Reply to MCPS Teachers Quitting? Who is replacing them?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am an mcps educator and send my kids to mcps public schools.  What I am seeing is disheartening.  Teachers are at their breaking point; the behaviors and needs of the kids are unbelievable; Many are quitting even after many years of service; We are hiring whoever we can get- probably subpar people because at this point we need warm bodies; The education is suffering- I see teachers playing a YouTube video of a book read aloud instead of reading the book themselves; Gym and art teachers running their class with videos instead of good direct instruction- I guess they are tired and this isn't forbidden; I work with my own kids on basic facts because I don't trust the system to do a good job. Too many needy kids, burnt out teachers, poor instructional approaches, a growing lack of resources...the list goes on anc on; I truly believe mcps is sinking ship and will continue to decline year over year[/quote]

As a parent, we are at our breaking point too.  Teachers who don’t teach, grade assignments, review assignments and give feedback, don’t return emails from students or parents and do the absolute minimum.  My kids are in tutoring for some subjects more than the actual class time because of the lack of instruction and textbooks to teach your self.  You need to work with parents instead of complaining and kids will not thrive without a good support system.  And enough with the small group projects and discussions.   Get back to teaching.  [/quote]

Teacher here and I can’t do any more than I’m doing. Seriously. I’m being asked to do the work of three people and I devote seven days a week to my job.

And my own kids? I tutor them for the reasons you mentioned above.

The difference between us is I’m not blaming their teachers for the deficiencies I see in their educations. I know those teachers are doing their best in a broken system.  [/quote]

I think the above post really reflects the job creep of teaching over the last 20 years.  Email, online grading systems, more demanding students and parents has really made teaching more difficult.  Paperwork is more, we are expected to teach SEL, manage more behavior issues, deal with more ESOL and SpEd students.   State and local testing regimes.  We even do SATs during school hours now instead of on weekends like is was done 20 years ago.  Expectations to run clubs and after school events..  It just feels like most of my job isn’t actually teaching.  And I get dinged if I don’t do it.  Whereas good teaching doesn’t get rewarded at all by the powers that be.[/quote]

Also, we don't have a choice really in how our classrooms are run. As its been posted in other threads, the district's huge push right now is for small groups. So admin is on teachers to teach for 15-20 minutes max and then rotate small groups. It's ridiculous and it's not helping at all. On top of it, admin seems to forget that teachers also need to manage their classroom during this time, so many times, the small group working with the teacher is routinely interrupted to put out fires happening around the rest of the classroom while the rest of the class works "independently." Small groups are absolutely beneficial but they should not be at the expense of solid, whole group instructional time. [/quote]

This is probably a stupid question, but what if you just said no? What if you just did the small groups when you thought it made sense, or not run clubs, etc? What would happen if you just worked 8 hours a day, weekdays only, and after that called it quits? [/quote]

I mean, what if you just refused to do something at your job? We can't just override the people "in charge" of us. However, we can quit if we feel like we aren't doing what is best for our students which is another reason I think a mass exodus from MCPS is definitely going to happen this year. MCPS is failing students and we are sick of helping facilitate that. I'd rather take a paycut to teach in a county that values real education, not just test scores. [/quote]

I work in government. If I refuse to do something at my job, my boss cannot force me to do it. I mean I guess they could literally hold a gun to my head, but that would be illegal.

Their options would be to not give a step increase, put me on a performance plan and maybe fire me. But firing is extremely rare and very difficult to do. I would really need to be causing them problems for them to actually pursue this. I often don't do things the way my boss told me to, because their direction did not make sense. They've never sanctioned me for that.

Of course, this isn't MCPS. But my point is short of threatening violence nobody can actually force someone else to do something. They can punish you for not doing something, you may as a result feel incentivized to do what they want, but they can't actually force you. I think that might be what the PP's question is getting at.[/quote]

How clueless are you? Have you not been paying attention to the news at all? Teachers and admin are getting fired left and right in Florida for "not following the rules." It can and will happen. There are 9 weeks left. Most of us would rather just survive with a semblance of peace and get the heck out out of here in June.[/quote]

What about in places with strong unions where the concept of parents rights hasn’t gotten a chokehold on the electorate? [/quote]

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