APS Parent - incredibly disappointed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:as an APS teacher, I agree with you. I really hate that all parents have to preface everything with "I know teachers are working so hard" and "you are so amazing" so they don't come off as horrible and get beaten down by the crowd. distance learning sucks. I'm a HS teacher and hate that I am only allowed to be on camera with each class for 45 minutes twice a week (I'm not an AP teacher).

I am NOT familiar with elementary, so this next thought doesn't apply to younger grades, but I'm so fed up with secondary teachers saying they are working 15+ hour days and are such martyrs. they'd have to be ridiculously incompetent to need such long hours to transfer a class online that they've been teaching for years. I very much agree that some teachers are riding the DL train because they like working from home better (who doesn't?). I'm probably just jaded from reading too much AEM where parents have to bow down to teachers before asking a question, and then teachers jump down their throats about how parents are so privileged and don't care about the lives of teachers. eye roll. while it's not feasible this week due to rising numbers, I do believe we should be back in the classrooms (and should have been since september). DL doesn't work for many, MANY students. mine are suffering, mentally if not academically.

I don’t want to be mean and I sympathize with your general frustrations, but it doesn’t seem like you’re following the discussion well. OP says she doesn’t see teachers on screen much and so she suspects teachers are taking advantage of the DL system. Other commenters said that just because she doesn’t see the kids on screen doesn’t mean they are doing nothing and a few actual elementary teachers have kindly given a breakdown of what they do. . You’re not addressing any of that, you’re just saying that teachers are riding the DL train with no evidence except that some teachers are saying they’re working long hours and you (rightly) suspect they’re exaggerating. You didn’t refute anything and definitely didn’t show that people are jumping down OP’s throat. TBH I hope you teach STEM or something else that doesn’t deal with logic or writing.

the posters that always fall back on asking a person their leading of reading comprehension

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's face it, most of our kids will likely need to repeat whatever grade they are currently in.

APS has done a poor job with distance learning, and teachers need to step up and start thinking about how to support and brainstorm on what needs to get done to get back into the classroom, even part-time/hybrid.

To the best of my knowledge, from what I've seen, this is all coming from parents advocating for their children.

Where are the teacher voices here advocating for how to make classrooms and schools safe?

So now we teachers have ANOTHER job. We aren’t working hard enough, assessing enough, meeting small groups enough, on screen enough, advocating enough. IT’S NEVER ENOUGH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's face it, most of our kids will likely need to repeat whatever grade they are currently in.

APS has done a poor job with distance learning, and teachers need to step up and start thinking about how to support and brainstorm on what needs to get done to get back into the classroom, even part-time/hybrid.

To the best of my knowledge, from what I've seen, this is all coming from parents advocating for their children.

Where are the teacher voices here advocating for how to make classrooms and schools safe?

They are all too busy trying to make DL work. You also want them to advocate for your kids? JFC. Who are you people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's face it, most of our kids will likely need to repeat whatever grade they are currently in.

APS has done a poor job with distance learning, and teachers need to step up and start thinking about how to support and brainstorm on what needs to get done to get back into the classroom, even part-time/hybrid.

To the best of my knowledge, from what I've seen, this is all coming from parents advocating for their children.

Where are the teacher voices here advocating for how to make classrooms and schools safe?

They are all too busy trying to make DL work. You also want them to advocate for your kids? JFC. Who are you people?

Wow.. if you are a teacher, you chose the wrong career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's face it, most of our kids will likely need to repeat whatever grade they are currently in.

APS has done a poor job with distance learning, and teachers need to step up and start thinking about how to support and brainstorm on what needs to get done to get back into the classroom, even part-time/hybrid.

To the best of my knowledge, from what I've seen, this is all coming from parents advocating for their children.

Where are the teacher voices here advocating for how to make classrooms and schools safe?

They are all too busy trying to make DL work. You also want them to advocate for your kids? JFC. Who are you people?

"too busy trying to make DL work" - with all of Monday dedicated to planning, and several hours t-th (as OP mentioned, most teachers are online about 8 hours/week TOTAL). Seriously, this excuse needs to stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's 2.5 months into distance learning, and my husband and I are so disappointed with the APS elementary instruction. The "live" portion of instruction amounts to roughly 12 hours/week. Mondays are teacher workdays, Tues-Fri is 9-2:20 with more than half that time spent on breaks or independent learning. Even "live teacher reading" is recorded, along with minimal grading and interaction with the teacher. We have lots of respect teachers and maybe it's just our school, but we are fed-up with the minimal effort here. Add in the 2 days of additional asynchronous learning in November for preparing for hybrid learning that was cancelled, the amount of effort put forth for our child's education right now is dismal.

