OT: Teachers of Boneyard...Back to School Time

[husky99]

Part of me thinks the younger teachers used cell phones and mobile devices when they were in HS and college and for them it's just another tool to find information, much like going to a book shelf and grabbing an encyclopedia was for those of us who are older. They're not aghast at the thought of a student pulling out a phone to look up information. For schools that don't have universal computer access, it's a way for almost every student to have a level playing field. Problem is managing that and figuring out how to allow them to search for information and not just use the phone for chats, messages, tik tok, etc.

Regardless technology in the classroom is going one-way and that is towards more of it. Both my kids are out of HS and they had laptops that were hooked up to the school's wifi from day 1 as freshmen. They were expected to know how to use them as a tool for research, doing assignments and turning in assignments. Granted school districts across the country aren't evenly funded but expect the technology to keep moving forward.

Can be great in an AP class and a struggle to monitor/ police for 90% of kids.great on paper and a struggle in reality

 

[husky429]

Part of me thinks the younger teachers used cell phones and mobile devices when they were in HS and college and for them it's just another tool to find information, much like going to a book shelf and grabbing an encyclopedia was for those of us who are older. They're not aghast at the thought of a student pulling out a phone to look up information. For schools that don't have universal computer access, it's a way for almost every student to have a level playing field. Problem is managing that and figuring out how to allow them to search for information and not just use the phone for chats, messages, tik tok, etc.

Regardless technology in the classroom is going one-way and that is towards more of it. Both my kids are out of HS and they had laptops that were hooked up to the school's wifi from day 1 as freshmen. They were expected to know how to use them as a tool for research, doing assignments and turning in assignments. Granted school districts across the country aren't evenly funded but expect the technology to keep moving forward.

Every kid in our school district has access to a chromebook every single minute of the school day if they want it. That's true in most schools post-Covid. Pretty much the only reason kids are on their phones is TikTok/SC, etc.

 

[husky429]

I've been volun-told that due to shifting numbers in the district I'm moving from 5th to 6th next year. Any teachers on here make the jump from elementary to middle? How have you liked it?

My current principal is making the move, too, which eases my nerves for the transition. In seven years in the education world I've worked with as many principals and she is outstanding.

6th-grade is still elementary for all intents and purposes, behavior-wise. The only difference (I assume) is you'll be teaching one subject instead of 4.

Tbh, 6th-grade is pretty awesome. You get to teach one subject, but it's not at the same high content level as HS where your lessons take a lot of planning. Teaching 7th-grade was the least prep I ever had to do in the classroom.

 

[lange10]

6th-grade is still elementary for all intents and purposes, behavior-wise. The only difference (I assume) is you'll be teaching one subject instead of 4.

Tbh, 6th-grade is pretty awesome. You get to teach one subject, but it's not at the same high content level as HS where your lessons take a lot of planning. Teaching 7th-grade was the least prep I ever had to do in the classroom.

We had gone departmental this year in 5th grade. I was teaching reading and writing to a morning and afternoon crew, 45 students. I've asked to teach math next year in 6th grade. It's more my cup of tea. My school is 5th grade only and about 350 students. Having come from a tiny town with a graduating class of 120 students I'm intrigued to see a middle school of 1000+ students function. The stories of the middle school are wild LOL. Hopefully the new admin can right the ship. My hours finally give me the chance to get into coaching, too, but I'm still weighing if that's for me at this time.

 

[husky429]

We had gone departmental this year in 5th grade. I was teaching reading and writing to a morning and afternoon crew, 45 students. I've asked to teach math next year in 6th grade. It's more my cup of tea. My school is 5th grade only and about 350 students. Having come from a tiny town with a graduating class of 120 students I'm intrigued to see a middle school of 1000+ students function. The stories of the middle school are wild LOL. Hopefully the new admin can right the ship. My hours finally give me the chance to get into coaching, too, but I'm still weighing if that's for me at this time.

I would highly recommend coaching at the middle level. I did it for one year for basketball and 4 for XC/track and itnwas a blast. Much less pressure than HS sports and it's fun to really have an impact on the kids' fundamentals. That doesn't really happen past freshman year in HS most of the time.

