demoralized in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:pp, you nailed it. Add to the list the Focus teachers who practically have no set schedule, as well as the ESOL people who change their very small group student contact time as they wish because of “meetings” , only to go inside their rooms and work on their side hassles.

Sorry that has been your experience but I'm an elementary ESOL teacher and I've never worked with any ESOL teachers like that. If anything we tend to get less planning than classroom teachers because ours isn't protected and we are often asked to cover classrooms without subs, recess or the cafeteria during our planning time. We attend extended team planning for multiple teams but that counts as most of our planning time for the week. Please let me know where you work--I'd love to make the switch! But what PP described about the 3 specialists is also accurate in my building.

I’m an ESOL teacher and I have to attend four team meetings per week plus our ESOL meeting. Add in some SST meetings and IEP meetings and some district ESOL meetings. I’d love to teach more but I a man required to go to all of these meetings and no, I can’t skip them and do my own thing in my classroom/closet. This is all if I am not being pulled to sub for teachers who aren’t there that day.

[Anonymous]

The dynamic is flawed when kids don't have consequences and grades are to be inflated at all costs. This teaches the kids that their misbehavior is fine and even if they are severely subpar they are still get perfect gpas. So kids adopt worse behavior and put in even less effort because as humans they test limits. What are the results? No consequences and perfect gpas. This is teaching kids it's ok to be lack luster, idiotic criminals. As this is all going down teachers have more paper work, less tools to teach with, less structure to aide instruction, less budget, more admin making sure you play ball, making sure you don't strive to fix the problems and actually teach and if you talk back or question - fired or bullied to quitting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:pp, you nailed it. Add to the list the Focus teachers who practically have no set schedule, as well as the ESOL people who change their very small group student contact time as they wish because of “meetings” , only to go inside their rooms and work on their side hassles.

We have the same scenario in our school where the above mentioned teachers come and go as they please knowing very well that the principal has their back; as for others, it’s a mixed bag. One teacher went on a trip during the winter break and took a combined 8 days of sick and personal days off while another person Was denied 5 days of lines in family and was told to fill out Family and Medical leave. The union contract uses the term “you may be granted” so most things are in a grey zone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:pp, you nailed it. Add to the list the Focus teachers who practically have no set schedule, as well as the ESOL people who change their very small group student contact time as they wish because of “meetings” , only to go inside their rooms and work on their side hassles.

We have the same scenario in our school where the above mentioned teachers come and go as they please knowing very well that the principal has their back; as for others, it’s a mixed bag. One teacher went on a trip during the winter break and took a combined 8 days of sick and personal days off while another person Was denied 5 days of lines in family and was told to fill out Family and Medical leave. The union contract uses the term “you may be granted” so most things are in a grey zone.

To be fair, separate paperwork needs to be filled out for 5 or more consecutive days of personal illness or illness in family. Once that 5th consecutive day hits it's mandatory. It involves paperwork filled out by a doctor and filed with ERSC. It's not difficult.

In my building we also have staff members in the principal's inner circle who go on vacation all the time and the leave is approved (and the teacher posts on social media where she is and is FB friends with the principal) but yet other staff members leave requests for things like family weddings are denied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:pp, you nailed it. Add to the list the Focus teachers who practically have no set schedule, as well as the ESOL people who change their very small group student contact time as they wish because of “meetings” , only to go inside their rooms and work on their side hassles.

We have the same scenario in our school where the above mentioned teachers come and go as they please knowing very well that the principal has their back; as for others, it’s a mixed bag. One teacher went on a trip during the winter break and took a combined 8 days of sick and personal days off while another person Was denied 5 days of lines in family and was told to fill out Family and Medical leave. The union contract uses the term “you may be granted” so most things are in a grey zone.

To be fair, separate paperwork needs to be filled out for 5 or more consecutive days of personal illness or illness in family. Once that 5th consecutive day hits it's mandatory. It involves paperwork filled out by a doctor and filed with ERSC. It's not difficult.

In my building we also have staff members in the principal's inner circle who go on vacation all the time and the leave is approved (and the teacher posts on social media where she is and is FB friends with the principal) but yet other staff members leave requests for things like family weddings are denied.

