Fellow teachers - How are we supposed to teach with masks on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just a matter of getting used to it. Medical personnel do it all the time. My family has been working on wearing them more for when the kids go to school and we have all built up to a few hours comfortably in one week’s time.

I don’t understand the constant comparison to medical professionals. Pretty sure doctors and nurses aren’t walking around delivering lectures, projecting their voices to classrooms, reading aloud, teaching young children phonics, etc while wearing masks.

If my kids camp counselors can manage it outside all summer I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Actually, my 13yo keeps his on about half the day if he feels the activity puts him too close to other kids.

If they are outside, there’s probably plenty of times where the counselor is far enough from the kids where he can take his mask off and raise his voice. And in any event. The kids aren’t receiving grades on what they are learning in camp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am also not buying a microphone and speaker for my class and figuring out how to rig that up with a mask on-just stop. I'm done with the expectation that teachers sacrifice money, time, their health, basic necessities like bathroom breaks-it's enough already. We need to stop coming to the rescue and let people see what their taxes actually fund. Period.

I can understand your frustration, but you know very well that it will be on you if the students can't hear you and thus fail to understand the lesson. Get a pop-star style mic that clips on your head, or the earbuds that have a mic in the cord.

The solution isn't going to be me making more purchases. The buck stops here. Teachers need to take stand-the government needs to fund education. Not teachers.

I hear your frustration but as a doctor, I purchased my own n95s at the beginning of this just like I routinely purchase supplies I need to do my job better (new stethoscope this year for example- around 280 dollars). It’s a global pandemic. We all need to do our part, including teachers!

No. Do you make $60,000 a year? That's the average teacher salary in the United States. Not starting salary-average, overall. The average physician salary is $313,000. I don't know why we don't expect doctors to buy medications for their patients, to perform procedures for free without billing, or to purchase food/supplies for low income patients. Why do we expect teachers, who make much less money than doctors, to do these things? Do you not care about your patients? I'm not going to be told to spend my comparatively low salary on necessary classroom supplies when doctors don't purchase their own surgical implements, scrubs, gowns, medical supplies, etc. They don't throw parties for their patients. They don't hang out at work in their off time cleaning the hospital and organizing records.
My husband works in an emergency room. If you want to buy a fancy status stethoscope for YOUR personal use, that's on you. Teachers spend an average of $500 per year on their classroom, but I don't know anyone who spends that little. You would have to spend almost twice the cost of your stethoscope every year and then donate it to the hospital to come close to what we spend. We don't ask doctors to set up Donors Choose projects to beg for money for hospital supplies, either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people are overstating the difficulty. I'm a special ed teacher, and right now its ESY online. I've been wearing a mask for part of the day, because I want my students to get used to seeing me that way. The kids still understand me, and I still understand them. I've been challenging my students to wear a mask, and they've done fine as well.

I agree. My husband is a restaurant manager and wears a mask for 10-12 hours a day, talks as much or more than I do, over loud music. The mask is not something I'm worried about when I return to the classroom. There may be some adjustment, just like when I started and needed to learn to project my voice a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are overstating the difficulty. I'm a special ed teacher, and right now its ESY online. I've been wearing a mask for part of the day, because I want my students to get used to seeing me that way. The kids still understand me, and I still understand them. I've been challenging my students to wear a mask, and they've done fine as well.

I agree. My husband is a restaurant manager and wears a mask for 10-12 hours a day, talks as much or more than I do, over loud music. The mask is not something I'm worried about when I return to the classroom. There may be some adjustment, just like when I started and needed to learn to project my voice a bit.

But for how long? How many other people are talking continuously for a good ten minutes or longer where they have to project their voices to be heard by someone in the back of the room, and it’s really important that those listening are able to clearly understand?

[Anonymous]

The unions should be advocating for PPE, social distancing, and vulnerable employees- not stay home until 14daysfree- I'd have more sympathy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The unions should be advocating for PPE, social distancing, and vulnerable employees- not stay home until 14daysfree- I'd have more sympathy

I'm scared to go back and probably will resign but I agree that 14 days is too high of a bar. I do feel like my district has provided reasonable PPE and social distancing guidelines. I just happen to work with a population that puts me at higher risk due to the number of adults in the room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The unions should be advocating for PPE, social distancing, and vulnerable employees- not stay home until 14daysfree- I'd have more sympathy

OP here. I agree with this. And masks for the kids I’m not happy that it doesn’t sound d like most districts plan on enforcing masks for the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The unions should be advocating for PPE, social distancing, and vulnerable employees- not stay home until 14daysfree- I'd have more sympathy

Very few unions are advocating for 14 days. Does that mean you support most unions? Or are you withholding your support for all teachers based on what a few are demanding?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The same way medical professionals and all other essential personnel have managed for months.

