Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a HS teacher the reality is that few kids show up. Grades are in and finals have been taken. What kind of instruction do you really expect to take place?

Have some imagination and teach some of the stuff you always wanted to but complain the SOL demands squeeze out.

If you teach a math class, have a couple of days on the stock market or personal finance. If you teach social studies, play the World Trade game. If you are in English, do a little reader's theater. This isn't hard.

There are 8 kids in our entire grade today. They're all in one classroom but if we rotated them through the bell schedule there may be 1 or 2 per class with some periods having 0 kids. Do what, now? And grade them how? Grades are in. Do the other 140 absent kids get zeroes?

What is your school doing about this truancy? Why is it so high?

Why is the truancy so high? Welcome to urban education.

What is my school doing? Being realistic and not taking attendance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many kids are going to pay attention to anything close to learning when final assessments are done?

The last couple of weeks need to be rearranged, somehow. Have final marks go in a little later if at all possible so learning can continue. The way things are done now I can understand doing very little.

I'm almost speechless. Kids won't learn without grades and assessments? It never ceases to amaze me that people really think this. And yet I guess we've dug ourselves into this hole with national educational policy based on this thinking, so I don't know why I find it so surprising. So depressing.

Clearly you're not a classroom teacher. It may not be nice or pretty but it is reality. Knowing the grades are in removes any incentive for most students to complete work or to take it seriously.

I agree that the closing date for grades should come later. But that would mean that school would end students before teachers. Then parents would complain about those free workdays teachers have without students and why oh why should teachers get paid for days they're not really working..Why don't they end the school year a week later, after all teachers are sitting around on their asses all day for an entire week because surely it doesn't take that long to put in grades for a few classes....

Sorry parents but they're yours now. Why not just keep them home and teach them there if you're so appalled at the thought of them watching movies and helping teachers pack all day.

And then teachers wonder why the "profession" has lost credibility in the public eye.

When I learned that the quality of candidates in Education schools has declined over the years, I was saddened, but hardly surprised.

Another reason to homeschool, teach them at home the last 2 weeks of school, or go private/suburbs.

Anonymous wrote:And some people wonder why parents reject their local DCPS.

Dear PP,

Bye.

Signed,

DCPS

And some people wonder why parents reject their local DCPS.

DCPS HS teacher here,

I have to be out of the building by 4pm Friday. They gave us a checklist Monday of things that have to be done by Friday. Someone has to sign off on each one, and unfortunately it's not the same person for each thing so I'm at the mercy of other people's schedules. Textbooks are turned in to the librarian. Supplemental texts are turned in to department heads. Laptops and desktops have to be returned to the folks from OCTO, and the engineers have to do an inspection of the classroom. There's a debrief with the assistant principal regarding our final IMPACT component, TAS. There's also a meeting with the SPED supervisor to ensure all documents have been submitted. Finally, I have to supply a printout showing that all 4th quarter and final exam grades have been submitted. All of this while the other 100 teachers are trying to do the exact same thing.

It would make sense to have a week after all of the kids leave, but the reality is that central office knows that they don't show up the last two weeks of school. I had 4 out of 75 kids show up today. Attendance has been bad ever since the PARCC ended last month.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

As was stated earlier DCPS teachers are not paid past the last student day and [b]are not authorized to be in the buildings[/b].

Charters can set their own schedules ans expectations and many do. [/quote]

Teachers are not authorized to be in buildings?! Wow, this is crazy! Truly, we ought to lobby for change.

[quote=Anonymous]Mine at a charter tells me he is learning about different houses, making them out of recycled materials etc.

Grades are not in until after school is out. Plenty of learning and fun going on!

Why other schools don't do this, I have no idea.

Why are grades due before school is out in some schools?

Why don't teachers have extra days at the end? I believe they have two at our charter. [/quote]

As was stated earlier DCPS teachers are not paid past the last student day and are not authorized to be in the buildings.

Charters can set their own schedules ans expectations and many do.

