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4) Being an advocate for one's child does not mean being aggressive or belittling teachers.
5) Education does not equal what happens in the classroom, that is just a component. After school activities, sport, cultural pursuits, family activities, hobbies are all a part of education.
6) Reading material not on on the AR or Lexile recommendations are still going to be beneficial, and heck, may even be fun. Asterix, Tintin, the series by Stephen and Lucy Hawking, the Sunday Comics, National Geographic, all fun reading which will inspire children to read more.
4) Of course not!
5) Despite the impression my previous posts may have given some of you, I agree entirely.
6) Very true. Lexile scores simply help me choose reading materials that are appropriately challenging for my son, who rarely ventures beyond the graphic novel shelves directly inside the doors of our children's library. However, if I place a book on the coffee table in our great room, chances are he'll give it a try. Asterix is one of my husband's favorites, and we have a stack of them, which he bought while a teen, available on our bookshelves, along with every Calvin and Hobbes book ever printed! We read much more than just selections from the Newbery list. BTW, the two Hawking books for children have ATOS levels of 5.6 and 6.1.
Last edited by formercalifornian; 09-10-2011 at 11:18 PM..
Strange. We would come to work at 6:30 in the morning to accomodate parents before work. Arrange for conference calls at noon for parents who had lunch breaks, but no, our school never had night conferences, because the school was closed and locked after 430 pm.
Interesting to me because we always had a conference schedule that included one day with hours during the day and another with hours in the evening. Conference days went from 7 AM to 8 PM depending on times parents signed up for.
um, no, not my husband. He's on call 24/7/365, has slept with a pager next to his head for the past 9 years, frequently works on the lesser holidays, and does not get paid extra.
I agree that parents need to make an effort, too, but I don't think having conferences in the evening is asking too much of the teachers.
No, it is not asking too much of the teachers. However, it is not the teachers that control this. The school or district sets the times.
NO WAYshould anyone be able to sit and get paid for making out their Xmas cards! I have a huge issue with that.
If you are subbing, specials is when you have a break and you really don't have anything teaching related to do because you are NOT the regular teacher. As a sub, you don't make the lesson plans and mostly you cannot grade the papers (although, I could in math because I had been a math teacher prior to subbing).
Subs are not doing the job of the teacher, they follow whatever lesson plan the teacher leaves. Usually, that means a lesson plan where the children are working independently because the teacher does not know what sub they will get and whether the sub is up to speed on the particular lessons.
I was a long term sub for someone who was out on maternity leave and did the actual teaching job. I was a certified teacher and the particular teacher who was going on leave requested me because she knew I would do the job well. Long term subs where I worked were usually certified teachers who did not have a regular position, but were qualified for one if it opened up.
If you are subbing, specials is when you have a break and you really don't have anything teaching related to do because you are NOT the regular teacher. As a sub, you don't make the lesson plans and mostly you cannot grade the papers (although, I could in math because I had been a math teacher prior to subbing).
Subs are not doing the job of the teacher, they follow whatever lesson plan the teacher leaves. Usually, that means a lesson plan where the children are working independently because the teacher does not know what sub they will get and whether the sub is up to speed on the particular lessons.
I was a long term sub for someone who was out on maternity leave and did the actual teaching job. I was a certified teacher and the particular teacher who was going on leave requested me because she knew I would do the job well. Long term subs where I worked were usually certified teachers who did not have a regular position, but were qualified for one if it opened up.
Well, it is obvious that there are different requirements from state to state and quite possibly district to district within the same state.
I know that the person I was referring to does not hold any type of teacher certification and is able to long term sub in their area.
As for being able to do their own personal things, such as Xmas cards, during the class special time, I just feel that there are probably things that could be done to better use their time. Obviously, I am in the minority on that one.
Also, someone posted that the hours for teacher conferences are set by the district ? Again, obviously different from area to area because there are other elementary schools within our district that do offer evening schedules for the parents. Our school does not.
I am on the side of the teachers' here, I was trying to defend their position and I know that if I were a teacher and worked hard to get my degree and continued with my certifications that are required for their continued Ed courses, I would feel a bit insulted that someone from the "street" could just come in and do my job, even if it were to be just part of it.
In the state of MD, you just need a nigh school diploma to sub(I don't know long term) , I just find that unbelievable...
