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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 don't understand this.

Those of us in the professional world are managing ourselves via zoom or goto meetings.

To the PP who hasn't done anything because there hasn't been any direction: why on earth would you wait until the last minute to figure out how YOU are going to handle this? Why aren't you working out some options for teaching the content that you, presumably, teach every year?

I get that kids are different animals than adults - sure they are. But DL does NOT need to be that hard.

Frankly, if these kids can play those effing first person shooter games and the like for HOURS on end, it's time for the excuses that DL can't work to STOP. They are MORE than happy to be on their computers for five hours a day. Maybe, just maybe, it's time to acknowledge that this portion of this generation - and their teachers - are going to have to ADAPT.

Create a syllabus, create expectations (Larla must be present and paying attention on the zoom, just as she would be expected to in class, or there are consequences), and deliver the education you are being paid to deliver.

Is it optimal? Perhaps not. Will some kids struggle? Undoubtedly. Might some kids have to be left back, because of x, y, or z, reason? Possibly. But it's time for teachers to stop whining about what they CAN'T do, and figure out the alternative options they CAN offer.

FFS.

You would think that our educators would have a wealth of both creative and critical thinking skills. Figure it out, people. [/quote]
You're making a lot of assumptions here. I teach elementary self-contained special education. Why would I create a syllabus? That's totally developmentally inappropriate. I also have no ability to set expectations. That's up to the district and my administration. I can't just demand that all students do x without the directive coming from above. If my administration says that students can just log in and write "I hate school!" on google classroom and that counts as their daily attendance, then that's the policy. You have no idea what I did with my class in the spring, so telling me that it was poorly done and inadequate is meaningless. You don't have any evidence either way. Likewise, I could say that you were inept and unwilling to support your child's learning throughout DL, but I don't have any information to back that up. That's why I would never make a baseless claim like that about another person's work ethic.

You're also wrong to suggest that I should be working throughout the summer to better meet your expectations in the fall. You have no idea what I did with my class in the spring. We are ten month employees, and we do not get paid for the two months that school is not in attendance. Anything that I do over the summer is on my time and is absolutely voluntary. I don't owe parents, students, or administrators a single minute of my summer. Districts that want teachers to participate in specific trainings have the option of offering them paid on a per session basis, and they do so. We have not been offered that. For people who think that teachers should just "love students" so much that money is not important, please stop arguing that you need to go back to work in the fall. Do you not "love" your own children so much that your salary is of no consequence at all? One would expect parents would have a higher bar for love of children than teachers, and they should be able to just cast aside their own material needs. No? Then pay me for MY work.

If you allow your child to play shooting games for hours each day that then you should really take a look in the mirror-that's really abysmal parenting. [/quote]

First of all, all one has to do is go to the tweens and teens page to see just how many kids are being permitted boatloads of screen time - FPS games or otherwise, you tube, tik tok, etc. I don't personally subscribe to this approach - but what I am saying is that these kids have zero problem being on their screens for hours on end. If it is necessary, then this tendency/preference/ability needs to be harnessed for their learning in such a dire time as this.

As to your point about the very specific niche in which you teach? Maybe those are the situations for which F2F learning is reserved.

As to the bolded above, I should hope that is not the case and, if so, those making such directives should be fired.

And, finally, to your point about being a 10 month contract worker, well, maybe it's time to revamp the education system and go to a year round format, since you seem to think that you aren't paid for your work. Oh, and, PLENTY of us do what's above and beyond our 40 hour workweek - without compensation. How many professionals do you hear say: oops, I just hit 40 hours, sorry boss, no can do, gonna have to let that deadline slip. Yeah right. We work nights, weekends, early mornings, vacations. So, cry me a river on that one - teachers don''t deserve such special treatment when the rest of the professional world has to manage their work to meet the expectations of their clients. [/quote]

If you want to lobby politicians and school boards to revamp school to year round, go ahead and do so.  But then remember when you want to spend July and August at your beach house with your kids they will be docked for missing school.  Until this change happens, I will work for ten months a year, as contracted.  I work over 40 hours a week consistently.  I know lots of feds who work exactly 40 hours a week no matter what.  So stop acting like every job puts in insane hours.  I am not, however, working two months out of the year that I don't get paid.  [/quote]
Maybe I am misunderstanding year-round school, but, I thought the schedule typically includes the same number of instructional days, just broken up differently so that there is not a long break in the summer? Is that incorrect? [/quote]

That is what happens in other countries. More variable here because generally we don’t have year round school. My cousins have year round school. There are longer breaks during the year. No gap for 10 weeks where you are looking for care and kids fall behind. I’d be supportive so I have no idea what PP is on about.[/quote]

I am PP and I don’t have a problem with year round school either.  But it would mean we had school either during July or August and lots of parents at my school already complain about cutting their European vacations short because school starts in mid-August.  And if parents want year round, which I believe is the same number of instructional days, then lobby politicians to change it.  But what the other poster was claiming was we should work 12 months a year and work 12 months a year.[/quote]

I am he pp who suggested, if teachers don't get paid to work 12 months, then maybe we should go to year round.

And I am totally going to call the other pp on "perks". I just checked our school calendar. In total, teachers get 16 "early release" days, 16 holidays/"non school" days, one two week winter break (ten total days), one spring break (six total days) and a nine and a half week summer (47 days).

Out of a full working year - 262 days - teachers have 87 days off, which equates to one third of a year. I know teachers who get paid 70K a year. To basically take one third of the year off. So please don't tell me about how corporates have it so good and teachers don't. We all get perks. And we all have sucky parts of our jobs.

And what I was suggesting was a full time schedule, where you get paid your annual salary and are expected to be available 12 months out of the year to do your job minus the 40 days of holiday/"nonschool"/early release/break days.

Considering most corporate or other government folks get a total of 27 days or so off, I'd say you all would still be coming out ahead...[/quote]

[i]I'm happy to count "non-school" days, and "early release" days as days off, when I hear lawyers counting days that they aren't in court as days off.[/i][/quote]

Why is that? Are you working on those days/times? Educate me, if I am unaware.

But, even if I back those out (a total of 12 days, accounting for early release as a half day), teachers average 28% of the year off. For some of the salaries I am aware of? I just can't justify the attitude I see proclaiming that summer - and this summer, in particular - is sacrosanct and no initiative should have been taken to figure out how to best handle DL. [/quote]

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