Anonymous wrote:As a parent, I feel frustrated - the virus vs academic learning and mental health, the uncertain and hard to following situation make it even worse.

I wonder how teachers feel about it - they have to be in school, be positive ( not COVID) to students and be prepared for in person and virtual any time... that's a lot.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re telling me that your first graders are writing two pages every time they write? How interesting. And you’re taking credit for stopping covid from spreading even when they are in the cafeteria/specials or parents are traveling/kids are exposed outside of school hours yet bring it into the building. Ok.

Unfortunately many of us have read CDC protocols and have fully implemented mitigation practices into our lives, classrooms, and yet we still have felt the impacts of COVID; losing loved ones, long covid haulers which both myself and my students have experienced. Your post is what we call toxic positivity and is completely tone deaf. I’m glad it’s been such a breeze for you and unfortunately some of my students and myself have lost family members and are experiencing real trauma. They are scared, sad, and have strong emotions that a couple of brain breaks or peace moments doesn’t necessarily fix.

Despite the trauma, we are, like you, spending every moment of the school day trying to close achievement gaps while maintaining high expectations for each other. But sick kids aren’t available for learning, no matter how magical of a teacher you claim to be.

You do realize we have a new normal, right? COVID isn’t going away. I’m sorry for your losses, I’ve also had losses. I had COVID before vaccines came out, even though I’m really careful all the time.

We all have to find a way to adjust that doesn’t include closing the schools. I think that means training and hiring a lot more teachers and staff (nurses too). Enough damage has been done to the students and society from the closures. It’s time to recognize that MCPS needs to build up the teaching infrastructure to deal with absences and retirements. Some teachers will never feel comfortable in the classroom and probably should move on to another job.

NP. I am sure teachers and nurses are lining up so that they can put up with abuse from the likes of you.

Actually, there are plenty of new grads every year. If more scholarships were offered for these programs, more students would go into these fields. We seem to keep making the wrong assumptions … this will be over in 2 weeks, it will be better in the spring/fall, etc. no, the schools need to hire more teachers. Why are the private schools succeeding in staying open? 2 teachers in every class room with lots of testing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re telling me that your first graders are writing two pages every time they write? How interesting. And you’re taking credit for stopping covid from spreading even when they are in the cafeteria/specials or parents are traveling/kids are exposed outside of school hours yet bring it into the building. Ok.

Unfortunately many of us have read CDC protocols and have fully implemented mitigation practices into our lives, classrooms, and yet we still have felt the impacts of COVID; losing loved ones, long covid haulers which both myself and my students have experienced. Your post is what we call toxic positivity and is completely tone deaf. I’m glad it’s been such a breeze for you and unfortunately some of my students and myself have lost family members and are experiencing real trauma. They are scared, sad, and have strong emotions that a couple of brain breaks or peace moments doesn’t necessarily fix.

Despite the trauma, we are, like you, spending every moment of the school day trying to close achievement gaps while maintaining high expectations for each other. But sick kids aren’t available for learning, no matter how magical of a teacher you claim to be.

You do realize we have a new normal, right? COVID isn’t going away. I’m sorry for your losses, I’ve also had losses. I had COVID before vaccines came out, even though I’m really careful all the time.

We all have to find a way to adjust that doesn’t include closing the schools. I think that means training and hiring a lot more teachers and staff (nurses too). Enough damage has been done to the students and society from the closures. It’s time to recognize that MCPS needs to build up the teaching infrastructure to deal with absences and retirements. Some teachers will never feel comfortable in the classroom and probably should move on to another job.

You are glossing over the fact that there are no teachers or staff to hire. MCPS could bump up salaries but I haven’t seen any discussion of that

Agree - like there is some group of educated and talented people just sitting around waiting to be hired! Lol. We had a teacher shortage before the pandemic in part because parents suck and treat teachers like the help as opposed to the skilled professionals that they are. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, keep this nonsense and criticism of teachers up and you won’t have any teacher to criticize any more. SMH.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re telling me that your first graders are writing two pages every time they write? How interesting. And you’re taking credit for stopping covid from spreading even when they are in the cafeteria/specials or parents are traveling/kids are exposed outside of school hours yet bring it into the building. Ok.

Unfortunately many of us have read CDC protocols and have fully implemented mitigation practices into our lives, classrooms, and yet we still have felt the impacts of COVID; losing loved ones, long covid haulers which both myself and my students have experienced. Your post is what we call toxic positivity and is completely tone deaf. I’m glad it’s been such a breeze for you and unfortunately some of my students and myself have lost family members and are experiencing real trauma. They are scared, sad, and have strong emotions that a couple of brain breaks or peace moments doesn’t necessarily fix.

Despite the trauma, we are, like you, spending every moment of the school day trying to close achievement gaps while maintaining high expectations for each other. But sick kids aren’t available for learning, no matter how magical of a teacher you claim to be.

You do realize we have a new normal, right? COVID isn’t going away. I’m sorry for your losses, I’ve also had losses. I had COVID before vaccines came out, even though I’m really careful all the time.

