Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Same here and same here. Yesterday was insane. I'm not looking forward to next Thursday and Friday. We do a crazy split day because of an assembly on Friday. Hours 1-5 meet on Thursday with 80 minute classes and hours 6 and 7 meet on Friday withy 30 minute classes so I can't do the same thing in the same classes because I have 80 minutes for some and 30 for others. The kids are squirly and can't work on anything for 80 minutes right before break and they will do NOTHING in the 30 minute classes because they only have 30 minutes and lord knows you can't actually do anything in 30 minutes. It's going to be insane and then we'll have admins chastising us for not planning lessons that engage the kids.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 12-13-2014 at 07:41 AM..
In on Monday and Tuesday? That's not cool. I believe our school board has stated that we will now have a 2 week winter break every year.
We don't have a half day on the 19th, but we do get out 2 hours early.
I would prefer this to getting out on Friday. The kids seem to mentally check out the week break starts. Attending school on Monday and Tuesday would more check out to the next week.
Officially we're done on the 19th (full day), and are off for 2 full weeks. But many kids will be picked up early starting Wednesday. So we plan a 2 day independent project that they LOVE to do, instead of the regular curriculum. It's amazing how many will come to school those days! (5th grade)
Seriously, though, we are really teaching Mon and Tues, we have a benchmark and spelling bee Wed, then independent study and Winter Party Thur and Fri. Yeah, it's going to be crazy!
I would prefer this to getting out on Friday. The kids seem to mentally check out the week break starts. Attending school on Monday and Tuesday would more check out to the next week.
Yeah but I'd rather loose a two day week than a 5 day week. Next week will be a joke. Especially Thursday and Friday. Also I think the Christmas break is too long anyway. We come back to two weeks then finals. They barely ramp back up to being in school all day and it's time to study for finals. What I'd really like is for the week before Christmas to be finals week but that would require us to start school the second week of August and the great state of Michigan has declared that THAT would hurt tourism which I don't get. The summer would be the same length. Vacations would just start earlier. AND the school schedule only impacts vacations for families with kids. If next week were finals week I would not have a problem getting kids to engage and they would not be mentally checking out prematurely. IMO it makes sense to start the school year early enough for Christmas break to be a semester break. Then we'd just get out in May when the kids are squirrely anyway because the days are getting longer and warmer.
Officially we're done on the 19th (full day), and are off for 2 full weeks. But many kids will be picked up early starting Wednesday. So we plan a 2 day independent project that they LOVE to do, instead of the regular curriculum. It's amazing how many will come to school those days! (5th grade)
Seriously, though, we are really teaching Mon and Tues, we have a benchmark and spelling bee Wed, then independent study and Winter Party Thur and Fri. Yeah, it's going to be crazy!
I'm wrapping up units in both of my preps and will test on Wednesday. If it weren't for the crazy split day schedule, I'd test on Thursday but I can't so I won't. IMO we might as well not be in school Thursday and Friday but I'm not advocating making the break longer. Just reflecting on how little will get done. If I had classes the same length, I would do a project but I have to deal with some classes being 80 minutes and some being 32 minutes. It's a PITA.
This has not been my week. I had one parent accusing me of losing her sons report (funny but I don't seem to have EITHER the hard copy OR the electronic copy he supposedly turned in. You'd think he'd AT LEAST have that in his out box with the date stamp to prove he sent it to me ) and another who tells me that ALL of my students claim that I'm too hard to follow in class (her daughter is late or absent just about every day to my class and mom calls in to excuse the tardy or absence so her little dahling won't get a detention...kinda hard to follow along if you're not there ). Can you tell the end of the semester approacheth? Time for the helicopter parents to come out of the bat cave and circle around their young. Sigh. Your kid's been failing my class for the last 15 weeks and NOW you decide it's MY FAULT? I even had one mom point out that there are questions on my test that are not in the review packet when she came in to discuss her daughter's last test. Um, it's a test. I'm SUPPOSED to give them questions they have not seen before. It wouldn't be much of a test if I didn't. Apparently, I'm supposed to give them the exact questions and answers before the test so they know what I want. How else could her straight A student POSSIBLY do well on the test?