Our charter school ended today. Teachers are there for another two weeks. Today the kids watched a movie at the end of the day. All the last month, they have been doing art projects, playing educational games, and helping each other. It's been lovely to observe. That said, last year at our dcps when our child watched a lot of movies, I was also fairly okay with it. People do the best they can, and there's a fair amount to be learned just watching movies with your peers.

Mine at a charter tells me he is learning about different houses, making them out of recycled materials etc.

Grades are not in until after school is out. Plenty of learning and fun going on!

Why other schools don't do this, I have no idea.

Why are grades due before school is out in some schools?

Why don't teachers have extra days at the end? I believe they have two at our charter.

DC at Hearst and has been doing NOTHING for weeks it seems. Coloring, watching movies, helping teacher pack up supplies...

I have a first grader in DCPS, and I agree with the above posters that two weeks of movies is completely unacceptable. No one is arguing for tons of new material, tests, etc., but the are plenty of fun, unstructured activities that can be a good wind down for the year instead of hours of drooling in front of a screen. What about math puzzlers, board games, reading and acting out books, more recess? Our teacher made a treasure hunt for the kids during which they helped her pack up her classroom and is doing a fun intro to fractions using different edible materials. A show or two here or there is fine, but not for two weeks straight. I would certainly rather have my kid play Sorry or Uno than watching a movie.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what should students be doing this week? And at what grades?

They should be doing what the taxpayers are paying for - learning. Not movie-watching while the teachers clear out early so they can paid for not working. Learning.

When would you have teachers do their clean up, etc then? Should they not be paid for that?

Also PP, WHAT should students be learning this week? Should they be doing projects? Review sheets that will end up in the garbage?

How would parents structure these days?

Long-time DCPS parent here who recently switched to a small independent private school.

I was gobsmacked that the kids had tests and projects due the last day of school. Then I learned that the teachers are on the clock for a full week after the kids leave. That's when the assessments, the staff meetings, and the pack out happens. School ends about a week earlier than DCPS. The teachers work the same number of days, the kids get the same number of effective days of instruction. But they run through the finish line.

Yes. I think we need suck it up as a city and to pay the teachers for an additional 3 or 5 days of work. Have them teach until the last day - and give them a few days after the students are out of the buildings to complete grades, break down classrooms etc.

Yeah, because not spending enough has always been the problem in DCPS. L

Trying to figure out how those lazy Korean and Fnn sh children wind down...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what should students be doing this week? And at what grades?

They should be doing what the taxpayers are paying for - learning. Not movie-watching while the teachers clear out early so they can paid for not working. Learning.

When would you have teachers do their clean up, etc then? Should they not be paid for that?

Also PP, WHAT should students be learning this week? Should they be doing projects? Review sheets that will end up in the garbage?

How would parents structure these days?

Long-time DCPS parent here who recently switched to a small independent private school.

I was gobsmacked that the kids had tests and projects due the last day of school. Then I learned that the teachers are on the clock for a full week after the kids leave. That's when the assessments, the staff meetings, and the pack out happens. School ends about a week earlier than DCPS. The teachers work the same number of days, the kids get the same number of effective days of instruction. But they run through the finish line.

Yes. I think we need suck it up as a city and to pay the teachers for an additional 3 or 5 days of work. Have them teach until the last day - and give them a few days after the students are out of the buildings to complete grades, break down classrooms etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what should students be doing this week? And at what grades?

They should be doing what the taxpayers are paying for - learning. Not movie-watching while the teachers clear out early so they can paid for not working. Learning.

When would you have teachers do their clean up, etc then? Should they not be paid for that?

Also PP, WHAT should students be learning this week? Should they be doing projects? Review sheets that will end up in the garbage?

How would parents structure these days?

Long-time DCPS parent here who recently switched to a small independent private school.

I was gobsmacked that the kids had tests and projects due the last day of school. Then I learned that the teachers are on the clock for a full week after the kids leave. That's when the assessments, the staff meetings, and the pack out happens. School ends about a week earlier than DCPS. The teachers work the same number of days, the kids get the same number of effective days of instruction. But they run through the finish line.