Blowout Teachers' Lounge

[TheFrenzy]

Originally Posted by IndyKMB

As we near the midway ppint of the 2023-24 school year, I'm at a crossroads.

Had another great run with our Girls Golf program, culminating in a repeat State Championship in October. But, I'm finally realizing that after over 20 years in Middle School I just don't think I can keep doing this at this level.

We have absolutely nothing to hold over our middle schoolers:
--They will not be held back.
--They do not have to do work (they get a 50% even if they do not turn in work or they get a 10/60 on a test).
--Most major punishments are challenged by parents.
--Many IEP kiddos realize they possess a "get-out-of-jail-free" card and do essentially whatever they want with little consequence.

On top of that, I'm planning and differentiating for IEP, 504, and MLL kiddos with absolutely zero pull-in support.

Giving serious consideration for the first time in my career to adding a HS license and exploring those options.

I'm in the weird spot of being the home-schooled parent excited to send my kid to school and my public-schooled wife is the one pushing for us to consider homeschooling him.

[rocketfan86]

Well, that's another semester in the books folks!

Time to do nothing school/work-related for 3 weeks and then return for convocation week.

Looks like the guest speaker and many trainings are going to be centered around AI technologies and how to implement them in the classroom.

And to the rest of my fellow educators,

[thenightman]

Originally Posted by rocketfan86

Well, that's another semester in the books folks!

Time to do nothing school/work-related for 3 weeks and then return for convocation week.

Looks like the guest speaker and many trainings are going to be centered around AI technologies and how to implement them in the classroom.

10 years from now teachers will be glorified babysitters, monitoring students glued to their computers. Classrooms of 60 incoming.

[hairysasquatch]

Originally Posted by rocketfan86

Looks like the guest speaker and many trainings are going to be centered around AI technologies and how to implement them in the classroom.

At my place of employ, next semester's teaching awards are to be restricted to those recognized for innovative implementation of AI in the classroom.

Genius move by otherwise clueless administrators - get the most useful of the faculty idiots to provide them with a blueprint for modes of implementation with the tiniest of carrots (up to $5k in "research funds") and then use those to make the stick that will beat the reluctant majority into future compliance.

[TheFrenzy]

Originally Posted by hairysasquatch

At my place of employ, next semester's teaching awards are to be restricted to those recognized for innovative implementation of AI in the classroom.

Genius move by otherwise clueless administrators - get the most useful of the faculty idiots to provide them with a blueprint for modes of implementation with the tiniest of carrots (up to $5k in "research funds") and then use those to make the stick that will beat the reluctant majority into future compliance.

- Grab some syllabi from the engineering department. I'd bet anything they have the most fully-developed AI policies.

- Add some subject-reinforcing policies to deter unethical use. Something like papers needing to have proper, valid citations to be accepted.

- If you've got an CS majors in class, ask two or three of them to meet with you outside of class a few times to go over how students are actually using the tech and what kind of papers someone who really understands the tech can produce.

- For an assignment, have AI produce a few essays on relevant course prompts and then have the students critique those papers for a grade.

[hairysasquatch]

Originally Posted by TheFrenzy

- Grab some syllabi from the engineering department. I'd bet anything they have the most fully-developed AI policies.

- Add some subject-reinforcing policies to deter unethical use. Something like papers needing to have proper, valid citations to be accepted.

- If you've got an CS majors in class, ask two or three of them to meet with you outside of class a few times to go over how students are actually using the tech and what kind of papers someone who really understands the tech can produce.

- For an assignment, have AI produce a few essays on relevant course prompts and then have the students critique those papers for a grade.

I don't want to be their useful idiot, but several of these are not bad.

[jlzinck]

When exactly is teaching STOP being teaching and become social work.

My daughter told me a story about what happened 2 hours before school vacation started last week. She teaches 1st grade.

Boy #1, speaks no English and is the size of the average 4th grader, is holding boy #2 with both hands on the collar of his jacket. Boy 2 is smaller that the average 1st grader and is trying to punch Boy #1. Boy #2 is also hyperventilating and basically having a panic attack.

