Old Venting Thread

[Alix]

Amid all these computers and wireless headsets she is speaking on, exercise balls they've purchased, gizmos and gadjets galore..... they have no money in the school system for people? Wonder why?
I'm sorry but I think I learned quite well with pencils and paper....
THis has me really upset. Can ya tell?
I could go on..... but I will be shutting up now.

Oooooooooo! I'm steamed for you. (Can you tell I'm a teacher at my heart?) That is just completely ridiculous. OK, the ball thing is just STUPID! (Ask kitchenelf about my problems with the ball) and the lack of $ for people makes me want to scream. Its the same everywhere though, "stuff" is more important than people. *ranting and stomping off in a huff*

 

[luvs]

Oooooooooo! I'm steamed for you. (Can you tell I'm a teacher at my heart?) That is just completely ridiculous. OK, the ball thing is just STUPID! (Ask kitchenelf about my problems with the ball) and the lack of $ for people makes me want to scream. Its the same everywhere though, "stuff" is more important than people. *ranting and stomping off in a huff*

wow. that's just silly, giving exercise equipment like that. why not just SAY 'play instead of learn'.

if they really want to provide better desks, why not cheapo computer chairs fer kiddos.

 

[Barbara L]

So yesterday was open house for my son's 3rd grade class.
We had a short parent's meeting, and among topincs the teacher tells us that sometime during the year they will switch the kids from chairs to those big exercise balls.... like they are doing in some offices.... they tested it last year in a few classes and it went "great".
Is this not asking for some kids (like mine that can't sit still... where'd he get that from???) to get into trouble? Just because the schools of this day and age seems to think it is thier job to get the overweight kids more exercise?????
Yes I am aware discipline is needed and he is disciplined PLENTY......

Then she goes on to tell us that teachers, due to funding for more personnell, are going to have to monitor playground and lunch themselves, rather than the helpers hired by the district..... leaving no "extra" time to stay behind with a kid needing catch up help.
Excuse me?
Amid all these computers and wireless headsets she is speaking on, exercise balls they've purchased, gizmos and gadjets galore..... they have no money in the school system for people? Wonder why?
I'm sorry but I think I learned quite well with pencils and paper....
THis has me really upset. Can ya tell?
I could go on..... but I will be shutting up now.

I know exactly how you feel.

As far as time to work with kids who need individual help, it was almost non-existent in the school where I worked. I was with my class pretty much from the moment they walked in the door to the moment they left. The teachers were responsible (we did it by grade level) for creating a recess schedule. Our kids only got one recess a day, and that was attached to lunch (about 15-20 minutes to eat and 20-25 for recess). We ate with our kids, then the teachers on duty took the kids outside. There was no time to do much more than go to the bathroom and make a few copies (if the copier wasn't broken down and someone else wasn't already using it.). With six 4th grade teachers, I had duty every third week. We had no paid assistants, and very rarely did any parent volunteers come in. About the only time I could give anyone individual attention was while the class worked in groups or on individual seatwork, and even then I had to give the whole class a lot of my attention. I did have about 40 minutes away from the kids when they went to "specials" (Art, Music, P.E., Library, Counseling--all of which they had one day a week), but we weren't supposed to pull kids out of those classes to work with them. That was our planning period. We also had grade-level meetings during that time. It was so frustrating. I could see what the kids needed, but I was so locked into how administration said things needed to be done. They are experimenting with our kids. When one experiment (like the balls in place of chairs, or worse yet, off-the-wall teaching methods) doesn't work, they move on to another. (And I'm not saying anything new is automatically bad--some change is necessary).

I know all schools are not like the ones I have taught in, but many in my area are.

Barbara

 

[suziquzie]

The main thing I don't understand is why all this "extra help" needs to be loaded on the teacher anyway!
Is there a reason you can't send a kid home with a note saying "HEY! your kid needs a little extra help, could you take 15 min out of your 'busy day' to do YOUR OWN CHILD a favor?"
I think too many people are assuming all teaching of thier
children is up to the school, and can't grasp that ultimately THEY are thier child's #1 teacher!

 

[Barbara L]

Many of the parents in our area can't read well, or at all. Way too many of them say that teaching is the school's job, and they refuse to do anything. Many of the kids were never read to and don't know any of the typical nursery rhymes, etc. It is really sad. The parents (not all of course, but the ones I am talking about here) had no interest in school growing up, and they see school partly as an imposition and partly as a way to get the kids off of their hands for a few hours. Many of them had their kids so young that they were either growing up with them, or the grandparents are raising the kids. I repeat, it is very sad.

It would be nice if all parents and the school worked together for the best of the children.

