Anonymous wrote:

What we need are responsible, smart, well-meaning teachers who get respect. And we need a good evaluation system (that is not even a little bit BASED ON @%$*# STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES!) so that we acknowledge the great teachers and work to improve those who are not great. And maybe show the door to some who show no effort in improving.

There needs to be a balance. I have a teaching background and volunteer in my 1st grader's class. His teacher really is not a good a teacher. She's very nice but scatterbrained. She doesn't realize when she is being inconsistent with the kids or when she forgot to include part of the directions. I've seen her explain something wrong but then not catch herself and be confused about something else. She's just one of the people who always seems confused and spacey. The kids at all levels are underperforming because of her abilities.

She's very nice so a peer review would probably cut her a ton of slack as this is how peer review works in K-12. She would never not do exactly what the principal wants or cause problems so the principal will not be after her. The parents are not pleased but since she isn't mean to kids there isn't the ground swell of protest just everyone talking about how bad 1st grade is in MCPS.

An evaluation that includes standardized scores would help identify this teacher as a problem which is needed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers in MCPS are totally overwhelmed. Our curriculum is hard to teach, and we get very limited resources that are ready-to-use (most things you'll see are teacher-made or printed off the internet). I admit that parent communication is one of the things I am weak in. But I'm grading and planning for hours every day. (BTW, I teach second grade, but it's been like this in the three other ES grades I've taught).

Request a conference and if you get no response, contact the principal and let him/her know what's going on. If the teacher is not doing his/her job, you have a right to say so. But let her know what you are looking for. I would hope that a teacher would respond to a conference request immediately. Do you get report cards and progress reports? Friday folder reports? Do you mind sharing what school this is?

I did have a conference with the teacher and she basically told me the same thing, that my son is doing fine. I asked if I could keep one of the books they use in the classroom overnight and she agreed. We get report cards but that is the only progress check. No homework except forreading about once a week. The school name begins with the letter C.

I'm glad you met with the teacher. I know that a lot of first grade teachers have issues with homework and want the kids to focus on reading only. I can't argue with that since I HATE making and grading homework, and can't use it for any real information - because I ALREADY know which students are responsible and which ones have the parents who will prioritize homework.

I really am proud to work for MCPS - I really am, mostly because I've met some amazing teachers (and one or two solid administrators as well. However, I think we are in the midst of a huge hot mess that started with the CCSS. I think MCPS tried to be proactive and get in the boat first, sold their soul to Pearson for money to pay a team to write a crappy curriculum... and now the teachers are the ones saddled with it. I pray that one day soon we'll look back on this and talk about our war stories. (It's nationwide, btw - NY is a bigger wreck than us).

Here's the thing I hold on to: I knock myself out to make the content engaging for my kids. The quality of the teaching counts for way more than the quality of the curriculum. Yes, we do need to know our content (and yes, I did need to learn how to do this new math....and guess what? Now I'm better at math.) And I know lots of other teachers who are much better at captivating kids than me. We also have technology to help - I'm not asking my ESOL kids to visualize something they can't or trying to explain something that I shouldn't - I can access photos and visuals easily because I've got a working Promethean Board. I promise to all of you - I give the kids 100% every day. (I do admit by the time they leave I don't always have it in me to give the parents 100%). I promise that I am loving them and that their academic success is my priority.

What we need are responsible, smart, well-meaning teachers who get respect. And we need a good evaluation system (that is not even a little bit BASED ON @%$*# STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES!) so that we acknowledge the great teachers and work to improve those who are not great. And maybe show the door to some who show no effort in improving.

What we need are responsible, smart, well-meaning teachers who get respect. And we need a good evaluation system (that is not even a little bit BASED ON @%$*# STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES!) so that we acknowledge the great teachers and work to improve those who are not great. And maybe show the door to some who show no effort in improving.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers in MCPS are totally overwhelmed. Our curriculum is hard to teach, and we get very limited resources that are ready-to-use (most things you'll see are teacher-made or printed off the internet). I admit that parent communication is one of the things I am weak in. But I'm grading and planning for hours every day. (BTW, I teach second grade, but it's been like this in the three other ES grades I've taught).

