Teachers are giving me a hard time pulling kids out of school

[SplashMtnCrew]

Can't bite my tongue any longer.

What scares me the most about this thread is the rather large percentage of "professed" educators and teachers on here using such poor spelling and poor grammar. I know it's just a chat room, but...
Some people's' are shore pashnut bout them schooling's awrihgt.

I'd like to point out that the highlighted part in the comment above is a fragment sentence. Another point, is that the first line you wrote has no subject, therefore, it is an incomplete sentence. I wouldn't point the grammer finger if I were you.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

I'd like to point out that the highlighted part in the comment above is a fragment sentence. Another point, is that the first line you wrote has no subject, therefore, it is an incomplete sentence. I wouldn't point the grammer finger if I were you.

I'm just lurking here, but I wanted to say that I love it when the grammar/spelling police get busted..

 

[mhsjax]

There are some jobs obviously that make it difficult. I'd say there are far more people who want to save a buck. Sometimes we don't get to do what we want. Family memories can and should be made everyday. And really a cabin in the mountains promotes togetherness far more than rushing from ride to ride in an amusement park.

With the attitiudes towards teachers and education is it any wonder that the test scores continue to fall, and the US ranking in education continues to fall?

Ok first of all that argument doesn't fly. If a person can't take time off for Disney then they can't take time off for a cabin in the mountains. I just don't get that comment. Also for me and my family, we would rather go to the dentist than go to a cabin in the mountains. Wow first you pretty much call people liars when they say they can't get summers off( and my husband was one of those who couldn't) and now you seem to be telling people what type of vacation they should take, You have some nerve.

 

[Pinkpony]

I'd like to point out that the highlighted part in the comment above is a fragment sentence. Another point, is that the first line you wrote has no subject, therefore, it is an incomplete sentence. I wouldn't point the grammer finger if I were you.

"Grammer?" You are kidding, right?

 

[MonorailDriver]

High school teacher here also... science. The majority of our classes are demonstrations (by both me and the students), investigations, and experiments... and we don't use a textbook. That doesn't translate into an assignment that can be done on vacation very easily.

As far as time... I'm "down" to 156 students in two courses. To keep up with grading, paperwork, and prepping for labs I'm already staying late... 6:30 on average, sometimes even later. Don't get me wrong, I love my job. I just hope people understand why the daily email idea might not be embraced.

Have a great trip!

High school teacher here too...history, I agree 100%. The majority of my class is lecture/discussion based. We use the text but there is a lot more to it than just words on a page. If there are questions, then what? we end up in an endless email loop and oh yeah I've other students to teach too and papers to grade and so on...Homework and school are things you worry about in the REAL WORLD, not in DISNEY WORLD. Whether you have the assignments or not you are still going, I wouldn't worry about it, have fun and you'll get to it when you come home.

 

[englishteacha]

I will send basic work when a student will be out and I get advanced notice...like a week or two. If your child comes to me on Friday and says, "I'll be out all next week. Can I have my work?" they're getting nothing except, "Have fun. I expect you to be in my classroom after school every day when you get back to get caught up."

I also have been burned on a few occasions where I spent several hours of my own time putting together work because a student would be missing an important unit, and the student either lost the work or never did the work. One left his entire packet in the airport!

Finally, parents need to realize that lessons are not set in stone and we can't give you everything your child will miss. He/she will miss instructional time that really can't be duplicated. Also, if you had asked me this morning if we'd be talking about the offensive and defensive strategies used by the main characters of Rikki-tikki-tavi, I would have laughed at you. The topic came up, though, in discussion, and we had a wonderful talk about motivation of character that I had not planned at all!

 

[dollarmite]

Phew, have made it through all 23 pages.

Threads like this make me so grateful for the education system here in Australia (and New Zealand when I was growing up there). There are none of the draconian policies regarding time off. So long as a parent contacts the school to let them know their child will be absent that is fine. The problems only arise when a kid starts skipping school ("wagging"), and quite rightly so.

My kids are in grades 7 and 4 this year. Schools in my state go from grades 1-7and run Jan-Dec.

We have taken our kids out of school several times for overseas travel, for around 4 weeks each time. Next month we are taking them out for 6 weeks to visit the US (yes, including WDW and DL). Their absences have never impacted their grades in any way.

Each and every trip has been met with enthusiasm and excitement by the teachers and principal. This time, older DS' teacher has said 'go, have a great time, record a journal and email us some pictures'. This may be in part because the end of the year marking period finishes during our holiday, so it would be pointless to hand work in afterwards.

Younger DS' teacher has said that DS is doing so well, he'll just base his end of year marks on the grades to date.

Last year DS' teacher took an entire term off to travel to the US and Canada. Could he have gone during the 6 week Christmas holidays - when it's winter in the US and half the attractions are closed? Yes, probably. But this particular trip was paid for by someone else, so he was dependent on their time frame. It saved his family about $20,000-$30,000. He would have been CRAZY to pass up that opportunity! (Actually it was probably more than that as his family included three teenagers whereas it's costing our family this much just with two chidren).

