I'm not really looking forward to school starting. Our child struggles academically, so the school year is stressful for all of us as a result.

Anonymous wrote:Dreading the traffic. My commute to DC will be an extra twenty mins (at least).

And dreading the ridiculous math homework. You know: if Sara has 30 yellow cats and 25 brown cats, then how many dogs live in London? Draw the six steps involved in your strategy, and write a paragraph explaining how you feel this strategy improved MCPS assessments.

Ha ha! Yes, exactly!

I decided early on that I would teach DS my way and give him leave to ignore the "write it out in your own words" and "how do you feel about this?" questions.

Life is too short.

Teacher and parent to two young ones in ES. Torn! I love being a teacher but it is completely draining during the school year. Having two kids running around all day during the summer doesn't let the summer be restful enough to compensate for the school year drain. Oh well, the life I chose DD LOVES school in MCPS - we'll see how DS feels - he starts K later this month.

Anonymous wrote:I always remember looking forward to the start of school when I was a kid. I'm sort of sad that my kids have the complete opposite experience. They see their friends throughout the summer so its not like they have that to look forward to at the end of August. I'm also not looking forward to all the craziness of after school sports, games, school events, back pack packing and more MCPS crap.

Why not home school your kids?

No, I wish we had another two months of summer. It's gone so quick, and I hate the early morning hassle and drives.

Anonymous wrote:You know MCPS is joyless. At parent observation, which is only 45 minutes long, half the parents fell asleep. Kids are yawning, bored and its completely uninteresting. Has zip to do with being challenging or not, just lack luster presentation and an utter lack of love of learning. Imagine spending everyday at the DMV 6 hours a day. This is what our kids get.

Honestly, as a teacher, parent observation day is one of my least favorite days of the year for me. It is a dog and pony show for sure. I struggle with what activities to plan, knowing that I am being judged beyond belief.

If I plan a fun, engaging, kids-out-of-their-seats activity, then parents judge me because they think there is little classroom management going on due to the noise and the fact that the room seems a little chaotic (but who cares! The kids are engaged!). But there's always the chance that someone gets a little too enthusiastic and isn't watching where they're going during one of the transitions and bumps into a bookcase and gets a bloody nose. (Yes, this has happened). Or 2 kids have trouble sharing materials and get in an argument and so the parent of student A complains to administration that student B is a bully and they shouldn't be in the same class. Or a parent of student C complains that I took a few minutes to resolve the situation with students A and B and wasn't paying enough attention to Student C during that time. Then I'm labeled as the teacher who has no classroom management skills and kids get hurt in her classroom. I teach K and it can take a little bit longer than the beginning/middle of October for all of them to really understand WHY the rules are there and actually be compelled to follow them. The kids in my classroom are still getting used to being in school.

Situations 1 and 2 seem ridiculous to think about, but stuff like this actually happens (not all in my classroom, but in colleagues' classrooms as well)

So then I can plan a kids-in-their-seats lesson which has fewer risk factors, but then get labeled as a boring, non-dynamic teacher. But the environment is more controlled and there's less of a chance of the above situations occurring.

Is there a happy medium between the 2? Of course! But it takes time to get to know students and what issues may arise during any lesson. If you visit my classroom a little later in the year, once I've gotten to know every student better and can better anticipate any issues that may occur, dynamic out-of-their-seat lessons can occur as the norm. But for that short amount of time on a mid-October morning, I'm usually going to choose the least risky choice. Sorry.

Anonymous wrote:Parents are the primary teachers of their children. Schools are there to help. If you find the experience lackluster, you need to step up your parenting game.

I have told my students' parents this a thousand times but most of them just view school as free babysitting. Sad but true.

I've loved the slower pace and lazy days at the pool and beach. Most of all, I've loved having my college kids home and our youngest (12) has been in heaven! He misses them so much!

But, I am ready to back into the familiar, predictable routine again.

Anonymous wrote:

Do you expect dog and pony shows? Is that what you do at work? dance around and sing for your boss each time s/he enters your office?

Of course there are some teachers who don't inspire their students. But for fuck's sake, folks, do you HONESTLY think any other system out there is better?

Such small worlds you have! Expand your horizons. Travel around and see what the other systems have to offer. fewer resources, teachers w/o training, old school thinking, insular communities

I could go on and on.

And guess what? The majority of the states are using Common Core! So don't think it's just MCPS.

What a bunch of whiners - and with nothing - other than an uninspiring teacher - to back you up!

I'd hate to see how your children handle difficult situations.

oh wait - They won't . . . b/c mommy and daddy shelter them from the ugly parts of life.