I have no interest in a flame war. Instead, please allow me to clarify, which I think is in order at this point. I do not in any way tell my children's teachers how they should run their classrooms. Teachers are professionals, and I treat them as such. That said, last fall when my then eight-year-old third grader brought home an independent research assignment on a subject of his choice requiring a 15-20 minute oral presentation including visuals and typed report, a project he was clearly unprepared to complete on his own, I think it was reasonable for me to assume that I was expected to enter into a collaborative relationship with his teacher. When our school district invites parents to participate in an academic accountability committee, I think it is clear that they want me to attend and present a cogent opinion about such matters, which requires that I research both our state standards and our district's curriculum. Furthermore, when my children's teachers present CSAP, STAR, and MAP scores for discussion at our quarterly conferences, I think I can safely assume that I am not over-stepping any boundaries when I endeavor to understand what they indicate and how I can use the results to support my children's learning.
Thank you for clarification.
I, personally, do not find the need to know all about test scores and reading levels. But if others do, it's really no skin off my nose.
I am merely saying that those of us who are hands on (and I believe I am) but don't pay attention to test scores are not doing our children any disservice.
As for being able to do their own personal things, such as Xmas cards, during the class special time, I just feel that there are probably things that could be done to better use their time. Obviously, I am in the minority on that one.
Specials are when the kids are out of the room and the art teacher, PE teacher, music teacher, etc. has the kids, so its NOT class time. The kids are not there and the sub has no duties (unless the teacher had a hall duty or something at that time which is usually not the case as it is the teacher's planning period).
Now at some schools, the sub had to report to the office and do office duties or cover another class, but that was unusual.
I apologize if my previous posts read as a criticism of parents whose opinions differ from my own, as they certainly were not intended that way. I believe we are all doing our best for our children. My knowledge of testing methods, academic standards, and curriculum choices are not only a reflection of my desire to help my children learn and grow but also a natural area of interest and study for me.
Anybody up for a discussion of Krashen's theory of second language acquisition? Nah, I didn't think so.
Earlier I revealed that my child's Daybook, a workbook for language arts, indicated that he was struggling to understand the difference between first and third person. Let me use this situation as an example of how I have used my knowledge to help him, and you can determine for yourselves whether or not I am a overbearing helicopter mom.
On Friday, I met my son at dismissal and asked him to bring home his ungraded Daybook after confirming with his teacher that it was okay to do so. As I reviewed it later that evening, I noted that my son was confused about first and third person. When we sat down before bed to read together, I asked him to bring me The Magic Thief, a high-interest book with a Lexile level at the low end of his zone of proximal development (zpd), making it a great choice for independent reading. It was perfect for illustrating the concept he needed to learn, because personal diary entries are interspersed with the narrative. I pointed out the journal entries to my son and asked him to tell me how he thought they differed from the rest of the book. I then explained first and third person writing and asked him to identify examples in the story, which he did without difficulty.
Over-involved helicopter parent? I don't think so.
Last edited by formercalifornian; 09-11-2011 at 09:57 AM..
Anybody up for a discussion of Krashen's theory of second language acquisition? Nah, I didn't think so.
Me.
But not today. (Opening day of the NFL.) Any other time I'm likely to go all lachrymose on the snarky little, "Nah, I didn't think so" and drop kick the discussion into the end zone.
But not today. (Opening day of the NFL.) Any other time I'm likely to go all lachrymose on the snarky little, "Nah, I didn't think so" and drop kick the discussion into the end zone.
Sorry. It appears I've needed a crowbar to remove the foot from my mouth after every post I've written recently. Please know I'm not deliberately trying to be offensive, and my "joke" was not meant to insult anyone. I was making fun of myself.
Here's the backstory: Last night, my huband and I were chatting about language acquisition (actually, it's probably more accurate to write that I was chatting about language acquisition and he was practicing advanced marital tolerance) when a woman I'd never met before popped her head over the back of the restaurant booth and asked me if I was referring to Krashen. Both her husband and mine rolled their eyes and sighed audibly before tucking back into their pasta dishes. It was a terribly funny situation, but I shouldn't have included the reference to it in my post, because it was out of context and therefore difficult to interpret.
Last edited by formercalifornian; 09-11-2011 at 11:03 AM..
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