Everyone agrees grading is important. Nobody thinks it isn’t.

The issue is, we get 5 classes with 20-30 students in them. So anywhere from 120-150 students per year. They must all do 10 grades assignments per quarter plus practice assignments. We have to create all of that. Then teach it all. Then grade it all.

In the midst of it, we also have to create separate assignments or scaffolds/supports for EL students and students with disabilities. We must track those. We have to provide data updates to their case managers. We have required CLT planning meetings each week, staff meetings, and IEP meetings. All of these things conspire to gobble up time that we need to grade!

Teachers only teaching 4 sections instead of 5 could help. Teachers having many fewer students would help. Neither of those are happening anytime soon due to our inability to staff schools fully anymore. I agree it’s frustrating when a teacher grades NOTHING and I presume it’s an extreme example most
people don’t regularly see. But as to why it’s hard to grade everything in just a day or two and provide detailed robust feedback on it all to each and every student- surely you can all see that simply isn’t possible with the way the job is set up and the days at school are structured.

Anonymous wrote:Teachers need to grade promptly and not leave kids and parents guessing. It's not rocket science, and the fact that so many come on here and offer excuses for behavior that would get employees in other professions fired is troubling. If you have time to come on here and post on DCUM you have time to grade.

As a teacher who DOES grade promptly, I am very disappointed in your response. Answer this, please: do you believe the examples above illustrate reasonable workloads? Yes or no?

Truthfully, it doesn’t matter what you think. Teachers don’t think it’s reasonable, and teachers are quitting in record numbers. The logical thing to do would be to alter the profession to give teachers more time AT work to actually DO work. Since we just expect more blood from stone, teachers are leaving to make more money in easier professions. When that happens, we all lose.

And posting on DCUM? I’m home sick. I took 8 hours of leave and I’ll probably work 10 hours. So it’s costing me a day of leave to work overtime. I think a couple DCUM breaks are warranted.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids teachers all do it differently. I think we are getting too reliant on sis. The kids should know their grades already. The teachers return work/tests even if they haven’t entered in to sis.

You don't have a high schooler, do you?

Nearly all the assignments are submitted online. Grades are not returned in class. For many assignments, students get the grades when the assignment grade is entered into SIS.

If the teacher does not enter the grades then the kid will not know their grade.

Actually I have more than one in high school. They don’t get their grades on sis. They get their grades in class or in schoology. They don’t need sis. Parents are the ones who use sis.

Teachers need to grade promptly and not leave kids and parents guessing. It's not rocket science, and the fact that so many come on here and offer excuses for behavior that would get employees in other professions fired is troubling. If you have time to come on here and post on DCUM you have time to grade.

I don’t think people comprehend teaching. It’s like this. I write 9 one-act plays every day for the following day- phonics, reading groups (3), math, math groups (3) science/social studies. Then I perform them. Luckily my planning is at the end of the day so I have time to think how those lessons went and write the next days’s plans. Obviously my 45 minute planning isn’t enough time to write these plans and grade and have IEP/504/data meetings and meet with parents so often the planning is fine around 10pm. Grading happens in the morning before school. I get a 45 minute lunch (now) to decompress. This job is really multiple people’s job. Likening this to a play, I’m the playwright, all of the actors, stagehands, directors, costume people, ushers, head of the house, etc. We all joke we need to hire a secretary since the data entry and testing itself takes a few additional hours each week. It’s exhausting and young adults know they can find easier jobs where they earn much more.

Anonymous wrote:We don't do our job properly because we're mad

Who doesn’t do their job properly because they are mad? Are you referring to the teachers who posted above, including me? I’m fairly certain I do a tremendous job.

Perhaps it’s best to explain it this way:
Imagine your work required 35 hours of presentations a week, and that you are held personally accountable for how strong those presentations are - even if your audience is hostile or disinterested. You are given 5 hours a week on the clock to prepare for those 35 hours, but you are often pulled from that preparation time for meetings and to do others’ presentations when they are sick. Therefore, almost all of your preparation for these presentations as well as any related correspondence and feedback (report writing, data analysis) needs to be done on your own time. Wouldn’t you think there should be more of a balance, or would you find this acceptable?

Teaching is unique. It isn’t necessarily harder than other professions, but it does present its own challenges.

(And before someone asks: I’m working from home because I’m sick today. This is a break.)

We don't do our job properly because we're mad

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are busy. They don't have time to grade assignments.

If you don't have enough time and have to choose to do do something, so be it. But choose to not do something else. Something that doesn't so adversely affect the very students you are ostensibly there to help.

I’m a teacher and a different poster. I don’t agree with a lot of what I read on this thread. If teachers haven’t updated in a month, that’s bad. If teachers are putting tons of grades in last minute, that’s bad. If there’s only 1-2 assignments, that’s bad.

But…

It’s hard to prioritize grading. If I’m not planned, I literally can’t teach. I’d end up sitting in the front of the room unprepared, simply staring at my students. Planning takes precedence over grading 100% of the time. It has to.

I have to respond to parents and students within 48 hours. I get a ton of emails. If I don’t respond, the emails compound and parents get angrier. Email takes precedence over grading.

I wish it wasn’t like this, but it is. We don’t get a lot of unstructured time at work. Most of our work actually gets done at home. I also wish that wasn’t the case.

Welcome to the working world, where you have to prioritize. And do work at home, just like most of us. But, if you're not giving the feedback and grades in a timely manner, it doesn't matter what you're teaching in class. The two go hand in hand.

Welcome to the real world where teachers are leaving the profession in droves - no one is going to force them to work 60-hour weeks anymore.

I absolutely agree. I’m one of the 60+ hour a week teachers. I get graded work back quickly, but I give up almost every night and weekend to do that. Why is that okay?

