Two classes in the same year group - very different experiences

[Balletdancemum]

If you had twins in two different classes, would this bother you?

Class A:
teacher is like Miss Honey. The classroom is very pretty, the children have the most wonderful experiences, which the teacher documents via photos and sometimes videos and shares with parents regularly. (3-4 times a week).You feel like you know what is going on and it’s lovely to be able to use the pics as a talking point with dc.

Class B:
Classroom is very garish colours and doesn’t look anywhere near as lovely as class A. The class do the same topics as class A but we get to see very little. The teacher barely updates with pics and the teacher just seems far more negative in general.

There’s a noticeable difference between the two. Would this bother you?

Ignoring photographs and videos for a moment, as they are just one possible small aspect of evidencing in some areas.

You ask what we need evidence of?
Do you not have any evidence that children have made progress in each subject? Or do you rely in teacher observation and an assessment tracker results alone in all areas, with nothing to back up those assessments?

Anyway - this is derailing the OP's thread so I will leave you all to it.

It makes me happy to put extra effort in, I can’t believe there could be people criticising that!

It might make you happy.This thread is proof that this kind of thing establishes unhelpful expectations, which have the potential to worsen teacher workload. You can just imagine at the September INSET day 'Hey everybody - look at the lovely photos Miss Honey was sending home to her class' parents last term. This is a great idea! From now on could everyone please send 3 photos a week to parents?' Cue everyone trying not to glare too overtly at Miss Honey.

What did they do in the olden days? Use copybooks? 🤔

I was teacher A before I had a baby and will be teacher B when I return from mat leave.

No. Who do you need it for? Photos are not evidence are they?
Tracking- so summative assessment not more than once a term.
Formative matters more- so annotate planning/make a note of those who struggle (and use your time to try and catch them up before the next lesson).

Op is basing the "one is less positive than the other" on the fact that she doesn't actually see a constant stream of footage from the apparently less favourable one.

She certainly hasn't said her child in Class B is any less happy or is doing less well than the Class A child.

She did actually say that teacher B seems more negative in general.

So I have to tone myself down now in order to think of my colleagues?! I put photos on when I can, not loads because we’re too focused on learning and focusing on the children. I add to my displays because I love seeing the classroom look its best. Management don’t see my photos so it’s only the parents who do.

Meanwhile one teacher favours certain children and overlooks behaviour because she doesn’t like the confrontation. This makes life very hard for the next teacher but management don’t seem to notice.

Parents aren’t stupid, they favour teachers because of their whole approach during the year. A few photos and a well presented classroom are not enough and nor should they be! It’s what the children learn that matters.

I like to find enjoyment in my job because it’s hard and very easy to become negative. The sneery attitudes on here are depressing. Assuming teacher A is young, out to outdo her colleagues and about to burnout. I’ve been teaching 20 years and I’m a positive person, I know how nice it is to see photos so once a week I’ll spend time sending a set of photos to parents.

My son was in a class like A last year and B this year. The difference in him is huge. Class B suits him so much better! A was an absolutely brilliant teacher, had the most wonderfully thoughtful lessons and we were updated with pictures regularly but the structure just did not suit him. He is much more relaxed this year. Class b has an equally excellent teacher who just does things differently.

Do the children spend all day with one teacher? That would be unusual these days as most children switch between classes for phonics/literacy and maths at the very least in which case I imagine it’s likely both children are getting at least some time with each of the teachers?

So I have to tone myself down now in order to think of my colleagues?! I put photos on when I can, not loads because we’re too focused on learning and focusing on the children. I add to my displays because I love seeing the classroom look its best.

No, you don't have to. Incidentally, I've been a teacher for 28 years. I work in a wonderful school with great kids whom I really enjoy teaching. I'd like to update the displays in my classroom, but I literally do not have time.

Well it will be interesting to see end of year results.. I'm quite sure the children in the seemingly happier nurturing environment will be doing better

Thank you for the measured response😊 updating a display can take most of a week we’re so busy! The extras make me happy but ultimately the quality of what the children learn makes me a good teacher. Some days I’m shattered and don’t feel so positive but I try and remember why I started this job in my early 20s and that’s the love of working with children.

I’ve had photos in reception on tapestry of both of my girls. My current reception child gets a weekly update (whole class) and some updates of anything particularly momentous. It made starting school much easier and its a nice way of building communication. We can also upload photos of anything significant. It gets much less for y1 and we’ve been told it is less now than my eldest’s year as fewer observations required. We have a Miss honey type teacher and she’s utterly wonderful for reception. Everyone adores her. My eldest’s year is challenging and her class need a strict no nonsense teacher.

It would bother me, but I'd never put my twins in a primary school that would separate them. There are plenty of studies to show the benefits of twins not being separated in their younger years.