I'm sorry to write this, but I feel that "some" teachers are taking advantage of this situation and a very large proportion of these teachers are also hoping to remain with DL. Teachers should be considered essential workers and the hybrid model has to become a priority for early 2021.

If DL isn't working for your family, stop complaining and either switch to homeschool or private. Your "disappointed" thread is literally the 10th one just to day.

+1000
Don’t understand why there isn’t an outcry about using an app that has so many glitches that make us work harder and disrupts instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The ones who you think are “taking advantage” of the distance learning format were probably crappy teachers anyway. There are always people who are unmotivated and bad at their jobs. So yeah there is no connection to the amount of in-person time our kids get and the quality of the teacher.

Also when my child is doing independent work, the teacher is usually working in small groups with other kids. Just because you don’t see the teacher on the screen doesn’t mean the teacher isn’t working!

So one of my kids teachers JUST started small groups this week— and it’s only for math. She said at our conference that she had no evidence for determining his reading level or if he was meeting expectations for writing. That’s shocking! I get she’s overwhelmed but what reading instruction has my kid been getting for the past eight weeks?
There is such a discrepancy between schools that I don’t think you can really compare...

All APS elementary schools prioritized doing one on one reading evaluations and follow up evaluations with K students and then prioritizing by grade. And this year older kids starting in 3rd aren’t doing a PALs, they’re doing a different evaluation and in our school the 3rd graders started last week.

[Anonymous]

Are you guys really that worried about what *your* elementary school kids are not learning? I worry about kids with special needs or kids whose parents aren’t engaged, but the average child of a parent on this board? I don’t think my third-grader is exceptionally bright but I honestly think he could miss half the year and could easily learn all the material with a little help from me. Third grade just isn’t that hard. He’s working on division facts and the definition of a fact, not quadratic equations or the history of the enlightenment. I want him back in school so he’s not in front of a screen, so he can be with his friends, etc, but the academics aren’t a big deal at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you guys really that worried about what *your* elementary school kids are not learning? I worry about kids with special needs or kids whose parents aren’t engaged, but the average child of a parent on this board? I don’t think my third-grader is exceptionally bright but I honestly think he could miss half the year and could easily learn all the material with a little help from me. Third grade just isn’t that hard. He’s working on division facts and the definition of a fact, not quadratic equations or the history of the enlightenment. I want him back in school so he’s not in front of a screen, so he can be with his friends, etc, but the academics aren’t a big deal at all.

The difference is you have perspective and self awareness and some resilience. They do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's face it, most of our kids will likely need to repeat whatever grade they are currently in.

APS has done a poor job with distance learning, and teachers need to step up and start thinking about how to support and brainstorm on what needs to get done to get back into the classroom, even part-time/hybrid.

To the best of my knowledge, from what I've seen, this is all coming from parents advocating for their children.

Where are the teacher voices here advocating for how to make classrooms and schools safe?

They are all too busy trying to make DL work. You also want them to advocate for your kids? JFC. Who are you people?

Wow.. if you are a teacher, you chose the wrong career.

No, I’m a parent who sees how hard these teachers are working and it’s disgusting how some parents want to sh1t all over them.

Feel free to advocate for your kids. Don’t expect teachers to advocate for your position (which is only held by a minority of parents).

Most of all, leave the teachers alone. Don’t harass them during class. Don’t yell or curse at them. Stop being a nasty bully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's face it, most of our kids will likely need to repeat whatever grade they are currently in.

APS has done a poor job with distance learning, and teachers need to step up and start thinking about how to support and brainstorm on what needs to get done to get back into the classroom, even part-time/hybrid.

To the best of my knowledge, from what I've seen, this is all coming from parents advocating for their children.

Where are the teacher voices here advocating for how to make classrooms and schools safe?

They are all too busy trying to make DL work. You also want them to advocate for your kids? JFC. Who are you people?

"too busy trying to make DL work" - with all of Monday dedicated to planning, and several hours t-th (as OP mentioned, most teachers are online about 8 hours/week TOTAL). Seriously, this excuse needs to stop.

Teachers are busy *at least* the whole school day M-F and frequently into the evenings and weekends. A teacher has already detailed all of the work they do. Go read it again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's face it, most of our kids will likely need to repeat whatever grade they are currently in.

