No feedback from teachers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: And it’s an unacceptable solution. Teachers need to grade properly and give feedback. Period.

You either didn't read the whole thread, or you are simply not paying attention. We can't grade the way we used to, for all the reasons mentioned previously. Grading IS being done "properly." Feedback IS being given. It's just being done different than when you went to school.

You don't have to agree with the way it's being done, but that's the way is IS now. So...kids (and parents, if necessary) need to be more proactive about asking questions in class, or getting to that study hall, or making that appointment with the teacher, to get feedback.

+1, education has changed. Whether parents like it or not is not relevant. Parents and students need to work within the new structure/parameters.

[Anonymous]

What exactly are teachers accountable for then, if not educating students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are teachers accountable for then, if not educating students?

We're accountable to our employer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are teachers accountable for then, if not educating students?

We're accountable to our employer.

So it's about keeping FCPS administration happy, kids education be damned?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are teachers accountable for then, if not educating students?

We're accountable to our employer.

So it's about keeping FCPS administration happy, kids education be damned?

No, but you asked who we're accountable to, and it's our employer, same as anyone else. We complete our tasks as directed and if there is an issue with compliance, our manager will surely let us know.

You are not our manager. You also won't get me with this martyr complex.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are teachers accountable for then, if not educating students?

We're accountable to our employer.

So it's about keeping FCPS administration happy, kids education be damned?

No, but you asked who we're accountable to, and it's our employer, same as anyone else. We complete our tasks as directed and if there is an issue with compliance, our manager will surely let us know.

You are not our manager. You also won't get me with this martyr complex.

I asked what teachers can be held accountable for, you changed it to accountable to. Which suggests teachers see the job not in terms of goals to accomplish, but people to keep happy. And it's not a martyr complex, it's introspection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are teachers accountable for then, if not educating students?

We're accountable to our employer.

So it's about keeping FCPS administration happy, kids education be damned?

No, but you asked who we're accountable to, and it's our employer, same as anyone else. We complete our tasks as directed and if there is an issue with compliance, our manager will surely let us know.

You are not our manager. You also won't get me with this martyr complex.

I asked what teachers can be held accountable for, you changed it to accountable to. Which suggests teachers see the job not in terms of goals to accomplish, but people to keep happy. And it's not a martyr complex, it's introspection.

Sure, I wish I could have time to give detailed feedback on each test and essay but that isn't conducive to a healthy work/life balance. My students have gone on to do great things despite my "not caring" about them so I'm not too worried. And I see my job in terms of goals to accomplish, many of which are set by our employer, who yes, we do need to keep happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are teachers accountable for then, if not educating students?

We're accountable to our employer.

So it's about keeping FCPS administration happy, kids education be damned?

No, but you asked who we're accountable to, and it's our employer, same as anyone else. We complete our tasks as directed and if there is an issue with compliance, our manager will surely let us know.

You are not our manager. You also won't get me with this martyr complex.

I asked what teachers can be held accountable for, you changed it to accountable to. Which suggests teachers see the job not in terms of goals to accomplish, but people to keep happy. And it's not a martyr complex, it's introspection.

Sure, I wish I could have time to give detailed feedback on each test and essay but that isn't conducive to a healthy work/life balance. My students have gone on to do great things despite my "not caring" about them so I'm not too worried. And I see my job in terms of goals to accomplish, many of which are set by our employer, who yes, we do need to keep happy.

You're prioritizing other things. Understood.

[Anonymous]

Teachers are educating students, just not in the ways that some parents on this thread like.

Agree with the poster that things are different now in education. Teachers and students are adapting, it is time that the parents do as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are teachers accountable for then, if not educating students?

I don't know why I thought of this, and it's off topic a bit, but for some reason, my mind turned the topic to:

"What are parents accountable for then, if not raising their children?"

Some kids turn out well - whatever "well" is - and some don't. Some teachers blame parents, and some parents can blame teachers, if/when the kid makes wrong decisions. I think that both parents and teachers try their best to do their job, through changing times, philosophies, and circumstances, and that kids will either accept and make the most of the opportunities they are given, or not.

You do the job and hope for the best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sucks. The reality is what you want is not unreasonable except for the amount of students teachers have makes it really hard to do that. They can’t go over test answers as a class because unfortunately kids get endless retakes so they’d just be giving test answers out and then kids would ask to retake the test with them. They can’t grade homework as summative. Essays, I agree, ideally they get feedback- for my students, I give a grade and then offer them the ability to schedule a conference with me during their study hall or before or after school to discuss the grade and provide feedback. This would enable me to target specific feedback to the kids who really want it rather than expending hours giving it to kids who don’t read it. Nobody has ever taken me up on that though so I do think it’s worth considering you the parent might want the feedback more than the kid, which I get, but which won’t ultimately matter. They have to be the one to want it in order to actually apply it.

Another HS teacher... +100

Students have an open invitation to go over assignments/essays/tests me with during LS or in an after school appointment. Only 2-3 of them have opted to do so this year.

My DS meets with teachers, but frequently he has conflicts with needing to meet with other teachers. For example, his Physics teacher has labs going on for the two weeks of AP exams. If you miss the lab, have to make it up. He’s in the middle of making up labs right now, but also needs to meet with his AP Hist teacher on something as well as the CS teacher for help on an assignment.

Thankfully his English teacher did give written feedback on a recent assignment so no need for an extra meeting. Plus he’s a bus rider. Only pointing out that it’s not that easy for these kids to meet with all the teachers that require teacher meetings to gather their feedback. Sometimes the kids have to prioritize teacher meetings and meeting to collect feedback falls to the bottom

English teacher here. Please show some appreciation to that teacher for the written feedback. That teacher had to do it at home on their own time.