I’m surprised that so many people are unaware that this is happening in schools (particularly in younger year groups) - online photos/videos of learning. Would you be more shocked to know that some parents like to comment on many of these photos - which have to be individually read and uploaded by the teacher. This does cause extra work. Some parents treat it like social media.

No. But only because I’m more like Teacher B and consistently get better results than our department’s Teacher A. Kids who join my class always say I’m too strict and Miss Teacher A is “cool” and “so nice”.

On classroom displays, the less the better. (And I started my career with a nicer classroom than my home decor and spent a fortune on displays!) If a teacher has too much going on on the walls, it would tell me as a parent that my child’s teacher doesn’t know much about cognitive science and cognitive load theory. If I could choose, I’d have a room full of white boards personally for modelling writing. And in primaries, capturing and maintaining attention and minimising distraction is far more important.

We had this in Year 4. Note I don't have twins so it didn't affect me too much.

Class A were with the super nice, always giving out prizes and stickers and singing songs in class teacher. They'd do lessons on the field or have extra Forest School (teacher was FS Teacher for the school) or extra playtimes.

Class B where with the headteacher, some would say she was super strict, kids would be quietly working at their desks or quietly chatting in small groups. No extra play no big prizes (although they did still do Star of the Week and there would often be 2-3 children getting it).

My child was in Class B, which was what they needed. They have SN including dyspraxia and audiotory processing, they needed cool, calm and together teaching. So I wouldn't base it on a comparison of the two teachers.

There is 2 sets of twins in the year, 1 set has 1 in each class which they did find a bit hard until Christmas time when they realised their DC where getting the right experience for them.

Most primary children do not switch classes for different lessons! Some schools do this, but not many. I am a supply teacher and spend my week in different primary schools and only occasionally see this.

Swings and roundabouts.
Dd1 had in reception a teacher trying to become management. So things looked good but werent. Awful for sen etc. Off doing a project half the year and year group lead.

Just ticked met for every eyfs target when clearly exceeding reading. Sent dd to ht loads and out of the room. But did update the app occassionally with trips or forest s chool. Dd wasnt in a single photo. Was she even there?! Of whole year maybe 2-4 obs of dd.
Y1 veey strict teacher - sent home one day with about an hour of writing practice dd shoukd have done in class. Not great with maths and deided with no wqrning at parents eve that dd wasnt meeting.
Y2 lovely teacher.
Y3 teacher used to older dc. Picked on dd. But better when i questioned.
Y4 lovely teacher very calm.

Y5 jobshare. One strict one ok. But dd still not making maths progress
Y6 strict teacher. Didnt believe in dd re the maths.
Dd1 was always last few to get weekly award

Dd2
Good reception but teacher off as ecv. No trips so few photos. They didnt print the app as had done with dd1.
Y1 fun teacher dd2_really liked him
Y2 dd2 loved teacher. But back to inaccurate data re progress. First school trip
Y3 very strict teacher and dd2 told off after never having issues before.

Almost all of teachers dc have had have been different.

Personally i dont care as long as the dc like the teacher.
I would rather the time is spent teaching and doing actual ovs rather than photos. Which for us with all 2 classes. Didnt prove a kid was doing anything.

@Lemonademoney In my DC primary school Years 5 and 6 follow more of a secondary style model with a form tutor and different classes for each, but it's still more like a primary than a secondary in that they have a peg and a tray and a room they spend 2-3 hours a day in, they just might go to the leisure centre down the road for PE or do English in the school Library or Science in the outdoor classroom. They're also set for Maths so might be with a different teacher for that (although still an Upper KS2/Y5 or 6 teacher rather than any teacher) and with children from the other class.

I used to work as a primary teacher in a two form entry school. I wasn’t like either Teacher A or Teacher B (somewhere in the middle, probably closer to B).

Teacher A might be taking all of the photos but I can almost guarantee that Teacher B will be teaching the exact same lessons. In a two form entry school it’s almost unheard of for year group partners not to split the planning and share the lessons.

Don’t assume Teacher B isn’t doing all of those lovely lessons just because you aren’t seeing photos of it (photos which are a PITA and don’t benefit the kids IMO)

I’m not a teacher, but Miss Honey seems way over the top to me. I don’t need a blow by blow account of everything DS has done in school, I can see his homework each week, and look at his books at parents evenings.

I’m more interested in teaching ability, classroom management and how they respond to bullying. And Miss Honey might be amazing at that stuff, or she might not.

It doesn’t happen in DS’s school! He’s in year 2, I’d know by now if they did this.

Google classroom for homework, and emails from the school office about events. That’s it. Which is totally fine.

Teachers have different styles.

Are both of your children happy at school? Are they both learning? Do they have friends? Do they feel like they can talk to their teacher if they have a problem? Those are the important things.