She talks to Boy #2 who is still so upset he can't speak to answer her questions.
She talks to Boy #1 who says "yes" to everything because he cannot speak English. Although she could ask him questions in Spanish she is not allowed to because that is the job of the EL Dept.

In their last monthly staff meeting the teachers were told that if closed fist punches are thrown that Admin needs to be involved. So my daughter, who pay attention at these meetings uses her walkie to have her TA call Admin.

The Admin who comes is the vice principal and as she is talking to all the parties involved, along comes the principal who goes up to my daughter as asks what happened.

My daughter fills him in and he tells her that the calling of the Admin was a gray area and that the Vice Principal missed lunch 3 times this week.

My daughter informs him of the last staff meeting and repeated what HE told them about closed fist punching. He told her she was right and apologized to her.

As luck would have it the mom of Boy#2 was volunteering that day so she could talk to her and fill her in about what happened, as she would need to call both sets of parents.

Another teacher seeing the total clusterf*ck my daughter is going through asks her if my daughter wanted to call parents of Boy#1.

She agrees. 2nd teacher calls in interpreter to question Boy #1 what happened. He told 3 different stories. Then calls the mother to tell her what happened.

! don't know how you teachers do it in 2023 going in to 24.

[hairysasquatch]

Originally Posted by jlzinck

When exactly is teaching STOP being teaching and become social work.

My daughter told me a story about what happened 2 hours before school vacation started last week. She teaches 1st grade.

Boy #1, speaks no English and is the size of the average 4th grader, is holding boy #2 with both hands on the collar of his jacket. Boy 2 is smaller that the average 1st grader and is trying to punch Boy #1. Boy #2 is also hyperventilating and basically having a panic attack.

She talks to Boy #2 who is still so upset he can't speak to answer her questions.
She talks to Boy #1 who says "yes" to everything because he cannot speak English. Although she could ask him questions in Spanish she is not allowed to because that is the job of the EL Dept.

In their last monthly staff meeting the teachers were told that if closed fist punches are thrown that Admin needs to be involved. So my daughter, who pay attention at these meetings uses her walkie to have her TA call Admin.

The Admin who comes is the vice principal and as she is talking to all the parties involved, along comes the principal who goes up to my daughter as asks what happened.

My daughter fills him in and he tells her that the calling of the Admin was a gray area and that the Vice Principal missed lunch 3 times this week.

My daughter informs him of the last staff meeting and repeated what HE told them about closed fist punching. He told her she was right and apologized to her.

As luck would have it the mom of Boy#2 was volunteering that day so she could talk to her and fill her in about what happened, as she would need to call both sets of parents.

Another teacher seeing the total clusterf*ck my daughter is going through asks her if my daughter wanted to call parents of Boy#1.

She agrees. 2nd teacher calls in interpreter to question Boy #1 what happened. He told 3 different stories. Then calls the mother to tell her what happened.

! don't know how you teachers do it in 2023 going in to 24.

Sympathy extended to your daughter. The system is completely broken. The notion that kids unable to speak the language are being mainstreamed with their age peer group is ridiculous. It's too bad the teachers' unions aren't worth anything these days.

[jlzinck]

Originally Posted by hairysasquatch

Sympathy extended to your daughter. The system is completely broken. The notion that kids unable to speak the language are being mainstreamed with their age peer group is ridiculous. It's too bad the teachers' unions aren't worth anything these days.

35 % of her kids are ESL.

2 cannot speak english. 1 speaks Spanish, 1 speaks Polish.

[thenightman]

Originally Posted by jlzinck

When exactly is teaching STOP being teaching and become social work.

My daughter told me a story about what happened 2 hours before school vacation started last week. She teaches 1st grade.

Boy #1, speaks no English and is the size of the average 4th grader, is holding boy #2 with both hands on the collar of his jacket. Boy 2 is smaller that the average 1st grader and is trying to punch Boy #1. Boy #2 is also hyperventilating and basically having a panic attack.

She talks to Boy #2 who is still so upset he can't speak to answer her questions.
She talks to Boy #1 who says "yes" to everything because he cannot speak English. Although she could ask him questions in Spanish she is not allowed to because that is the job of the EL Dept.

