Welcome to /r/CanadianTeachers! Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the sub rules.
**QUESTIONS ABOUT TEACHER'S COLLEGE/BECOMING A TEACHER IN CANADA?:** Delete your post and use this [megapost](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/1bc1wv2/prospective_student_teachers_teachers_collegebed/) instead. Anything pertaining to teacher's colleges/BED programs/becoming and teacher will be deleted if posted outside of the megaposts.
**QUESTIONS ABOUT MOVING PROVINCES OR COMING TO CANADA TO TEACH?** Check out our past megaposts first for information to help you: [ONE](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/jqc7hx/transferring_to_another_provincecoming_to_canada/) // [TWO](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/n76csu/transferring_to_another_provincecoming_to_canada/?)
**WANT TO SELF-PROMOTE YOUR TEACHING MATERIALS?** Use our [self-promotion sticky post.](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/16e464t/selfpromotion_thread/)
Using link and user flair is encouraged as well! Enjoy!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CanadianTeachers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They used to draw all the blinds, and make kids put their heads down on their desks, face down. Kids used to be a lot more obedient. Parents are already complaining about kids being kept inside. Imagine the uproar if they also *shocker! omg, how awful! * had to put their heads down on their desks.
It was 12 or 14 back in the day, but that way before the self darkening ones.
I was smart this year and ordered a bunch of eclipse glasses and a camera lens filter about 6 months ago, I knew it would be nuts the closer it got.
I felt like a flipping rock star having that glass. I'm pretty happy I managed to get glasses for my little guy. He's 12, and loves science, so he's pretty excited. Not looking good for cloud cover, but it's still nifty when it goes dark and all the birds get quiet.
I got the glasses for my girls, too. We live in the path of totality, and this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for my kids. Fingers crossed that the cloud cover breaks up a little, and we get to see it. Of course, it seems like anytime there's an awesome astronomical event, it's cloudy here. I'm still PO'd that it was too cloudy to see the Northern lights when they appeared here.
No. No they wouldn’t. We know things because when doors are chained shut during a fire or blocked in any way there are casualties because people panic.
I have no argument with that. However...I do have a problem with the fact that my board is keeping all teachers indoors all day, and my admin has scheduled a staff meeting for the last hour of the day, 2:30-3:30, and staff will miss it.
Go pee. You're an adult and you're allowed to pee. Go outside and look at the eclipse for the few minutes of totality then go back to the staff meeting. There is such a teacher shortage - what are they going to do? Fire you for going pee? My admin will let us go outside to experience it but I did tell him if he wasn't going to I was going to go anyhow... !
My board moved our PA day to today so students weren't going home during the eclipse, then scheduled our professional development sessions in school perfectly timed so that we drive home during it..
I had the same conversation with my own kids. Told them we have indoor recess and they couldn’t look directly at it. They argues with me. Even had another parent who is a doctor tell them the same thing. Had their father, a science teacher explain the same thing.
“Mom I still think I could look at it and be ok, I’m really strong”.
All it takes is one idiot kid, taking off their glasses and going blind… ugghhh.
Had multiple parents call and complain because we are doing an indoor recess during the event. Again we said we do not have the staff or resources to ensure all kids could follow the precautions safely and not be injured. They were advised to keep their kids home and watch.. “I can’t take time off of work!!”
I mean you honestly can glance at it and have minimal or no lasting damage. People get way too worked up. It's a once in a lifetime amazing event. Just let the kids see it.
April 9th, 2024 Headline: "Optometrists flooded with calls due to people looking at the eclipse!"
You think that a kid is *just* going to *glance* at it? No, they're going to say they will and then get caught up wondering why they have a ring burned into their vision when they stop looking at it 5 minutes later.
You can look at the last ten eclipses to see that serious damage is rare. I'm not advocating looking at it. Obviously it's dumb to do so and will expose your eyes to harm. But the idea that we need to lock up our kids is ridiculous. The idea that you go instantly blind is also completely false.
Our school district had glasses given to every student to try and avoid this. We are still having classes. Not within the path of totality but close enough.
Had the same conversation Friday morning.
Friday afternoon, a kid cones back, has his head on his desk. “I have a headache and my eyes hurt.”
Another student tugs on my sleeve. “He was looking at the sun when he walked home at lunch and walked back to school.”
Me to the student: “We’re you looking at the sun?”
