Poor teaching skills

[Anonymous]

She probably IS a great teacher which is why they have her a high needs class like this. The better the teacher you are, the harder the classes they give you because they know you can handle it. Parents think the good teachers are in the honors/AP classes which could not be more wrong. That’s where they stick the men who can’t do anything besides lecture and give notes because they assume the kids will be fine either way.

Why did you gender your comment?

-Male teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear teachers, in case you didn't know, students talk amongst themselves. So when the highest grade in an non-honors class is a B- and majority of the class are Cs and Ds, maybe question if there is anything wrong with the way you teach.

I'm a teacher and I agree. If it's honors, OK, they signed up for something demanding. But if it's not, then there is something wrong if the average grade isn't at least in the low B's, high C's.

My child has a language-based learning disability, so she signed up for a regular English class this year (she does not receive IEP service hours during Engliah, but is instead monitored through her Strats class).

She tells me all the time how bad she feels for the teacher of that class. From what she can tell, at least 2/3 of the class are English learners, and she suspects that almost everyone else in the class has an IEP. She said at least 10%-20% of the class is absent each day, and the teacher has to give at least 20 reminders every day to make students close games on their computers or phones.

On a regular basis, she hears the other kids in the class say things such as:
"I don't do writing."
"I don't do projects."
"I'm not reading that book, story, poem, etc."
"I don't care if I fail."

How could grades possibly be a B average in an ENGLISH class if there are students who refuse to read, write, or do projects?

How could grades possibly be a B average if almost everyone in the class is learning English or has an IEP ?

How could grades possibly be a B average if 10%-20% of the class misses the class every day?

If my daughter's observations are correct, I feel bad for the teacher too. How discouraging to teach a class where the students refuse to engage. How do you teach kids ENGLISH if they refuse to read or write?

By the way, my son had this same English teacher two years ago, and she was a wonderful teacher. My son consistently reports that this teacher was one of the two best teachers he has had through all of school. He was also in a standard English class but his class was more typical than the one my daughter seems to be in this year.

I'm a teacher and your daughter's observations are absolutely correct. Don't be surprised if the teacher is done after this year. I'm sure she'll get all kinds of pressure and useless suggestions from her administrator after half the class scores below 350 on the SOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

She probably IS a great teacher which is why they have her a high needs class like this. The better the teacher you are, the harder the classes they give you because they know you can handle it. Parents think the good teachers are in the honors/AP classes which could not be more wrong. That’s where they stick the men who can’t do anything besides lecture and give notes because they assume the kids will be fine either way.

Why did you gender your comment?

-Male teacher

Because very few male teachers I’ve met or worked with have actually been good at teaching. They don’t know anything about scaffolding, avoid coteaching, and show weaponized incompetence when given lower grade level and/or higher needs classes until admin finally says “oh he can’t work with anyone but the seniors / the honors kids / the electives.” The heaviest lifting and labor in schools is generally put on women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

She probably IS a great teacher which is why they have her a high needs class like this. The better the teacher you are, the harder the classes they give you because they know you can handle it. Parents think the good teachers are in the honors/AP classes which could not be more wrong. That’s where they stick the men who can’t do anything besides lecture and give notes because they assume the kids will be fine either way.

Why did you gender your comment?

-Male teacher

Because very few male teachers I’ve met or worked with have actually been good at teaching. They don’t know anything about scaffolding, avoid coteaching, and show weaponized incompetence when given lower grade level and/or higher needs classes until admin finally says “oh he can’t work with anyone but the seniors / the honors kids / the electives.” The heaviest lifting and labor in schools is generally put on women.

DP and I'd say this is not a fair or accurate comment unless you're talking about secondary male teachers who are also coaches for popular boys' sports. In that case, you're right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

She probably IS a great teacher which is why they have her a high needs class like this. The better the teacher you are, the harder the classes they give you because they know you can handle it. Parents think the good teachers are in the honors/AP classes which could not be more wrong. That’s where they stick the men who can’t do anything besides lecture and give notes because they assume the kids will be fine either way.

Why did you gender your comment?

-Male teacher

Because very few male teachers I’ve met or worked with have actually been good at teaching. They don’t know anything about scaffolding, avoid coteaching, and show weaponized incompetence when given lower grade level and/or higher needs classes until admin finally says “oh he can’t work with anyone but the seniors / the honors kids / the electives.” The heaviest lifting and labor in schools is generally put on women.

+1 I completely agree with you. My DS had a male 6th grade teacher who was totally incompetent. It was one of the worst years ever. However, the kids all liked the teacher because it was such a free for all and they could get away with just about anything in class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

She probably IS a great teacher which is why they have her a high needs class like this. The better the teacher you are, the harder the classes they give you because they know you can handle it. Parents think the good teachers are in the honors/AP classes which could not be more wrong. That’s where they stick the men who can’t do anything besides lecture and give notes because they assume the kids will be fine either way.

Why did you gender your comment?

