|
Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Apr 8, 2020 22:28:41 GMT
@skellinton (((Hugs))) You are doing a wonderful job, and clearly putting forth a ton of effort.
Please don't take parents and students not responding personally. I can nearly guarantee that not one of your students and kids is thinking, "How can I make my teacher feel unappreciated?"
Does it make it easier or better? No, probably not.
I'll tell you from a mom's perspective, I'm just so, so overwhelmed. My kids have some really great, thoughtful teachers. Teachers posting mini art projects to make. Gym routines posted to YouTube, etc. But then everything has to be verified to prove you did it, screen shots emailed, google forms filled out and submitted.
Plus all the live zoom classes.
And I've had to learn all the technology. And so are the teachers, so there are so many hiccups.
Add all the stress from being home, without friends, without the routine that helps keep us sane. And the stress in the house from lack of work and paycheck.
|
|
|
Post by circusjohnson on Apr 8, 2020 22:45:40 GMT
Today I worked on a book that I'm reading to 7th grade. I used my green screen skills to make it more fun and worked to put a canvas module together for my English teachers to put out for all our students. I put out a new contest for April and a bunch of book talks for ebooks that I bought for them in Overdrive.
|
|
|
Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Apr 8, 2020 23:05:40 GMT
I don't want to talk about it (teach 5th grade at a private school ie-parents pay $$) It has been awful, first time in 15 years I don't want to wake up in the morning. ((((HUGS))))
|
|
RosieKat
Drama Llama
![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_green.png)
PeaJect #12
Posts: 5,444
Jun 25, 2014 19:28:04 GMT
|
Post by RosieKat on Apr 8, 2020 23:27:01 GMT
Teachers, there is NO WAY you will be able to make everyone happy. That is always the case, but never more true than now.
Our school district said we won't be teaching new stuff, just reviewing old stuff. Those of us who are more anchored in reality and who know that our district is not in the slightest ready for online learning said, OK, anything you can do to help us keep our kids' brains from turning into lumps of cheese is appreciated. Meanwhile, a whole group of parents in the middle school (I'm on PTA exec board) are griping because the kids "won't be ready for next year!" This is in a regular public school system, where all the schools are shut down and following the same procedures. So yes, Karen, your kid maybe won't be 100% ready to jump into geometry next year - but neither will any of the other kids going into geometry! They just can't seem to understand that the entire frickin' world is dealing with variations of the same theme.
And parents, please try to have grace for your kids' teachers, and understand that even the most loving and caring teacher is dealing with the same problems all the rest of us are facing. Please don't expect them to answer your every single email immediately, or to give up tons of their family time to deal with a question. I'm not saying don't ask questions or don't expect them to do their jobs - but even more than normal, please understand that they are dealing with the same overwhelming situation we are all dealing with.
|
|
|
Post by grate on Apr 8, 2020 23:59:17 GMT
I don't want to talk about it (teach 5th grade at a private school ie-parents pay $$) It has been awful, first time in 15 years I don't want to wake up in the morning. ((((HUGS))))
|
|
|
Post by Merge on Apr 9, 2020 0:44:38 GMT
We are on a one week break and will starting up again next week. We have decided to just focus on math and reading going forward and we are scaling way back on work. The kids were getting overwhelmed and parents are at their max. We are hoping this helps our families out. The chasing down of work is exhausting. I would so much rather be in the classroom. I understand, but this makes me sad. We've gotten feedback that the music, art and drama lessons are the highlights of the kids' week. If you're being required to chase down work, though ... dang. I get it. You can only do so much.
|
|
|
Post by tiffanyr on Apr 9, 2020 0:46:38 GMT
Wrong thread! LOL!
|
|
|
Post by huskermom98 on Apr 9, 2020 1:12:06 GMT
It's...going. My 6th grader in a private school has been doing distance learning for almost 3 weeks now. It sucked the first 2 weeks, mostly because of his ADHD and because I'm still working a couple of days a week. This week has been a little better because they redid the schedule so I happen to be home for a few more of his classes. They must also have decided to pay for Zoom because the class times are longer--half of the class times during the first two weeks were wasted while the teacher waited for kids to get on or with kids doing things they shouldn't be doing. Along with the new schedule the teachers sent out a list of rules to help keep things on track (sit at a table or desk, no phones, head and shoulders must be in the shot, etc.). DS doesn't get much work done if I'm not sitting there, keeping him on track. He's trying, but it's hard. It was also hard because he didn't want to do the work at first (especially since big brother was doing nothing school related). One of his teachers has struggled with the technical aspects of online learning, but she is trying her best and learning as they go. The kids already had Chromebooks and everyone was using Google Classrooms so it was an easier transition to distance learning than some of the public schools. The school hasn't said if they are just going to finish the year online or not so we we're just going with the flow...
