Anonymous wrote:A bunch of smug bitches on here about the full day Mondays.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a fifth grader. I haven't heard anything about quiet time at our school. That seems ridiculous. If they don't have their act together enough to teach something, then just send the kids out for an extra recess. My kid's school has added a weekly "guidance" class to fill the extra time. WTF? My kid complains bitterly about how stupid it is. I'd love a STEM class.

They already have science and math. What would a STEM class be? Sounds like you don't know what you're talking about and should leave the teaching to the teachers. Quiet time often allows teachers to work with kids who are either ahead or behind. If your child can't live and learn in that environment (my three seemed to all love quiet time and read voraciously.) perhaps a private school might work better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every school had to figure out how to honor the promise of 1 hour of planning a day. With Specials blocks 45 minutes for upper grades at many schools, they've had to be creative. Even for the younger grades there were issues. Though they had music and PE back to back for 30 minutes each 2 times per week, and art weekly for an hour, that left 2 days uncovered. The larger the school, the more teachers/classes that needed coverage. It was not possible to just add time to the Specialists schedule as there are not enough hours in the day. As a teacher, and parent, I'm giving the administration the benefit of the doubt they did the best they could this year. I'm thinking there may be more consistency next year.

My school added in a math lab for students to do math games and counseling so students have quite a lot of specials to go to!

I'm the PP you quoted. My children's school added a STEAM Lab. The school I teach at added a tech lab class and guidance and library were added to the Master Schedule too. It used to be that only Music, Art and PE were on the schedule.

But what is it they actually accomplishe. My child had Tech this past week, the computers were so slow the only thing they did was sign up for Blackboard and time was up. Library was always there, they just go longer and it's on the schedule now. Guidance was a couple times a month before, it's just on the schedule now. "STEAM" is something that is too new to have a clear understanding of what is and how it's applied practically.

I think there are probably some schools with great leadership and strong principals that will actually accomplish a lot with the extra time, and others with lackluster leadership that are comfortable with status quo and not doing anything really innovative.

This is the biggest downfall for FCPS. The oversight and transparency amongst all schools.

PP, the cause of your frustration is NOT full-day Mondays or lackluster principals. The real cause is the regulation change that was made this summer regarding elementary teacher planning time. Prior to this summer, there was no regulation saying how much planning time a teacher had to have. On average, PE, Music and Art take up about 220 minutes a week NOW, elementary teachers have to have a minimum of 300 minutes a week, 60 of which can be principal-directed (meaning teachers have to meet with their team for collaboration & planning). The "extra" classes such at STEAM, STEM, guidance, study hall, drama, whatever a school figured out, are there because principals had to create classes so that teachers could have that planning time.

Planning time for a classroom teacher = time without students

That time is well within reason.

Planning time DOES NOT have to involve students actually being in school. Why does it cost $8 million more this year than last year if the teachers are still in the building the same amount of time?

Half-day Monday suddenly make sense....be careful what you wish for. Teachers are not indentured servants. As it is, as PP noted they already spend way too much of their own time planning anyway. If you don't like it there are private and homeschool options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a fifth grader. I haven't heard anything about quiet time at our school. That seems ridiculous. If they don't have their act together enough to teach something, then just send the kids out for an extra recess. My kid's school has added a weekly "guidance" class to fill the extra time. WTF? My kid complains bitterly about how stupid it is. I'd love a STEM class.

They already have science and math. What would a STEM class be? Sounds like you don't know what you're talking about and should leave the teaching to the teachers. Quiet time often allows teachers to work with kids who are either ahead or behind. If your child can't live and learn in that environment (my three seemed to all love quiet time and read voraciously.) perhaps a private school might work better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every school had to figure out how to honor the promise of 1 hour of planning a day. With Specials blocks 45 minutes for upper grades at many schools, they've had to be creative. Even for the younger grades there were issues. Though they had music and PE back to back for 30 minutes each 2 times per week, and art weekly for an hour, that left 2 days uncovered. The larger the school, the more teachers/classes that needed coverage. It was not possible to just add time to the Specialists schedule as there are not enough hours in the day. As a teacher, and parent, I'm giving the administration the benefit of the doubt they did the best they could this year. I'm thinking there may be more consistency next year.

My school added in a math lab for students to do math games and counseling so students have quite a lot of specials to go to!

I'm the PP you quoted. My children's school added a STEAM Lab. The school I teach at added a tech lab class and guidance and library were added to the Master Schedule too. It used to be that only Music, Art and PE were on the schedule.

But what is it they actually accomplishe. My child had Tech this past week, the computers were so slow the only thing they did was sign up for Blackboard and time was up. Library was always there, they just go longer and it's on the schedule now. Guidance was a couple times a month before, it's just on the schedule now. "STEAM" is something that is too new to have a clear understanding of what is and how it's applied practically.

I think there are probably some schools with great leadership and strong principals that will actually accomplish a lot with the extra time, and others with lackluster leadership that are comfortable with status quo and not doing anything really innovative.

This is the biggest downfall for FCPS. The oversight and transparency amongst all schools.

PP, the cause of your frustration is NOT full-day Mondays or lackluster principals. The real cause is the regulation change that was made this summer regarding elementary teacher planning time. Prior to this summer, there was no regulation saying how much planning time a teacher had to have. On average, PE, Music and Art take up about 220 minutes a week NOW, elementary teachers have to have a minimum of 300 minutes a week, 60 of which can be principal-directed (meaning teachers have to meet with their team for collaboration & planning). The "extra" classes such at STEAM, STEM, guidance, study hall, drama, whatever a school figured out, are there because principals had to create classes so that teachers could have that planning time.

Planning time for a classroom teacher = time without students

That time is well within reason.

Planning time DOES NOT have to involve students actually being in school. Why does it cost $8 million more this year than last year if the teachers are still in the building the same amount of time?

Anonymous wrote:I have a fifth grader. I haven't heard anything about quiet time at our school. That seems ridiculous. If they don't have their act together enough to teach something, then just send the kids out for an extra recess. My kid's school has added a weekly "guidance" class to fill the extra time. WTF? My kid complains bitterly about how stupid it is. I'd love a STEM class.

Anonymous wrote:No, the school should be using the extra time as instructional time. Not study hall. Not quiet time. Not counting time kids spend unpacking in the morning as instructional time this year when they didn't last year.

Anonymous wrote:No, the school should be using the extra time as instructional time. Not study hall. Not quiet time. Not counting time kids spend unpacking in the morning as instructional time this year when they didn't last year.

Or they could have left short Mondays which gave teachers planning time, required no extra teachers to babysit, did not subject our kids to being at school without being taught anything, and cost no extra money.

required no extra teachers to babysit,