It’s actually not a bad thing, honestly—especially since they aren't developing that whole executive function side of things early enough to actually think ahead or map out steps for bigger projects. Instead, they just push everything to the absolute last minute, rush through it, and end up making a total mess of it. I think the key is once you've set a schedule for them, you have to let them handle the actual work themselves without hovering too much—you know, gradually stepping back so they can start managing their own schedules and planning their own workflow. Some people just don't develop that... well, ever. And then you're stuck choosing between whether you want to grind through everything on day one just so you have a buffer if you screw up, or just leave it all until the deadline and deal with the inevitable disaster 🤣 :it's not me, it's my ADHD:
I’ve always had this nagging issue with religion teachers—not because of what they teach, necessarily, but just because of how they end up in the classroom. They aren't even hired through the standard school district application process; instead, the Diocese just kind of assigns them where they need them.
So, what exactly is it that these teachers—the ones you're saying should be feeling some serious shame—are actually supposed to do? I mean, at the end of the day, the principal is the one getting paid to keep the whole school running smoothly.
silentmason4 said:But wait, if they aren't heading out, what are they actually supposed to be doing during those religious studies classes they skip?
Honestly, over here, religious studies isn't really the headache—it's more about the bus situation, since we have so many kids commuting. The school bus doesn't roll around until after sixth period, so if you aren't signed up for those elective classes, you're basically stuck there until the end of the day. Usually, we just find an empty classroom, cram everyone in there, and stick one teacher with them just to make sure nobody starts a riot—you know, just keeping the peace. They end up doing homework, playing tic-tac-toe, or just scrolling through their phones... Or, if parents sign a waiver letting them leave, they just wander around town for a bit before catching the bus. And generally, if someone has a gap in their schedule because of electives—which happens all the time since we have so many teachers traveling between different schools to squeeze everything into a couple of days—we just stick them in a "study hall" with whatever class happens to be at gym during that block. Everyone wins. 😛
Around here, if parents sign off on it, students are actually allowed to head out once they hit a free period in their schedule. It’s all done under their own responsibility—as long as they check in with the teacher on duty first. That way, there's no confusion about who's accountable if anything happens.
Honestly, it’s such a massive failure of discipline when they let kids who skip religious studies just head straight home instead of making them stay in the hallway to reflect. That kind of loophole shouldn't be allowed—it really needs to be dealt with, maybe even with a termination, if not some serious jail time for those in charge. ☕
It’s definitely a thing. You’ve got those teachers who barely pull half a full teaching load, and then there's the one teacher where, out of five kids, maybe two are even actually making progress... Computer Science is the same way. In these smaller rural schools, we’re the ones working ourselves to the bone just to hit our required hours—and then you've got the chemistry teachers looking for any extra classes they can grab to fill the gaps.
e, I actually need to correct myself there—it turns out the eighth graders are following the fifth grade's schedule for the reforms, and the fourth graders are starting from the first. just a little piece of advice: finish your coffee first, otherwise it’s just gonna get 😁
The entire K-12 curriculum was overhauled last year—everything from the little kids in Elementary School all the way up to the high school seniors. It’s been a rolling process, really. Three years ago, they started implementing changes for the incoming first graders in Elementary School and the freshmen in high school, along with fifth graders and those specialized science tracks in seventh grade. Then, two years back, it expanded to cover second and third graders in both levels, plus the full sixth and seventh-grade curriculum and eighth-grade sciences. By last year, they had basically hit every subject for the fourth and eighth graders across the board, and now, this year's fourth and eighth graders are officially part of that fully reformed track right from the jump.
rowdypanther12 said:Great. 😂 What's the actual point of having a teacher then? Just to check if a kid memorized some facts? We might as well just switch to all online testing and save money on salaries.
Assignments, resources, grading rubrics... did those just manifest out of thin air by divine intervention? Is that same divine power going to review the work, send it back for revisions, and finally hand out the grades?
(by the way—it actually blows my mind how few students take advantage of the chance to send me their work for feedback so I can tell them how to improve their grade—or even just send over a rough draft to make sure they aren't totally off track. But then, without fail, both the kids and the parents will be the first ones complaining when the grade isn't what they wanted. ☕ )
The whole thing comes down to the fact that modern teaching actually puts the student front and center, whereas that old-school frontal style? It’s all about the teacher being the star of the show—which, let's be honest, feels like some dusty 19th-century relic. 🙄 Honestly, it is just soooo boring. You end up with students who are basically just sitting there like statues.