Children here don't fail a grade due to the number of absences; they only fail if they can't do the work, and that is pretty rare anyway.

From what I have gleaned from this and similar threads, it's not really the teachers who have a problem with the students missing school, it's the school boards (which don't exist here) and their poilicies. I think the teachers are often the meat in the sandwich.

 

[mickey2000]

I'm a high school teacher, and I understand the hesitation about sending out daily e-mails to make sure that your child keeps on top of assignments. To you it's a quick message.

To me it is much more than that. I don't know how your child's classes are, but I do not rely on the textbook to do my teaching. It is difficult, if not impossible for me to convey what we covered in a day by typing a five minute e-mail. That means I would have to type up the class notes for the day and attach images and primary source documents. To do less would cheapen what I am trying to teach and put your child behind when he returns. This could take me anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. I'm not happy about having to do that because you want to take your family to Disney World during school.

Then, what happens when your child has questions? More e-mail for me. Then your child is understandably behind when he returns, which means I will have to spend time with him after school. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to do it, but realize that my work day is now increased because I still have papers to grade and lessons to prepare. All because you wanted to go on vacation.

I hope your family has a wonderful time on vacation, but please cut you kids teachers some slack.

Melissa

 

[mickey2000]

I will send basic work when a student will be out and I get advanced notice...like a week or two. If your child comes to me on Friday and says, "I'll be out all next week. Can I have my work?" they're getting nothing except, "Have fun. I expect you to be in my classroom after school every day when you get back to get caught up."

I also have been burned on a few occasions where I spent several hours of my own time putting together work because a student would be missing an important unit, and the student either lost the work or never did the work. One left his entire packet in the airport!

Finally, parents need to realize that lessons are not set in stone and we can't give you everything your child will miss. He/she will miss instructional time that really can't be duplicated. Also, if you had asked me this morning if we'd be talking about the offensive and defensive strategies used by the main characters of Rikki-tikki-tavi, I would have laughed at you. The topic came up, though, in discussion, and we had a wonderful talk about motivation of character that I had not planned at all!

 

[Aisling]

I never took my kids out of school unless they were sick. I know how disruptive it is to the flow of the lessons. Even being late for class throws things off for the teacher. Giving the kids lesson packets doesn't make up for what they miss in class discussions and Questions.

I think in my case, I'm neurotic about them missing school because classes here are generally overcrowded and the teachers are overworked and so aren't really able to relay all the missed information.

In general, I have no problem with taking kids out of school for vacations, but it doesn't work well here in the big NYC public schools.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I'd like to point out that the highlighted part in the comment above is a fragment sentence. Another point, is that the first line you wrote has no subject, therefore, it is an incomplete sentence. I wouldn't point the grammer finger if I were you.

Actually, in the part of the comment you quote, the author made efficient use of the ellipse. Her statement reads "I know it's just a chat room, but...

Some people's' are shore pashnut bout them schooling's awrihgt."

In this case, the author used ellipses in the informal sense, to indicate a pause in thought. Admittedly, the capitalization of "some" might be arguable, but with the double spacing between "but" and "some" the capitalization was used for emphasis, so I would be of the mind to let that go.

As to the construct of the sentence, however, I see nothing wrong with it. The author uses a compound-complex sentence. Maybe it would help if I took out the elements that were meant to be used for emphasis? "I know it's just a chat room, but some people are sure passionate about their schooling, alright."

Also, in taking to task the author of the original quote, you called the author's use of ellipses a "fragment sentence." The word 'fragment' in the way in which you used it is as a noun. It can only be used as an adjective with a modifier. You could have said ". . . the comment above is a fragment of a sentence" or ". . . the comment above is a fragment."

Your second point that the author did not have a subject in her first sentence is also incorrect, so far as proper use of informal English (or formal English, for that matter) is concerned. The author used what is most commonly known as the understood you, which is a perfectly acceptable structure in most dialects of English.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I have never liked the idea of pulling kids out for a vacation if it can be absoultely helped. My parents did it for me one time (I missed a day), and that was to watch a migration of endangered cranes when I was in first grade. It was one of those truly once in a lifetime opportunities.

I'll be honest, if a family pulled one of my students out for a whoel week to go to Disney, I would not be happy. In the interest of full disclosure, I teach in a life skills, special education room. I don't exactly have homework I can send home, and having your child out will mean they will fall way behind. That leaves me with two choices: hold off on instruction in their instructional group (each one has 2-3 students) which is detrimental to the other kids, or do my best to help them catch up, and realize they may not for a long time. This is especially problematic because I have to help kids meet IEP goals and my fat is in the fryer if they do not, regardless of their attendance.

I try to keep in contact with my students' parents, but as others have said, it's not so easy to e-mail everything that is going on. There are no textbooks for my room, it's all very hands-on type things that cannot easily be replicated at home. The other issue as others have said is that schools receive state funding based on attendance, so you are not only pulling your child, you are pulling money from the school. This is why schools close when enough kids get sick: they lose too much money to justify keeping it open.