Request a conference and if you get no response, contact the principal and let him/her know what's going on. If the teacher is not doing his/her job, you have a right to say so. But let her know what you are looking for. I would hope that a teacher would respond to a conference request immediately. Do you get report cards and progress reports? Friday folder reports? Do you mind sharing what school this is?

I did have a conference with the teacher and she basically told me the same thing, that my son is doing fine. I asked if I could keep one of the books they use in the classroom overnight and she agreed. We get report cards but that is the only progress check. No homework except forreading about once a week. The school name begins with the letter C.

Anonymous wrote:Wow, to some of these comments. It's disgusting how entitled some people sound. Do you have any idea how hard your child's teacher is most likely working? You can't imagine how much some of you are asking of teachers. Weekly email reports?? Hilarious. Did you forget that teaching is not a desk job? Realty check: the majority of teachers spend a MINIMUM of 10-15 hours of personal (unpaid) time per week just to keep up with the job. You can't imagine the amount of time planning, grading, prepping, organizing, communicating with other staff, meetings, (did I mention TEACHING?) etc etc go into the demands of this job, especially with overcrowded classrooms which exasorbate behavior issues. Yes, in case it weren't obvious I am a teacher, and I speak with close to 20 years of experience. I can name on less than one hand the number of teachers who actually DON'T bring work home, and/or stay well beyond their duty day, and/or arrive early. To the commenter who complained that no reading took place in your child's classroom other than before report cards are sent, you surely misunderstood. Formal assessments only take place 3 times per year, as should be the case given that they take the teacher away from instruction and it is not necessary more frequently than that anyway. Reading instruction and guided groups should take place every day. And for the commenter who suggested 3 conferences including one with the reading specialist to evaluate your child, good luck with that. There is a special education process that you should look into because what you are suggesting is not how it works, nor should it work that way for good reason. Otherwise, we'd be wasting a lot of time formally evaluating children who would not qualify for an IEP. If your child's teacher had more time to communicate with you she would. Instead, it's probably her priority to get ready for the next day of lessons. You just can't imagine. The only time I ever have to communicate with parents is on my own personal time from home in the evenings. If she says your child is doing fine then trust that or otherwise ask for a parent conference (which you are perfectly entitled to and which a good teacher will call for herself if she feels it is needed), but know that your child's next lesson will probably not be as organized because of the planning time the conference costs the teacher. Yes, that's how it works.) Look on the MCPS website to investigate the specifics of the curriculum. Doesn't anyone ever wonder why it is such a high burn-out job in spite of the vacation and benefits? Yes I am disgruntled. Nobody gets it besides other teachers. The ones who manage to stick it out for the long haul do so because we love kids and have passion for the art of teaching. So try to show a little more respect, especially because something like 80% of the elementary teaching workforce today are in their first 5 years (meaning fresh out of college). If we want to increase the number of seasoned teachers, we need to make life a little less stressful for them, however possible.

Anonymous wrote:Teachers in MCPS are totally overwhelmed. Our curriculum is hard to teach, and we get very limited resources that are ready-to-use (most things you'll see are teacher-made or printed off the internet). I admit that parent communication is one of the things I am weak in. But I'm grading and planning for hours every day. (BTW, I teach second grade, but it's been like this in the three other ES grades I've taught).

Request a conference and if you get no response, contact the principal and let him/her know what's going on. If the teacher is not doing his/her job, you have a right to say so. But let her know what you are looking for. I would hope that a teacher would respond to a conference request immediately. Do you get report cards and progress reports? Friday folder reports? Do you mind sharing what school this is?

Anonymous wrote: The other kid does work above grade level and scores off the chart on Map-M. We can't reward above grade level work because that's not allowed. I can reward someone who writes a lot about the on grade level activity.

Anonymous wrote:Wow, to some of these comments. It's disgusting how entitled some people sound. Do you have any idea how hard your child's teacher is most likely working? You can't imagine how much some of you are asking of teachers. Weekly email reports?? Hilarious. Did you forget that teaching is not a desk job? Realty check: the majority of teachers spend a MINIMUM of 10-15 hours of personal (unpaid) time per week just to keep up with the job. You can't imagine the amount of time planning, grading, prepping, organizing, communicating with other staff, meetings, (did I mention TEACHING?) etc etc go into the demands of this job, especially with overcrowded classrooms which exasorbate behavior issues.