We all have to find a way to adjust that doesn’t include closing the schools. I think that means training and hiring a lot more teachers and staff (nurses too). Enough damage has been done to the students and society from the closures. It’s time to recognize that MCPS needs to build up the teaching infrastructure to deal with absences and retirements. Some teachers will never feel comfortable in the classroom and probably should move on to another job.

NP. I am sure teachers and nurses are lining up so that they can put up with abuse from the likes of you.

Actually, there are plenty of new grads every year. If more scholarships were offered for these programs, more students would go into these fields. We seem to keep making the wrong assumptions … this will be over in 2 weeks, it will be better in the spring/fall, etc. no, the schools need to hire more teachers. Why are the private schools succeeding in staying open? 2 teachers in every class room with lots of testing.

We follow Covid-protocol, and I clean my own classroom every single day and have the lowest covid count in the school, 0. I read about covid-19, learned how to prevent it and followed the instructions from the CDC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re telling me that your first graders are writing two pages every time they write? How interesting. And you’re taking credit for stopping covid from spreading even when they are in the cafeteria/specials or parents are traveling/kids are exposed outside of school hours yet bring it into the building. Ok.

Unfortunately many of us have read CDC protocols and have fully implemented mitigation practices into our lives, classrooms, and yet we still have felt the impacts of COVID; losing loved ones, long covid haulers which both myself and my students have experienced. Your post is what we call toxic positivity and is completely tone deaf. I’m glad it’s been such a breeze for you and unfortunately some of my students and myself have lost family members and are experiencing real trauma. They are scared, sad, and have strong emotions that a couple of brain breaks or peace moments doesn’t necessarily fix.

Despite the trauma, we are, like you, spending every moment of the school day trying to close achievement gaps while maintaining high expectations for each other. But sick kids aren’t available for learning, no matter how magical of a teacher you claim to be.

You do realize we have a new normal, right? COVID isn’t going away. I’m sorry for your losses, I’ve also had losses. I had COVID before vaccines came out, even though I’m really careful all the time.

We all have to find a way to adjust that doesn’t include closing the schools. I think that means training and hiring a lot more teachers and staff (nurses too). Enough damage has been done to the students and society from the closures. It’s time to recognize that MCPS needs to build up the teaching infrastructure to deal with absences and retirements. Some teachers will never feel comfortable in the classroom and probably should move on to another job.

You are glossing over the fact that there are no teachers or staff to hire. MCPS could bump up salaries but I haven’t seen any discussion of that

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re telling me that your first graders are writing two pages every time they write? How interesting. And you’re taking credit for stopping covid from spreading even when they are in the cafeteria/specials or parents are traveling/kids are exposed outside of school hours yet bring it into the building. Ok.

Unfortunately many of us have read CDC protocols and have fully implemented mitigation practices into our lives, classrooms, and yet we still have felt the impacts of COVID; losing loved ones, long covid haulers which both myself and my students have experienced. Your post is what we call toxic positivity and is completely tone deaf. I’m glad it’s been such a breeze for you and unfortunately some of my students and myself have lost family members and are experiencing real trauma. They are scared, sad, and have strong emotions that a couple of brain breaks or peace moments doesn’t necessarily fix.

Despite the trauma, we are, like you, spending every moment of the school day trying to close achievement gaps while maintaining high expectations for each other. But sick kids aren’t available for learning, no matter how magical of a teacher you claim to be.

You do realize we have a new normal, right? COVID isn’t going away. I’m sorry for your losses, I’ve also had losses. I had COVID before vaccines came out, even though I’m really careful all the time.

We all have to find a way to adjust that doesn’t include closing the schools. I think that means training and hiring a lot more teachers and staff (nurses too). Enough damage has been done to the students and society from the closures. It’s time to recognize that MCPS needs to build up the teaching infrastructure to deal with absences and retirements. Some teachers will never feel comfortable in the classroom and probably should move on to another job.

NP. I am sure teachers and nurses are lining up so that they can put up with abuse from the likes of you.

Anonymous wrote:There’s unfortunately one hateful poster on this thread. We should just ignore.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re telling me that your first graders are writing two pages every time they write? How interesting. And you’re taking credit for stopping covid from spreading even when they are in the cafeteria/specials or parents are traveling/kids are exposed outside of school hours yet bring it into the building. Ok.

Unfortunately many of us have read CDC protocols and have fully implemented mitigation practices into our lives, classrooms, and yet we still have felt the impacts of COVID; losing loved ones, long covid haulers which both myself and my students have experienced. Your post is what we call toxic positivity and is completely tone deaf. I’m glad it’s been such a breeze for you and unfortunately some of my students and myself have lost family members and are experiencing real trauma. They are scared, sad, and have strong emotions that a couple of brain breaks or peace moments doesn’t necessarily fix.

Despite the trauma, we are, like you, spending every moment of the school day trying to close achievement gaps while maintaining high expectations for each other. But sick kids aren’t available for learning, no matter how magical of a teacher you claim to be.

I missed the part where the original poster said that they were teaching first graders.

Anonymous wrote:You’re telling me that your first graders are writing two pages every time they write? How interesting. And you’re taking credit for stopping covid from spreading even when they are in the cafeteria/specials or parents are traveling/kids are exposed outside of school hours yet bring it into the building. Ok.

