I have been Called to the Principal's Office

[AllieBaba]

Scantrons?

That's a new word for me.

 

[Annie]

Since the beginning of the school year about a month ago, I have requested that:

Teachers send me ONE graded paper per week per subject

I stipulate it must be a paper, graded, as opposed to their practice of simply showing the grade in an online gradebook called "Infinite Campus."

My intent is to SEE whatever the hell they're teaching, and if it is being learned. You cannot do this just by looking at the grade

I also stated that if I didn't see graded papers, then I'd need to see THEM AND the graded papers, and we could arrange a meeting.


WELL, apparently this is proving to be An Issue for which I must see the principal!!!???

It seems some teachers are just overwhelmed with the prospect of teaching anything that may be worth assessing the value on a weekly basis!!!!!

GODDAMN? WTF??

Am I being completely unreasonable???

Yes, I think you are.

When I taught full time I had 150 students and gave 25 academic lectures or classes a week. Do you have any idea how much prep work that demanded of me?

I didn't have time to send parents reports every week.

I really didn't have enough time to give the students the individual attention they often needed.

Well that is unfortunate. But having received an excellent education through highschool myself, all the classes were 30 or more kids, and there were six periods every day and none of them were study hall. Every teacher taught at least five periods. And quizzes and tests and occasional assigned papers were a regular part of it and they were graded and returned to us usually the next door or at most a few days. Parent/teacher conferences were regularly scheduled two or three times a year and teachers did have time for kids who had questions after class.

So how did my teachers manage? Or my kids' teachers?

Now admittedly there was a strictly enforced dress code, conduct expectations, etc. and any kid who didn't accommodate those was bounced out immediately. And the graduation rate was still in the high 90 percentile.

So it can be done. But it does require a different way of thinking than how school these days is accomplished.

It sounds like you attended one of those schools, where there are no LD kids. All are testing within average. Doesn't happen in public schools or even most parochial schools.

 

[Samson]

Yes, I think you are.

When I taught full time I had 150 students and gave 25 academic lectures or classes a week. Do you have any idea how much prep work that demanded of me?

I didn't have time to send parents reports every week.

I really didn't have enough time to give the students the individual attention they often needed.

I appreciate the POV.

Yes, I know exactly how much prep work that demanded, I've done it too.

However, if you don't measure whether or not your prep/lectures are effective then its a waste of time, and if parents want it, then why wouldn't you make it a priority?

For your other children, assuming they are not limited in any way, should the teacher construct lessons and assessments towards turning out the grades you demand or using them to actually measure what the children have mastered? It would be great if all lessons lent themselves to scantrons, but they don't.

No?

Why not?

 

[Samson]

Scantrons?

That's a new word for me.

Scantrons are the multiple choice answer sheets that are the basis of grading the SAT, ACT, and most State Achievement tests, as well as many college exams.

Remember to completely "bubble-in" your choice.

It takes minutes to grade hundreds of scantron answer sheets.

 

[Samson]

I'm not interested in 30 apocryphal parents with 30 apocryphal requests. .

This was my prepared statement should anyone have brought up the issue: I really couldn't give a shit about a hypothetical 30, 31, 32, or 175 other parents.

Either respond to MY complaint, or don't.

If you don't, then explain to the District Superintendent, and the Board of Education why my expectation is unreasonable.

 

[Samson]

Yeah, Samson. Where the hell do you get off even expecting that poor, underpaid, downtrodden teacher to show up to school at all? You and your kid ought to handle this whole education thing yourselves without expecting any input from those poor teachers, y'damned slavedriver.

Can I keep the district's school tax if I "handle this whole education thing" myself?

That's what the unions fear most.

Just sayin'.

Not just unions.

The entire Educational Bureaucracy.

The internet offers a Virtual High School Curriculum, free.

I asked SJ if he'd like to do it (registration deadline was 9/24), but he prefers the social intercourse of traditional HS.

 

[Samson]

Samson's goal: create a bureaucratic nightmare for the administration.

He doesn't really care about "the slaves" education. I haven't even heard him mention a thing about what he will do if the slaves grades are poor and what he will do to help the slave do better.

Yes, the fact that my kid is attending the school is just a coincidence. My hobby is creating bureaucratic nightmares for random public schools, and I just threw a dart at a map and happened to hit this one.

Again, if you'd like to compare your parenting methods with mine, I'd be happy to: Begin a thread about your teenager, and I'll be happy to jump in!!

I don't have a teenager. And I'm not really discussing your parenting methods.

I'm discussing your pretty apparent plans to create a hassle for others just to prove an obsure point. I'm just discussing the thread topic.

meh....I thought you said, "I haven't even heard him mention a thing about what he will do if the slaves grades are poor."

The thread isn't about the slaves grades, which are ok.

And, I suppose that any point can be "obsure" if you've never had any experience with it.

 

[saveliberty]

In the private school my kids attended, there was a log book with daily homework assignments listed in it. You were supposed to sign it, so the school knew that you were aware of the homework.

One of the big complaints you hear form teahcers is that parents are not involved enough in their children's education. Interesting that when you actually show an interest they are threatened. At the end of the day you can realistically hold your kids responsible, but probably not the teachers. Too bad.

I also notice public schools are less helpful after the final student count for funding.

 

[Samson]

In the private school my kids attended, there was a log book with daily homework assignments listed in it. You were supposed to sign it, so the school knew that you were aware of the homework.

One of the big complaints you hear form teahcers is that parents are not involved enough in their children's education. Interesting that when you actually show an interest they are threatened. At the end of the day you can realistically hold your kids responsible, but probably not the teachers. Too bad.

I also notice public schools are less helpful after the final student count for funding.

This isn't coincidence, and it usually happens in late October.

