My first day volunteering for my kindergarten teacher friends! I did some assisting with stamping worksheets that will go home for the first 5 weeks! I was in an inner pod room while I stamped the papers for the parent signatures on the homework pages. It was really nice to hear the children's voices and the teachers teaching (setting class rules and helping the children to remember every few minutes, ha). It was great to not have to be in the room doing what they were doing, though I could walk right through the process in my mind; having done it the passed 34 years!
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I pray for the teachers and the daily workload that has been placed upon all American Educators. The older teachers have weathered many storms over the years, while the younger are building stamina to do so. You can already see the toll taking place on today's younger teachers. They are counting the days for the weekend to come and the rest it will bring. This didn't occur with "yesterday's" teachers until recently when the ever increasing workload became heavier than it ever has in the past. To show the workload they are now under, I came across many of my other grade level teacher friends asking me to come and help them out if I possibly could! It was almost like a cry for help that I, myself, am very familiar with!
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Pray for America's teachers and the new evaluation they are coming under which will promote (what the news has reported will bring about) 80% of our school systems becoming "D" and "F" schools; not due to the lack of teacher ability, but lack of teacher support for the unacceptable challenges the political system is forcing upon the educational demands of our students who are neurologically impaired, juvenile delinquents, and children whose language is not English! Their goal of "All Children" being college material is just not realistic when teaching children that will be a 7 year old their entire adult life due to neurological deficiency. Their same goal for juvenile delinquents are not realistic; and even worse, they support the irresponsible parent and child over assisting the public school system with these unacceptable behaviors. Children who don't speak English are doing good if they get 30 minutes help a day, the rest of the day they are on their own and teachers held accountable if they don't learn.
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I pray daily for the teachers and capable, willing students who participate and cooperate with their eagerness to learn. May our classrooms again become this atmosphere of joy and no longer that of the teachers attention being continually diverted to student conflict, special need students' outcries, and those speaking to one another in their own language due to not understanding English.
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The government's will to "please" all of these people rather than correcting the problems is making it a failing system. The politicians are too concerned with getting votes from these people instead of correcting the problems with their children being in specialty schools, delinquency facilities, or language schools . In correcting it, they know they will lose votes and possible election (or re-election) to government positions.
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Our capable, willing, and joyful students should not be punished by this governmental system due to them losing out on learning because the teacher is having to continually deal with so many political born issues in the classroom before any teaching can begin.
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I say, GOD BLESS AMERICA'S TEACHERS! There's many things politicians could learn if they were forced to go back to school (let them teach for nine weeks in the classroom; I dare say they wouldn't last a week!)
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I thank so very much all of the parents who have brought their children up to respect them. In doing so, they respect their teachers.