pryncess527
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 26, 2013
I think parents should have the option to hold individual children back, but not a blanket do over for all.
Clearly the demographic of the Dis can't really see this issue clearly.
Maybe I can put it another way.
There's no reason to add perspective, least not in the way it's being discussed.
If you miss going to a concert because it was cancelled do you say to yourself..well let's remember those who died in 9/11 this isn't that bad...Mulan was cancelled and I was supposed to get together with some local DISers. Should we just say "well you know remember the Iraqi War?"
The two (being disappointed with all that has happened with the school year, experiences one would have had if they would have been able to be with their friends and classmates,etc) and the Vietnam War aren't related. It's just a way to make someone feel like they really don't have a reason to be upset because some other event happened somewhere in history that is worse and so on. We could do that to so many events none of us would have reason to vent and you can replace Vietnam war with whatever you want to. It's like a game of onupmanship..let me come up with something that's worse. Putting things into perspective is great. This is just one of those times where it's not warranted to do that IMO in the way being done. Everyone is obviously free to disagree with that
It's not about teaching history. Not at all.
How about just letting the students be upset, sad, whatever and support them through this instead of making it a game of "what's worse" to them so they can be made to feel bad for something that is totally acceptable to feel. Maybe words of encouragment which can be done with adding perspective instead of "here's what's worst than what you're dealing with".
I don't think the poster had ill intentions this is more of just explaining how it's commonly read especially in the format used and on FB.
School starts at different times in different parts of the country, which means many districts are much closer to the finish line. You can't make decisions for the entire country based on your own situation.
Well, obviously it's not a popular opinion.
I got the topic question from my sister, who is a kindergarten teacher. They start in late August and were supposed to go through mid June and she said she wishes she could just have a do over next year with her class, because they still have almost half a year to go and she worries about how much some of them are struggling and she doesn't feel confident that her 34 students can be ready for 1st grade next year with distance learning, since many of her students come from disadvantaged families. It's not easy to deliver reading and math interventions to struggling students virtually.
So, I was thinking mostly along those lines. There are MANY students who don't have access to the tech needed for online learning, don't have supportive or educated or available parents to guide their learning, etc. Sure, the "good students" can get by with online classwork, but a large majority of students nationwide are not proficient in math or language arts, based solely on standardized test scores. Those are the students who really do deserve a do over. Clearly the demographic of the Dis can't really see this issue clearly.
What do you think? Should schools nationwide just call it at this point and reconvene in the fall and have everyone just repeat the grade they are currently in?
I kind of feel like they should. If our schools don't go back, the kids will have missed an entire semester almost. Our last semester only ended 3 weeks ago.
No matter how hard they try, home based learning will never capture the full breadth of what kids would have learned in a classroom environment. Already, it's pretty clear to me (kids in middle and high school) this is not going to work well long term.
The logistics involved make it impossible for families with multiple kids to dedicate the amount of time each kid would need to receive an equal education, and that's not even accounting for parents who need to work from home during all this!
I'm all for a do over. Everyone will be one year older. Kids start school too young nowadays anyway.
I teach in a poor suburban district with over 90% of the kids free and reduced lunch. We went 1:1 this year with Chromebooks for grades 2-12 in classrooms but kids were not allowed to take the Chromebook home. That is until upper admin actually looked at the big picture of what was coming. We quickly did contracts so kids could take the Chromebooks home. In the course of 3 days at my middle school, about 85% of the kids brought their contracts back and were able to take them home when we closed school on March 13. Another 10% filtered in the following Monday and Tuesday to get the Chromebook. The remainder of kids already have some sort of device they could use at home.
Only half of our kids have access to WiFi or internet access according to their parents. Our district purchased hot spot devices and placed them around the district so that every student could have access to their lessons.
We start the first week of August and go through Memorial day in my district. We have no A/C and in August and September the temperature in my room with no windows can get to over 100. Same with soring time. Kids know that if it's going to be 80 outside it's going to be over 90 in my room. I can't imagine adjusting the calendar like a few have suggested. More learning is going on at home right now then there is in a hot classroom.
Well, obviously it's not a popular opinion.
I got the topic question from my sister, who is a kindergarten teacher. They start in late August and were supposed to go through mid June and she said she wishes she could just have a do over next year with her class, because they still have almost half a year to go and she worries about how much some of them are struggling and she doesn't feel confident that her 34 students can be ready for 1st grade next year with distance learning, since many of her students come from disadvantaged families. It's not easy to deliver reading and math interventions to struggling students virtually.
So, I was thinking mostly along those lines. There are MANY students who don't have access to the tech needed for online learning, don't have supportive or educated or available parents to guide their learning, etc. Sure, the "good students" can get by with online classwork, but a large majority of students nationwide are not proficient in math or language arts, based solely on standardized test scores. Those are the students who really do deserve a do over. Clearly the demographic of the Dis can't really see this issue clearly.
Did you account for the five built-in snow days that (I think) haven't been needed this year? If not, that brings the number down to 51 days. And some of those days were planned for test study and testing.The last week of school is traditionally not new material, if not sooner, but I'll be generous and assume they are basically done academically in the last week - 5 additional days of essentially non-teaching
That leaves 56 days of teaching left in the school
Did you account for the five built-in snow days that (I think) haven't been needed this year? If not, that brings the number down to 51 days. And some of those days were planned for test study and testing.
Did you account for the five built-in snow days that (I think) haven't been needed this year? If not, that brings the number down to 51 days. And some of those days were planned for test study and testing.