If you're a teacher.......

If you are a teacher, will you return to the classroom when schools open after the pandemic?

  • Yes

    Votes: 10 71.4%
  • Probably

    Votes: 3 21.4%
  • Undecided

    Votes: 1 7.1%
  • Probably not

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    14
The vast majority of teachers I'm talking with are planning for online or blended instruction in the fall. Have not heard of anyone going back full-time. Some are having 1/2 the kids M/W and 1/2 T/T. Some doing mornings with one group, having a couple hours for cleaning then an afternoon group. No one seems to be paying any attention to teh parent's needs in this nor what is good pedagogy. What I'm hearing from board members is all about avoiding lawsuits

Teachers have been woefully underpaid for the last 30 years or so. Whats become more apparent is the different rates for the same position in different schools. On the Technical Theater Teachers group, we're requiring a salary range be posted with each job opening. This transparency helps to improve rates and conditions for everyone.

When I was still teaching, I'd gotten to the point of calling the district HR folks and saying "I don't want to waste your time or mine. What are you offering for this position." It just makes sense.

The really quirky thing is... in Wisconsin since the unions aren't as solid as they used to be, there's more leeway to negotiate your own salary. I've seen jobs posted for X and folks negotiating X + $10-15K because there is a shortage in that geographic or subject.
 
In our last Leadership Meeting with our building principal last week, he actually said "If we only get partial in-person time, then I am thinking programs like ROTC, Choir, DRAMA will control what groups of students are on campus on any given day. English and math classes can meet anytime and anyday either in person or virtual depending....." and he is an ex-football coach..... there may be hope for the arts AND for humanity as a whole.
 
I was thinking that how cool would it be if kids came to in person for the social stuff, like sports, band, drama, chorus, STAGECRAFT? And then did all their core stuff online. And you could still have office hours for the core classes for the kids that need that tutoring, over the should stuff. But how awesome would it be to have a block of time to do stuff like stagecraft, or band, or have extended athletic training? Or shop?
 
I was thinking that how cool would it be if kids came to in person for the social stuff, like sports, band, drama, chorus, STAGECRAFT? And then did all their core stuff online. And you could still have office hours for the core classes for the kids that need that tutoring, over the should stuff. But how awesome would it be to have a block of time to do stuff like stagecraft, or band, or have extended athletic training? Or shop?

I admire your optimism!

Personally I would add lab days for chemistry and physics (lecture online), and all of the arts classes. When things were still fuzzy as to what exactly the expectations would be for finishing this semester online, the arts teachers at my school had many discussions on how you could have any sort of practical lessons when you couldn't guarantee that students would have any materials at all to work with.
 
The vast majority of teachers I'm talking with are planning for online or blended instruction in the fall. Have not heard of anyone going back full-time. Some are having 1/2 the kids M/W and 1/2 T/T. Some doing mornings with one group, having a couple hours for cleaning then an afternoon group. No one seems to be paying any attention to teh parent's needs in this nor what is good pedagogy. What I'm hearing from board members is all about avoiding lawsuits

We've only heard rumors of whats to come. It's so far off, I'm sure that it's hard to make a call now on what might happen. In the past few days, however, Florida has seen a spike in the infection rate and we just opened phase 2, whatever that means. Apparently venues can operate at 50% capacity, but locally our district has us shuttered at least until June. Hoping we'll be able to do a couple of dance shows in July, otherwise it's going to be a slim year for our budget. I'm guessing Florida will probably have another crisis year for schools and it could be pretty bad, again. It'd be nice to actually get a raise, but they froze our steps over 10 years ago now.
 
Different experience out here in Asia. In Hong Kong we shut schools down the first week of February and transitioned immediately into virtual classrooms. International Schools and Private schools that were not followig the local HK Govt curriculum were allowed to reopen campuses from the 20th of May, providing we submitted full copies of our plans and safety messures to the education bureau for approval. Generally speaking 50% capacity on campus, social distancing in classrooms, wearing masks, etc. Each school does things differently such as alternate days for younger years, seniors years, or AM/PM sessions with certain year groups in the morning on campus, and alternating in the afternoon... with an extended lunch/break in the middle of the day to allow people commute time. Blended learning is how it's going at my school and we're making it work... very hard in the drama department, but we've chugged along somehow. My two theatre teacher colleagues are AMAZING and I do what I can to support the learning on the tech side, or popping into the virtual classes to talk lighting/set/costume design elements.

We've made the decision to not have a school production in the fall during semester one, and we might do a smaller scale production or series of short plays in semester two. I know one of the other larger international schools has plans for a full on school musical.

Tomorrow (Fri 12th June) is my school's last day of term, and then we're off for Summer, and school's back to normal the last week of August (but probably wearing masks, sanitising hands (we have dispensers outside every classroom and hallway) and with temperature checks before we come on campus.

Local government schools started reopening from 25th May and they're running all the way to the end of July. They have a short summer holiday.
 
Florida schools just announced business as usual come August. And we just also announced our highest increase in active cases ever. Hooray...
 
Florida schools just announced business as usual come August. And we just also announced our highest increase in active cases ever. Hooray...
I expect that re-closing the doors will be a lot harder, politically, until the hospitals get full and bodies pile up. Even then my guess is that we will not see many jurisdictions downgrade their re-opening status, just pause at whatever place they're at. The reality is that virii want what virii want and that the biology is understood. What drives (or stalls) pandemics is 100% human behavior. As I'm pessimistic of anything that requires large numbers of people to consistently do the right thing, I continue to be sanguine about future prospects.

I'll be interested to see what happens, transmission-wise, at the political rallies and conventions. Certain pols are taking a risk, I think, of killing off their support base.
 
Money. Schools don't make money unless there's kids to count, buy lunch and football tickets. I'm not saying it's right but public schools would not survive a lockdown year. They're trying to expand the local virtual school as a way of capturing the state dollars for enrollment within the district but it's gonna be a tight year. I am fearful us education techs' relative job security to that of our brothers and sisters in the private world will be tested during the next cycle as revenue is always a year behind for tax subsidized stuff.
 
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In agreement with Tim. People and government will continue to reopen till the hospitals and morgues are overflowing.

depends on who your government is.

living in Washington state. Not being stupid here (IMHO).
 
NY seems well managed but people are still not careful. Indoor dining started in my area yesterday, saw a line of people at a bar and grill all without masks.
 

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