+1. From the ERSC website: If you are applying for personal illness or illness in family leave for 5 days or more, you will also need to submit MCPS Form 440-35 to ERSC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:pp, you nailed it. Add to the list the Focus teachers who practically have no set schedule, as well as the ESOL people who change their very small group student contact time as they wish because of “meetings” , only to go inside their rooms and work on their side hassles.

Sorry that has been your experience but I'm an elementary ESOL teacher and I've never worked with any ESOL teachers like that. If anything we tend to get less planning than classroom teachers because ours isn't protected and we are often asked to cover classrooms without subs, recess or the cafeteria during our planning time. We attend extended team planning for multiple teams but that counts as most of our planning time for the week. Please let me know where you work--I'd love to make the switch! But what PP described about the 3 specialists is also accurate in my building.

I’m an ESOL teacher and I have to attend four team meetings per week plus our ESOL meeting. Add in some SST meetings and IEP meetings and some district ESOL meetings. I’d love to teach more but I a man required to go to all of these meetings and no, I can’t skip them and do my own thing in my classroom/closet. This is all if I am not being pulled to sub for teachers who aren’t there that day.

ESOL in ES is different from ESOL at the secondary level, I imagine. While the ESOL teachers at my former HS had smaller classes - especially METS courses - they worked very hard.

How does ESOL work at the ES level?

I know of two ES ESOL teachers who aren't anchored to any courses; they do pull outs all day long. One works in a very challenging school with quite a few ESOL kids; the other one is at an "easier" school with very few students.

Are pull outs the norm? If so, I can see how ESOL ES teachers would be used in other capacities.

[Anonymous]

How does ESOL work in elementary? The short answer is: it doesn’t. The amount of testing—much of it one-on-one—is extremely time-consuming. ESOL teachers don’t have the time they need to actually teach. Yet, the POWERS THAT BE wonder why we can’t close the “achievement gap.” Jack Smith drank the Kool-Aid long ago on testing. He thinks more and more and more data is the answer to everything. But, to have any real value, the gathered data needs to be analyzed by those who are doing the teaching and, at least at the elementary level, there is just not enough time to do the analysis.

I’m not anti-data, but NOBODY asks teachers what they need to adequately analyze student performance. Jack Smith hasn’t taught full-time in a classroom for decades. He has no idea what a time suck testing has become. He has no idea what it is like to be a teacher today. None. He’s in way over his head, so he does what incompetent “leaders” always do...commission another study, issue another report with your “vision” for the future, repeat nice-sounding, but ultimately meaningless phrases like “All Means All” and then, when results don’t materialize, blame teachers for not being “invested enough” in their students.

He needs to go, but he won’t because the BOE is complicit in the disrespect of teachers. Smith leads them by the nose. They wring their hands over the many “challenges” teachers and students face, but lack the courage to ask for the resources needed to address the needs. Pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Those who work closely with him will tell you Dr. Smith is a screamer. He loses his cool with adults. He’s disrespectful.

[Anonymous]

ESOL teacher here. I work in an ES and i do both push-in and pull-out. I spend weeks testing my students for our annual ESOL testing. I also have to do small group PARCC (or whatever new acronym they are using now) testing. Then I also have to support teachers I work with doing their testing which is every few weeks (DIBELS and TRC). I am a tester first and a teacher second. Not my choice but the alternative is being out of compliance with IEPs that have small group testing and not getting any teaching done (the classroom teachers) because they have to stop and progress monitor students every few weeks. Every day I am asked “Are you done testing?” by my students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ESOL teacher here. I work in an ES and i do both push-in and pull-out. I spend weeks testing my students for our annual ESOL testing. I also have to do small group PARCC (or whatever new acronym they are using now) testing. Then I also have to support teachers I work with doing their testing which is every few weeks (DIBELS and TRC). I am a tester first and a teacher second. Not my choice but the alternative is being out of compliance with IEPs that have small group testing and not getting any teaching done (the classroom teachers) because they have to stop and progress monitor students every few weeks. Every day I am asked “Are you done testing?” by my students.

