Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a mom of two well-behaved (by all teacher accounts) teenage boys, the OP’s comment struck me because it often felt like elementary educators strongly favored girls to the detriment of boys. But I saw plenty of poor behavior by girls as well (Focus school).

+1 As the mom of multiple well behaved boys all throughout school I also agree. Tolerance for girl back talk and attitude is much higher than for boys.

I’m a different teacher (and also a parent of boys), but here’s the difference: when boys goof off in my class it involves wrestling and throwing things and hitting. When girls goof off it involves tattling and excluding others. I absolutely have to prevent physical injuries in my class so the boys are the ones I must focus on here.

Anonymous wrote:What do you think about the parents who are convinced there kids are geniuses and want to have them taught advanced work? Like moving grades ahead in math etc

Are you one of the teachers that belittles Black and Latino families for advocating for their academically advanced kids that you dismiss because you literally can't imagine a Black or Brown kid being smart?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a question for OP. Do you think this culture of teachers bashing "parents" online is helpful? Do you think it changes behavior? Do you think it inspires sympathy for people in your profession? Do you think it makes you look good?

DP here, but also a teacher.

For every one post where a teacher is “bashing” a parent, there are easily 20 in which posters are tearing apart teachers.

And what often passes for “bashing” is a comment regarding what may/may not be happening at home. And as a teacher, I can tell you we often hear what happens at home. Out of the mouth of babes…

There are more parents than teachers and only a tiny minority of either group posts on DCUM and a tiny minority of them bashes the other group as a group. Using the other group as an excuse for talking sh&t about all teachers or parents is a.lame excuse and just makes you look worse.

As for what you hear from kids, if you are attributing that to "parents" as a group, that is going to piss people off and not going engender much sympathy. Because it's a dumb a petty thing to do.

A MS girl recently put a MS boy in the ICU at an MCPS school, so I think we can dispense with the notion that girls don’t have behavior problems.

What do you think about the parents who are convinced there kids are geniuses and want to have them taught advanced work? Like moving grades ahead in math etc

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a mom of two well-behaved (by all teacher accounts) teenage boys, the OP’s comment struck me because it often felt like elementary educators strongly favored girls to the detriment of boys. But I saw plenty of poor behavior by girls as well (Focus school).

+1 As the mom of multiple well behaved boys all throughout school I also agree. Tolerance for girl back talk and attitude is much higher than for boys.

It’s because the girls do it on the playground and at lunch so the teachers don’t hear.

Anonymous wrote:As a mom of two well-behaved (by all teacher accounts) teenage boys, the OP’s comment struck me because it often felt like elementary educators strongly favored girls to the detriment of boys. But I saw plenty of poor behavior by girls as well (Focus school).

+1 As the mom of multiple well behaved boys all throughout school I also agree. Tolerance for girl back talk and attitude is much higher than for boys.

Anonymous wrote:I have a question for OP. Do you think this culture of teachers bashing "parents" online is helpful? Do you think it changes behavior? Do you think it inspires sympathy for people in your profession? Do you think it makes you look good?

DP here, but also a teacher.

For every one post where a teacher is “bashing” a parent, there are easily 20 in which posters are tearing apart teachers.

And what often passes for “bashing” is a comment regarding what may/may not be happening at home. And as a teacher, I can tell you we often hear what happens at home. Out of the mouth of babes…

As a mom of two well-behaved (by all teacher accounts) teenage boys, the OP’s comment struck me because it often felt like elementary educators strongly favored girls to the detriment of boys. But I saw plenty of poor behavior by girls as well (Focus school).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for reaffirming our decision to move DD from a W-area elementary to an all-girls private. It's costing us $50k+/year, but she's in a class of 18 kids and no behavioral issues.

BS BS BS BS

Every school has behavioral issues
And privates do not have good counselors in case there are bigger problems.

All girls private LOL bullying and mean girls hello

It's more nuanced than either you or the PP are making it out.

Yes, girls engage in misbehavior, in both public and private school. Critically, though, the original comment from the OP about 99% of behavioral problems coming from boys is obviously looking at this from the perspective of behavior that is *disruptive* in a classroom environment. For a teacher, this is the behavior they care most about. So kids who won't pay attention, distract other kids, refuse to do assigned work, talk back, etc., are going to the ones whose misbehavior teachers notice. The teacher is trying to teach, this behavior makes that much harder. And you see this behavior much more often from boys, especially in elementary and MS.

The misbehavior I see most often in girls is relational aggression. If you are a parent or a teacher, please look up what this is. Relational aggression not only tends not to be disruptive in classrooms, it can sometimes appear to a teacher to be helpful behavior. For instance, I've seen 3rd grade girls compete for their teacher's good graces, compete over who has the best handwriting, who is the best reader. To a teacher, this will mostly look like a positive because the girls involved will work extra hard in the classroom in order to attract positive attention. What the teacher might not see is how the girl who excels in the classroom will gloat about the teacher's praise at recess, how girls who struggle with certain academics might be teased or even ridiculed by the more successful girls for struggling. They won't do this in the classroom because it will attract negative attention from the teacher and girls know this. The teasing, exclusion, and gossip will occur outside the classroom and away from parental eyes when possible (except for the parents who encourage and participate in these behaviors, which is sadly not uncommon).