I hate when people say “other professions have to work outside hours.” No kidding. Yet somehow we respect those other professions while we belittle teachers.

Clearly teachers are done being exploited in this manner. My department is losing 4 more at the end of the year, and the workhorses among us (like me) are slowing down.

If teachers got paid more, they would feel better about working at home and spending more time grading. I know I would have. I’m a former FCPS elem teacher. While you are actually actively teaching and helping kids you cannot get any grading done. It either has to be done during planning time (which is usually eaten up by meetings and not that much time to begin with) or after school when the kids leave.

Whereas at other jobs, if you aren’t in a meeting you are sitting at a desk with the ability to get your work done. Teaching is just different. I think most people don’t understand how you literally cannot do any other part of your job while teaching the students. And unfortunately there’s a lot of other stuff to do that you don’t realize until you are actually in the job. Teachers should be paid more as a result but they aren’t.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are busy. They don't have time to grade assignments.

If you don't have enough time and have to choose to do do something, so be it. But choose to not do something else. Something that doesn't so adversely affect the very students you are ostensibly there to help.

I’m a teacher and a different poster. I don’t agree with a lot of what I read on this thread. If teachers haven’t updated in a month, that’s bad. If teachers are putting tons of grades in last minute, that’s bad. If there’s only 1-2 assignments, that’s bad.

But…

It’s hard to prioritize grading. If I’m not planned, I literally can’t teach. I’d end up sitting in the front of the room unprepared, simply staring at my students. Planning takes precedence over grading 100% of the time. It has to.

I have to respond to parents and students within 48 hours. I get a ton of emails. If I don’t respond, the emails compound and parents get angrier. Email takes precedence over grading.

I wish it wasn’t like this, but it is. We don’t get a lot of unstructured time at work. Most of our work actually gets done at home. I also wish that wasn’t the case.

Welcome to the working world, where you have to prioritize. And do work at home, just like most of us. But, if you're not giving the feedback and grades in a timely manner, it doesn't matter what you're teaching in class. The two go hand in hand.

Welcome to the real world where teachers are leaving the profession in droves - no one is going to force them to work 60-hour weeks anymore.

I absolutely agree. I’m one of the 60+ hour a week teachers. I get graded work back quickly, but I give up almost every night and weekend to do that. Why is that okay?

I hate when people say “other professions have to work outside hours.” No kidding. Yet somehow we respect those other professions while we belittle teachers.

Clearly teachers are done being exploited in this manner. My department is losing 4 more at the end of the year, and the workhorses among us (like me) are slowing down.

All the teachers we have had input the grades timely, so I assume the majority of the teachers are doing their job diligently. As a teacher and parent myself, I understand the stress of not seeing the grade in a timely fashion - it is not good for students' learning and morale. Let us not trash the teachers here since I am sure 95% of them are doing what they can. For those who don't, contact admin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are busy. They don't have time to grade assignments.

If you don't have enough time and have to choose to do do something, so be it. But choose to not do something else. Something that doesn't so adversely affect the very students you are ostensibly there to help.

I’m a teacher and a different poster. I don’t agree with a lot of what I read on this thread. If teachers haven’t updated in a month, that’s bad. If teachers are putting tons of grades in last minute, that’s bad. If there’s only 1-2 assignments, that’s bad.

But…

It’s hard to prioritize grading. If I’m not planned, I literally can’t teach. I’d end up sitting in the front of the room unprepared, simply staring at my students. Planning takes precedence over grading 100% of the time. It has to.

I have to respond to parents and students within 48 hours. I get a ton of emails. If I don’t respond, the emails compound and parents get angrier. Email takes precedence over grading.

I wish it wasn’t like this, but it is. We don’t get a lot of unstructured time at work. Most of our work actually gets done at home. I also wish that wasn’t the case.

Welcome to the working world, where you have to prioritize. And do work at home, just like most of us. But, if you're not giving the feedback and grades in a timely manner, it doesn't matter what you're teaching in class. The two go hand in hand.

Welcome to the real world where teachers are leaving the profession in droves - no one is going to force them to work 60-hour weeks anymore.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers like students and parents are victims of FCPS Administration’s misguided equity grading policy not the cause of it.

This has nothing to do with equity.

Don’t kid yourself, absolutely everything in FCPS is about equity and associated virtue signaling. The administration no longer cares about actual education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are busy. They don't have time to grade assignments.

If you don't have enough time and have to choose to do do something, so be it. But choose to not do something else. Something that doesn't so adversely affect the very students you are ostensibly there to help.

I’m a teacher and a different poster. I don’t agree with a lot of what I read on this thread. If teachers haven’t updated in a month, that’s bad. If teachers are putting tons of grades in last minute, that’s bad. If there’s only 1-2 assignments, that’s bad.

But…

It’s hard to prioritize grading. If I’m not planned, I literally can’t teach. I’d end up sitting in the front of the room unprepared, simply staring at my students. Planning takes precedence over grading 100% of the time. It has to.

I have to respond to parents and students within 48 hours. I get a ton of emails. If I don’t respond, the emails compound and parents get angrier. Email takes precedence over grading.

I wish it wasn’t like this, but it is. We don’t get a lot of unstructured time at work. Most of our work actually gets done at home. I also wish that wasn’t the case.

Welcome to the working world, where you have to prioritize. And do work at home, just like most of us. But, if you're not giving the feedback and grades in a timely manner, it doesn't matter what you're teaching in class. The two go hand in hand.

Anonymous wrote:Teachers like students and parents are victims of FCPS Administration’s misguided equity grading policy not the cause of it.

This has nothing to do with equity.

Teachers like students and parents are victims of FCPS Administration’s misguided equity grading policy not the cause of it.