My older son (9th grade and in a large metro school district) is finally going to officially start distance learning on the 20th. His district has already announced they are finishing the year online, I think because it is a monumental task to get the 30K kids ready for it that if they were going to do any online stuff it would need to be an all or nothing decision (no waiting for the governor to extend the April 30th closures or cancel for the year). His teachers have all been in contact and most are already offering optional things for them to do. I think it's going to be interesting to see how it all goes down because this district does not do a lot online under normal circumstances...so ask me again in a couple of weeks!!!
|
|
|
Post by leslie132 on Apr 9, 2020 2:54:19 GMT
Parent here with a first grader. We start with the recorded morning announcements from his principal and then the morning greeting from his classroom teacher that goes over a greeting, a special guest (recorded video), and directions for what the students are responsible for that day. Every day while he's watching those videos I sit down with a notepad and divide it in two columns. One side is MUST DO and the other side is OPTIONAL. Reading, Writing, Math, what they're calling FLEX, his Handwriting practice for his OT, and his special for the day (either counseling, music, or PE) go on the required side. Sometimes there's one or two more things like his weekly class zoom meeting or today he has a zoom practice session with his speech therapist. The other stuff that is suggested or optional or we haven't gotten around to yet goes on the OPTIONAL side. We get through the required (usually in about 1 1/2 - 2 hours). And then I guage how much more *I* can take for the day (I'm also still working 40 hours a week with a combination of being in the office and working from home) and maybe do one or two things from the optional side and try to make up some stuff on the weekends. As I said in a post last week (? I think - time is blurring) it's never going to look "perfect" at my house, whatever that looks like. What I'm finding is falling by the wayside is the stuff I used to be doing to help him at home in the evenings. Reading books together. Going over his take home sheets for the unit words for the week. Reviewing math flashcards with him. I dropped all that "parent evening help" stuff. I wonder if that's going to have an effect eventually? The last day of school was originally supposed to be May 28th. They moved it a couple of days ago to May 14th. Five more weeks. His teaching team and the rest of the staff at his school though have been amazing and inventive. I really appreciate all the work the teachers are putting in. You sound just like me. I have twin first graders. I’m at it around 2-2.5 a day. I really focus on Reading, Math and Spelling. I notice that the spelling isn’t clicking like it did 2 months ago, but back then I spent the evenings doing homework and now I just don’t. I’m using this time to keep my kids engaged and moving forward. I’m sure some parents manage to do more than I do, but I’m just as positive that there are plenty of kids who aren’t getting half of what my kids are. I’m so thankful for the teachers and all their efforts!!!
|
|
|
Post by volunteergirl on Apr 9, 2020 3:07:16 GMT
We have been online learning for a week. My DD is a sophomore. I will admit my DD didn’t have the toughest schedule this semester. Several of her classes do not translate well to online material, which I understand. But I have been disappointed so far. The few class meetings have been sparsely attended and the teachers are basically checking to see how they are and then ending the meeting. She has had maybe 90 minutes of work in the last week.
|
|
|
Post by Linda on Apr 9, 2020 3:15:58 GMT
I'm really REALLY impressed with our school superintendent AND our school - teachers and admins.
DD is 7th grade
I've heard from two of her core teachers - they are taking turns touching base with parents - and both were more concerned with how DD and our family were DOING than lessons/work. Our Super made it clear that emotional wellbeing is to take priority over education and that the teachers will meet the kids where they are when they return to school and that the students will be back on track by May 2021.
Because we're a very poor, very rural district with lots of areas that don't have internet coverage - they handed out packets at the schools that cover the same material that's available on google classroom. We started last week and the packets were supposed to be for one week but part way through the week, the state moved the return to school date from April 15th to May 1st - I think that set the schools scrambling a bit because it was announced that the packets would now cover two weeks and a new packet covering the rest of the month will be available next Monday. PE is requiring 30 minutes of physical activity every school day to be logged. Spanish has assignments plus duolingo hours. Maths and English have assignments plus iReady (2 lessons and 45 minutes each). Science and Civics are just assignments so far.(duolingo and iready are waived for those doing the assignments on paper)
My student is in a pre-AP track but all the packets are the same for all 7th graders - so the work is easier than she's used to and there's a lot less of it. Her teachers are aware of this and are working to add enrichment activities on google classroom (from what DD has said - almost all of her classmates have at least some internet access based on attendence at zoom meetings).