I asked the parent who claims I lost her son's report to resend the electronic copy on Wednesday I require an electronic copy in addition to the hard copy so I can run it through a plagiarism checker before I waste my time grading the same report 12 times.). I'm still waiting. How much you want to bet he's still writing it? Sorry mom but your request to have me accept this without late penalty will be denied.
The end of the semester is when I get to meet the parents who make me appreciate the rest of the parents of my kids. Funny how they'll go away when the new semester starts and come right back out at the end of the year to fix what their kid screwed up. Here's a novel thought. Let him/her fail. They'll learn a valuable lesson when they have to repeat the class.
This has not been my week. I had one parent accusing me of losing her sons report (funny but I don't seem to have EITHER the hard copy OR the electronic copy he supposedly turned in. You'd think he'd AT LEAST have that in his out box with the date stamp to prove he sent it to me ) and another who tells me that ALL of my students claim that I'm too hard to follow in class (her daughter is late or absent just about every day to my class and mom calls in to excuse the tardy or absence so her little dahling won't get a detention...kinda hard to follow along if you're not there ). Can you tell the end of the semester approacheth? Time for the helicopter parents to come out of the bat cave and circle around their young. Sigh. Your kid's been failing my class for the last 15 weeks and NOW you decide it's MY FAULT? I even had one mom point out that there are questions on my test that are not in the review packet when she came in to discuss her daughter's last test. Um, it's a test. I'm SUPPOSED to give them questions they have not seen before. It wouldn't be much of a test if I didn't. Apparently, I'm supposed to give them the exact questions and answers before the test so they know what I want. How else could her straight A student POSSIBLY do well on the test?
I asked the parent who claims I lost her son's report to resend the electronic copy on Wednesday I require an electronic copy in addition to the hard copy so I can run it through a plagiarism checker before I waste my time grading the same report 12 times.). I'm still waiting. How much you want to bet he's still writing it? Sorry mom but your request to have me accept this without late penalty will be denied.
The end of the semester is when I get to meet the parents who make me appreciate the rest of the parents of my kids. Funny how they'll go away when the new semester starts and come right back out at the end of the year to fix what their kid screwed up. Here's a novel thought. Let him/her fail. They'll learn a valuable lesson when they have to repeat the class.
My son said that getting an F in sophomore English was the absolutely best learning experience that he could of had during high school. It make him serious about school.
He now has a PhD from the top University in his field in the nation and is currently doing scientific research at one of the three best research facilities in the country. And, he truly credits getting that F to force him to be accountable and active in his own education.
My son said that getting an F in sophomore English was the absolutely best learning experience that he could of had during high school. It make him serious about school.
He now has a PhD from the top University in his field in the nation and is currently doing scientific research at one of the three best research facilities in the country. And, he truly credits getting that F to force him to be accountable and active in his own education.
Too many parents don't realize that kids learn best from the natural consequences of their actions. If you work too hard to protect them, they never learn how to figure things out on their own. I've never understood why colleges put so much emphasis on GPA. Kids with high GPA's often are kids who have had mom and dad micromanaging their educational careers. Some of the smartest kids I've taught were not the A students but they learned from their mistakes.
Today, 14 second graders were sent to the office for fighting at recess. I'm at a really good school too. The kids are absolutely insane and have been all week.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
AND the school schedule only impacts vacations for families with kids. If next week were finals week I would not have a problem getting kids to engage and they would not be mentally checking out prematurely. IMO it makes sense to start the school year early enough for Christmas break to be a semester break. Then we'd just get out in May when the kids are squirrely anyway because the days are getting longer and warmer.
) and another who tells me that ALL of my students claim that I'm too hard to follow in class (her daughter is late or absent just about every day to my class and mom calls in to excuse the tardy or absence so her little dahling won't get a detention...kinda hard to follow along if you're not there 
