I am a teacher (secondary) AMA

[Piggywaspushed]

The atmosphere has become toxic on MN in the last few days with insults and generalisations being flung and teachers becoming increasingly defensive , aggressive probably and anxious certainly.

I am using this board to reach out and answer in a calm non AIBU way any questions you might have about what I and my colleagues are doing, how I am feeling, what my concerns and fears are, what my hopes are, perhaps to share a fuller understanding.

I work in a very large state secondary and DH in a large private secondary so can also answer questions about the two sectors.

Just as a rider, any aggressive posts or questions I will just sail on by : I don't want an argument. I had no sleep last night as it is!

Ask away...

Hello Piggy. Hope you’re ok. What subject do you teach and what are you having to do at the moment? And (sorry for two questions) how well prepared do you think you were as we went into lockdown in March?

Actually that was 3 questions. Ah well I’m not a maths teacher.

Morning red

I teach English and two other option subjects (too outing to say what but they are very hard for remote teaching!)

At the moment , I am setting work to all my classes. I tend to set them work every few days. They get a video perhaps to watch and a ppt with activities, a podcast to listen to and then they send me their work via Google classroom which I mark or offer feedback on. It is not my experience that teachers aren't marking. The union guidance says 'no marking' but that does mean something very specific in teaching. It doesn't mean no feedback at all. My students tell me they like my every few days approach as they can manage workload and do the work when it suits them and their family.

I have also spent 10 hours this week working on predicted grades for year 11s and 13s to try to get them as right as we can. Very stressful!

I am not going into school at all as DH is vulnerable.
We were not very prepared at all! There was a mad panic about getting us all on GC and staff were very upset about lack of tissues, soap and cleaning (and still are I gather) but it seems to be going OK with the remote stuff for us.

Thanks Piggy. I could have written the last paragraph about our place! I only teach Y12 English (also, like you, wrangling with Y13 grades) -I imagine working across several year groups is quite a balancing act. All the best.

Thanks red you too. The grades were horrific in our school because year groups are 400!

Has there been any discussion amongst teachers about the right approach with children who can't follow eg hygiene or distance rules due to additional needs? Or children with a vulnerable parent /other family member?

I am not SLT so am not sure on that one but I bloody well hope so! I think that is one of the examples where PPE is allowed.

As I said my DH is vulnerable so this makes me anxious too.

The DfE guidance (there have already been tow drafts and nothing for secondary yet!) says:

Shielded children and staff should not come in at all
Family members of shielded people where staff should be given roles which support them to be stringent in SD. Children form shielding families can stay at home.
Vulnerable but not shielded children : parents should consult GP
I am afraid family members of the vulnerable are not protected and are expected in . What a terrible spot to find oneself in. If I had small DCs atm (mine are older) I'd probably keep them home. I myself am worried about my DH.

Hi piggy thanks for this. I'm looking advice more than anything. Ive a teenager in yr12 who was due to sit GCSEs this year but since school closed he has completely switched off. I can't get him to engage in his school work at all. I've tried the hard line approach, the gentle nudge approach, bribery, threats...
Are your all your students engaging with your school's lessons and if so how did you get them to? I'm running out of ideas. And patience.

Just checking... do you mean year 12 or year 11?

I own a year 11 myself!

Year 11. My fat fingers

Here's the thing. He's as happy as Larry. Helps out around the house, his chores without a bother and is really good fun to be around. Just can't get him interested in doing any lessons. And he's a bright kid, he's smarter than me

Ah, yes, it's tough.

I look at it this way : in many ways they are the luckiest year. Year 13 have uni panic; year 12 and 10 have missed study for exams panic. All other years are missing chunks of schooling and some transition activities.

I do feel year 11s have lost an important rite of passage of GCSE and of proms etc. but I wouldn't force them to do schoolwork to be honest. Is this bridging work or fill in because the school feels obliged?

Mine has been doing some work so I am lucky but he mainly lollops about watching Impractical Jokers and awful sitcoms on Netflix. Every day I remind myself that eh would instead have been experiencing the most stressful exams of his life in a big hall under pretty inhumane circumstances.

Just my opinion mind!

Think about hobbies if he ahs any? Maybe watching a few documentaries , going out and taking some photos, watching a few films he might not otherwise watch , reading books, cooking and magazines : all good for the mind! Even lolloping and learning how to be bored is good for them! Mine got so bored he started doing some work...

But, all in all, this is the horse to water thing without the big consequences for teens in years 10 or 12, philosophically...

@RockysMa I'm finding that my Y10 engage far less than KS3 as far as submitted work goes. I'm worried about what that means for cramming the course into the remaining 8 months. We've actually covered all the material but it's keeping it front and centre if students won't/can't do that for themselves.

If we end up with no exams next year, the bell curve model could advantage some who have done chuff all because we'll have to show the usual spread.

No questions as my DC are younger. Just wanted to say thanks for the post. It's much needed and I'm sure your students are lucky to have you.

Piggy what are you thoughts on secondary schools returning in September? Do you think they may be full capacity or still lower numbers?

My Ds is year 11. He has the option of two sixth forms. He is autistic though and struggles with change and transition. Without induction days and with little contact with school I'm concerned he will struggle to return in September. If he can't return in September then I'm not sure he will return at all.

Thanks folks appreciate that. Youre right piggy they are lucky and he knows he is. Hes said it himself. A lot.
On another note, Lollop is today's word of the day

Roughly what percentage of children are doing the work set?

I have 3 DCs (yrs 10, 7 and 3) and think we're probably in the middle. There will be children who will be doing loads and some probably not doing any. DS (yr 10) is mainly concentrating on English, Maths and Science as he struggled. This was advised by school as he has an ECHP. DD1 (yr7) is doing most of her lessons, but music and PE she isn't really touching (well her PE lesson is the trampoline so she's still outside and doing something)

So I'm just wondering what if Im correct thinking that it ranges and there will be some children not doing anything.

Thanks ican . Appreciated!

@MyHipsDontLieUnfortunately I know what you mean. Urgh I swing from panic stations to just plain grateful that his mental health is in good shape. It's a balancing act for us all I guess

Mine are in years 9 and 11, different schools. y11 will be staying at his school for 6th form. Both accept that they won't be going back till September, but I can't see that it will suddenly be OK for schools to run at full capacity then. Are your schools planning that far ahead yet?

punx that's so tough. It's really hard for any children with SEN , and children with autism must be finding this new world tough, and then tough again when changes are made.

I am still hopeful that September will be better. I think a second wave may be coming but possibly not til later or even earlier, depending on who you believe.

Could you contact the school(s)? Some of them are panning virtual induction or even planning to get SEN students in with SD to ease their minds. It might be worth seeing if you can find out class sizes as if they are below 15, year 12s might get some normality. Only a guess.

Best of luck : I am not envious of your plight .

Haha! Love the word lollop. Don't know if you ever watched Ptang Yang Kipperbang on C4 years ago. The teacher (Alison Steadman) would say 'Duckworth! You lollop!'

running yours do sound 'normal' from my experience!

I imagine it varies from school to school and from subject to subject so I can only speak for myself. My younger ones about 70% of them are doing everything and then another 15% or so being a bit choosier! There are a few who are not engaging and it is a concern. However, these are generally the ones who gave us al the run around at school. It's not like any new problem children have emerged ime (apart from the ones who can't use the technology!)

expletive my school's approach seems to be to make sure they have the normal timetable sorted for September because it is a huge job so needs doing. I think there have been conversations about September but so much is going on now, it is almost impossible to plan ahead.

My new A Level classes are due to be 25 and I cannot imagine how that will work...