Must have been a box set to last three hours?
I think teachers that have the younger classes are much better off....to be honest how much lesson planning and marking to you have to do for 5 year olds? That also finish at 1.30pm! Thats a haf day in it's self.
As a teacher, I think this comment illustrates the basic lack of understanding of the nature of the work that teachers do. Teaching a junior infant class is very challenging and involves complex planning. Teaching the "concept of a number" to a five year old is as difficult as teaching long division in 6th class. The infant day is shorter because the attention span of children at that age is very limited and lessons are changed every 20 minutes to ensure maximum stimulation for the children. The "short" infant day is highly intensive, extremely exhausting but very rewarding.
Ireland has traditionally always had a high regard for teaching as a profession and consequently teaching continues to attract very high quality graduates. This isn't the case in most other european counties. As with any job there are a few who let down the profession but my personal experience having worked in a variety of school settings is that they are very much in a minority.
There has always been a tradition of half day closings before Christmas and Easter holidays. This is nothing new so I really can't understand why some parents seem to be so unprepared for it . In my school the half day offers an opportunity for a break from the normal routine and involves fun activities, easter egg hunts, treasure trails etc. Yes, in some cases classes watch DVDs. This isn't a sinister practise but is usually a "reward" for all the hard work of the term.
I think teachers that have the younger classes are much better off....to be honest how much lesson planning and marking to you have to do for 5 year olds? That also finish at 1.30pm! Thats a haf day in it's self.
As a teacher, I think this comment illustrates the basic lack of understanding of the nature of the work that teachers do. Teaching a junior infant class is very challenging and involves complex planning. Teaching the "concept of a number" to a five year old is as difficult as teaching long division in 6th class. The infant day is shorter because the attention span of children at that age is very limited and lessons are changed every 20 minutes to ensure maximum stimulation for the children. The "short" infant day is highly intensive, extremely exhausting but very rewarding.
Ireland has traditionally always had a high regard for teaching as a profession and consequently teaching continues to attract very high quality graduates. This isn't the case in most other european counties. As with any job there are a few who let down the profession but my personal experience having worked in a variety of school settings is that they are very much in a minority.
There has always been a tradition of half day closings before Christmas and Easter holidays. This is nothing new so I really can't understand why some parents seem to be so unprepared for it . In my school the half day offers an opportunity for a break from the normal routine and involves fun activities, easter egg hunts, treasure trails etc. Yes, in some cases classes watch DVDs. This isn't a sinister practise but is usually a "reward" for all the hard work of the term.
Well I agree with the above...My son (3rd child) is in Junior Infants and I think the JI class must be one of the hardest to teach and I don't see any harm in them watching the occasional DVD..and doing fun activities...the kids work hard, and so does the teacher...they learn so much in that first year and its not just about sitting at a desk and staying until 3! They also learn skills from fun activities!
I think teachers that have the younger classes are much better off....to be honest how much lesson planning and marking to you have to do for 5 year olds? That also finish at 1.30pm! Thats a haf day in it's self.
Why do irish school's have different picking up times? nothing more annoying picking one chld up at 1.30pm and having to go back again at 2.30pm. I think they finish school way to early. In england they are in school untill 3.15pm-3.30pm, i was told because 5-6 year old arn't able for the full day!!
I dont by the reason that they cant handle from 9am to 3 pm....so why do they finish school earlier and at different times???
The infant day is shorter because the attention span of children at that age is very limited and lessons are changed every 20 minutes to ensure maximum stimulation for the children. The "short" infant day is highly intensive, extremely exhausting but very rewarding.
I'd agree with all of this, though I do think that 3 hours of DVDs is a bit OTT. I'd certainly be keen to mark teacher's card on this.I think teachers that have the younger classes are much better off....to be honest how much lesson planning and marking to you have to do for 5 year olds? That also finish at 1.30pm! Thats a haf day in it's self.
As a teacher, I think this comment illustrates the basic lack of understanding of the nature of the work that teachers do. Teaching a junior infant class is very challenging and involves complex planning. Teaching the "concept of a number" to a five year old is as difficult as teaching long division in 6th class. The infant day is shorter because the attention span of children at that age is very limited and lessons are changed every 20 minutes to ensure maximum stimulation for the children. The "short" infant day is highly intensive, extremely exhausting but very rewarding.
Ireland has traditionally always had a high regard for teaching as a profession and consequently teaching continues to attract very high quality graduates. This isn't the case in most other european counties. As with any job there are a few who let down the profession but my personal experience having worked in a variety of school settings is that they are very much in a minority.
There has always been a tradition of half day closings before Christmas and Easter holidays. This is nothing new so I really can't understand why some parents seem to be so unprepared for it . In my school the half day offers an opportunity for a break from the normal routine and involves fun activities, easter egg hunts, treasure trails etc. Yes, in some cases classes watch DVDs. This isn't a sinister practise but is usually a "reward" for all the hard work of the term.
The teachers unions are always whinging about their entitlements but never seem to have any regard for members of other unions.
It is hard enough to organise childminding without having to factor in half days, in service days, parent teacher meetings etc etc etc.
I was by no means underminding what any teacher does. My experience of them ( apart from one ) has been brilliant. I have a 9 year old and a 6 year and god forbid i have had to deal with 30 of them. I'm sure every year the teachers swap classes they pick straws to decide what poor sod had the bad luck of taking which ever class my son was in!!!
I still dont think my remark about the lesson planning and marking for a 5 year old was unresonable. My daughters teacher leaves the school at around 1.45 pm when all the children have been picked up. While the other teachers stay till after 2.30pm. I see her do it every day. There is no point in me going home to come back again at 2.30pm. I'll relent on the leson planning a little bit as i admit i dont know what time/effort they put into this....but judging by the homework side of things my daughter gets reading everynight which i do with her and then sign to say she has done it, and once a week she has a work sheet to do. Now compare this to my son that brings home at LEAST 90 mins of home work a night which the teacher marks and is always returned 2-3 days later. Now from my point of view you can see why i said that a junior infact teacher doesn't do that much marking as that of a teacher who is teaching a few years above this.
As regards standard times across the board i think for primary schools there should be. Children who have moved on from primary school in most cases they would either walk or get public transport and are able to make their own way home, and all schools that i know of they would finish later as well. How many people would have children that are primary school age going to different schools? A small amount i would imagine. I'd even be happy to pay for the extra hour just so i only had to make 1 journey. Call it want you will..... help with reading/homework, just watching a dvd, i wouldn't mind what they did as long as she was there untill the other one finished school.
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