 

[crazyUCfan23]

In regards to the phone, it has been a losing battle for me. There is not a specific school or district wide phone policy; however, there is something on the discipline code about "inappropriate use of technology" I have honestly given up and am exhausted having to tell them to put their phones away and pay attention (I'm talking about 11th graders). Ive written up kids before under "the inappropriate use of technology" banner, but the consequences take too long to be administered and the kids genuinely do not care about getting a detention or ISS. IMO without a school wide cell phone policy and administrative support, cell phones are going to continue to be a losing battle in the classroom. I am youngerish teacher (29), and to an extent believe knowing when to use and not use a phone is a life skill in 2023. I've started to not repeat myself or engage with students on their phones and their grade will ultimately be their consequence

 

[Hey Adrien!]

I would highly recommend coaching at the middle level. I did it for one year for basketball and 4 for XC/track and itnwas a blast. Much less pressure than HS sports and it's fun to really have an impact on the kids' fundamentals. That doesn't really happen past freshman year in HS most of the time.

@lange10 I concur w/ @husky429

Coaching MS is a really nice balance. It's about building skills and an appreciation of the sport and less about wins/losses, even though some schools don't think so. For example, all of the coaches in most of the schools in my conference are super cool and the refs are awesome also. Once you've been in a conference for a while, developing that community is fun.

Of course, there are a few schools in our conference that don't jive that way...wins are paramount. In our twelve school league, I can think of three that have that rep.

Just finished up a season of 7/8 softball and 5-8 XC. Honestly, aside from my AD, I am the longest tenured coach at our school and I want to drop down to 5/6 levels for basketball and softball...I like that level better than 7/8.

 

[HooperScooper]

The phone issue is big these days. One of the hockey coaches for a middle school team down here in PA told the kids ‘no cell phones in the locker room’ and you would have thought he told them they each have to cut off one of their body parts. Not sure who’s worse, the parents or the kids.

Last week there was an incident with some of the other 4th graders in my son’s class. Apparently there is a chat that you can sign your kids up for similar to text message or Facebook messenger. I must have missed the email about it or something bc I never signed my kid up for it and probably wouldn’t have anyway. Well last Friday night, I was sitting with the treasurer of the PTA having dinner with her family and she starts getting phone calls. Apparently a boy in one of the other 4th grade classes took a video of his ‘privates’ and sent it to 25 other students, 17 were girls (one was the treasurer’s daughter).

My wife and I agreed that in a few years when my son comes asking for a cell phone, he’s getting a flip phone or a Zach Morris/Gordon Gekko satellite phone…

Mass. education department 'likely' to encourage schools to restrict phones

During a Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting Tuesday, students and teachers discussed policies to restrict cellphone use.

www.boston.com

 

[M.S.G.]

I teach in Massachusetts, but as for my time in CT I don't see much of a difference, phones are an absolute epidemic.

I know it takes 10-15 years to classify something as an "addiction" but for this generation of upper middle school and high school students it is ridiculous.

Outside of my Honors kids, they are basically incapable of putting the phone down for 5-10 minutes.

I wish my school would grow a pair and make an actual policy, and I pray that DESE truly takes this seriously.

I love the fact that they have access to Chromebooks every class all day, but they spend most of their time watching YouTube or playing games. I just don't know what the answer is, I truly don't.

I love the advent of Google Classroom and Google Drive, it has taken my instruction and ease of access for kids and material to another level. I couldn't imagine teaching without it, so this is truly a gift and a curse.

 

[HooperScooper]

Article that will be in Sunday's Boston Globe.

There are easier ways to earn a living.

Talk to any teacher in any district in the country right now, and they will tell you that an already-difficult job has gotten exponentially harder in the last few years.

Teaching is increasingly difficult. So why stay in that job?​

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Happy Friday everyone!

Day 4 up here in Acadia and we hit the road in a few hours. Wednesday was lovely (morning on a lobster boat, then helping clean the carriage trails followed by an amazing lobster bake (major shoutout to Bar Harbor Lobster Bakes!).

Thursday was...interesting. We biked the carriage trails and two kids fell off their bikes, one mostly due to exhaustion, which was pretty scary, but she ended up OK. Unfortunately, it's common for 8th grade girls to be not the best eaters, so one of the teachers had to share the importance of filling up, eating protein, etc. After that we had a whale watch which our guide expected to last three hours, but it ended up being six (ended up in Canadian waters!). That would have been fine, but a few of our boys made some bad choices on that boat ride...