In their last monthly staff meeting the teachers were told that if closed fist punches are thrown that Admin needs to be involved. So my daughter, who pay attention at these meetings uses her walkie to have her TA call Admin.

The Admin who comes is the vice principal and as she is talking to all the parties involved, along comes the principal who goes up to my daughter as asks what happened.

My daughter fills him in and he tells her that the calling of the Admin was a gray area and that the Vice Principal missed lunch 3 times this week.

My daughter informs him of the last staff meeting and repeated what HE told them about closed fist punching. He told her she was right and apologized to her.

As luck would have it the mom of Boy#2 was volunteering that day so she could talk to her and fill her in about what happened, as she would need to call both sets of parents.

Another teacher seeing the total clusterf*ck my daughter is going through asks her if my daughter wanted to call parents of Boy#1.

She agrees. 2nd teacher calls in interpreter to question Boy #1 what happened. He told 3 different stories. Then calls the mother to tell her what happened.

! don't know how you teachers do it in 2023 going in to 24.

Teaching is social work. That’s the way I look at it. As a teacher myself, I feel it’s a part of my job to not only teach ABCs and 123s, it’s also important to teach how to work with well with others, learn to accept failure as an integral part of success, try your best, and treat others the way you want to be treated.

The simple fact is kids are broken because parents are broken. It’s a broken world and somebody has to be the one to teach these kids.

[Ray27Ray52]

I am more of a therapist and mediator then I am an educator it seems. I'm with 3rd grade so it's crucial that these children are taught how to handle disagreement or arguments now.

The hallway in my school links grades 3-5. When 4-5 are transitioning it's usually a mess of noise that disrupts everyone. My kids know I don't say a thing. I just casually walk over, close my door, and go on about the business of learning. I tell my kids we learn how to act now so next year when I see you in these halls you have zero reason to act this way because you know better and you will do better. Accountability and responsibility go hand in hand.

[jlzinck]

Today's edition of "Adventures in Education"

MY daughter (1st grade teacher) told this story to her kindergarten teaching co worker.

She has 1 black child in her class. This child has OCD and basically does what she wants when she wants. So the girl wanted a pen from the pen box. So my daughter told her to go get it. It was next to a young man from India. She walked to the end of the table, grabbed a pen and went back to her seat.
She then wanted another pen. This time she didn't go to the end of the table. She stood next to the young Indian boy, crawled over him to get to the pen box and grabbed it and went back to her seat.
She wanted a DIFFERENT pen once again crawled over the kid once more then screamed out to my daughter "He called me a monkey!!!"
This is now a Level 5 code red. The Administration needs to be called, parents called and if I HAD to guess a call was made to the school district lawyer.

The kindergarten teacher told her that she could beat that.
She has a young man in her class who some sort of disability that she describes as a young Raymond Babbitt. He says inappropriate things that he doesn't understand are inappropriate.

So the whole school is teaching about MLK this week as his Birthday Holiday is Monday.

After some sort of talk on MLK was done it was "playtime" and this young man had a great idea, his words, for a game.

He wanted to put all the black kids on one side of the room and all the other kids on the other side of the room. That's it. That was the game.

I told her she should move home and become a dog walker.

[TheFrenzy]

Whoever gave the MLK lesson at my kid’s school botched it because the only takeaway the kids took with them was “omg, someone got shot. Today at school they told us about how they killed someone with a gun. They used a gun and shot him and he really died.”

If the parent group chat is any indication, there were a lot of confused parents trying to figure who got shot at school.

[hairysasquatch]

I have to start teaching again in a little over a week. After a year long sabbatical. It's goings to be rough.

[TheFrenzy]

Originally Posted by hairysasquatch

I have to start teaching again in a little over a week. After a year long sabbatical. It's goings to be rough.

Classes started last week. First day of class, one of the freshmen stole my buddy's airpods right off his desk while they were leaving class.

[DontToewsMeBro]

Originally Posted by hairysasquatch

I have to start teaching again in a little over a week. After a year long sabbatical. It's goings to be rough.

