I don’t understand this.

Why not pick a day to go back and then just start with a full day and get on with it. Kids going for an hour or two just seems an inordinate waste of time and resources. This might make sense for kids attending school for the first time, but seriously, what possible purpose does this serve for kids who’ve been to school already? Kids will very quickly orient themselves to where to go and when if it’s expected of them, believe me.

I am a teacher. From that perspective a half day is needed because schools still do not know how many students they have on day 1. Every year, there are kids that have moved without telling the school as well as new students showing up. Many parents come in the week before to register; however, many just wait until day one to show up and register. Goes to show the importance some parents place on education in my opinion. In a high school, day one is even more chaotic as you add to it that students begin trying to shuffle their courses. They are either changing electives, balancing semesters to make sure one isn’t overly difficult, teacher shopping, etc.

In regards to the quote from the article, “Tuesday is a Ministry-mandated school planning day, so classes in District 57 begin on Wednesday.” This is certainly not Ministry-mandated. In our school district 60 (Fort St. John) we are starting Tuesday.

Oh, my,!! Are the teachers starting their school ‘year’ with a pro-D day???
That’s what it sounds like to me. But then, I’m an oldy that thinks the day after Labor day is time to get back into it.

Thanks for your perspective teach, but that still doesn’t answer my questions. So what if new kids show up on the 1st day to register? That’s what administration is for right? Certainly, there is going to be an amount of confusion and disruption for the first few days, but there is no reason, from my perspective, why the school couldn’t force all this shuffling to occur before the school year starts. From there, it’s just a first come first serve service as far as I’m concerned. There are always folks who can’t get their act together, no sense holding up the show for them though.

I tend to agree with sjm. Summer holidays are over on Labor Day. Time to grab the lunch bucket and get back to school. Teachers included. Be ready to learn and teach. There aren’t enough teaching days as it is.

Im going to say this point before I answer Sine’s question because I think it is the most important for the uninformed. In 1972, Pro-D days were added to the school calendars at the request of teachers to improve their practice. These days were ADDED to the calendar with NO LOSS in instructional days for students. With that in mind why are you complaining about them as if they are days off?

To try and answer Sine’s question. Assume I teach Science classes. First day is always lab safety. We can’t be safe in the room without it. With the number of new students in my room on day 2 due to students switching their schedules, new students to the district, etc. I would have to reteach it all again. If instead we do icebreaker activities, in the end what was the point when as much as a third of the class will look different by the end of the week.

I don’t really have an answer to why we don’t just hit the ground running and they will soon figure out they must do their shuffling before school starts. One problem is when you try doing that you end up spending every day lunch and after school for the first 2 weeks trying to get all the latecomers caught up.

In a perfect world, as a teacher, I do wish classes were set and ready to go the day after labour day.

Also from a teacher perspective. I would much rather have the Pro-D days come some point in the year rather than on day 1. The students are much more focussed on 4 day weeks and coming off of 4 days weeks. However, the one advantage of having them early is that you can put what you learned into practice right away and hopefully it has a greater effect on your teaching.

Stranger than fiction!!!

1. Teachers actually WORK at times other than when they are in a class with students.

2. Teachers do some administrative duties, such as figuring out the names of students, where they sit, if they are in the right class, etc.

When I went to junior high after grade 6, I was sitting in a grade 8 class instead of grade 7 class for two weeks before I realized why some things were new rather than review. I came from a religious school and went into a public school, so my parents and I figured that that the public school system must be more advanced.

3. If the logistics of some posters wrote about were to happen on the Friday before Labour Day weekend the parents would have a fit and storm the schools because their precious last long weekend of the summer would be ruined.

4. There are all sorts of different school year lengths across Canada and the USA. There is something wrong with each one of them. Parents are never satisfied. Those who are not parents with school aged children really have no stake in the particulars of the school year.

Then again, grandparents might be upset because they have an extra babysitting day or two while the parents are back at work.

I have a daughter that teaches. She has been back working for the week before labour day. She works a 10 hour shift 5 days a week. At work by 7:30AM and leaves about 5PM Then there is the evening of marking and planning. Oh and seldom is there a weekend that does not include several hours of school homework.
If you are not part of the system it is hard for you to have any idea of the hours put in.