All of this sucks, and you will absolutely find it in private all girls schools. However, from the teacher's perspective, it's not relevant to classroom management, which is what is being discussed in this thread. It's a social and behavioral problem and can happen at public and private schools, but it's not likely to bring math class to a grinding halt the way a kid who refuses to participate and protests loudly will. And that kid is likely to be a boy.

Parents have to worry about both kinds of misbehavior. Teachers will be focused on the latter. That's what is happening here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for reaffirming our decision to move DD from a W-area elementary to an all-girls private. It's costing us $50k+/year, but she's in a class of 18 kids and no behavioral issues.

18 is a high class size for a private. There are entire grade levels in MCPS elementary schools that also have class sizes of 18-20.

However, I'm glad there's no behavioral issues though. It really does make a difference!

I actually applied for a job at a private school a few years back. The pay was at least 10k lower and wasn't going to go up every year (I make over 110k currently). The benefits sucked. I was totally thrown by the fact that most of the teaching staff there had Bachelor's or Master's degrees....but not in teaching. Not sure how you can teach well or understand how kids learn without a teaching degree. Having content knowledge isn't enough. The way they select the curriculum they use also seemed questionable. Where's the accountability and transparency?

Wishing your daughter all the best!

At our private, each classrom is 15-18, trending lower for the younger grades in ES. Our same DD had a classroom size of 25 in K in public, and 30 in 2nd grade.

I think a big draw at privates for teachers is your kid can attend for reduced or free tuition (in our case, the all-girls school has a brother school where teachers can send their sons), and they provide free on-site pre-K only for teacher's children (our school starts at 3rd grade). I guess the lower salaries are addressed by those benefits, at least for teachers with children.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for reaffirming our decision to move DD from a W-area elementary to an all-girls private. It's costing us $50k+/year, but she's in a class of 18 kids and no behavioral issues.

BS BS BS BS

Every school has behavioral issues
And privates do not have good counselors in case there are bigger problems.

All girls private LOL bullying and mean girls hello

As OP stated in this thread, most of the behavioral issues she sees at elem level are from boys. An all-girls school addresses that.

Our private has a good counselor at elementary level, but I can't state that's the same for all privates.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for reaffirming our decision to move DD from a W-area elementary to an all-girls private. It's costing us $50k+/year, but she's in a class of 18 kids and no behavioral issues.

BS BS BS BS

Every school has behavioral issues
And privates do not have good counselors in case there are bigger problems.

All girls private LOL bullying and mean girls hello

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach in a Title I school with a huge population of EMLs. Eureka is good, CKLA is fine but not great for many them, but it’s actually the pacing guide that MCPS requires us to follow is how our kids end up with gaps. It moves too fast. And I know this is controversial, but I think classes should be grouped by ability and they should switch for different subjects. If a kid is good at math then they go to a higher math classroom at math time. The way it’s divided that there is a big range of abilities in each class means that none of the kids are really getting what they need.

I completely agree that classes should be ability grouped.

The problem is not that classrooms need to be ability grouped, it's that the pacing assumes every student will get every concept in the same amount of time. The reality is some kids will get it sooner, some will get it in the average, and for some it will take longer. And who gets what when can change depending on subject and concept.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So teachers you won't go silently apeshit when you see me letting my kid play starfall for 20 minutes at Cava?

Teacher here. One that despises how much screen time kids get in school. I limit it as much as I humanly can.

And I’m also a parent who didn’t give my kids my iPhone at cava when they were little. I brought little books or coloring sheets. They were not always perfectly behaved, it was not easy, it took a LOT of work to get them to be where they are now and yes I was exhausted.

I’m not going apeshit over you, no, but I’ll be honest that I feel sad when I see so many little ones on screens. Think about it this way—every time you hand your kid the phone you’re taking away an opportunity for them to learn how to self regulate, you’re taking away an opportunity for them to be okay with the discomfort of boredom. This is why so many of them are fidgety in school. I can’t tell you how often I hear a kid whine that they’re bored. And I know that I don’t know your daily situation—if you were at the hospital night with your sick husband or whatnot, so that’s why I’m not going apeshit in my head, this may be the rare time in a week your kid gets the phone. But…seeing how many are on phones at the grocery store, at restaurants, in line waiting for something, in waiting rooms…it’s too pervasive to just attribute it to one hard day.

So it's not okay for parents to let kids use the same apps that teachers make kids use daily in school? Why? Because Cava is some special place where screen time is extra harmful? You'll have to understand why my take on your response above is f u you fing POS

Take a deep breath. I’m not personally attacking you. I promise.

As a teacher I am required to give tests on certain applications. I would rather give it on paper, but I can’t. I will always choose to teach a concept directly instead of showing a video about it even though a video is easier. Some teachers let their students go on Chromebooks when they’re done with their work and I don’t do that. I have other non tech educational options.

I am deeply afraid of how the screens are negatively affecting this generation. In school and at home, they’re getting it on all sides, and it’s not proving to be good for them academically or socio
Emotionally. I truly care for my students and want the best for them. That’s it, I don’t have any agenda or vendetta against anyone’s choices, I’m just worried that the ramifications will be greater than we realize.