I know people might not have started yet or been trained. I read the one story on here that is was pretty exhausting, which I expect it will be.
The largest district I work for has offered us online training that is a total of 12 hours, but we will get paid for that at least. I don’t really want to do this, but I will get dropped from the sub pool if I don’t jump through the hoops.
I don’t have a good computer, but they said I can borrow one from the school. If it’s just a standard Microsoft PC, I foresee a lot of technical issues going forward. Did any district you work for offer a computer, camera or microphone?
Jobs will start being offered next week. I’m curious to see how many jobs are actually available, and if teachers are even going to bother taking the day off because now they probably have to do a whole slide presentation. I imagine work days and movie days are now a thing of the past.
I received 1 1/2 hours of training. Did not get paid. The training did very little in the way if preparing me for the 3 days I worked. What helped was having the VP be side me, virtually of course, for most of the day. However, even though he was there I have not taken another job. I am not confident, and if I only get 2 days a week then I may as well ride out my UI as it is more money. There are less deductions with the benefit money. If I was offered 4 days, I might consider it. Having stated all that, I was called for the last 3 days by phone but did not pick up. This morning I got a call and 10:00 am. The day literally ends at 12:30. I just am not ready for the uncertainty that I will feel, trying to maneuver the technical side. No,there has been no mention of providing a computer.
One of my districts offered 90 minutes online training to 15 subs at the same time through WEBnx meetings.
It did little to prepare me for online jobs since I was not able to enter the virtual classroom to practice.
This is because I was not told how to set up our own district google account to access the practice room.
I have no idea how the other subs knew about this.
I survived my only experience, but only because it was a half day, and there were two aides and four special needs students.
Going forward, I will only accept jobs that are one day only, and given to me at least 12 hours in advance.
This way if I mess up, I do not need to return the next day. It also gives me time to go through the convoluted process of logging into the classroom.
I do not want to figure this out after accepting a job the same morning.
Our district offered a 2-hour paid training, but it was only helpful to those who didn't really know technology, so for me, it was just a paid training.
We are all virtual/remote, but teachers still report to the schools. So if they need a sub, the sub goes to that school and uses that teacher's computer. It's similar to in-person teaching, but now you can just hit "mute all" or kick someone off if they're being disruptive and not doing the work. We are still live-teaching but with more breaks. The pay is still the same and I find it easier overall, so I enjoy it!
My district has teachers showing up in person to sit in an empty classroom on a computer. I think it's the stupidest thing ever. And for subs, when they need them, which is like once a month, we're expected to go in and use their district approved computers for the same purpose.
I do not see the purpose in this. I have a better PC at home. I don't want to go in and expose myself like this for what amounts to less than unemployment pay. I have an upcoming job soonish, so I'll let you know how it goes, but man I don't have high hopes. The only upside is classroom management looks insanely easy. Just mute a disruptive kid, hell, mute the whole room.
What is the point? What if the teacher had been sick with Covid! What if you are in the restroom and person in the next stall flushes and has had covid? They say it spreads thru the mist created by toilet flushes.
It is not safe wherever there is AC. What is so great about in person, even if alone in classroom. One sneeze from sub secretary is all it takes , or one flush from someone infected with Covid.
It’s idiotic and defeats the whole point of virtual learning. If a teacher is not paying attention, it will become obvious eventually. I think this just takes more work than anyone can do. Most districts have set unfair expectations for screen time and testing. I think you are going to see complete burnout by Xmas. The teachers that have to cater to hybrid classes seem like they are getting the worst of it.
Our subs will be going into the absent teacher's classroom and subbing the class from their computer. We've had no training. I'm super nervous to sub this way, but I constantly think this is a dream for bad/distruptive classes.
I think you are going to see complete burnout by Xmas. The teachers that have to cater to hybrid classes seem like they are getting the worst of it.
Funny enough, I talk to a teacher who's in this situation, and I haven't heard him complain too much. If anything he seems happier since his in-person class sizes are waaaay smaller than last year's, and classroom management via online is easier for him since he can just mute a disruptive student. The downsides he's mentioned is that he is still grading for a full sized class and he has to deal with parents being horrible a bit more often. The fully-online teachers I email from this district have also seemed happy with the situation and some don't ever want to go back to classroom setups since the kids at some of these schools were terrible to deal with in person, and it's easier just muting them and not having to physically be around them. I'm not saying it's the same for everyone of course; this is just me sharing what I've seen.
While we're making predictions, I'd bet a likely scenario is burnt out parents pressuring the school districts to switch back to traditional in-person models around November, when holiday stress starts to pile onto regular stress. Meanwhile, our federal government (which has seized control of covid testing data from the CDC) will declare the first wave conveniently over in time to get unemployed people out shopping in some last ditch effort to revitalize our broken economy, and schools will take that as a go-ahead to test a full reopening before winter break. And then, when teachers finally get dumped back in front of 40 disease-ridden kids again, we'll see a wave of teachers taking extended vacations, with many of them opting to just stay out for the rest of the year.
I’m glad some people like the virtual teaching. I guess it depends on if you can record your lessons and how much you have to do live.
For my friends, it is an insane amount of work, esp for 7-12. Participation is low, and now we have the fires to contend with.
I know people who have to record their classes live and then follow up with kids at home are being buried alive in work. It’s basically like two jobs.
I think your theory on opening schools up will be true depending on the governor and size of the state. I think California is mostly doing virtual until January, right?
I’m sure Tx, Midwest and the south will open up more fully than they have and you will for sure see covid outbreaks.
I think we will have a ton of cases this winter anyway. It’s not like the health experts have been wrong on that much so far, and they said if we didn’t get our new cases down to 10k a day we were screwed. We’re still at 40k daily, so I’m sure it will be bad.
Last edited by Fractured; 09-14-2020 at 07:13 AM..
Scared to head into classrooms wondering which surface has been sneezed on coughed on , and we know Covid-19 has staying power for many many days.
What if I touch the contaminated surface bah..so many questions.
You’re most likely to get the virus from droplets in the air that were put out full force and closer than 6 feet. If you catch anything from the surface it would most likely be a very small and weak dose of the virus. Just keep your hands washed and sanitized and try not to touch too many things. We don’t need to live in fear and if a person has medical concerns then sadly they should probably opt out of working.
I have completed the training already. I doubt there will be many sub jobs, though, since our teachers have to get in-house help for the first three days a teacher is out, and there are a lot of subs available. I don't think I want to do a long-term job. I have too much going on right now. Right now, I'm thinking of just doing online subbing. I'm just concerned about how my first day will go, whether or not I'll remember how to use the programs I learned. I review a lot, and I made notes. I took the training, because I figured (even if I'm not called) it's good experience. Now, with reading about how hard it is on your body, I'm worried it'll cause my lower back to act up. I guess we'll just wait to see.
-Uke
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09-08-2020, 05:44 AM