You clearly work for MCPS and this hit a nerve for you but wake up. We moved from New England and school was far more interesting for kids. You can't keep blaming Common Core for your lack of performance and saying trust me everywhere else is worse than this is just plain false.

MCPS is a joyless see of worksheets, uninspired teaching, and a terrible curriculum. When young kids hate going to school, Houston you have a problem. A big problem.

Almost every time somebody posts something about how MCPS isn't the worst school system EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11, somebody else posts saying "You must work for MCPS." Why?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know MCPS is joyless. At parent observation, which is only 45 minutes long, half the parents fell asleep. Kids are yawning, bored and its completely uninteresting. Has zip to do with being challenging or not, just lack luster presentation and an utter lack of love of learning. Imagine spending everyday at the DMV 6 hours a day. This is what our kids get.

If this were my opinion of MCPS, I would find an alternative schooling source for my child.

I'm not the PP but I do agree that MCPS can be joyless.

What alternatives do you suggest? Our job are in MoCo and we can't afford private. Also can't afford to move.

Any other options out there?

If going to school were actually like spending 6 hours at the DMV for 6 hours a day every day, I think that you would find alternative options.

Anonymous wrote:

Do you expect dog and pony shows? Is that what you do at work? dance around and sing for your boss each time s/he enters your office?

Of course there are some teachers who don't inspire their students. But for fuck's sake, folks, do you HONESTLY think any other system out there is better?

Such small worlds you have! Expand your horizons. Travel around and see what the other systems have to offer. fewer resources, teachers w/o training, old school thinking, insular communities

I could go on and on.

And guess what? The majority of the states are using Common Core! So don't think it's just MCPS.

What a bunch of whiners - and with nothing - other than an uninspiring teacher - to back you up!

I'd hate to see how your children handle difficult situations.

oh wait - They won't . . . b/c mommy and daddy shelter them from the ugly parts of life.

You clearly work for MCPS and this hit a nerve for you but wake up. We moved from New England and school was far more interesting for kids. You can't keep blaming Common Core for your lack of performance and saying trust me everywhere else is worse than this is just plain false.

MCPS is a joyless see of worksheets, uninspired teaching, and a terrible curriculum. When young kids hate going to school, Houston you have a problem. A big problem.

I also moved from New England and my kids are so much happier here. We've been very pleased with the academic challenge. While small town school districts up north have some pros, the cons were huge. Teachers were given jobs not because they were the most qualified but because they were the mayor's niece. Getting into honors/AP classes was very political and often depended on parents's pull in the community or whether a teacher liked you.

Parents are the primary teachers of their children. Schools are there to help. If you find the experience lackluster, you need to step up your parenting game.

This would be fine if they weren't there for 6 hours a day plus the long bus rides. What is the point of spending 2 billion a year and forcing kids to be bored all day if you have to teach them everything at home anyway? If MCPS wants to admit that they provide nothing beyond free babysitting service then OK but they could do that much cheaper.

Parents are the primary teachers of their children. Schools are there to help. If you find the experience lackluster, you need to step up your parenting game.

And dreading the ridiculous math homework. You know: if Sara has 30 yellow cats and 25 brown cats, then how many dogs live in London? Draw the six steps involved in your strategy, and write a paragraph explaining how you feel this strategy improved MCPS assessments.

LOL! +1000

My kids did a week of math camp between sports camps. I wonder if MCPS will find out and put them in a decontamination unit when they return for doing above grade level math. The horror, kids should not learn math ever!

Do you expect dog and pony shows? Is that what you do at work? dance around and sing for your boss each time s/he enters your office?

Of course there are some teachers who don't inspire their students. But for fuck's sake, folks, do you HONESTLY think any other system out there is better?

Such small worlds you have! Expand your horizons. Travel around and see what the other systems have to offer. fewer resources, teachers w/o training, old school thinking, insular communities

I could go on and on.

And guess what? The majority of the states are using Common Core! So don't think it's just MCPS.

What a bunch of whiners - and with nothing - other than an uninspiring teacher - to back you up!

I'd hate to see how your children handle difficult situations.

oh wait - They won't . . . b/c mommy and daddy shelter them from the ugly parts of life.

You clearly work for MCPS and this hit a nerve for you but wake up. We moved from New England and school was far more interesting for kids. You can't keep blaming Common Core for your lack of performance and saying trust me everywhere else is worse than this is just plain false.

MCPS is a joyless see of worksheets, uninspired teaching, and a terrible curriculum. When young kids hate going to school, Houston you have a problem. A big problem.