Anyone have kids with teachers that are being really demanding right now?

[Anonymous]

My son is in 5th grade and his teacher is assigning book reports and projects left and right. He just turned in a project which was a PowerPoint on a topic of his choice and she critiqued the hell out of it and he got a 70% on the project. I read the rubric and we made sure each part of the rubric was met, but she had a lot to say that was wrong with it.

She has also assigned a group project which isn’t working too well because they are doing it over video chat and unable to meet up in person. On top of these projects he is assigned up to 40 math problems from the textbook per night which must be done on loose leaf and scanned into the system. Last week they had an assignment for science which had over 50 questions and on Friday, she told the students that she felt like they had worked in groups on the project and this is effectively cheating so she wouldn’t accept it and is assigning a new packet of science questions from the several chapters that they must answer.

Does this sound normal or is it a bit much??

[Anonymous]

Parents are either accusing teachers of not working enough or too much. Can’t please everyone.

[Anonymous]

As a teacher, understand, those of us who back off get parents mad we are getting paid for “not doing” anything. They say we are getting a paycheck and not working. If we do assign work and say it’s optional and ungraded, some parents think we are being demanding. We have to take one approach, what our school tell us - you the families can decide how much or how little of it works for you to do.

[Anonymous]

I would try to speak personally w/your son’s teacher 👩🏻‍🏫 & get her reasoning.

If you still are not satisfied, perhaps send an email to the school principal.

Good luck‼️

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, understand, those of us who back off get parents mad we are getting paid for “not doing” anything. They say we are getting a paycheck and not working. If we do assign work and say it’s optional and ungraded, some parents think we are being demanding. We have to take one approach, what our school tell us - you the families can decide how much or how little of it works for you to do.

This.

We are never going to please 100% of parents. I have to do what my principal expects. He seems to be listening to the parents who want more and not less, but he also has pressure from the district regarding limits on how much can be assigned.

[Anonymous]

So our good teachers pre-quarantine have been amazing during covid. Absolutely amazing. I say gratitudes every day for them.

But OP - we are experiencing the same types of things with some of the not so good teachers. So are our friends and we are frustrated . Teachers giving huge amounts of busy work for young middle schoolers, grading harshly for an assignment beyond reason finding every little thing even with unclear instructions , sending unprofessional emails to kids and parents, accusing of cheating, the list goes on. Maybe it’s pressure from the school (privates in particular), maybe it’s stress of covid. I’m trying the best to help my kid see what is reasonable and what is not. I praise the great teachers everyday. If kids are in middle school, at least grades don’t count. When it happens at high school and the school has policy grades count, it’s really unfortunate. I am friends with a school administrator and they are seeing the same thing - the good teachers are doing great - but the divide has become wider

[Anonymous]

Is this private school? My mcps 4th And 6th grader’s don’t get that much.

[Anonymous]

This is too much.

Is it required? Is this public or private?

[Anonymous]

I agree it’s probably impossible to please all of the parents. Our private school has a good approach - encouraging students to focus on the basics, math and language arts; also provides assignments in social studies, science, specials; and an optional enrichment packet for those who want to do more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is in 5th grade and his teacher is assigning book reports and projects left and right. He just turned in a project which was a PowerPoint on a topic of his choice and she critiqued the hell out of it and he got a 70% on the project. I read the rubric and we made sure each part of the rubric was met, but she had a lot to say that was wrong with it.

She has also assigned a group project which isn’t working too well because they are doing it over video chat and unable to meet up in person. On top of these projects he is assigned up to 40 math problems from the textbook per night which must be done on loose leaf and scanned into the system. Last week they had an assignment for science which had over 50 questions and on Friday, she told the students that she felt like they had worked in groups on the project and this is effectively cheating so she wouldn’t accept it and is assigning a new packet of science questions from the several chapters that they must answer.

Does this sound normal or is it a bit much??

I'm completely ignoring school. I paid attention and seen the assignments are useless and a waste of time.

My kid has been left to his own devices. If they finish they finish. If they don't they don't. If the teacher needs some dub assignment finishes she can email me.

I have my kids going to the math center 2xs a week, we are doing sentence diagramming at home, I'm having them read quality literature and discussing with them, and they are watching 1.5hrs of history and science documentaries a day.

The content at school is pathetic.

[Anonymous]

That sounds like way too much, op. My kids are in dcps and both have a lot, but not that much. Sounds like it’s this teacher’s thing to be a hard ass. We have one2nd grade teacher who’s asking Aton in terms of 4 different apps. My child had done some but not all and had mistakenly completed the wrong units in one of the apps. Teacher gave her a zero. It was frustratingly because my daughter is a perfectionist when it comes to homework and I was the one who told her just do some, it’s too much screen time and rite apps *it was driving her crazy too). But when she got the zero I had her sit on my lap and we knocked out all the missing units in one sitting, with me typing. It was just too much for a 7 year old. Ugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, understand, those of us who back off get parents mad we are getting paid for “not doing” anything. They say we are getting a paycheck and not working. If we do assign work and say it’s optional and ungraded, some parents think we are being demanding. We have to take one approach, what our school tell us - you the families can decide how much or how little of it works for you to do.

This.

We are never going to please 100% of parents. I have to do what my principal expects. He seems to be listening to the parents who want more and not less, but he also has pressure from the district regarding limits on how much can be assigned.

Oh please. If you are a decent teacher you have a good understanding of child development and what is reasonable and what is over the top. Such defensiveness.

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher and I think there's a couple of things that could be happening here. The first possibility is that the school is requiring it and the teachers are being pressured by the principal. Reach out to some parents with kids in other classes, and not just fifth grade if you can. If those parents are reporting the same type of experience then the problem is with the school's administration.
Another possibility is that this teacher is being pressured by other parents in the class, or maybe even just one loudmouth, and she can't stand up for herself so the whole class is suffering.
Of course, it's also possible that the teacher is controlling and possibly unreasonable. She might get results from this type of perfectionism and criticism in the classroom and she can't turn that off now that the school has switched to remote learning. If that's the case, you need to share your concerns with her first and then move up the chain of command if necessary. I have two colleagues in my grade level and one of them really isn't managing the switch to remote learning well at all. She is doing way more than any other teacher in the school and is probably driving some of the parents crazy. The other colleague and I have tried to explain to her that we don't know what families are dealing with now and we're not treating every day like a real school day but she just can't/won't 'get it'. A nicely worded email from one of her parents might get through to her, though. If not, then an email from our principal detailing realistic expectations would.
I believe that all teachers are doing what they can in a totally unexpected situation that developed very suddenly. I didn't even know that my last day with my students was my last day with students! But we need to be reasonable and your son's situation doesn't sound reasonable.

[Anonymous]

With distance learning I have a lot more time for grading so I’m providing more specific feedback than usual on work. I’m not grading any harder, but may seem harder because of the volume of comments, but this is a good opportunity to help students improve things that might be overlooked when grading 50 essays during my planning vs during hours of office hours that students may not show up for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents are either accusing teachers of not working enough or too much. Can’t please everyone.

DP. Assigning big projects is a cop out. It doesn’t take the teacher any time at all. Much easier than actually teaching something.