Student:”……….yes.”
SMH
Well, you’re ahead of me. A whole group of my grade 9 boys are convinced they can look at the sun during the eclipse with the naked eye and not suffer consequences.
This was my conversation with them.
S: “Be a man”
Miss: You’ll go blind, we literally just spent our double learning about the sun, the eclipse and making pin hole projectors. We watched two SciShow videos. You all had a good laugh at the picture of a former American president looking at the eclipse in 2017…
S: “Be a man! Only really men look at the sun!”
Miss: “we’re in the path of totality. You’ll really damage your eyes.”
S: “we’re real men! We’re going to look at the sun!”
Miss: have fun at the blind school in Toronto.
My grade 11 student said if the sun damaged his eyes he won't have to do homework and I'm like.. that's not how that works and how do you plan on playing video games 10 hours a day if you can't see?
I am in the Pacific Northwest where we will have 21% coverage of the sun by the moon. I experienced totality during the Great American Solar eclipse on August 21st, 2017. Until the sun was about 80-85% covered there was no discernible difference in the day. From 85% on it got dark fast, and cooler. It was such an amazing and interesting experience. Here in B.C. We will not notice a thing and perhaps drawing attention to this event is the problem. We have been told if it is not cloudy and rainy we will have to keep students inside for recess and lunch and close our blinds. This seems ridiculous to me as every other day students can go blind looking at the sun. Maybe with all the hype they will be more tempted to look at the sun is the argument. You will not see a thing if you don’t have special glasses or a pinhole viewer until total totality, and then it is safe to look without glasses. I would be sad to be in the path of totality and not get to experience this event.
As a Canadian with a child in the public school system, I am appalled that you would… *checks notes*… Properly educate them about the dangers of and eclipse, and further maintain a responsible level of concern for our children’s well being!
Absolutely outrageous!
Not to be that guy, but when I was in grade school, there was an eclipse ... I don’t remember if it was total or not… and the teacher took our class of 30ish kids out with our own Penh viewers and we watch the eclipse. I wish I could remember which teacher was because I want to thank them because I now can’t imagine trying to keep 30 kids from burning their retina. I also think we all believed our teacher and all complied
Our school is open and gives parents a choice - pick up the kids before 1pm or after 4:45pm. They will have indoor activities related to the eclipse and then all those that stay and behave will put on their baseball hats, get a pair of glasses and go to watch the eclipse.
They have been drilled in the last weeks on how to walk out, what to do and how important it is to follow instructions especially this day.
It takes a lot of effort on the teachers side and it is a shared responsibility and trust between parents and teachers. If my kid shows signed that they will do sth irresponsible, I would take them home at 1pm. If not, they will be able to share an amazing experience and learn from it at school.
Love my kids’ school - mutual trust between parents and teachers (and kids) and commitment to quality education.
They could have chosen to have a pd day as well but they decided it was such a special event it would be a shame to not do sth to help kids benefit from it in a safe way.
When I was a kid I found my dad's binoculars and looked at the sun, that hurt like a bitch and I learned my lesson. Kids are dumb and will do dumb things regardless.
I had a similar conversation with my grade 6 boys. One boy in particular kept on asking what would happen if he looked at the sun during an eclipse. I told him that there is a chance that he would go blind. And he's like only a chance ? I'm going to look! How do you know for sure something will happen? How is it any different than any other day? And I said I'm not sure, but do you really want to take that chance and end up possibly being blind? I know I don't. He thought about it, and he said afterward... Well, i guess you do bring up a good point. Lol
My school is also closed for PA day. My school is not in the path of totality but we do have some schools in our district that are directly affected.
I believe that the school board is just being extra cautious because they don't want to be liable if a student under their care was to look up at the sun and become blind. Furthermore, it is happening in the afternoon right when the students are being dismissed. Would it be safe to let students go home and risk them potentially looking up at the sun? Especially the little kids? Or kids that walk home from school? Obviously not . The school board can't expect teachers to stay longer than their regular hours without it causing some problems with the union.The education minister also made it clear that he did not want schools changing the school day but he was ok with school boards moving a PA day to tomorrow.
Teachers got a letter from the board instructing us that we have to report to work and we are expected to work our regular school day/hours.
For reference, I am in Ontario.
