Is it common to plan for videos the afternoon before holidays?

[Anonymous]

I was having a conversation with a friend who is a teacher. She is planning on leaving work early to beat the holiday traffic the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. She said she will just tell her teammates and will split her class amongst the 2 remaining teachers that day. Her comment was that they were going to be watching a video anyway so no reason for her not to get a jump on the traffic.

As I am beginning the process of selecting a school for my children I was a bit surprised at my friend's comment. It made it sound as if this was common. I was just a bit surprised as the schools I am researching have policies on excused absences so my guess is that most families are planning on not leaving until school is out - but for teachers (with kids in the same school distroct) it is OK? or maybe I am wrong as to how families really deal with days around holidays.

Would this be behavior I would see in a Private School? Charter School?

Thanks for any insight.

[Anonymous]

I think it isn't uncommon for teachers to show movies before breaks but mostly b/c the students are the ones who will be leaving early. The school where I taught had policies for teachers against leaving early or coming back late from breaks like Thanksgiving, XMAS, etc. There isn't much point from the teacher's perspective to teach new material when say a quarter or more of the kids are gone.

[Anonymous]

Don't know about the more studious grades yet, but my DC's preschool is half empty before each big holiday. I would be offended if the teachers left, though, and so far have not observed this at our school, nor of putting the children in front of a video. But then again it is a Montessori preschool, they are probably against videos...

[Anonymous]

Coming from a family of teachers, I can say it isn't uncommon. Between the number of children typically missing the day or two before a holiday vacation and just the general holiday/vacation excitement, many teachers find it frustrating or pointless to try and actual teach something new that day. So, even if it isn't a video, it might be a pizza party or some other more unstructured, less goal-oriented activity than a traditional lesson plan.

[Anonymous]

It's very common.

[Anonymous]

At my son's charter school, I've seen them do this with a "curriculum related" video. For example when his class was studying Shakespeare they watched a video of a Shakespeare play, or they'll watch a video of a novel they've read. In the earlier grades it might be a "Magic School Bus" or "Bill Nye" show related to their science theme. I'm OK with that, especially if there's discussion or a writing assigment afterwards. I'm not OK with things more tangentially related. So, watching Nemo because you're studying the ocean is not cool, watching an age appropriate Animal Planet video with footage of actual coral reefs -- OK.

Way back when we were looking for a PreK for my son I went to a private school that gets a lot of praise. It was their "open house" event that happened once a year. The 3 kindergarten classes were all watching an hours worth of PBS videos that had nothing to do with curriculum (Arthur or something). When I questioned this they told me it was rainy and the teachers needed their planning time. I was pretty dismayed, if this is what they do when they're supposed to be showing off, what do they do on a regular basis with my thousands of dollars? I thought one of the reasons why you pay for charters is that the kids get lots of "specials", can't the teachers plan then?

[Anonymous]

I was a high school French teacher, and usually showed a good/classic French movie before a holiday. So many students are gone that day that you can't teach anything new.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it's uncommon and I don't have a problem with it. It's a real treat for the kids and the video usually has a good message or is related to what the kids have been learning. You can make almost anything an educational opportunity if you approach it correctly. Even the Simpson's has a message.