-Male teacher

Because very few male teachers I’ve met or worked with have actually been good at teaching. They don’t know anything about scaffolding, avoid coteaching, and show weaponized incompetence when given lower grade level and/or higher needs classes until admin finally says “oh he can’t work with anyone but the seniors / the honors kids / the electives.” The heaviest lifting and labor in schools is generally put on women.

DP and I'd say this is not a fair or accurate comment unless you're talking about secondary male teachers who are also coaches for popular boys' sports. In that case, you're right.

Well I am a secondary teacher so yes I am mostly talking about male secondary teachers. Being a coach isn’t a factor here. Any high school teacher could do a reflection of their department and the distribution of who teaches what- almost guaranteed across the board, the men in their department, whether they coach or not, teach the upperclassmen, electives, and higher level courses while the women have 9/10th grade, and the team taught classes. This is very pervasive and common.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

She probably IS a great teacher which is why they have her a high needs class like this. The better the teacher you are, the harder the classes they give you because they know you can handle it. Parents think the good teachers are in the honors/AP classes which could not be more wrong. That’s where they stick the men who can’t do anything besides lecture and give notes because they assume the kids will be fine either way.

Why did you gender your comment?

-Male teacher

Because very few male teachers I’ve met or worked with have actually been good at teaching. They don’t know anything about scaffolding, avoid coteaching, and show weaponized incompetence when given lower grade level and/or higher needs classes until admin finally says “oh he can’t work with anyone but the seniors / the honors kids / the electives.” The heaviest lifting and labor in schools is generally put on women.

+1 I completely agree with you. My DS had a male 6th grade teacher who was totally incompetent. It was one of the worst years ever. However, the kids all liked the teacher because it was such a free for all and they could get away with just about anything in class.

+1 The 6th grade male teachers are disorganized, do not even decorate their walls, don’t have organized bookshelves, and teach poorly off of Google slides. The female 6th grade teacher is the most competent and organized. Her bookshelves are all labeled, her room is decorated, she responds to email timely and writes weekly announcements, and she is highly organized.

[Anonymous]

7:57 again

Should I stay in teaching because the bar for male teachers is so low? Or will people always judge me immediately upon meeting me and this is yet another reason I should make a career change before it's too late?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:7:57 again

Should I stay in teaching because the bar for male teachers is so low? Or will people always judge me immediately upon meeting me and this is yet another reason I should make a career change before it's too late?

I don’t care what you do. I’m not talking about you and I don’t know you. If you’re taking my comments personally that’s not really my problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear teachers, in case you didn't know, students talk amongst themselves. So when the highest grade in an non-honors class is a B- and majority of the class are Cs and Ds, maybe question if there is anything wrong with the way you teach.

I'm a teacher and I agree. If it's honors, OK, they signed up for something demanding. But if it's not, then there is something wrong if the average grade isn't at least in the low B's, high C's.

My child has a language-based learning disability, so she signed up for a regular English class this year (she does not receive IEP service hours during Engliah, but is instead monitored through her Strats class).

She tells me all the time how bad she feels for the teacher of that class. From what she can tell, at least 2/3 of the class are English learners, and she suspects that almost everyone else in the class has an IEP. She said at least 10%-20% of the class is absent each day, and the teacher has to give at least 20 reminders every day to make students close games on their computers or phones.

On a regular basis, she hears the other kids in the class say things such as:
"I don't do writing."
"I don't do projects."
"I'm not reading that book, story, poem, etc."
"I don't care if I fail."

How could grades possibly be a B average in an ENGLISH class if there are students who refuse to read, write, or do projects?

How could grades possibly be a B average if almost everyone in the class is learning English or has an IEP ?

How could grades possibly be a B average if 10%-20% of the class misses the class every day?

If my daughter's observations are correct, I feel bad for the teacher too. How discouraging to teach a class where the students refuse to engage. How do you teach kids ENGLISH if they refuse to read or write?

By the way, my son had this same English teacher two years ago, and she was a wonderful teacher. My son consistently reports that this teacher was one of the two best teachers he has had through all of school. He was also in a standard English class but his class was more typical than the one my daughter seems to be in this year.

I'm a teacher and your daughter's observations are absolutely correct. Don't be surprised if the teacher is done after this year. I'm sure she'll get all kinds of pressure and useless suggestions from her administrator after half the class scores below 350 on the SOL.

This is also true in my elective classes, although "only" a third of students have IEPs and 504s. I even have students sitting right in front of me who play videogames on their phones class after class. Admin wants them to pass and frowns on us telling them to drop the class and go find something better to do with their time. They have all been pushed into this class to "impress colleges" so none of them wants to be there. Most of them are years-behind in my subject despite taking it at an "advanced" level so the class is extraordinarily dumbed down because our hands are tied.

This occasionally happens even in AP because we have open enrollment, but the on-level classes are particularly painful to teach. I have a choice between delivering the material and spending virtually all my time telling students to put phones away and pick their head up from their desk, telling kids to listen, or issuing bathroom passes and monitoring who is coming and going, and why isn't so and so back despite being gone 15 minutes because I have four students asking to go to the bathroom and I have to manage the bathroom line.

