Distance Learning Opens Up Window into Classroom
 

My kindergarten child usually attends in person but a stomach bug has her at home this week. She logged in for distance learning this morning for the second time this year. The kindergarten teacher was doing her best trying to teach both in person and online students. I sympathize with her as this is a herculean task for any age group but especially tough with kindergarten.

The teacher wrote this sentence verbatim. " I see a elf in the holwa. The elf has a red hat. The elf has a green sout."

The teacher cannot spell hallway or suit and did not use an in front of a word beginning with a vowel.

Not inspiring much confidence in the school system. I have even less faith in the parents of kids doing distance learning. The first time my kid did distance learning my wife observed kindergarten age kids with parents who were asleep while the 5 y/o is in 'class", parents having friends over with loud conversations during "class" and very often no parent present at all.

We are losing alot of critical learning time and alternative solutions to distance learning are needed.

I see your point. I have a 15 year old, what I see of his remote learning isn't good.

And who knows....varies across the country, Texas. hmm.

Teachers have it rough right now, they can be scrutinized more than ever.

and since I'm a jerk...Alot is never a word. Allot is a word but it doesn't mean the same thing as 'a lot' allot= to allocate. I'm sure it was just a typo.

At least your kids get to go to school.

My kindergartner has been in the classroom a grand total of 10 times this year before the hand-wringers got their way. He gets 2 hours of online instruction per day and four hours of "asynchronous work".

My 4th grader gets the same crappy amount of instruction, but only got to go to school 7 times this year because they thought that a kid who later tested positive may have wandered into his classroom.

The kids are depressed and not learning.

I say let the kids that do well with distance learning do it. For the ones that struggle or don't have access to internet service and need the student/teacher interaction, have conventional classes available.

That would be rational. The thing about the hand-wringers is that in their minds, my kid going to school somehow puts their kid, who is at home, at risk for a virus. They seem very concerned that my kid is limited to the same option they have selected. I don't get it.

We offer both in my city.

That's how it should be.

My kids are still mostly in school. High schooler goes half days, four days per week. Middle and elementary go a normal schedule. When they were in virtual classes last year it was an absolute and total cluster eff, how a school district in 2020 could be so woefully unprepared for technology that was revolutionary circa 2010 is unreal. I started my MBA online in 2012, this isn’t new or novel. Most of the teachers just threw crap over the fence and went on vacation, some of my high schooler’s teachers didn’t post grades for more than a month. For all of the “won’t somebody think of the teachers” BS, sorry but they are doing way less work for the same money.

While we’re on the topic, explain this one to me. Elementary and middle school calls today, due to positive CV tests for teachers and students they are going to start Christmas break early. So tomorrow is the last day of school. Wait so things are so bad that you are going to start vacation early, but still going to school tomorrow? Is the CV not scheduled to arrive until Monday?:rolleyes:

My advice: Take control. These are your children.

If a shop didn't fix your car correctly, would you go back? No, you wouldn't.

I know it's hard but at least until covid is gone, you need to do something to help your kids, whether it is a different school or supplementing your child's education. It's hard enough to learn to spell when the person teaching you can spell.

This may be a blessing. You now know the caliber of instruction your child is getting. In the future, if and when they go back to school, you know you will need to be doing some instruction at home to guarantee they succeed.

I fully agree with you, but, unlike auto repair where you can just go to the shop down the street, schooling doesn't work the same way unfortunately. The politicians, law, school unions have made it very difficult. Many inner city areas have tried charter schools, the cities, states and union shut them down and force children into substandard learning.

Keep the stupid and needy and you can control them.

In Oklahoma City school system they know the education is so bad this year that they will not issue report cards at all. I honestly fee sorry for the kids that have missed a year of learning and parents of kids that want to learn. The kids will have a tough time in life and going forward to catch up.

I am teaching synchronously.
I cannot tell you I like it. I am still getting a pay cheque and I am happy about that.
I have 7 days of in person presentation every two months for the students hands on/lab classes.

My son is learning at home right now. It was to be synchronous but there is maybe about 2 actual hours of instruction and the rest he is to work independently. Hmm, not working so well for us.

Our local school was not cutting it for our daughter and she then went to a public school that had distance learning. She went from a C average as a freshman to honor roll and made friends from all over the state. They even supplied the laptop for her to keep. It was not a good one, but worked for online schooling.

Too bad those options aren't available more often.

Unfortunately it seems most schools are not interested in teaching your kids how to learn, just how to score well on a test for the schools to get more money.

I wonder how much vouchers would change that.

I suspect the crap parents were crap whether the kid is in school or distance learning. Also, a crappy teacher is going to be crap in person or from a distance. This may or may not change how much kids are learning.

Parents that care and monitor/assist their kids in school are probably going to be doing it whether via distance learning or regular school time, and those are probably, mostly the kids that will do well.

All educators should be scrutinized, highly. While online education for young children is absolute garbage, I hope that parents now realize they can't just leave their child's education to the system. They need to take an active part.

A teacher that cannot spell, or be bothered to spell, at a Grade 6 level should not be employed. Period.

Makes me wonder about their credentials, both the school board requirement, and that teacher's degree(s).

I think 1990C4S is going very easy on the teachers re: the bolded portion.

Are kindergarten teachers considered "teachers" or are they just day care workers that present educational info to little kids? < edit > A quick search turned up that yes, K seems to be available in public school and has the same requirements as any other public school teacher.

Still, it would be sad and scary to see that sort of thing.

Did the teacher appear to be someone that may have spoken English as a second language? Not that it matters, just curious?

"holwa" and "sout," wow, that's WAY out there. For sout I could almost understand if it was being typed as the i and o are next to each other on the keyboard. But "holwa," that's crazy. It took me a min to figure out what that was supposed to be. It looks like it's spelled by a 14 year old that's into text speak or something.

My sister is teaching remote. Parents can request and have a scheduled zoom meetings at any time. The only parents that request a meeting are the ones that have kids that are doing well.

Those who can’t do......

I know there are great teachers out there. But, I would also say that the typical teacher is not a great teacher. In my own experience through a master’s degree and now watching my kids, I have only encountered a small handful of legitimately good teachers. I have encountered far more who apparently saw it as the path of least resistance to getting a job. So conversely I’m not buying into the perpetual narrative of teachers being underworked and under appreciated heroes that never get their due.

No great surprise there. Lots of people don't really seem to care how their kids do in school. Presumably, their parents and themselves didn't care how they did in school. It's sad, but then as I've seen/heard somewhere before, someone's got to work at the jobs that most of the rest of us don't want.