In response to the poster that said all we care about is money: that is not true. My main concern is the fact that my students would not be able to get caught up easily and for my students, missing a week would be very detrimental. Obviously this may be different in a neurotypical classroom. I was raised by my parents to value school. I was taught that part of being a parent is making sacrifices which means not taking extended vacations during the school year.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

Can't bite my tongue any longer.

What scares me the most about this thread is the rather large percentage of "professed" educators and teachers on here using such poor spelling and poor grammar. I know it's just a chat room, but...

Some people's' are shore pashnut bout them schooling's awrihgt.

Pish posh. Don't be silly. This is a message board where people post thoughts and converse with one anothier. I don't know about you, but I've never had a need to be that anal when thinking or conversing. Obviously, writing for publication, or education is a horse of a different color. I find that people post silliness like that when they can't add anything worthwhile to the conversation.

FTR, I've found that people either can or cannot spell. I've seen children study, pass tests and three weeks later it is gone. OTOH, I've seen kids lazier than can be pass on the fly and remember it forever.

 

[tomthebarncat]

My SIL is a freshman HS algebra teacher in WA. Over the years she has heard and seen it all by selfish parents. She once offered condelences to a student who missed a week of school due to the death of his grandad. Turned out to be a big lie, kid thought his grandad had died and had a panic attack in the classroom. When he calmed down, he then proceeded to vent about his family vaction. Turns out mom is a disney nut and continuously forces family to vacation there every year. He hates the place and resents that she pulls him out of school for this, he also is not happy that dad will not stand up to her, and say no! So, years later, she is thrilled to death, that her county had mandated an attendance policy. The policy is family vacations are unexcused, no work will be made up and all grades are counted as zeros. This is not open to debate, negiotation or bullying by the teacher or the parent. So when you come to her to discuss your vacation plans, she simply hands you a photocopy of the mandatory attendance policy. Conversation is over, you live with decision/consequences/repercussions that you have made on behalf of your child. For the record, she does feel sorry for the kids as she has seen many a bright child get sidetracked from future educational goals due to a failing grade. She also annotates in her final year report why the grade was recieved if it was due to unexcused absences. So think again, if you think that the teacher is being unreasonable or selfish because they do not support your family motto of "IT IS ALL ABOUT ME, ME, ME!! AND WHAT I WANT!!"

 

[golfgal]

Yes it is too much to ask that the teachers email you every day while you are on vacation so you can get your child's homework. They will just have to make it up when they get back. Why do you expect special treatment? If you work and someone expected special treatment so they could go on vacation, what would you do--especially something that can take a good part of your work time?? The teachers have 150 other kids to take care of during their prep time, not just one. Get the homework when you get back.

 

[npmommie]

I've seen children study, pass tests and three weeks later it is gone. OTOH, I've seen kids lazier than can be pass on the fly and remember it forever.

why do you call it lazy if they pass a test and retain the information? Isnt' that the goal of education. to remember what we learn? not just spew it out for a test and then forget everything?
some kids just learn different, doesn't mean they are lazy

 

[npmommie]

oh and to answer the OP I would just enjoy the vacation and worry about catching up and doing make up work when you return.
do you really want to do school work assignments while on vacation at disney? whats the point of going on the vacation if you have to worry about doing school work?
i say just go and enjoy and deal with it all when you get back.

 

[DisneyMom81]

I just came in, and I'm not reading all 11 pages right now, so bare with me. My opinion is:

Its your choice to take your kid(s) out of school, and now you want all the teachers to bend over backwards to help you. If there able and willing, then great - otherwise, its your decision to do it, you have to deal with the consequences. If your kid(s) fall behind, then its on you and your children, not the teachers. Your asking for only a 10 minute long email every day - what if they have a total of 10 kids out of all their classes, and they have to email all 10 kids - thats 100 minutes on top of the time they have put into the kids that actually showed to school. Not fair.

 

[buzz5985]

There is a huge difference between nurses, nurse practitioners and teachers. The tax payers all contribute to the teacher's salary and for some reason they think that gives them the right to dictate their every move which adds so much more stress. Teaching has it's rewards but I'm glad I didn't choose teaching. My dad did everying in his power to discourage me from teaching because he didn't want me to go through what he did. My wife is now going throug it though.

We don't just contribute - we pay every dollar.

 

[buzz5985]

Sounds like a dreadful, robot school! Be glad that your son did not get in (unless the other schools in your district are horrible) - no input from the teacher? Can the teacher at least add current events into the daily, already planned out, don't deviate from the protocol lessson?

No I would actually prefer it that way. The school doesn't waste it's time teaching health issues, etc. The teachers personal views don't color the material. If test scores are any indication to a schools success - then the Charter schools are beating the public schools hands down. All teachers in MA are required to have a Master's Degree within 5 years of getting their teaching certificate. The Charter Schools do not have that requirement. So explain to me the higher test scores, when the children get in the school by a lottery system, pull from low socio-economic regions that the public schools are barely passing federal standards, and the teachers aren't "as well educated"?? Could it possibly be the teaching model??