Let’s not get political. I’m just trying to get a feel for how other districts are handling remote learning, and students who struggle thrive in these conditions. my underlying question is whether any districts are actually holding kids to their grade-level benchmarks, or if they’re just passing kids through, despite being well behind this year. I have been super fortunate in that my first grader is thriving in online learning. Per the recent diagnostics, she is at or beyond mid-year expectations for math, and well beyond benchmarks for reading. ...but most of her class is behind. Only 25% are at or ahead of where a typical first grade class would be in any other year in our district. It’s beyond the district’s control right now, but what do i do next fall? my daughter is ready for 2nd grade curriculum. But that’s not what she will get if they pass all her classmates. If that’s what happens, do i lobby for her to ‘skip’ second grade? and then i have the opposite concern with our fifth grader... he is keeping up, but would likely be a borderline pass to 6th grade any other year. Do i Libby for him to be retained? He has a May birthday, so he’s on the younger end of his grade, but far from the youngest. Are other districts addressing these concerns (yet)?
Failure rate in my county is up something like 85%. Their answer? Less homework (my kid had anywhere between 2 and 6 hours a freakin' night to do) and more in class work. Yeah right, that's happening. Some teachers are killing it in the new world but more then are few's answer has been lip service, nonsense and pile on more homework. "You just need to work harder and teach yourself." Our answer is paying for tutors.
Freaking nightmare for us and our nephew that we are trying to help catch up. Teachers are beyond half assed with this, and more often than not they are clearly hungover and zooming in their pajamas........yes,the teachers. Kids fall behind easily,and like DK said,the response is the kids need to work harder and teach themselves, and they pile on more work. We were going til 10pm last night because of this BS way its being done.
So I think they believe that most kids will all be on the same level...behind previous standards, but still together. Our teacher is with the kids from 8:30 to 1:15 on zoom 3x week and in-school 2x week. The early grades are tough, because my kids could read and write at a third grade level since K, but they kept them for social reasons in their grades. The boy was bored, the girl was fine. It eventually evens up by like 3/4th grade. My advice: I started college at 16, skipped a grade, etc....I would not do the same with my ones. My little brother could have also done the same, and I told my parents don't do it to him. It worked out extremely well for him. I wouldn't do it even it's an option. Let kids be kids as long as they can.
My daughter is a HS senior. She exited local pubic school after her first freshman semester. She's dedicated and the local school is just an infestation of sh*t. Students that is, not so much the teachers. So she went to an online only public school. The first year was really good. (Connections academy) Due to their large failure rate with students (100% the students' fault, just like online local public school now) the gov't stepped in. God they created pure sh*t. The only reason my daughter succeeded (she has a perfect GPA) was due to her tenacity. She decided to go back to her local school for her senior year. Of course it's been online and even though the option has been given to go back to regular school, she's chosen not to. Why? Because it's freaking easy for her. She's able to get her work done quickly (she's in AP and honors classes) and get to the things she enjoys focusing on like her workout and art. For students that struggle, I really feel for them. This plandemic has changed everything for the worse. For students that are self motivated, they'll succeed easily. For students that aren't, home schooling is probably the best option for now. Not all parents have the wherewithal to do that.
My kid asked me to help her with some of her classes. Holy f@ck, I was in so over my head with some of the stuff it wasn't even humorous. RK, as for skipping your kids ahead I'm with Turdbird. School isn't (wasn't at the moment I guess) just the class work but the social aspect of being a kid. Skip them ahead they might do okay with the class work but how will they do when it comes to making friends and dealing with the goods and bads of real life. I hope I'm making sense with this but kids need to be kids and have a social life with their friends. will they get that with older kids? The Huskers sang it perfectly: Yearbooks with their autographs From friends you might have had These are your important years You'd better make them last Falling in and out of love just like... These are your important years, your life
Our nephew is definately NOT self motivated. My daughter is 50/50. Easily gets into shit if left alone too long...............I wish I could blame it on my wife genes, but id be lying
My son is a freshman in high school. Its a hybrid distance learning. Mondays: At home for 1.5 hours of virtual learning Tuesdays: Students with last name A-L attend school for full day (other kids have no school) Wednesday: Students with last name M-Z attend school for full day (other kids have no school) Thursdays: Students with last name A-L attend school for full day (other kids have no school) Friday: Students with last name M-Z attend school for full day (other kids have no school) So my son is only attending school 2 days a week. Virtual learning 1 more day for a total of 3 days a week of school. He is getting straight "A"s where he was a high C average prior to this Covid. They have made it easier for kids to pass. Even worse, I recently received an email from school saying that my kid was a small percentage of kids passing all their classes. Which is good for me, but so sad that these kids arent participating and cant even pass classes that are only 3 days a week. This Covid will have an impact on this generation of kids for sure. Its parents responsibility to ensure kids are still pushed and learning. I also get emails every week of Covid cases from students in his school, but do to contact tracing my kid is not at risk. Every week. I imagine after xmas break we will go back to full virtual learning.