I came from the private sector, thinking this would be a rewarding career albeit low paid. Heading back to the private sector very soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

She probably IS a great teacher which is why they have her a high needs class like this. The better the teacher you are, the harder the classes they give you because they know you can handle it. Parents think the good teachers are in the honors/AP classes which could not be more wrong. That’s where they stick the men who can’t do anything besides lecture and give notes because they assume the kids will be fine either way.

Why did you gender your comment?

-Male teacher

Because very few male teachers I’ve met or worked with have actually been good at teaching. They don’t know anything about scaffolding, avoid coteaching, and show weaponized incompetence when given lower grade level and/or higher needs classes until admin finally says “oh he can’t work with anyone but the seniors / the honors kids / the electives.” The heaviest lifting and labor in schools is generally put on women.

DP and I'd say this is not a fair or accurate comment unless you're talking about secondary male teachers who are also coaches for popular boys' sports. In that case, you're right.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

She probably IS a great teacher which is why they have her a high needs class like this. The better the teacher you are, the harder the classes they give you because they know you can handle it. Parents think the good teachers are in the honors/AP classes which could not be more wrong. That’s where they stick the men who can’t do anything besides lecture and give notes because they assume the kids will be fine either way.

Why did you gender your comment?

-Male teacher

Because very few male teachers I’ve met or worked with have actually been good at teaching. They don’t know anything about scaffolding, avoid coteaching, and show weaponized incompetence when given lower grade level and/or higher needs classes until admin finally says “oh he can’t work with anyone but the seniors / the honors kids / the electives.” The heaviest lifting and labor in schools is generally put on women.

DP and I'd say this is not a fair or accurate comment unless you're talking about secondary male teachers who are also coaches for popular boys' sports. In that case, you're right.

Well I am a secondary teacher so yes I am mostly talking about male secondary teachers. Being a coach isn’t a factor here. Any high school teacher could do a reflection of their department and the distribution of who teaches what- almost guaranteed across the board, the men in their department, whether they coach or not, teach the upperclassmen, electives, and higher level courses while the women have 9/10th grade, and the team taught classes. This is very pervasive and common.

Not true in our department. Everyone who teaches higher level courses must teach a lower-level course except for one female who teaches all upper level because of these two classes she has been teaching forever and is the best at.

--female HS teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

She probably IS a great teacher which is why they have her a high needs class like this. The better the teacher you are, the harder the classes they give you because they know you can handle it. Parents think the good teachers are in the honors/AP classes which could not be more wrong. That’s where they stick the men who can’t do anything besides lecture and give notes because they assume the kids will be fine either way.

Why did you gender your comment?

-Male teacher

Because very few male teachers I’ve met or worked with have actually been good at teaching. They don’t know anything about scaffolding, avoid coteaching, and show weaponized incompetence when given lower grade level and/or higher needs classes until admin finally says “oh he can’t work with anyone but the seniors / the honors kids / the electives.” The heaviest lifting and labor in schools is generally put on women.

DP and I'd say this is not a fair or accurate comment unless you're talking about secondary male teachers who are also coaches for popular boys' sports. In that case, you're right.

Well I am a secondary teacher so yes I am mostly talking about male secondary teachers. Being a coach isn’t a factor here. Any high school teacher could do a reflection of their department and the distribution of who teaches what- almost guaranteed across the board, the men in their department, whether they coach or not, teach the upperclassmen, electives, and higher level courses while the women have 9/10th grade, and the team taught classes. This is very pervasive and common.

Not true in our department. Everyone who teaches higher level courses must teach a lower-level course except for one female who teaches all upper level because of these two classes she has been teaching forever and is the best at.

--female HS teacher

That’s unusual, good for your admin and chair ensuring the workload is balanced more appropriately.

[Anonymous]

I think different teachers best are able to connect with different type of students. Just like we find friends and partners in life. Students and teachers are blessed when they ends up with “their” type of the other half. But need to deal if they weren’t that lucky. However, department chairs who think about teacher qualities/strengths/weaknesses when they assign classes and hire are the best chairs. This should not be about some “balance of teaching high and low classes”. You don’t want miserable teachers. They misery and exhaustion will spill into even classes they love teaching. We are all humans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

She probably IS a great teacher which is why they have her a high needs class like this. The better the teacher you are, the harder the classes they give you because they know you can handle it. Parents think the good teachers are in the honors/AP classes which could not be more wrong. That’s where they stick the men who can’t do anything besides lecture and give notes because they assume the kids will be fine either way.

Why did you gender your comment?

-Male teacher

Because very few male teachers I’ve met or worked with have actually been good at teaching. They don’t know anything about scaffolding, avoid coteaching, and show weaponized incompetence when given lower grade level and/or higher needs classes until admin finally says “oh he can’t work with anyone but the seniors / the honors kids / the electives.” The heaviest lifting and labor in schools is generally put on women.

You forgot the part where the male teacher goes on to become a principal, then moves into central administration and ends up running the district.