The core team teachers do a weekly zoom meeting with the class - to check in, answer questions, and give the students a bit of interaction.
And she's in some sort of social skills/therapy small group at school - I'm not quite clear on what exactly (it's not part of her IEP and it apparently was something she was offered and could accept or decline - she accepted). It was meeting every other week for an hour - and it's now meeting every other week for an hour on Google Hangouts. She said the first week it was just her and the adult who runs it but apparently she felt it was helpful.
She's working independently and she's a self-motivated student who wants to please her teachers. And I'm a SAHM with prior homeschooling experience and just have her and a college student to worry about (she had 2 online classes already, the other two are now online and apparently going smoother than the ones that have been online all semester). We're in a very privileged place. I really feel for parents who are juggling work, crisis schooling, and multiple small children.
|
|
|
Post by Lori McMud on Apr 9, 2020 3:24:16 GMT
Awful. I have a 16 year old with ADHD who is an unmotivated learner on his best day. It's like a war zone in my house. The teachers are communicating with the kids and I appreciate that, but I have had to reach out to the teachers so I know what is going on. We have been out since March 16th and he only had a few assignments a week up until last week. Now he has assignments every day and two of his teachers have regularly scheduled google meets. I am also working from home so it's very stressful. I appreciate that his business teacher reached out this morning because his assignments weren't turned in. I sent her a very glowing email, telling her how difficult it is to homeschool and work from home at the same time and how I greatly appreciate her reaching out to me. Apparently ds wrote back on her reminder note to him in google to turn in his assignments, "Chill, here it is." ![>:(](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/angry.png) I then received a 5 paragraph long email from the teacher about how she hopes her emails to parents are better received by others, etc., etc. I'M SORRY, I'M TRYING! I seriously told my kid that if he isn't going to do the work then just drop out now and he can start his junior year all over again next year. OMG I have the same kid at my house. He is ADD as well and would much rather be gaming or going to his new part time job. This can’t be over soon enough.
|
|
|
Post by refugeepea on Apr 9, 2020 4:24:29 GMT
My son is not your typical student. It's a balance of pushing him, but not too far. He got so mad at me the other day he bit his hands until they bled. He seems to like meeting with the aides in his classroom three times a week via google hangouts. One of his aides dropped off his favorite toy he has at school and some airheads candy because "he was just so cute when he ate them". ![:laugh:](//storage.proboards.com/5645536/images/Ivm7lm0DayrhoRpwvCeH.jpg) FTR, she left them in a bag, rang the doorbell, and left.
I want him to improve, but he is so delayed, I wonder what really matters academically with him.
|
|
|
Post by refugeepea on Apr 9, 2020 4:34:54 GMT
Out of my 15 sped students, 10 have joined my google classroom, but have done NO work in the past 3 weeks. I can't force kids to do assignments and I don't want to call and bug parents about it either. We are supposed to be implementing IEPs and giving grades. That's a big NOPE from me. I am also pretty much done with all the meetings...IEP meetings, staff meetings, PLC meetings...seriously! I don't know how severe the sped students are, but I've had a very hard time doing the quizzes and some of the other assignments online with my son. I've been texting and emailing the teacher letting her know if I did something on his ipad or with flashcards instead. Maybe they are doing it another way? I don't know just a thought.
|
|
|
Post by crazy4scraps on Apr 9, 2020 5:36:19 GMT
It’s hard to say. The choice boards that the school sent out for the first two weeks for my 4th grader are mostly fluff assignments and since there has been virtually no request to show or present what the kid actually did, she is just phoning it in because she knows she isn’t being held accountable for doing it. My kid is so not motivated to do this stuff because she feels like it’s a waste of her time (and quite honestly I can’t really blame her). The teacher needs them to log in to Seesaw every day and answer a daily question so she knows they were “present” but other than that they haven’t been asking for the kids to show any of their work.
If she would knuckle down and power through (doing an actual good job on the assignments) it really shouldn’t take more than an hour and a half to do everything they are currently asking for. But instead because she knows none of it matters and she doesn’t want to do it, she whines and complains and procrastinates for at least 30 minutes for each task. Then she spends ten minutes doing a half assed job and asks if she can be done, ugh.
What is annoying me is that the tasks are pretty straight forward, but even so my kid tries to skip through and do the bare minimum she thinks she can get away with doing and I have to have her go back and read through the task multiple times and make her do all the steps. An example would be, “How many different three digit numbers can you create using the digits 1, 4 and 9? Order your numbers from least to greatest. What is the difference between the largest and smallest numbers you made?” For my kid, who has been adding and subtracting three digit numbers in her head since the second grade, something like this shouldn’t take more than five minutes. But she procrastinates for 20 or 30 minutes before she even starts, and then tries to do only part of what has been asked of her so then I have to nag her to go back and do all of the parts. It’s so frustrating.
