Anonymous wrote:I teach HS. I hate our weekly staff meetings. A complete waste of time. I have been disappointed by MCPS professional development - also a complete waste of time.
I wish MCPS had a cell phone rule that was enforced across the board. It breaks my heart to see kids unable to put their phone down for more than 5 minutes and to see how much the kids are losing out on education

Our principal tries to “enforce”no cells (at best it’s “put it in your pocket”) then literally said in a staff meeting when asked why we can’t take them away… “they are addicted and you can’t take away an addicts fix.” Ummmmm we can at least try and help with that addiction…. Parents are the problem with this too as most of the time it’s parents texting or calling in the middle of the school day. There’s zero accountability for holding kids responsible on admins side and on the parenting side. This year has been demoralizing and completely terrible.

When I get in touch with parents about a student's behavior and I get asked, "What did you do to make him act that way?"
Kids don't take any responsibility for their actions because parents won't take any responsibility for their parenting.

Seeing a top down system where people who bully teachers is accepted and where the incompetence gets million dollar payouts and teachers careers are messed up.

NP. I work with kinder students one on one and most of them are lively and curious. They aren’t screen zombies at all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Screens.

Kindergartners on screens. Students on chromebooks allll day. Then they go home and spend time on their tablets.

Attention span is completely gone. Parents don’t care and don’t want to parent.

I haven’t seen any kindergarten classes on screens all day. Just not true.

Would you please stop ruining our false narrative!

I won’t repeat the many things I agree with so far on this thread, but I would add the collapse of community. When I went through MCPS in the 1990s and started teaching shortly thereafter, the school was the social center of the community. I remember homecoming parades attended by many members of the community. Now, the parades aren’t even attempted. I remember musicals with full houses. Now it’s exciting to get a 100 to see a show. There are lots of reasons for this, but it’s sad to see.
Also, pot use among students is too normalized. I won’t argue about the merits of decriminalizing pot, but if a student is showing up to school stoned, they have a problem. Worse, we’re not doing anything about it.

I teach HS. I hate our weekly staff meetings. A complete waste of time. I have been disappointed by MCPS professional development - also a complete waste of time.
I wish MCPS had a cell phone rule that was enforced across the board. It breaks my heart to see kids unable to put their phone down for more than 5 minutes and to see how much the kids are losing out on education

Anonymous wrote:The training all seems to break down to be if I “care more” then students will be more successful. News flash, I teach 150 kids. Many of whom have neglectful family situations, are addicted to technology and several years behind academically.

They keep talking about systematic racism yet are unwilling to change any of the systems. It is always the teachers responsibility/fault.

The county is more segregated now than in the 1970’s, and there are too many non-researched political initiatives in education pushed by people that have an agenda other than academics.

Exactly this. Being told by people who work in offices that we as teachers just need to care more and put aside our prejudices.

Anonymous wrote:The training all seems to break down to be if I “care more” then students will be more successful. News flash, I teach 150 kids. Many of whom have neglectful family situations, are addicted to technology and several years behind academically.

They keep talking about systematic racism yet are unwilling to change any of the systems. It is always the teachers responsibility/fault.

The county is more segregated now than in the 1970’s, and there are too many non-researched political initiatives in education pushed by people that have an agenda other than academics.

+1 Million. MCPS professional development training has always been a complete waste of time. I worked for PGCPS previously, and their professional development program was always much more valuable.

The training all seems to break down to be if I “care more” then students will be more successful. News flash, I teach 150 kids. Many of whom have neglectful family situations, are addicted to technology and several years behind academically.

They keep talking about systematic racism yet are unwilling to change any of the systems. It is always the teachers responsibility/fault.

The county is more segregated now than in the 1970’s, and there are too many non-researched political initiatives in education pushed by people that have an agenda other than academics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Screens.

Kindergartners on screens. Students on chromebooks allll day. Then they go home and spend time on their tablets.

Attention span is completely gone. Parents don’t care and don’t want to parent.

I haven’t seen any kindergarten classes on screens all day. Just not true.

And I’m sure your experience is the same as everybody else’s, right?

I see kids of kindergarten age on screens almost every time I go to a restaurant. I see them at target, sitting in the cart with an iPad. It’s so normal now it’s just part of the everyday background.

To the kindergarten teachers at my kids’ school: thank you for trying to break this trend. You’re fighting an important fight.

Screens are cheaper than babysitters. Not a huge deal.

Parents. So many parents cripple their children. I wish you needed a license to be a parent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Screens.

Kindergartners on screens. Students on chromebooks allll day. Then they go home and spend time on their tablets.

Attention span is completely gone. Parents don’t care and don’t want to parent.

I haven’t seen any kindergarten classes on screens all day. Just not true.

And I’m sure your experience is the same as everybody else’s, right?

I see kids of kindergarten age on screens almost every time I go to a restaurant. I see them at target, sitting in the cart with an iPad. It’s so normal now it’s just part of the everyday background.

To the kindergarten teachers at my kids’ school: thank you for trying to break this trend. You’re fighting an important fight.

Anonymous wrote:Screens.

Kindergartners on screens. Students on chromebooks allll day. Then they go home and spend time on their tablets.

Attention span is completely gone. Parents don’t care and don’t want to parent.

I haven’t seen any kindergarten classes on screens all day. Just not true.

Anonymous wrote:The white supremacy teacher professional development was a very special part of my job. I endeavor to have an open, empathetic mind and employ a multicultural approach of respect with students.

So to have an amoral, lying superintendent shove morality lessons about white supremacist teachers that evidently she was forced to employ was just terribly, terribly special.

I agree. I strive as part of my teaching philosophy to be very cognizant of my student’s diverse backgrounds and needs. I was so insulted. I lost so much respect for her. I am very glad she is gone. I have been put into mock “therapy” sessions with my department and all were forced to share personal details about their upbringing as part of this type of professional development. It’s in appropriate, unprofessional, and damaging. I should have never known about my colleagues and admins personal lives in that manner. If you bring up the inappropriateness of any PD, they will say you aren’t meeting the MCPS standard of professionalism. The nepotism, unprofessionalism and toxic positivity of many in leadership is concerning and damaging to the staff they have been tasked to support.