperately need a distraction they can count on for their kids while they make dinner.

If my options were perfect, I would send my kids to schools with small class sizes, plenty of support for teachers, and a parent community who prepared their kids for classrooms. My options are not perfect. I'm not going to yell at teachers who have 24 3rd graders in a classroom for letting 16 of them spend time on a Chromebook while the teacher works with a group of 8 offering good, meaningful instruction. I don't love it, and I wish we all had better options. But it's not the teacher's doing. And a lot of the kids in that classroom have ZERO skills for quietly working if they don't have a tablet, and that's their parents' doing, not the teacher's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leveled classes would help so much for all students and teachers. Why MCPS won’t allow it is beyond me.

I was friends with an admin (not this district) who was responsible for making the classes and asked exactly what goes into it. She said "certain students are harder to teach, maybe for behavioral reasons or because theyre behind academically. So we want to make sure those students are divided evenly between the classes so no one teacher gets too many in their roster. The same with the easy kids, it wouldnt be fair if one teacher got a class of little angels who are advanced. It would be bad for everyone's morale."

This is a real concern. IMO the best way to handle it is to have differing class sizes to counterbalance this (and also because kids who are behind need more focused attention and smaller teacher:student ratios, so it's good for the students as well as the teacher.). So if a teacher has a class full of advanced, easy students (I know those are not exactly the same thing-- if there are more difficult kids in the advanced group, adjust accordingly), they get a class of like 30 students. The teacher with the most challenging kids has a class of like 15 (or less if they're really challenging, or a para to help.) The teacher with the in-between class has a more in-between size.

[Anonymous]

I have a question for OP. Do you think this culture of teachers bashing "parents" online is helpful? Do you think it changes behavior? Do you think it inspires sympathy for people in your profession? Do you think it makes you look good?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for reaffirming our decision to move DD from a W-area elementary to an all-girls private. It's costing us $50k+/year, but she's in a class of 18 kids and no behavioral issues.

18 is a high class size for a private. There are entire grade levels in MCPS elementary schools that also have class sizes of 18-20.

However, I'm glad there's no behavioral issues though. It really does make a difference!

I actually applied for a job at a private school a few years back. The pay was at least 10k lower and wasn't going to go up every year (I make over 110k currently). The benefits sucked. I was totally thrown by the fact that most of the teaching staff there had Bachelor's or Master's degrees....but not in teaching. Not sure how you can teach well or understand how kids learn without a teaching degree. Having content knowledge isn't enough. The way they select the curriculum they use also seemed questionable. Where's the accountability and transparency?

Wishing your daughter all the best!

OP, it seems frustrating to teach in a public school system because of the large class sizes and behavioral issues. But you could easily switch to a private school where you would have much smaller classes, less stress, and much more freedom in the classroom. The pay is not a huge difference. Not sure why you haven't considered that route? The Private school teachers I know seem much happier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for reaffirming our decision to move DD from a W-area elementary to an all-girls private. It's costing us $50k+/year, but she's in a class of 18 kids and no behavioral issues.

18 is a high class size for a private. There are entire grade levels in MCPS elementary schools that also have class sizes of 18-20.

However, I'm glad there's no behavioral issues though. It really does make a difference!

I actually applied for a job at a private school a few years back. The pay was at least 10k lower and wasn't going to go up every year (I make over 110k currently). The benefits sucked. I was totally thrown by the fact that most of the teaching staff there had Bachelor's or Master's degrees....but not in teaching. Not sure how you can teach well or understand how kids learn without a teaching degree. Having content knowledge isn't enough. The way they select the curriculum they use also seemed questionable. Where's the accountability and transparency?

Wishing your daughter all the best!

OP, it seems frustrating to teach in a public school system because of the large class sizes and behavioral issues. But you could easily switch to a private school where you would have much smaller classes, less stress, and much more freedom in the classroom. The pay is not a huge difference. Not sure why you haven't considered that route? The Private school teachers I know seem much happier.

The mcps benefits are worth 30 percent of the overall compensation. Good luck getting solid health and pension benefits at a private school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for reaffirming our decision to move DD from a W-area elementary to an all-girls private. It's costing us $50k+/year, but she's in a class of 18 kids and no behavioral issues.

18 is a high class size for a private. There are entire grade levels in MCPS elementary schools that also have class sizes of 18-20.

However, I'm glad there's no behavioral issues though. It really does make a difference!

I actually applied for a job at a private school a few years back. The pay was at least 10k lower and wasn't going to go up every year (I make over 110k currently). The benefits sucked. I was totally thrown by the fact that most of the teaching staff there had Bachelor's or Master's degrees....but not in teaching. Not sure how you can teach well or understand how kids learn without a teaching degree. Having content knowledge isn't enough. The way they select the curriculum they use also seemed questionable. Where's the accountability and transparency?

Wishing your daughter all the best!

OP, it seems frustrating to teach in a public school system because of the large class sizes and behavioral issues. But you could easily switch to a private school where you would have much smaller classes, less stress, and much more freedom in the classroom. The pay is not a huge difference. Not sure why you haven't considered that route? The Private school teachers I know seem much happier.

The mcps benefits are worth 30 percent of the overall compensation. Good luck getting solid health and pension benefits at a private school

NP here with a spouse who teaches at a private school. Yes the public school benefits are a lot better and pay can get higher. But it's definitely a trade-off. You have to work there for 20 to 30 years for it to be worthwhile, you can't move anywhere, you're locked into the school district, and my impression is much higher levels of stress. This could just be what I hear from DH. I fully support teachers in both public and private!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you truly feel about the horrible behaviors that are now being left in the classroom?

And the complete failure of modern parenting.

Many parents do a good job.

Sounds to me like she is saying only the girl parents do. 🙄

In my more than 15 years of experience in MCPS, any students who I have had to deal with that are consistent behavior problems have been 99 percent boys. It's usually 3 or 4 per class. I can even name the behavior issue students from every single class since I started teaching. There are only 2 years I can think of where girls were the main behavior issue (2012 and 2020) compared to the rest of the class.

Stop with the boy hate and learn to manage your classroom better.