I understand that at this time they are trying to get the kids back into a more engaged state, testing out that their technology systems are working for everyone, etc. before they go back to what they had been working on prior to spring break which was the second week of March. I know it’s hard for everybody. This week they had all the parents come to school to pick up all of their kid’s stuff from school: items they had left in their lockers, workbooks, school supplies, notebooks that had their previous work in it, and all the logins they will need going forward for the apps they had been using in class previously on Clever, Prodigy and Google, etc.
Today they had the kids all try to log into their Seesaw classrooms, and from there they will work on having the kids gradually get back into doing more of the work online similar to what they had been doing in the classroom, and where there will be more interaction with the teachers. The kids will have to actually put some effort in and be accountable for what they are spending their time doing, which I think will be a big help. At least I hope it is, or it’s going to be a VERY long couple months. (I am assuming since our Corona peak isn’t predicted to be until the end of April, they won’t be going back to physical school for the remainder of the year, although it hasn’t been determined yet.)
I feel very lucky that I work from home anyway so I am already here, lucky that my work commitment is just part time, and lucky that so far we don’t have any huge financial constraints that some families have. I’m also very thankful I only have one kid. I can’t even imagine how much more stressful it would be to have to take on all of this, and work from home full time without being used to that, and possibly having a lack of income on top of it plus all of the added stress that would bring. Hugs to everyone who is fighting those fights along with all of this too.
|
|
Dalai Mama
Drama Llama
![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_green.png)
La Pea Boheme
Posts: 6,985
Jun 26, 2014 0:31:31 GMT
|
Post by Dalai Mama on Apr 9, 2020 10:27:00 GMT
DS is in Gr 12 at a public high school that houses two separate educational models/schools - one a traditional high school and another school to transition the children of new immigrants.
Our schools let out for March Break on the 15th with instructions that students wouldn’t be returning (or learning) until April. During that first week and continuing to now, we received almost daily emails from his school’s principal, linking textbook resources, and answering any questions or concerns about schooling as well as directing parents to resources for social and language services.
On March 23rd, the Monday DS’s March Break was originally supposed to end he had emails from every one of his teachers with assignments. On that Wednesday, his teachers started betaing online classes, getting input directly from the students about what worked and what didn’t and finalizing their live-learning platforms. Now that school has officially restarted, DS’s school is way ahead of the curve.
I am so pleased with his school, I don’t have words to express.
|
|
|
Post by mom2rjcr on Apr 9, 2020 14:51:13 GMT
Out of my 15 sped students, 10 have joined my google classroom, but have done NO work in the past 3 weeks. I can't force kids to do assignments and I don't want to call and bug parents about it either. We are supposed to be implementing IEPs and giving grades. That's a big NOPE from me. I am also pretty much done with all the meetings...IEP meetings, staff meetings, PLC meetings...seriously! I don't know how severe the sped students are, but I've had a very hard time doing the quizzes and some of the other assignments online with my son. I've been texting and emailing the teacher letting her know if I did something on his ipad or with flashcards instead. Maybe they are doing it another way? I don't know just a thought. My students are mainly LD. I have been in contact with all of my parents weekly or more. I wish they were doing it another way.
|
|
MsKnit
Pearl Clutcher
RefuPea #1406
Posts: 2,648
Jun 26, 2014 19:06:42 GMT
|
Post by MsKnit on Apr 9, 2020 15:05:52 GMT
My daughter is in college and on her second week of an online quarter. It’s been a real struggle. Each professor is handling classes differently. No one is using a live class session. It’s all work on your own or watch pre-recorded videos. There is no time to ask questions live, it’s all emails back and forth. Some are assigning work that’s due on non-class days. Very inconsistent in terms of when assignments are posted. Last night she had an assignment to watch something on Netflix that was due today. I know it’s a struggle on both ends being that this is also new for the professors. My dd is new to this school having just transferred from another college. So, she doesn’t have school friends she can reach out to. I'm only dealing with one class and am ready to contact them to drop it. I can not imagine trying to manage this with a full schedule. This is not coming unexpectedly. As from previous experience, the Prof is fantastic at teaching the subject itself. He struggles with getting things graded and returned in a timely manner. Communication is a problem. He asked we not email him, instead use a bulletin board type system. I totally understand the why of it. However, there was a problem with his last assignment. So, I asked about it on the board. It's due today and there still has been no response. He's obviously trying. Though, I wonder if he isn't giving our class as much attention since there seems to be only 3 of us participating at this point. We are all overwhelmed.
|
|
|
Post by Skellinton on Apr 9, 2020 15:34:58 GMT
Thanks everyone for sharing. This is just such a difficult situation, that in the long run won’t really matter to the kids academic achievement, but it sure stinks right now.