So, if you wanna raise an issue, concern, or complaint, you must hit the ground running when the school year begins. Of course, there's always the usual excuse for not having their shit together throughout September: "School has just begun, yada, yada..." like its the first year scholl has EVER started!!

 

[Foxfyre]

Yes, I think you are.

When I taught full time I had 150 students and gave 25 academic lectures or classes a week. Do you have any idea how much prep work that demanded of me?

I didn't have time to send parents reports every week.

I really didn't have enough time to give the students the individual attention they often needed.

Well that is unfortunate. But having received an excellent education through highschool myself, all the classes were 30 or more kids, and there were six periods every day and none of them were study hall. Every teacher taught at least five periods. And quizzes and tests and occasional assigned papers were a regular part of it and they were graded and returned to us usually the next door or at most a few days. Parent/teacher conferences were regularly scheduled two or three times a year and teachers did have time for kids who had questions after class.

So how did my teachers manage? Or my kids' teachers?

Now admittedly there was a strictly enforced dress code, conduct expectations, etc. and any kid who didn't accommodate those was bounced out immediately. And the graduation rate was still in the high 90 percentile.

So it can be done. But it does require a different way of thinking than how school these days is accomplished.

It sounds like you attended one of those schools, where there are no LD kids. All are testing within average. Doesn't happen in public schools or even most parochial schools.

No, it was a public school BEFORE teachers unions and before the time that kids were deemed to have rights, and before kids were diagnosed with ADD of AHDD. The schools were run by principals and teachers, aided and abetted by parents, for all the kids in the area. The principals and teachers set the rules and the kids had no choice but to follow them. The parents backed up the teachers, and the lawyers or ACLU were not involved in that process.

Now this was small town America. There were no private schools, no charter schools, and, to the best of my knowledge, no home schooled kids. All the kids went to the public school and it was excellent. If a kid was slow, the parents urged the parents to work harder with him/her at home or hire a tutor. There were no special ed classes. And there were no social promotions. You didn't make the grade, you got held back. And we still enjoyed that high 90 percentile graduation rate.

 

[Samson]

And we still enjoyed that high 90 percentile graduation rate.

What year did US Public Schools have a 90% graduation rate?

Link?

 

[Foxfyre]

And we still enjoyed that high 90 percentile graduation rate.

What year did US Public Schools have a 90% graduation rate?

Link?

I don't know about the U.S. Public Schools overall. But at Lovington High we did back then. Before your time, almost surely. It was that experience, however, that convinced me that communities could build and operate public schools that did an excellent job of educating the children.

And I am convinced that if we could wrestle the schools away from the Federal government and all its regulations and meddling, eliminated the teachers unions, at least beyond the local level, get the ACLU and lawyers out of it, and return those schools to the local community, in many if not most places, we would see those excellent schools again.

 

[Samson]

And we still enjoyed that high 90 percentile graduation rate.

What year did US Public Schools have a 90% graduation rate?

Link?

I don't know about the U.S. Public Schools overall. But at Lovington High we did back then. Before your time, almost surely. It was that experience, however, that convinced me that communities could build and operate public schools that did an excellent job of educating the children.

And I am convinced that if we could wrestle the schools away from the Federal government and all its regulations and meddling, eliminated the teachers unions, at least beyond the local level, get the ACLU and lawyers out of it, and return those schools to the local community, in many if not most places, we would see those excellent schools again.

What year was "back then?"

 

[saveliberty]

I may have mentioned elsewhere, this is my middle daughter's first year of teaching. Her biggest observation: There are a substantial number of teachers who whine.

 

[xotoxi]

The thread isn't about the slaves grades, which are ok.

I know...the thread is about you having fun creating a ruckus just for your amusement.

Sort of like trolling.

 

[xotoxi]

Just wondering, Sam...if you were to get an assignment every week from every teacher for the year...what would you do with them?

What is your plan?

 

[Samson]

Just wondering, Sam...if you were to get an assignment every week from every teacher for the year...what would you do with them?

What is your plan?

There are two reasons ALL parents need to see graded papers:

1. To see how they can help the student improve
2. To measure whether or not whatever parents are doing is working.

Since the beginning of school, I have told all the teachers that this is my objective.

 

[syrenn]

I may have mentioned elsewhere, this is my middle daughter's first year of teaching. Her biggest observation: There are a substantial number of teachers who whine.

Your daughter hasn't figures out the tenuer mindset yet, or been shown how the union really works.

 

[syrenn]

Just wondering, Sam...if you were to get an assignment every week from every teacher for the year...what would you do with them?

What is your plan?

There are two reasons ALL parents need to see graded papers:

1. To see how they can help the student improve
2. To measure whether or not whatever parents are doing is working.

Since the beginning of school, I have told all the teachers that this is my objective.

This was the sequence i know.

1-kid does assignment and turns it in.
2 -teacher grades assignment and gives it to the kid to take home to be signed.
3- kid takes it back to the teacher with parents sig on it and tuners it in.

This is however private school but i cant see this system being all that difficult for public school. Especially they are the ones always complain about not enough parental involvement.

 

[xotoxi]

Just wondering, Sam...if you were to get an assignment every week from every teacher for the year...what would you do with them?

What is your plan?

There are two reasons ALL parents need to see graded papers:

1. To see how they can help the student improve
2. To measure whether or not whatever parents are doing is working.

Since the beginning of school, I have told all the teachers that this is my objective.

This was the sequence i know.

1-kid does assignment and turns it in.
2 -teacher grades assignment and gives it to the kid to take home to be signed.
3- kid takes it back to the teacher with parents sig on it and tuners it in.

This is however private school but i cant see this system being all that difficult for public school. Especially they are the ones always complain about not enough parental involvement.

4. The teacher notarizes the signed paper and returns it to the parent through certified mail.