Accountability is hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those who work closely with him will tell you Dr. Smith is a screamer. He loses his cool with adults. He’s disrespectful.

Posting this without any evidence seems kind of wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The dynamic is flawed when kids don't have consequences and grades are to be inflated at all costs. This teaches the kids that their misbehavior is fine and even if they are severely subpar they are still get perfect gpas. So kids adopt worse behavior and put in even less effort because as humans they test limits. What are the results? No consequences and perfect gpas. This is teaching kids it's ok to be lack luster, idiotic criminals. As this is all going down teachers have more paper work, less tools to teach with, less structure to aide instruction, less budget, more admin making sure you play ball, making sure you don't strive to fix the problems and actually teach and if you talk back or question - fired or bullied to quitting.

OMG the sky is falling!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The dynamic is flawed when kids don't have consequences and grades are to be inflated at all costs. This teaches the kids that their misbehavior is fine and even if they are severely subpar they are still get perfect gpas. So kids adopt worse behavior and put in even less effort because as humans they test limits. What are the results? No consequences and perfect gpas. This is teaching kids it's ok to be lack luster, idiotic criminals. As this is all going down teachers have more paper work, less tools to teach with, less structure to aide instruction, less budget, more admin making sure you play ball, making sure you don't strive to fix the problems and actually teach and if you talk back or question - fired or bullied to quitting.

OMG the sky is falling!

You need a new line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ESOL teacher here. I work in an ES and i do both push-in and pull-out. I spend weeks testing my students for our annual ESOL testing. I also have to do small group PARCC (or whatever new acronym they are using now) testing. Then I also have to support teachers I work with doing their testing which is every few weeks (DIBELS and TRC). I am a tester first and a teacher second. Not my choice but the alternative is being out of compliance with IEPs that have small group testing and not getting any teaching done (the classroom teachers) because they have to stop and progress monitor students every few weeks. Every day I am asked “Are you done testing?” by my students.

Accountability is hard.

If you believe that this is an issue of teacher accountability you are completely misunderstanding the discussion. Anyone, in any profession, must have the time necessary to do their job. Judging somebody on their performance is important. However, if an ESOL teacher is going to be held responsibile for teaching a curriculum, but is then not given enough time to teach it, because so much time is consumed with testing, holding them “accountable” for delivering that curriculum is absurd.

That’s like filling a sink full of dirty pots and pans, telling a dishwasher he has 15 minutes to get them all clean, but then telling him he also has to sweep the floors and clean the stove. If doing the floors and stove takes 10 minutes, there are going to be some dirty dishes left in the sink when time runs out, despite the dishwasher’s best efforts. Not taking the floors and stove into consideration when holding the dishwasher “accountable” skews the picture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ESOL teacher here. I work in an ES and i do both push-in and pull-out. I spend weeks testing my students for our annual ESOL testing. I also have to do small group PARCC (or whatever new acronym they are using now) testing. Then I also have to support teachers I work with doing their testing which is every few weeks (DIBELS and TRC). I am a tester first and a teacher second. Not my choice but the alternative is being out of compliance with IEPs that have small group testing and not getting any teaching done (the classroom teachers) because they have to stop and progress monitor students every few weeks. Every day I am asked “Are you done testing?” by my students.

Accountability is hard.

If you believe that this is an issue of teacher accountability you are completely misunderstanding the discussion. Anyone, in any profession, must have the time necessary to do their job. Judging somebody on their performance is important. However, if an ESOL teacher is going to be held responsibile for teaching a curriculum, but is then not given enough time to teach it, because so much time is consumed with testing, holding them “accountable” for delivering that curriculum is absurd.

That’s like filling a sink full of dirty pots and pans, telling a dishwasher he has 15 minutes to get them all clean, but then telling him he also has to sweep the floors and clean the stove. If doing the floors and stove takes 10 minutes, there are going to be some dirty dishes left in the sink when time runs out, despite the dishwasher’s best efforts. Not taking the floors and stove into consideration when holding the dishwasher “accountable” skews the picture.

Could they simply limit testing to beginning middle and end or jus middle and end of the year?