APS has done a poor job with distance learning, and teachers need to step up and start thinking about how to support and brainstorm on what needs to get done to get back into the classroom, even part-time/hybrid.

To the best of my knowledge, from what I've seen, this is all coming from parents advocating for their children.

Where are the teacher voices here advocating for how to make classrooms and schools safe?

They are all too busy trying to make DL work. You also want them to advocate for your kids? JFC. Who are you people?

"too busy trying to make DL work" - with all of Monday dedicated to planning, and several hours t-th (as OP mentioned, most teachers are online about 8 hours/week TOTAL). Seriously, this excuse needs to stop.

Teachers are busy *at least* the whole school day M-F and frequently into the evenings and weekends. A teacher has already detailed all of the work they do. Go read it again.

Not to mention many have their own kids at home and are trying to manage their DLing to some extent. You can't rely on babysitters to manage that 100%.

Or they may have childcare issues - one teacher friend we know had two babysitters fall through within a month. One turned out to be COVID positive and she couldn't get another sitter while their family was quarantining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's face it, most of our kids will likely need to repeat whatever grade they are currently in.

APS has done a poor job with distance learning, and teachers need to step up and start thinking about how to support and brainstorm on what needs to get done to get back into the classroom, even part-time/hybrid.

To the best of my knowledge, from what I've seen, this is all coming from parents advocating for their children.

Where are the teacher voices here advocating for how to make classrooms and schools safe?

They are all too busy trying to make DL work. You also want them to advocate for your kids? JFC. Who are you people?

"too busy trying to make DL work" - with all of Monday dedicated to planning, and several hours t-th (as OP mentioned, most teachers are online about 8 hours/week TOTAL). Seriously, this excuse needs to stop.

Teachers are busy *at least* the whole school day M-F and frequently into the evenings and weekends. A teacher has already detailed all of the work they do. Go read it again.

Not to mention many have their own kids at home and are trying to manage their DLing to some extent. You can't rely on babysitters to manage that 100%.

Or they may have childcare issues - one teacher friend we know had two babysitters fall through within a month. One turned out to be COVID positive and she couldn't get another sitter while their family was quarantining.

Yes. Lots of fury on DCUM about what working parents are doing right now. Most teachers are working parents too... we are just as overwhelmed as you are and the entire community doesn’t hate you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you guys really that worried about what *your* elementary school kids are not learning? I worry about kids with special needs or kids whose parents aren’t engaged, but the average child of a parent on this board? I don’t think my third-grader is exceptionally bright but I honestly think he could miss half the year and could easily learn all the material with a little help from me. Third grade just isn’t that hard. He’s working on division facts and the definition of a fact, not quadratic equations or the history of the enlightenment. I want him back in school so he’s not in front of a screen, so he can be with his friends, etc, but the academics aren’t a big deal at all.

The difference is you have perspective and self awareness and some resilience. They do not.

Amen. I wish my kids were able to be back in school too. But I recognize that the obstacles to doing that are real and that my kids will survive either way. Kids with difficult learning or emotional issues or parents who must work outside the home have my support in trying to get their kids into school. The rest are just self absorbed folks who need to gain some perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's face it, most of our kids will likely need to repeat whatever grade they are currently in.

APS has done a poor job with distance learning, and teachers need to step up and start thinking about how to support and brainstorm on what needs to get done to get back into the classroom, even part-time/hybrid.

To the best of my knowledge, from what I've seen, this is all coming from parents advocating for their children.

Where are the teacher voices here advocating for how to make classrooms and schools safe?

They are all too busy trying to make DL work. You also want them to advocate for your kids? JFC. Who are you people?

"too busy trying to make DL work" - with all of Monday dedicated to planning, and several hours t-th (as OP mentioned, most teachers are online about 8 hours/week TOTAL). Seriously, this excuse needs to stop.

Teachers are busy *at least* the whole school day M-F and frequently into the evenings and weekends. A teacher has already detailed all of the work they do. Go read it again.

Not to mention many have their own kids at home and are trying to manage their DLing to some extent. You can't rely on babysitters to manage that 100%.

Or they may have childcare issues - one teacher friend we know had two babysitters fall through within a month. One turned out to be COVID positive and she couldn't get another sitter while their family was quarantining.

Yes. Lots of fury on DCUM about what working parents are doing right now. Most teachers are working parents too... we are just as overwhelmed as you are and the entire community doesn’t hate you

The entire community does NOT hate teachers. It's only a small number of LOUD, ignorant bullies.