I truly don’t understand the commitment of some teachers to the idea that they are less capable than everyone else. It doesn’t instill confidence in their judgment as professionals.

+1

You can't complain about not being treated professionally when you don't behave like a professional.

+2

They do seem a bit "snowflakey", don't they.

But, hey, UNION!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teaching young students letters and sounds without seeing their mouths and they can't see mine?? Yikes. It's huge that they see what my mouth looks like when I make a letter sound, and that I can see theirs to check how they're forming their letter sounds. And learning to blend words ("r-u-g") with little masks on? This will be interesting to say the least. Not to mention students and teachers with hearing impairments that rely on lip-reading. Schools need to provide masks with clear plastic over the mouth, or face shields.

Here's the problem, and what I think people are responding to.

All we seem to be hearing from teachers is what's NOT possible. We can't do this, they can't do that. Okay. Fine.

But how are you going to solve the problem? Quit complaining, and figure out a solution. I mean, FFS, it's no wonder we suffer from a victim mentality in this country.

Ick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am also not buying a microphone and speaker for my class and figuring out how to rig that up with a mask on-just stop. I'm done with the expectation that teachers sacrifice money, time, their health, basic necessities like bathroom breaks-it's enough already. We need to stop coming to the rescue and let people see what their taxes actually fund. Period.

What DO our taxes actually fund? Because, as far as I know, there are a LOT of dollars that go into education. I would love to know why those dollars aren't working effectively and efficiently.

[Anonymous]

Teachers are the scapegoats for working parents who are struggling. God forbid we demand their employers be more reasonable or that 60 hour weeks aren’t required. Because capitalism I guess.


I work at a private school and we did DL right and can do again if needed. But no one is going to be buying me any PPE. Thanks to the poster who mentioned the Humanity Shield. I think it’s worth the price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are the scapegoats for working parents who are struggling. God forbid we demand their employers be more reasonable or that 60 hour weeks aren’t required. Because capitalism I guess.


I work at a private school and we did DL right and can do again if needed. But no one is going to be buying me any PPE. Thanks to the poster who mentioned the Humanity Shield. I think it’s worth the price.

Can you share what this looked like?

What, in your opinion, made it work?

I am one who believes that DL is not a bad option - but I do believe that it needs to be something different than I witnessed this spring in our public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are the scapegoats for working parents who are struggling. God forbid we demand their employers be more reasonable or that 60 hour weeks aren’t required. Because capitalism I guess.


I work at a private school and we did DL right and can do again if needed. But no one is going to be buying me any PPE. Thanks to the poster who mentioned the Humanity Shield. I think it’s worth the price.

Can you share what this looked like?

What, in your opinion, made it work?

I am one who believes that DL is not a bad option - but I do believe that it needs to be something different than I witnessed this spring in our public schools.

Well first of all, I teach HS, so I can’t speak to ES issues. We ran a full day schedule with shortened classes and adapted lessons to virtual space. I switched up my assessments to be more mastery based, allowing for edits, and developed essay questions with rubrics for efficiency. It’s good to use break out meeting spaces for students to work in small groups. No sane person wants an hour long lecture even in high school. I had students share responses with me via Google docs so I could monitor Group work in real time.

I’ve never taught in public school and I certainly wouldn’t want to be on zoom for 6 hours per day, but a modified live schedule with real grades works fine. Let’s face it....we have way too much virus to make in person school a reality right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am also not buying a microphone and speaker for my class and figuring out how to rig that up with a mask on-just stop. I'm done with the expectation that teachers sacrifice money, time, their health, basic necessities like bathroom breaks-it's enough already. We need to stop coming to the rescue and let people see what their taxes actually fund. Period.

What DO our taxes actually fund? Because, as far as I know, there are a LOT of dollars that go into education. I would love to know why those dollars aren't working effectively and efficiently.

Off the top of my head? Bus contracts (gas, renting or purchasing of buses, maintenance and repair, insurance, driver salaries), cafeteria (supplies, maintenance and repairs, the food itself-my district offers free lunch and breakfast to all students, cafeteria staff), janitorial contracts (staff and salary, cleaning supplies, overtime), heating/electricity/water/internet bills for the school buildings, support staff (front office, paraprofessionals), assistant principal(s) salary, principal salary, superintendent salary, deputy superintendent salary, teachers salaries, professional development, curriculum materials and curriculum training. Notice how quickly those things add up? This tally doesn't include a single classroom supply.
The people at the top make big salaries, too-many of them over $200,000 a year. THAT is the problem. Those people are not interested in education, by and large. Many of the administrators that I know spent very little time-sometimes just a single year-in the classroom. They don't interact with the kids, and they don't add value to our institutions.