Reply to Why does my kid's school have SO MANY 'professional days'?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Teachers don’t decide how Wednesday is handled.  So stop blaming them.
It’s like yelling at a store clerk for the hours of the store[/quote]

Ok, we aren't yelling at anyone but the void on DCUM.

But should teachers be advocating their administrators to provide more classtime for students, given they are the experts in education and that they know that DL is hurting kids' educational progress?  It just seems like if they care about kids' education, they'd....do something about the fact that it's shitty right now.

I don't get how they are just passive observers here.

(Although I understand that some teachers are using Wednesdays to help with education, so my hearty thanks to them.)[/quote]

I think it often gets lost that the amount of time spent teaching is not the same as the amount of time spent working. Professional development exists in most professions. Many people are required to do PD hours but not compensated for them. As someone in that situation (where I have to pay for the continuing education required for my profession AND take time off to get that education or figure out where in my life I can fit a 6-hour webinar outside work hours), I think it is pretty great that teachers receive a lot of PD at school and are generally compensated for it. As a parent, I understand the frustration and agree that it's even more ridiculous now since they're doing a lot (A LOT) less in person teaching. But it would also be pretty ridiculous to pretend that lesson planning and reviewing student work and responding to parent contacts are not also parts of the job of teacher. Those things take time. I do not personally feel comfortable saying that they should also be advocating for kids to return to school ASAP in addition to the things they are already doing.

I think it would be wrong to say that teachers are passive observers here. Teachers are people. They are dealing with the same public health and professional crisis that we are all dealing with. Many of them also have children and are dealing with the same frustrations related to parenting and distance learning that the rest of us are dealing with - except their "conference call" is with our kids. Expecting them to advocate for policy changes and suggesting that they're not doing anything to try to make distance learning not be shitty for everyone seems pretty unfair. Are you expected to do that in your profession? I am not. If I wanted to be an advocate for my profession or the people it serves, I would have chosen an advocacy job. I'd imagine that teachers who want to change education policy (e.g., fewer PD days) would stop teaching in the classroom and start doing education advocacy at an organization that is focused on that.

I'm not a teacher and I think the union handled things extremely poorly before anyone tries to tell me that I'm some kind of shill. It is easy to get lost in our own frustration about a frustrating situation and forget that the teachers we are frustrated with are dealing with the same struggles we are, often with the same structural constraints everyone working from home has. [/quote]

+1 to all of this.

I don't love PD days.  But the teachers usually all have to do the same training, so it makes sense that it's during the workday.  At my job, I can do my PD during the day, and it's often employer-provided, so that it's tailored to our duties.  Seems reasonable to me.

And my kid's teachers are working really hard.  They are not just popping in a video -- they are preparing lessons that can be taught using simulcast technology, learning how to teach to kids in the classroom and at home at the same time.  They are consistently prepared and organized, and just as frustrated at the technological problems as we are.  They are obviously dedicated and care about their students.  They aren't the union, or district management, and have pretty limited say in what happens.  I will say that they are clearly happy to be back in person, although it's causing it's own stresses.  I'd imagine that, just like me, they are tired at the end of the day, after teaching and reviewing student work and entering grades and meeting with students and answering the zillion emails that they get from students and parents, and don't have a lot of energy left to "advocate" for district-wide change.  I think that they ARE doing what they can to make their students' educational experience less sh*tty, by trying really hard to be effective teachers in the situation they are in now.  They aren't perfect, but I'm not going to take out my frustration with DCPS and the mayor and the WTU on them.  [/quote]

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