I really think next year is going to be bonkers.
I hope that those of you with positive experiences just take a moment to let the teachers know, I am sure your feedback will mean a lot. I would be thrilled to hear from even one parent, it would give me such a boost and make this incredibly difficult situation a bit more bearable.
Teachers know that many of you are struggling now and we are trying to ease your burden. None of us would ever chose to teach this way. We didn’t choose to be teachers for the fame and glory or pay. We are teachers because we love kids and want to be around them. We cherish those moments when we see their faces light up because they “got” something you taught them. We don’t have that right now. We love talking to them and seeing their smiles when they come to class. For us that teach littles the hugs and high fives and silly songs and ridiculous stories are what we are missing right now. To hear from just one parent that what we are doing matters to the kids would make a world of difference.
|
|
artbabe
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,148
Jun 26, 2014 1:59:10 GMT
|
Post by artbabe on Apr 9, 2020 17:23:31 GMT
I'm doing pretty well with it. I have 116 students and I'm only missing 13 of them at this point. I'll send some more emails out next week looking for them again- this week is spring break. I've really enjoyed doing this because it is a new challenge and after teaching middle school art for 26 years it is nice to have a change. I'm lucky that my kids have been really responsive- it seems my percent of kids participating is really high compared to a lot of schools.
In some ways I have more one to one contact with kids because I send individual emails out to students. When you have a class of 26 and only 50 minutes it is hard to reach every kid every day. This allows me to address each kid personally. The downside of that is that I have over 200 emails and notifications a day. I haven't had any parent complaints- the only parents that have contacted me are ones with special need kids that need help modifying the assignments.
I don't think homeschooling is going well with my sister and nephews. She is working from home and not watching the kids. The oldest is doing all of the work, but he is always a straight A student. The little one tries but is not getting the guidance he needs. I don't think the middle one is doing anything at all, but that is a whole different post.
|
|
huskergal
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,031
Jun 25, 2014 20:22:13 GMT
|
Post by huskergal on Apr 9, 2020 18:04:51 GMT
My son is a senior. He is keeping up on his work.
I teach Middle School Computer Applications. I have learned that students do not like to read.
We start our final 5 weeks on Monday. I will have all new students. I am sending out information to parents and students on Monday over what will be graded and the format of the class.
I am very frustrated that we have to give kids the same grade or better than they had a midterm for this 5th Hexter. Most of my students had 1s (As) because I had only a few assignments at that time. I have students not turning anything in. I am not going to change their percentage or their missing assignments. I will just change the number grade to what they had. But their is no accountability for the students.
Our district is 1-to-1. I understand some students do not have Internet access at home. I get that. The vast majority in our district do.
|
|
|
Post by ghislaine on Apr 9, 2020 20:15:32 GMT
So, now that I have griped, how is it going for you guys? Parents what do you want to see? What would make it easier for you? Are you giving your teachers any feedback? Teachers what are you struggling with? What are you enjoying? Are your kids engaged? I think our teachers have been getting plenty of support and constructive criticism because we are at the point now where they've let parents know that "No news is good news." I have been in touch and given feedback because I've maintained contact since the beginning of the year, especially with my 5th grader's teachers. She'd been diagnosed with ADHD at the end of 4th grade so we'd met for that a time or two and I knew it would be an issue with distance learning. We seem to have mostly worked through it though. Google Classroom wasn't new to her but the teachers are still figuring out what works for assigning work and getting it turned in. Next week will be the real test as so far the district has been doing "maintenance learning" while "continuing learning" starts next week. The 5th grader's teachers have actually been doing a bit of "continuing learning" so I think we'll be okay there. I think it will be a little different for my 1st grader though. Her first grade teacher teamed up with the other 1st grade teacher and they've been posting daily to the Google Classroom with a list of daily activities that I think will set the stage for the "continued learning" next week. I suspect that we are very privileged to live in a district with good internet access and resources. 5th grader...not impressed yet. Math worksheets, his teacher is reading a book out loud and some videos (for science) from You Tube to watch. He has ADHD so that doesn't help. It's so far not been an hour of work and he's bored in 15 minutes... I'm hoping it gets better. Solidarity on the boredom! Mine is also irritated with her Language Art teacher for continuing to type U-tube instead of Youtube. Poor teacher is probably trying to be hip!
|
|