Kids heading into middle school—grades 5 through 8—have already had their fair share of computer classes. For those entering 5th grade, it was an elective they could've picked up as early as 3rd grade, while the kids moving into 8th grade had it as a mandatory part of the curriculum back in 5th and 6th. And honestly? You can’t just cut kids off from the internet entirely—I mean, let's be real, it's impossible—so the next best move is just trying to teach them how to use it responsibly. That includes knowing how to actually search for things, too. What you guys are all debating over on Moonlight right now—Moonlight, pun intended, I know—is basically "project-based learning." It’s this super hyped-up method where the teacher explains the basics first, then hands out a detailed assignment, and the student learns everything else by researching what they need to get the job done. Theory suggests that information retention and making real connections happens most effectively when you learn that way—by working independently on a concrete task.
It’s all about the flashy stuff lately—searching for #selfentertainment (like some Netflix binge), those #becauseIdeserveit petitions (very L'Oréal vibes), "learning without effort"—which basically just means sitting around without actually breaking a sweat—gamification, and all these colorful little projects... and honestly, most people seem totally fine with it. The public, the students, even the parents—everyone’s just happy-go-lucky when they get this kind of treatment. But then you have the folks who actually dare to say that you can't bake bread without working the dough, or that you can't gain knowledge without actually putting your butt in a chair—and look, you can't connect dots or draw conclusions if you don't even know the basic damn facts first (which requires actually sitting down, reading, and staying focused long enough to memorize them). Basically, there is a way to learn, but it's nothing like the superficial stuff we've been seeing lately—kind of like how you see with the anti-vaxxer and anti-masker crowd. Well, those people? They just get labeled as lazy, old-fashioned, or "obstructionists" who are standing in the way of progress...
I’m really holding out hope that we’ll eventually get to a point where national test scores actually count toward high school admissions. Until then, I guess the whole point is just to gauge how well these reforms are working—though, honestly, it would be a lot easier to judge if we actually had some footage of how things looked before all this started—but hey, someone should have probably planned for that long-term instead of just worrying about their four-year term in office ☕.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how this year plays out. They're running things as a bit of an experiment during the first half—just the fifth graders for now—but word is that by the second half, all the eighth graders will be jumping in too, covering way more subjects. Languages are supposedly on the list as well.
You aren't actually going to see if these reforms work until we hit the national standardized tests this year—and even then, you won't really know until next year, because that's when the kids who have been stuck with these new curricula for the full four years finally graduate. But I... *gasp* ...I actually agree with you. I mean, you can't just dive into independent research and "discovery learning" if you haven't first mastered the basic facts and turned certain procedures into second nature. To get there, you need a teacher and—forgive my bluntness here—some old-fashioned direct instruction and good old-fashioned drill. It shouldn't be all they do, obviously, but there are some things you just can't skip over without the basics, and honestly, you can't skip the drill either.
mellowskipper said:It’s funny—it only really hit me this year—but apparently, since elementary school, students have always been pushed toward competitions in just about every subject. There are heaps of kids involved. It’s basically a race for extra credit points. The PE teacher, for instance, is obsessed with two specific sports and drags kids off to various school athletic meets, but beyond that, there's zero effort. I guess you have to wonder if those teachers running the prep and the actual competitions get some kind of stipend or extra pay—I assume they do, though—since it's technically extra work that isn't strictly required by their contract.
Sometimes you might get an extra hour added to your official workload specifically for prepping students for a competition. But more often than not? You’re just doing supplemental hours, or better yet, you're prepping them entirely on your own time—just out of the goodness of your heart—because you can't stand the thought of those kids who actually want to compete being left behind just because others aren't as driven. So, you end up working for free during your own downtime.
Basically, we start by forming a core group, but then we’ll merge in any parallel tracks if they're available—or just run them as a combined unit (kind of like how we might bundle 5th and 6th grade together, or 7th and 8th). At least we managed to fight for that much.