Barbara

 

[suziquzie]

I suppose you're right, there are whole bunches of parents that I can't even imagine...
and don't really want to!
Boy I'm even sorrier I'm so far north of Iowa now.... that woulda been a fun lunch!

 

[Barbara L]

I have family in Minnesota. Who knows--maybe someday!

Barbara

 

[Fisher's Mom]

I'd be freaked out about the "exercise balls as chairs" thing too, Suzie. It seems to me to be a disaster waiting to happen. Not only that, it seems all of the schools are looking for ways to circumvent breaks like recess and PE. IMO, it is not a good thing. Young children, especially boys, seem to learn better with frequent, shorter periods of concentrated study and regular breaks that allow for physical activity. Sadly, even elementary school children are allowed very few opportunities for physical activity during the school day since recess and PE have been shortened and even eliminated in many schools. Perhaps it's one of the reasons for the weight problems in younger children. I doubt putting them on balls in the classroom will be a fix. Probably just more work for the teacher trying regain order every time a child loses balance and rolls off or drops all their stuff or kicks another child's ball out from under them.

 

[suziquzie]

DH is going to call the school tomorrow and find out just why they think that's such a bright idea. He wasn't able to come with us, and when I told him about it he was NOT happy. Jacob is not a kid that sits still...... maybe thats why he's so skinny.... all the dinner table chair rocking.
His school has gym class and recess.... is this their way of telling us next year they "can't afford" those classes?

 

[Barbara L]

Have they said why they are switching to the exercise balls? It is my guess that they think it will keep the kids more alert. Hard to fall asleep if you have to keep your balance on a ball. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Barbara

 

[suziquzie]

Yeah I think she said concentration..... yeah right.
Getting your kid to bed at 8 not 10 after 16 zillion errands helps them stay awake in class too.

 

[Fisher's Mom]

Many of the parents in our area can't read well, or at all. Way too many of them say that teaching is the school's job, and they refuse to do anything. Many of the kids were never read to and don't know any of the typical nursery rhymes, etc. It is really sad. The parents (not all of course, but the ones I am talking about here) had no interest in school growing up, and they see school partly as an imposition and partly as a way to get the kids off of their hands for a few hours. Many of them had their kids so young that they were either growing up with them, or the grandparents are raising the kids. I repeat, it is very sad.

It would be nice if all parents and the school worked together for the best of the children.

Barbara

You are so right, Barbara. I've met so many "functionally illiterate" young people! People who can read just enough to get by, but it's a struggle. Certainly there is no "reading for pleasure" for these people. So when they have children, they are unable (and/or unwilling) to read to them regularly, if at all. There are actually many young children who have no books in their home! None at all! It's a wonder that teachers manage to teach whole classrooms of children who have never seen a book up close before entering school.

 

[suziquzie]

That is so foreign to me!
I actually just straightened up the kids' books today.... what a mess....
But I can't imagine having less than a bazilllion kids books!
Although I wished today we had a couple fewer.....

 

[Fisher's Mom]

I know - it's amazing to me, too! I can't imagine life without books.

 

[Barbara L]

Many of my 4th graders (and some of my 2nd graders before that) stayed up as late as 1:00 or 2:00 many nights. Even the ones who went to bed earlier were up until 10:00.

When I was a kid I had to be in bed at 8:00 on a school night, and even as a high school senior I had to be in bed by 9:30 on a school night. I hated it, but I was rested for school. (I make up for it now by going to bed at 5:30 a.m., but that's another story! lol).

Parents are too often not being parents. Too many kids are raising themselves.

Barbara

 

[Barbara L]

That is so foreign to me!
I actually just straightened up the kids' books today.... what a mess....
But I can't imagine having less than a bazilllion kids books!
Although I wished today we had a couple fewer.....

I was raised with lots of books, and when we couldn't afford to buy them, I spent every Saturday (my choice) at the library.

Not only do many of the kids in our area not have books at home, their families don't subscribe to magazines or newspapers, and many don't have the basic "school supplies" that most kids have at home, such as crayons, glue, scissors, etc. Some have to bring their pencils home from school so that they can do their homework.

Barbara

 

[suziquzie]

Wow!
It must make you cringe having been a teacher...

 

[Barbara L]

It did. I allowed the kids to take books from the classroom library home to read (I bought many of them myself), and I let them take things like glue or crayons home if they needed to work on a project. I also often gave the kids things like 8-packs of colored pencils for Christmas.

Barbara
P.S. I also gave a prize to everyone who showed me a library card the first month of school (it had to be their own), and I tried constantly to convince the other teachers that we should take a field trip to the library, but I was always shot down.

 

[Lynd]

Well it's a great idea, at least you tried

 

[Barbara L]

Thanks! I would have just done it on my own with my class, but the school has a policy that the whole grade level has to go on a field trip.

Barbara