Let's just say it's been a trying trip. It's been a tough 8th grade this year, arguably a top-2 worst 8th grade in my 13 year career...anyone else notice this year's 8th grade has been especially rough? Mostly followers, not a lot of depth of emotions...

I'm pretty hopeful next year's 8th grade will be more "normal".

 

[husky429]

Happy Friday everyone!

Day 4 up here in Acadia and we hit the road in a few hours. Wednesday was lovely (morning on a lobster boat, then helping clean the carriage trails followed by an amazing lobster bake (major shoutout to Bar Harbor Lobster Bakes!).

Thursday was...interesting. We biked the carriage trails and two kids fell off their bikes, one mostly due to exhaustion, which was pretty scary, but she ended up OK. Unfortunately, it's common for 8th grade girls to be not the best eaters, so one of the teachers had to share the importance of filling up, eating protein, etc. After that we had a whale watch which our guide expected to last three hours, but it ended up being six (ended up in Canadian waters!). That would have been fine, but a few of our boys made some bad choices on that boat ride...

Let's just say it's been a trying trip. It's been a tough 8th grade this year, arguably a top-2 worst 8th grade in my 13 year career...anyone else notice this year's 8th grade has been especially rough? Mostly followers, not a lot of depth of emotions...

I'm pretty hopeful next year's 8th grade will be more "normal".

You couldn't pay me enough to do overnight field trips with kids again. Schools ALWAYS want me because I'm a dude and there's so few around to chaperone the boys rooms. I must have done the DC trip 6 or 7 times before I tapped out.

Between the vapes, weed, kids getting ubers home, vomit, social drama that is somehow my problen, a kid getting "robbed" by a homeless person, I'm done.

Bless your heart for doing this, my man. You're a saint.

 

[August_West]

Article that will be in Sunday's Boston Globe.

There are easier ways to earn a living.

Talk to any teacher in any district in the country right now, and they will tell you that an already-difficult job has gotten exponentially harder in the last few years.

Teaching is increasingly difficult. So why stay in that job?​

Yeah so my wife took a full year off from her tenured teaching job after having our newborn. She was only allowed 3 months plus accrued PTO, but we made it work. Now she must be back in September (to keep her tenure) and she is adamant about doing it, she loves her job. But it seems that childcare for what will by then be my 10 month old when she returns is more than her weekly salary. Im begging her to let it go.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

You couldn't pay me enough to do overnight field trips with kids again. Schools ALWAYS want me because I'm a dude and there's so few around to chaperone the boys rooms. I must have done the DC trip 6 or 7 times before I tapped out.

Between the vapes, weed, kids getting ubers home, vomit, social drama that is somehow my problen, a kid getting "robbed" by a homeless person, I'm done.

Bless your heart for doing this, my man. You're a saint.

Thanks. Forgot to add: I’m the only adult male on the trip with 11 boys and just 6 girls.

 

[husky429]

Yeah so my wife took a full year off from her tenured teaching job after having our newborn. She was only allowed 3 months plus accrued PTO, but we made it work. Now she must be back in September (to keep her tenure) and she is adamant about doing it, she loves her job. But it seems that childcare for what will by then be my 10 month old when she returns is more than her weekly salary. Im begging her to let it go.

Tenure protections for teachers are not really a big deal at the end of the day. If they want to get rid of someone, it happens. Plus it'll only be 2 years to tenure in a new district. I wouldn't stick around for just that. I'd consider applying to other districts that pay more. Even moving districts with a similar payscale will usually result in making more because you won't have to deal with all the step freezes.

I got a 14k pay raise to leave my first district for another teaching position because of step freezes and another 30k pay raise to go work in the hood this year (as a quasi admin on the teacher contract).

 

[husky429]

Thanks. Forgot to add: I’m the only adult male on the trip with 11 boys and just 6 girls.

You deserve at least 3x what they're paying you. Good heavens. What a nightmare! Lol.

 

[M.S.G.]

Just got home from graduation, so weird and early, the seniors have been done classes for 3 weeks!