Last fall ours went to remote learning and it was a mess. Of my three my oldest (6th grade) did great and got the best grades he's ever done. The middle son (2nd grade) went from straight A student to C's as he struggled with the concept and fought the whole thing. My daughter who was in kindergarten did ok and is still the best student of all of them. Thankfully they are all in private school and we are full time this year. The local public schools are doing the hybrid thing.
teachers beyond half assed??? hardly...teachers are working MORE hours everyday than ever, and well beyond contract hours, learning new programs and completely revamping what the job entails, often on the fly....while dealing with MANY parents/students who are struggling with the same issues, PLUS often having their own kids at home learning while they teach etc. parents are getting a quick lesson in how their kids work ethic is, and yes its easy to fall behind ESPECIALLY when the parents are not staying on top of things. parents need to put in more work here too, expecting it to be all teachers is expecting WAY too much, the student is in your home, youre the one sitting next to them...if they are distracted, not working, not focused etc. there is only so much the teacher can do...the parent is there - what are you doing? this is a team effort, more than ever. but to say teachers are half assing it, is way beyond incorrect.
I can't say that I'm a big fan myself. I've been working from home myself and can't stand over her shoulder to make sure she's doing everything she needs too. I feel the school system in general for the area that I'm in, is a complete disaster. Their curriculum doesn't prepare them for the real world. My daughter is in public school and my son is in a private Christian school. He seems to be getting taught a lot better than what she's receiving. We tried to get her to switch, but it was her last year in her elementary school.
if hes keeping up, passing...i wouldnt retain him, and not likely the school would either. little secret, passing students who are behind isnt just happening this year - it happens every year. your daughter will still get 2nd grade curriculum next year, and likely do well. but you dont need to wait until then to give her some. go on kahn academy and start her off. its free.
We have plenty of teacher friends that are also saying the other teachers around here are being half assed and taking advantage of the situation just as I described. My wife is sitting with both our daughter and nephew throughout the day as they are "in school"and on task. Also plenty of stupid facebook selfies of the half assed teachers getting plastered almost nightly. It takes 2-3 days for these teachers to respond to questions, and the response is typically...."should have been paying closer attention,we've moved on". They refuse to answer the questions during the zoom schooling and said ask questions through email...........next
btw -just think on this - a teacher can drink every damn day if they want - they are adults, LMAO...work ends at contract time...and yes many teachers wont reply outside contract hours either. just because you get an email at 8pm, doesnt mean you need to reply, and if youre busy during the day TEACHING, it might take a day or 2 to reply....crazy how some people feel teachers should be working....as i said, teachers are working MUCH more than before, some realized this early on and stopped - and started not giving up so much of their own personal/family time. while others continue to work MANY hours everyday often at the expense of those things.
I dont care if they drink.............its when they "show up" clearly hungover from the night before ill prepared. And im not talking emailing at 8 pm.........its during or right after the class as per instructions. Yet It takes a few days to get any help or answers if at all........and as I said the general response is theyve "moved on" so youre shit out of luck basically. Plenty of parents and actually caring teachers have already been going to the BoE about this. B of E acknowledges there is a problem,but they say they are in a bind to do anything because the current POS teachers cant be replaced as of yet. Im not ragging on all teachers..........just those that are taking full advantage of the shutdown. Unfortunately around here its a large amount of them.
no kool aid needed to know that teachers dont HAVE to work for free after contract hours, though many do. common sense is all thats needed.
Common sense and personal experience also says that many many many many do not work during contract hours much less after them. Yeah there are good conscientious teachers, but they are no longer the norm.
I think it depends heavily on the kid. For me, if I could go back and start college at 16 and motivated myself to work through it efficiently, I would. I was very introverted. I played sports and got along well with the "popular" kids but just never cared to be a socialite or even just be a kid. In retrospect, I remember very little from high school and earlier. And the very few memories I have from childhood that are worth holding onto wouldn't have really been impact in any way by my form of education at the time. The memories I value most don't start until my early 20s. And had I taken my education more seriously, I probably would have been able to create even more in those years. High school just kind of existed for me, neither good or bad. So I don't think pursuing my education more aggressively and earlier would have had a negative impact. But for others, this isn't necessarily the case. So it all just depends on the kid in my opinion.