O Nome de Patri Spiritus Sancti

God with God my friend

[rocketfan86]

My teaching load for the spring semester:


I have 60 fewer students than I do this past fall semester.

[Coach Ditka]

E-learning day tomorrow because of the cold after a snow day Friday.

[hairysasquatch]

Originally Posted by Coach Ditka

E-learning day tomorrow because of the cold after a snow day Friday.

The coddling of America continues

E-learning = no learning

[Coach Ditka]

Originally Posted by hairysasquatch

The coddling of America continues

E-learning = no learning

Coddling? I call it pussification.

[jlzinck]

Originally Posted by Coach Ditka

E-learning day tomorrow because of the cold after a snow day Friday.

Originally Posted by hairysasquatch

The coddling of America continues

E-learning = no learning

Whatever bureaucratic hack runs he Massachusetts education system was plastered over TV telling people kids are missing too much school AND IT'S ONLY GOING TO HOLD THEM BACK.

No it's the past 3 years of closing schools if the wind blows the wrong way that will hold kids back.

[DontToewsMeBro]

Kind of educationally-adjacent but I coach middle school aged boys rep basketball. There was a buses cancelled day but school were open so most either walk or get driven in by Mom and the teachers have a normal school day. One of the boys on my team stayed home becuse his parents allowed it. We had a practice afterschool. He didn't show up on time. I called asking where he was? The response I got from his mother floored me........ "Tobias can't go to practice because he stayed home from school as it was too cold for him (it was -3C/27F) and he's trying to beat a video game right now, I can't get him off the game so he's not coming to practice"..... I proceeded to tell her to keep him at home from now on and I hope he enjoys the game becuase he's off the basketball team. If they'd like to have a meeting I am available but my decision is final.

I have no words for this type of weak ass parenting. The inmates are truly in charge of the asylum in that family.

First time this ever happened in 20+ years as all the boys have to tryout and I selected 13 out of the 40+ who tried out. I called the last boy I cut and he was at practice with his Dad within 10 minutes very grateful and happy.

[TheFrenzy]

Buddy of mine teaching at a campus in northern Arizona just text me.

The department mandated the textbook to be used and sent him an instructor copy for his class this semester. So he used the textbook and planned his course accordingly.

Now he’s getting emails from students saying none of the page numbers line up with the readings.

Turns out a new edition of the textbook just came out and the department told the students to buy that edition rather than the one they sent my buddy.

[hairysasquatch]

Originally Posted by DontToewsMeBro

Kind of educationally-adjacent but I coach middle school aged boys rep basketball. There was a buses cancelled day but school were open so most either walk or get driven in by Mom and the teachers have a normal school day. One of the boys on my team stayed home becuse his parents allowed it. We had a practice afterschool. He didn't show up on time. I called asking where he was? The response I got from his mother floored me........ "Tobias can't go to practice because he stayed home from school as it was too cold for him (it was -3C/27F) and he's trying to beat a video game right now, I can't get him off the game so he's not coming to practice"..... I proceeded to tell her to keep him at home from now on and I hope he enjoys the game becuase he's off the basketball team. If they'd like to have a meeting I am available but my decision is final.

I have no words for this type of weak ass parenting. The inmates are truly in charge of the asylum in that family.

First time this ever happened in 20+ years as all the boys have to tryout and I selected 13 out of the 40+ who tried out. I called the last boy I cut and he was at practice with his Dad within 10 minutes very grateful and happy.

In the US you would probably be sued for this. But good on ya for calling back the last kid cut.

[hairysasquatch]

Originally Posted by TheFrenzy

Buddy of mine teaching at a campus in northern Arizona just text me.

The department mandated the textbook to be used and sent him an instructor copy for his class this semester. So he used the textbook and planned his course accordingly.

Now he’s getting emails from students saying none of the page numbers line up with the readings.

Turns out a new edition of the textbook just came out and the department told the students to buy that edition rather than the one they sent my buddy.

Even better are the digital versions of textbooks that have NO PAGE NUMBERS so you have to assign by CHAPTERS and SHORTS GET WADDED when people can't discern if a chapter is 10 or 40 pp.