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What if there is a week where there are no graded papers?
Then there should be a good reason why, and it takes all of five seconds to scribble a note stating that reason and hand it to Samson Jr. Quite frankly, I would have expected some sort of yearly or semester syllabus - or at least an outline - to have made an appearance at the beginning of the year so that the parents would be expecting the weeks full of lab work.
There were syllabii, and I can check grades thathave been given with those that have returned home. Generally, Samson Jr. has been reliable.
At any rate, each week I give my phone number and urge anyone who's interested in explaining their situation, e.g., "I Gave Jr. this paper, this week a chance to voice their POV: None has.
Why?
Because they haven't given him anything, and the only excuses they have is they simply cannot put it together.
Why does there have to be a good reason? How often should a child's education be assessed? Should there be a quiz or "paper" every day? If all the time is spent assessing what is learned, when is there time to learn?
And if the parent wants to micromanage their child's education, then maybe they should be putting some onus on the child to communicate with them and let them know what they are doing.
Seems to me like Samson is not actually interested in the grades or the papers, but more in just creating a hassle for everyone.
Well, I suppose I could write a thread about how I've encouraged SJ over the past 16 years. You want me to do that? I'll tell you what: Begin a thread about your teenager, and we'll compare notes.
And I agree: there are parents that would love to micromanage educators. If I had thought that asking for One graded paper/week/subject was going to be such a big hairy deal, I probably would have begun by asking that I get one every day. Then I suppose my once/week policy would seem more reasonable?
In reality, I expect these teachers have had enough fire lit under them to last the remainder of the Semester, and I won't need to remind them again that they're being very closely scrutinized.
If I were one of your child's teachers, I would tell you that if you would like to review your child's work in depth, you can come in to meet with me every Thursday afternoon at 3:30pm. We could go over the work face to face and discuss the issue. And I would encourage all of my colleagues to do the same.
I'd put the onus on you to prove to me that your child's education was important enough an issue that you would spend 3-6 hours per week of your time coming to the school.
Then there should be a good reason why, and it takes all of five seconds to scribble a note stating that reason and hand it to Samson Jr. Quite frankly, I would have expected some sort of yearly or semester syllabus - or at least an outline - to have made an appearance at the beginning of the year so that the parents would be expecting the weeks full of lab work.
There were syllabii, and I can check grades thathave been given with those that have returned home. Generally, Samson Jr. has been reliable.
At any rate, each week I give my phone number and urge anyone who's interested in explaining their situation, e.g., "I Gave Jr. this paper, this week a chance to voice their POV: None has.
Why?
Because they haven't given him anything, and the only excuses they have is they simply cannot put it together.
So basically, if Samson Jr. had a week when, for example, his science class was doing hands-on lab work rather than written assignments, you would know and all they would have to do is send some sort of note indicating how he was graded on the lab. Right?
There you go. Easy-peasy.
communicate with your spawn, issue solved.
communicate with your spawn, issue solved.
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.
There were syllabii, and I can check grades thathave been given with those that have returned home. Generally, Samson Jr. has been reliable.
At any rate, each week I give my phone number and urge anyone who's interested in explaining their situation, e.g., "I Gave Jr. this paper, this week a chance to voice their POV: None has.
Why?
Because they haven't given him anything, and the only excuses they have is they simply cannot put it together.
So basically, if Samson Jr. had a week when, for example, his science class was doing hands-on lab work rather than written assignments, you would know and all they would have to do is send some sort of note indicating how he was graded on the lab. Right?
There you go. Easy-peasy.
Exactly, or, heaven forbid, the teacher ask the kids to write the answer to the question: What is the purpose of this week's lab? Fifteen minutes, max....
But I don't want to micromanage this sort of thing.
I'm actually hoping to have made my point, finally.
...the principal has to do a shitload of work...
The principal will be the one that has to do A LOT of extra work. And the District. And all the while, I might be enlisting other parents to follow my path, now that its already established.
No, the whole thing becomes a bureaucratic nightmare for the administration.
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!!
communicate with your spawn, issue solved.
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?
Well, I suppose I could write a thread about how I've encouraged SJ over the past 16 years. You want me to do that? I'll tell you what: Begin a thread about your teenager, and we'll compare notes.
And I agree: there are parents that would love to micromanage educators. If I had thought that asking for One graded paper/week/subject was going to be such a big hairy deal, I probably would have begun by asking that I get one every day. Then I suppose my once/week policy would seem more reasonable?
In reality, I expect these teachers have had enough fire lit under them to last the remainder of the Semester, and I won't need to remind them again that they're being very closely scrutinized.
If I were one of your child's teachers, I would tell you that if you would like to review your child's work in depth, you can come in to meet with me every Thursday afternoon at 3:30pm. We could go over the work face to face and discuss the issue. And I would encourage all of my colleagues to do the same.
I'd put the onus on you to prove to me that your child's education was important enough an issue that you would spend 3-6 hours per week of your time coming to the school.