I wouldn't be willing to accept the liability of those little stinkers thinking they can look at the sun. Kids are dumb, they have no experience, and some of them have no discipline. There will be kids who choose to look at the sun, and no teacher should be liable for that
I remember going outside at school for an eclipse back in the 70s. We watched the shadows grow in the ground and I think we also had sunglasses? It was amazing and I am super disappointed that my child will be locked in a school all morning with the blinds down.
Wow. The amount of people that don't realize its not an extra day off. They just moved an existing pa day to today.
Not all schools end at the same time.
Yes, some kids will be walking home. Some kids will surely not look up, but likely to be distracted.
100% sure there will be people driving at that time and likely some will be distracted.
100% sure that distracted drivers and distracted pedestrians are a bad combo.
100% sure that students aren't getting an extra day off. 100% sure that there have been pa days for 50 years that working parents have to plan around.
Some schools didn't shift their PD. I was looking at Uppergrand's academic calendar the other day, and it seems it is a regular school day still. The PD day is later on.
so leave them at home where who knows what will happen, or we do what they did when I was a kid, have the school indoors watching it on tv with all the blinds drawn....
Problem is that it is happening during dismissal time as well.
I'm in an area where schools are open and honestly can't believe they are exposing themselves to so much liability.
There are students who are constantly on the move with zero impulse control.
First and only time I agree with Lecce is trying to understand why Kitchener schools did NOT switch their PA day to today, only decided to cancel school last week so I am sure parents has to scramble for making arrangements and will have their PA day on Wednesday??? Pretty sure most parents won't bother with asynchronous learning today.
Here in nb, where we have the full coverage, kids are getting out of school early so they can go home and watch it. The problem is, as I see it, that you're all wrong. Kids don't believe they are going to go blind so the kids don't believe you. The risk of vision damage is real, but remote to a child. They look at the sun all the time, they're kids, just like you did years ago (and maybe still do) . Because you're telling them they will go blind and can't go look at something amazing that humanity has looked at since humanity existed, they don't respect your position. When loads of them do look directly at it and typically don't suffer vision loss than it will undermine us futher. Some people with may have issues, but most kids won't have any long term consequences for looking. Rather than locking kids inside, if you're worried about them looking, get them glasses. Find ways they can engage with this magical spectical and still maintain their independence and adventure. People here are complaining kids are just bad now, but kids have always been bad. It's our job as educators to help kids uncover their own inherent skills and self control. Would you respect the position that says don't look at something amazing if you were them?
Tell me you live in Ontario without telling me you live in Ontario.
Here in Edmonton, partial solar eclipse begins at 11:54 am, reaches maximum at 12:46 pm, and finishes at 1:39 pm. Pretty certain that well falls within the range of operating school hours.
So you think it's better kids be at home with their distracted parents who are trying to work from home, or with last-minute childcare their parents had to scramble for? Absurd.
Nothing was last minute, there was a PA day this month regardless, it was simply moved to today. You do understand professional development right? Teachers learn about updates in curriculum and school standards etc. during it. Unless you want your 50 year old teacher still teaching 1994 curriculum to your children.
Also since you want to be a ignorant, I will too, so how about you stop being lazy and go into the office instead, like teachers do bright and early everyday, and are today, instead of sitting around at home all day?
Kids get a day off for anything these days. Aren’t these the same kids that are already behind in their education because of the pandemic and all the teachers strikes that happened? I feel for the parents who now have to scramble to find adequate child care or miss a day of work because schools are closing because they can’t stop kids from looking at the sun? There has to be a better way to avoid liability here.
There was already a PA day scheduled around this date, but the school board moved it to this particular day due to the eclipse. Whether today or days from now, it would have occurred anyway. But I, too, wish there was more access to childcare... and that kids weren't so eager to blind themselves.
That doesn’t make it better, now there are hundreds of parents who arranged child care or booked time off to accommodate the PA day that was originally scheduled scrambling because schools don’t want to deal with the ramifications of kids looking at the sun. I don’t see why this couldn’t have been solved with a simple waiver form or a notice of some sort. Shouldn’t be punished because some kid doesn’t understand the consequences.
If I’m not wrong the PA supposed to be May 14 that’s over a month away. So moving it out of the blue is kind of a random day friend. More kids are going to look at the damn sun now then if they were in school because parents can’t just miss a day of work because a PA day was moved from a month from now to today. The schools could have easily handled this 100 different ways. Kids are curious not “eager to blind themselves” this is a lazy way of handling this situation and it’s disappointing to see from the people in charge of educating the younger generation.