Ceremony ended at 7:25, I immediately bounced to the foyer, shook some hands, some fist bumps and I was in the car at 7:30.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Yeah so my wife took a full year off from her tenured teaching job after having our newborn. She was only allowed 3 months plus accrued PTO, but we made it work. Now she must be back in September (to keep her tenure) and she is adamant about doing it, she loves her job. But it seems that childcare for what will by then be my 10 month old when she returns is more than her weekly salary. Im begging her to let it go.

So let me get this straight. You want the new Mrs A-Dub to sacrifice her career because you're too cheap to pay for professional supervision of your newborn.

Let her work, the deficit you believe is will arise from paying for childcare, offset by her income isn't real, it's merely the manner of how you are accounting for the income and expenditures.

 

[August_West]

So let me get this straight. You want the new Mrs A-Dub to sacrifice her career because you're too cheap to pay for professional supervision of your newborn.

Let her work, the deficit you believe is will arise from paying for childcare, offset by her income isn't real, it's merely the manner of how you are accounting for the income and expenditures.

Nah. She’s just a great mother.

 

[Kathy]

Yeah so my wife took a full year off from her tenured teaching job after having our newborn. She was only allowed 3 months plus accrued PTO, but we made it work. Now she must be back in September (to keep her tenure) and she is adamant about doing it, she loves her job. But it seems that childcare for what will by then be my 10 month old when she returns is more than her weekly salary. Im begging her to let it go.

Needs to be her decision - it's not always about money

 

[C9C9]

A bit off topic here, but our district is changing up the math sequence, essentially stopping math acceleration in 6th grade. So the normal acceleration of 7th algebra, 8th geometry, 9th alg 2/trig, 10th pre-calc, 11th calc ab or bc, senior year dual enrollment linear equations/diff equations is going away. Not sure what to think of it, except if I had an accelerated kid I'd be pretty miffed. The district is essentially forcing the accelerated kids to go outside the school to challenge themselves. Mind you, this is the district where the majority of teachers make $130k or more a year, and has decent affluence.

 

[husky429]

Mind you, this is the district where the majority of teachers make $130k or more a year, and has decent affluence.

I don't know who told you that... but there is no district in the state where a majority of teachers make 130k+.

Even Greenwich maxed out at 125k this year for teachers with a Master's. And that's friggen Greenwich. Most of Fairfield County doesn't make that much at top step.

 

[BFieldHusky]

I don't know who told you that... but there is no district in the state where a majority of teachers make 130k+.

My principal last year was the highest paid middle school in the state at 185k. @husky429 is right. There is no district were the "majority make 130k." Top of the scale in Darien probably doesn't make that.

 

[CL82]

Happy Friday everyone!

Day 4 up here in Acadia and we hit the road in a few hours. Wednesday was lovely (morning on a lobster boat, then helping clean the carriage trails followed by an amazing lobster bake (major shoutout to Bar Harbor Lobster Bakes!).

Thursday was...interesting. We biked the carriage trails and two kids fell off their bikes, one mostly due to exhaustion, which was pretty scary, but she ended up OK. Unfortunately, it's common for 8th grade girls to be not the best eaters, so one of the teachers had to share the importance of filling up, eating protein, etc. After that we had a whale watch which our guide expected to last three hours, but it ended up being six (ended up in Canadian waters!). That would have been fine, but a few of our boys made some bad choices on that boat ride...

Let's just say it's been a trying trip. It's been a tough 8th grade this year, arguably a top-2 worst 8th grade in my 13 year career...anyone else notice this year's 8th grade has been especially rough? Mostly followers, not a lot of depth of emotions...

I'm pretty hopeful next year's 8th grade will be more "normal".

Well now I'm curious. What exactly were these bad choices. Did they get involved in equities right before the market dropped? Did they eat applesauce that have been left in the car? What was it?

 

[EBonz30]

So let me get this straight. You want the new Mrs A-Dub to sacrifice her career because you're too cheap to pay for professional supervision of your newborn.

Let her work, the deficit you believe is will arise from paying for childcare, offset by her income isn't real, it's merely the manner of how you are accounting for the income and expenditures.

Agreed let her do what she wants- sounds like she will have a great impact to our society considering how passion she sounds about helping, teaching, & supporting the future adults.