Xoti, would you REALLY want me to show up every week after school to spend an hour or so browbeating you (e.g is this the ONLY WAY this can be taught? Why'd you correct this, but not this? Tell me a little more about how this relates to the curriculum?), adding more time to your already long, stressful day......
Or would you like to simply grade a homework assignment?
communicate with your spawn, issue solved.
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?
Well, I suppose I could write a thread about how I've encouraged SJ over the past 16 years. You want me to do that? I'll tell you what: Begin a thread about your teenager, and we'll compare notes.
And I agree: there are parents that would love to micromanage educators. If I had thought that asking for One graded paper/week/subject was going to be such a big hairy deal, I probably would have begun by asking that I get one every day. Then I suppose my once/week policy would seem more reasonable?
In reality, I expect these teachers have had enough fire lit under them to last the remainder of the Semester, and I won't need to remind them again that they're being very closely scrutinized.
If I were one of your child's teachers, I would tell you that if you would like to review your child's work in depth, you can come in to meet with me every Thursday afternoon at 3:30pm. We could go over the work face to face and discuss the issue. And I would encourage all of my colleagues to do the same.
I'd put the onus on you to prove to me that your child's education was important enough an issue that you would spend 3-6 hours per week of your time coming to the school.
Oh, yeah, right. These people are having trouble with "send home a paper with a grade written on it once a week", and you really think they're going to be able to manage an entire weekly meeting? Did you sustain a head injury recently?
What a bitch you are.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?
Absolutely not, you selfish bastard. Don't you know that these Ghandis-with-blackboard-erasers are national heroes, and we should pay them just for being spiffy enough to wear the title of teacher? Like education is some sort of real job, where one can expect work for salary, or something.
First: he wanted to know what a "graded paper" was?
This immediately set me off, so I explained to a HS Principal what was a graded paper.
Second: he didn't like my "tone."
I told him I didn't like his tone either.
Third he began with the list of excuses: classes meeting only two or three days per week, projects not being done for several weeks, the curriculum....yada, yada, yada.....I interrupted to say none of these excuses held any water, but he said, "Please don't interrupt, let me finish."
So I let him babble on, then said I didn't care about whether they met ONE, TWO, THREE, Four, or FIVE Days a week, I wanted to see some measure of learning on a weekly basis in each subject....
Then he interrupted ME!
I told him that he would please allow ME to finish, and continued to explain that it was embarrassing for me to review what I considered "Teaching 101" with him, but asked, "You do realize that parents are interested in what their kids are doing in school, right?"
He didn't answer, just stared at me.
You probably already know this, but with that kind of attitude from adminsitration, I would keep a close eye on things. This guy may try to punish you for your impudence through your kids.
If he does, he wins the award for Least Perceptive Judge of Character for this decade. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Samson's NOT the person to fuck with in that way.
If I were one of your child's teachers, I would tell you that if you would like to review your child's work in depth, you can come in to meet with me every Thursday afternoon at 3:30pm. We could go over the work face to face and discuss the issue. And I would encourage all of my colleagues to do the same.
I'd put the onus on you to prove to me that your child's education was important enough an issue that you would spend 3-6 hours per week of your time coming to the school.
Oh, yeah, right. These people are having trouble with "send home a paper with a grade written on it once a week", and you really think they're going to be able to manage an entire weekly meeting? Did you sustain a head injury recently?
No head injury here.
I'm just telling you what I would do. If someone is going to create extra work for me, I will create extra work for them...just to make sure we are all on the same page.
Oh, yeah, right. These people are having trouble with "send home a paper with a grade written on it once a week", and you really think they're going to be able to manage an entire weekly meeting? Did you sustain a head injury recently?
No head injury here.
I'm just telling you what I would do. If someone is going to create extra work for me, I will create extra work for them...just to make sure we are all on the same page.
That's ridiculous. The attitude of "punish the parents if they question the system" is 3/4 of what is wrong with our system. "don't dare question the teachers or suffer the consequences!" How obnoxious.
If a parent wants to see what his kid is doing, he has that right. That's part of parenting, and teachers cry big crocodile tears when they think parents aren't "engaged". So what's with the attitude that if they're engaged it has to be on the teacher's terms, and it has to hurt?
It's the teachers fault your 10th grader is a fuck up?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???
Interesting.
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.
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?
You probably already know this, but with that kind of attitude from adminsitration, I would keep a close eye on things. This guy may try to punish you for your impudence through your kids.
If he does, he wins the award for Least Perceptive Judge of Character for this decade. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Samson's NOT the person to fuck with in that way.
There are sadists who make it into the education system, however. They make lousy educators but they can make a kid's life a living hell. Such are generally cowards who don't confront the parents but do take it out on the kids.
With two kids, both of which now have better than bachelor's degrees, the kids knew better than to complain to me about how 'tough' or 'unreasonable' Mr. or Miss so and so was because they knew I would take the teacher's side every time. But twice, and only twice during the time of their formal education did I have to intervene on their behalf when they were under assault from an inappropriate or sadistic teacher.
And I would think being confronted by a genuinely concerned parent such as Samson could easily trigger such a punative streak in such an educator.