Unfortunately many of us have read CDC protocols and have fully implemented mitigation practices into our lives, classrooms, and yet we still have felt the impacts of COVID; losing loved ones, long covid haulers which both myself and my students have experienced. Your post is what we call toxic positivity and is completely tone deaf. I’m glad it’s been such a breeze for you and unfortunately some of my students and myself have lost family members and are experiencing real trauma. They are scared, sad, and have strong emotions that a couple of brain breaks or peace moments doesn’t necessarily fix.

Despite the trauma, we are, like you, spending every moment of the school day trying to close achievement gaps while maintaining high expectations for each other. But sick kids aren’t available for learning, no matter how magical of a teacher you claim to be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The demands of this year do not bother me as I am very prepared for both virtual and in-person. I took virtual learning courses before the pandemic ironically and used all of my skills to be as effective as I could. I favor in-person learning 100%. We follow Covid-protocol, and I clean my own classroom every single day and have the lowest covid count in the school, 0. I read about covid-19, learned how to prevent it and followed the instructions from the CDC. My entire family has been just fine.

I AM concerned about lapses in social skills, language development and lack of number sense in my kids. We work around the clock in my classroom even practicing letter sounds, blends and sight words during bathroom breaks and we practice math facts on the way to specials, lunch and recess. We use every single minute of our day working on skills that these children need to be successful and I am seeing progress. When we do our daily writing, I expect every single kid to produce something and now I am having kids writing 2 pages and using proper punctuation, capitalization and spelling sight words correctly.

What I do not need: closures. This will inhibit our progress and the stability in which I have built in my classroom. We have a very good routine, follow procedures and regulate our emotions through zen breaks and mindfulness. I LOVE my class right now and believe we can move most of my class from red and orange into yellow and green, be emotionally ready for 2nd grade and recover as much as we can from the damage of the pandemic.

You know "cleaning your classroom.every day" has negligible to nil effect on the spread of COVID, right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You’re telling me that your first graders are writing two pages every time they write? How interesting. And you’re taking credit for stopping covid from spreading even when they are in the cafeteria/specials or parents are traveling/kids are exposed outside of school hours yet bring it into the building. Ok.

Unfortunately many of us have read CDC protocols and have fully implemented mitigation practices into our lives, classrooms, and yet we still have felt the impacts of COVID; losing loved ones, long covid haulers which both myself and my students have experienced. Your post is what we call toxic positivity and is completely tone deaf. I’m glad it’s been such a breeze for you and unfortunately some of my students and myself have lost family members and are experiencing real trauma. They are scared, sad, and have strong emotions that a couple of brain breaks or peace moments doesn’t necessarily fix.

Despite the trauma, we are, like you, spending every moment of the school day trying to close achievement gaps while maintaining high expectations for each other. But sick kids aren’t available for learning, no matter how magical of a teacher you claim to be.

You do realize we have a new normal, right? COVID isn’t going away. I’m sorry for your losses, I’ve also had losses. I had COVID before vaccines came out, even though I’m really careful all the time.

We all have to find a way to adjust that doesn’t include closing the schools. I think that means training and hiring a lot more teachers and staff (nurses too). Enough damage has been done to the students and society from the closures. It’s time to recognize that MCPS needs to build up the teaching infrastructure to deal with absences and retirements. Some teachers will never feel comfortable in the classroom and probably should move on to another job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The demands of this year do not bother me as I am very prepared for both virtual and in-person. I took virtual learning courses before the pandemic ironically and used all of my skills to be as effective as I could. I favor in-person learning 100%. We follow Covid-protocol, and I clean my own classroom every single day and have the lowest covid count in the school, 0. I read about covid-19, learned how to prevent it and followed the instructions from the CDC. My entire family has been just fine.

I AM concerned about lapses in social skills, language development and lack of number sense in my kids. We work around the clock in my classroom even practicing letter sounds, blends and sight words during bathroom breaks and we practice math facts on the way to specials, lunch and recess. We use every single minute of our day working on skills that these children need to be successful and I am seeing progress. When we do our daily writing, I expect every single kid to produce something and now I am having kids writing 2 pages and using proper punctuation, capitalization and spelling sight words correctly.

What I do not need: closures. This will inhibit our progress and the stability in which I have built in my classroom. We have a very good routine, follow procedures and regulate our emotions through zen breaks and mindfulness. I LOVE my class right now and believe we can move most of my class from red and orange into yellow and green, be emotionally ready for 2nd grade and recover as much as we can from the damage of the pandemic.

The scary part is parents here believing this is a real post and calling this so-called teacher amazing. It proves how much people outside of education truly have no idea what the inside of an actual classroom looks like. It’s nice if you think this would be “amazing” but this isn’t how it works. At all. Also, kids need a break. Singing math facts in the hallway sounds ridiculous not to mention disruptive. Blending works on bathroom breaks? Get. Real. First graders writing two pages with proper punctuation? This poster isn’t a teacher and if they actually are, they are delusional. So are parents with expectations like this.