I’m an English teacher. My alarm is already set for 5:30am tomorrow (Saturday) so I can grade essays. I’ll probably spend 10-12 hours this weekend grading essays. That’s on top of planning for next week, another 2-4 hours.

All this arguing about feedback? Teachers aren’t given time at work to actually do it. We are teaching. All feedback is done at home. A high school English teacher can regularly work 65+ hours a week, mostly because of feedback.

Please thank that teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are teachers accountable for then, if not educating students?

We're accountable to our employer.

So it's about keeping FCPS administration happy, kids education be damned?

No, but you asked who we're accountable to, and it's our employer, same as anyone else. We complete our tasks as directed and if there is an issue with compliance, our manager will surely let us know.

You are not our manager. You also won't get me with this martyr complex.

I asked what teachers can be held accountable for, you changed it to accountable to. Which suggests teachers see the job not in terms of goals to accomplish, but people to keep happy. And it's not a martyr complex, it's introspection.

Sure, I wish I could have time to give detailed feedback on each test and essay but that isn't conducive to a healthy work/life balance. My students have gone on to do great things despite my "not caring" about them so I'm not too worried. And I see my job in terms of goals to accomplish, many of which are set by our employer, who yes, we do need to keep happy.

You're prioritizing other things. Understood.

We are prioritizing whatever our employer tells us to - and grading has never been high on the list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are teachers accountable for then, if not educating students?

We're accountable to our employer.

So it's about keeping FCPS administration happy, kids education be damned?

No, but you asked who we're accountable to, and it's our employer, same as anyone else. We complete our tasks as directed and if there is an issue with compliance, our manager will surely let us know.

You are not our manager. You also won't get me with this martyr complex.

I asked what teachers can be held accountable for, you changed it to accountable to. Which suggests teachers see the job not in terms of goals to accomplish, but people to keep happy. And it's not a martyr complex, it's introspection.

Sure, I wish I could have time to give detailed feedback on each test and essay but that isn't conducive to a healthy work/life balance. My students have gone on to do great things despite my "not caring" about them so I'm not too worried. And I see my job in terms of goals to accomplish, many of which are set by our employer, who yes, we do need to keep happy.

You're prioritizing other things. Understood.

We are prioritizing whatever our employer tells us to - and grading has never been high on the list.

Which is astonishing considering there can be no learning without direct, individualized feedback (which is what grading is). How on earth are children supposed to know what they are doing incorrectly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are teachers accountable for then, if not educating students?

We're accountable to our employer.

So it's about keeping FCPS administration happy, kids education be damned?

No, but you asked who we're accountable to, and it's our employer, same as anyone else. We complete our tasks as directed and if there is an issue with compliance, our manager will surely let us know.

You are not our manager. You also won't get me with this martyr complex.

I asked what teachers can be held accountable for, you changed it to accountable to. Which suggests teachers see the job not in terms of goals to accomplish, but people to keep happy. And it's not a martyr complex, it's introspection.

Sure, I wish I could have time to give detailed feedback on each test and essay but that isn't conducive to a healthy work/life balance. My students have gone on to do great things despite my "not caring" about them so I'm not too worried. And I see my job in terms of goals to accomplish, many of which are set by our employer, who yes, we do need to keep happy.

You're prioritizing other things. Understood.

We are prioritizing whatever our employer tells us to - and grading has never been high on the list.

Which is astonishing considering there can be no learning without direct, individualized feedback (which is what grading is). How on earth are children supposed to know what they are doing incorrectly?

I’m the teacher who posted above. We receive no time during our workdays to actually provide individualized feedback. It’s expected that we spend our nights and weekends doing that.

I don’t mind working outside contract hours. I do mind that it is expected that I do it every day and every weekend.

If we want feedback to be part of a student’s school experience, as it should be, then we need to provide teachers work time to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are teachers accountable for then, if not educating students?

We're accountable to our employer.

So it's about keeping FCPS administration happy, kids education be damned?

No, but you asked who we're accountable to, and it's our employer, same as anyone else. We complete our tasks as directed and if there is an issue with compliance, our manager will surely let us know.

You are not our manager. You also won't get me with this martyr complex.

I asked what teachers can be held accountable for, you changed it to accountable to. Which suggests teachers see the job not in terms of goals to accomplish, but people to keep happy. And it's not a martyr complex, it's introspection.

Sure, I wish I could have time to give detailed feedback on each test and essay but that isn't conducive to a healthy work/life balance. My students have gone on to do great things despite my "not caring" about them so I'm not too worried. And I see my job in terms of goals to accomplish, many of which are set by our employer, who yes, we do need to keep happy.

You're prioritizing other things. Understood.

We are prioritizing whatever our employer tells us to - and grading has never been high on the list.

Which is astonishing considering there can be no learning without direct, individualized feedback (which is what grading is). How on earth are children supposed to know what they are doing incorrectly?

I’m the teacher who posted above. We receive no time during our workdays to actually provide individualized feedback. It’s expected that we spend our nights and weekends doing that.

I don’t mind working outside contract hours. I do mind that it is expected that I do it every day and every weekend.

If we want feedback to be part of a student’s school experience, as it should be, then we need to provide teachers work time to do it.

Who is we? As has been pointed out here, I'm not a teacher's boss or manager. I can't give teachers that time. It has to come from admin, and clearly it's not going to. That leaves me to hope that my child gets a teacher who will cuts corner on other duties in order to educate my child properly. And if I express dismay at this situation, I'm admonished for not being supportive of teachers. I give up. No wonder the education system is in shambles. Good luck to us all.