[cruxian]

And y'all know what that means lol....students are making a mad scramble to try to complete work/bring up grades. Or they aren't.
I teach 6th. We're all virtual, have been all year. Some of the kids I feel a lot of sympathy for because I realize that they have various levels of support at home and some are obviously at various academic levels.
The basic structure of the class is as follows: I teach four classes of science (and an extra nongraded class but that's a different story). Each class is about 90 minutes long. We're supposed to do 45 minutes direct instruction and then 45 minutes of independent work. We stay on the zoom call but students can either leave the call (with the ability to come back with questions if needed) or can stay on to get help or just to be on the call to do the work. We are told to err on the side of giving less work rather than more (like judge it based on how long it would take the slowest student to finish the work).
Typically, I'd guess 60 to 70 percent of the kids will finish the work that day or soon thereafter.
Maybe 15 percent of the kids will finish the work later with reminders
I'd still say there are 10 to 15 percent of kids who will be missing multiple assignments.
Here are my frustrations and they're just petty complaints without really looking for a solution.
*I'm annoyed by kids who turn in late assignments and expect them to be graded and put into the gradebook the moment they submit them. I grade the assignments that are turned in on time promptly. No, if you turn it in a month later, I'm not putting the grades in the second you finish it.
*I'm annoyed by kids who ask at the last minute, "How can I bring my grade up?" but send 15 messages in a minute with the exact same question. Plus, I already talked to you about it in class, you haven't done the work that I suggested you do. Which brings me to my next rant:
*Kids who ask in the middle of class either what work they're missing or what grade they got on a particular quiz. First, they give me more credit than I deserve to think that I've memorized the grades of about 100 kids, each of whom have about 10 grades and can instantly tell them on the spur of the moment what they're missing or what grade they've gotten. Second, stop interrupting my class. Third, we've shown them multiple times how to check their grades. I'm more than glad to show you how to get to an assignment or help you navigate it or understand what you're supposed to do. But they know how to check themselves and just aren't.
*I'm tired of parents ignoring emails. I'm reaching out to share with you that your kid isn't doing their work and am trying to help them not fail.

Okay I feel better. I try to remind myself of a number of things. At least the kids are trying. They're just kids. I'm generally helpful and understanding. If a kid asks, "Hey, can you show me again how to get to check my grades?"
I'm open to be understanding especially if there's different circumstances going on....but if there is, let me know! Like...we've got one kid whose Dad passed away from COVID. They've flown to Bolivia for the funeral and to be with extended family during this difficult time. He's there at every class and turning in the work despite it all and the mom took pains to let us know what was going on.

I feel better for venting lol.

[sbslab]

I could have written your post! Middle school, here, too.

Like your family that lost their dad, I have one who has been hospitalized for her safety. We were just saying this morning, that as teachers, we were more than willing to excuse as much as practical. She’s done every assignment and assessment despite not being able to join us for digital classes due to the structure of the hospital’s program. Thank goodness for these kinds of students - THEY are why we became teachers.

[cruxian]

I feel better for not being the only one! And yes, we'd have been more than happy to excuse as much as we could given the circumstances. His mom was saying that the structure of class and school was a welcome distraction and brought a sense of normalcy during these difficult times.
You're right! We have so many awesome students that are trying their best during hard times.

[sbslab]

I said the same thing about our girl - normalcy in a potentially scary situation; control in a place where nothing is in her control; a predictable distraction. Are you sure you are not on my team?

It’s so easy to get caught up in what the few are NOT doing, as it frustrates us, that we (myself included) need to remember the ones who ARE doing. They are doing their best- sometimes better than I am - in a terribly difficult time.

[all41]

I can completely relate and could have written your post. My situation is different than yours in one way, we are f2f and have been all year. Can I add one more complaint? Parents who make excuses for their kids when they are not doing their work or are being disrespectful in class, or enabling them when they don't want to come to school by letting them stay home. I hope it gets better for you, but unfortunately we all know that it's not likely.

[Ima Teacher]

We are a third of the way through the third quarter, and I have some kids who haven’t done one single thing in any class all year. Parents have stopped answering emails, texts, and phone calls. Kids aren’t even logging into Chromebooks or are just playing games & watching YouTube. The principals and some teachers have even done home visits. Still nothing.

Then I have the scramblers who don’t do anything until the last week, then email to complain about how they can’t get all the work done in a week.

We have been hybrid 8 days all year. Some of the in-person kids aren’t even showing up.

DH’s school is virtual until vaccinations are complete, and he teaches online all day. Some of his kids aren’t showing up for class or log in and turn off their camera & microphone, then do other things and don’t even pay attention.

I got snippy with one today. She has sent me a dozen messages asking for her login for one program. We have used it once a week since August. Her login works. I’ve used it myself. Today I finally told her that I was not sending the information again. She has to look back at the instructions I sent.