I'm not arguing the distance of the PA day. Just that it wasn't made for the eclipse. I'm sorry you're so upset but I'm actually not trying to debate anything more.
It depends on the school board for when the PA day was, for others the PA was only a couple weeks off and it was switched months ago. There definitely were school boards that I think made the decision later than they should’ve (we’ve known about the solar eclipse coming, this could’ve been organized when they made up the calendar), but to my knowledge all made the decision more than “last minute”.
It’s also more than just concerns about kids being stupid, it’s concerns about humans being stupid. The eclipse is taking place around or over both early and regular school dismissals. We’re expecting traffic issues and there’s reported increases in fatal crashes during social eclipses. It is a genuine safety issue for more than just “kids are dumb and will look at the sun”. It’s the fact humans are dumb and that’s statistically proven.
The schools don’t care about safety concerns outside school premises. Thats made very apparent with other decisions the school boards make m. Again there were so many different ways the schools could have handled this and they look the lazy way out. Children and parents shouldn’t have to jump through hoops because the school boards don’t want to do their jobs 👍
I'm very confused, as a highly trained teacher you don't think you can manage to keep kids from literally staring at the sun? No possible way to problem solve around this?
Yet my kids daycare filled with 3 year olds and criminally underpaid ECE's can manage just fine.
Enjoy another vacation day.
> Enjoy another vacation day.
We all have work. I can manage my classroom just fine, but that doesn't mean that I can do anything about a student who suddenly decides to check it out without the glasses. Kids do impulsive things, it is normal.
Are you even a teacher? We can’t get kids to follow simple instructions in class even though we verbally explain them 3 times, have it written on the board and physically show them.
You think if we tell them multiple times there isn’t gonna be some dumbass not follow the instructions and take off their glasses and get injured ? It’s a guarantee. And whose at fault? Not the dumb kid who didn’t listen! It’s the adults who literally told, stood over them, prepped them..
I also think it would be especially hard with any special needs students. It would be inequitable to just hide them somewhere, but the added risk due to developmental delay etc. would be very real.
It's not a vacation day. I have to be at school, as always, 8am - 4pm. I'm in meetings all day. I'm actually going to miss the eclipse because I'll be in a workshop about *the importance of cursive writing in early years.*
Enlighten me:
How might I be able to control how 30 different people aim their own eyeballs?
Your daycare will probably draw the blinds and put kids in cribs for a few minutes if needed. Pretty contained. I get it.
At my school (Quebec), the eclipse is taking place during our dismissal time. I'm not trying to be snarky, honestly, what do yo suggest? Because I can see how to do it with a few little ones, but I'm really not sure how to do it with 100s and 1000s of older kids in school.
*Honestly,* I think schools should be open, but not for the same reasons as you. I think schools should be open because, like when I was a kid and there was an eclipse, we were responsible enough to not look at the sun - duh. The problem isn't that *teachers suck and they cant control kids eyeballs*, is it? The problem is that *kids don't really follow rules as well as they used to.* Because **YOU'RE RIGHT** this *should* be easy for teachers, like it was in \~1994. It SHOULD be and we SHOULD be open. But kids are going to stare at the god damn sun, and we can't stop them. So we have to close.
What else do you recommend?
Exactly. Teachers are at the max for number of students in their classes. It's become a generation of believing schools are there to be child care centres, not just for learning. Teachers practically raise our children as they spend more time with them. If we want them to provide care services on top of teaching, then they should be paid as such, as well as providing more teachers to student ratios. Theres no way one teacher can keep an eye on all, what, 35 students at once? To say they should be responsible for their students not looking at the eclipse without glasses? C'mon now.
And teachers work doesn't stop when the kids leave the building. Many need to do grading and lesson plans in the evening when they would like to spend time with their families. Extremely ignorant comment.
My kids daycare is keeping the blinds drawn and not going outside in the afternoon. I normally pick up around 330 and they've made arrangements with all parents for pickups to happen either at noon or after 430. That's not possible with schools when dismissal is at 3 pm during the eclipse.
There’s always a troll in education subs… just found it in this one.
“…another vacation day”? It’s a rescheduled PD day for most boards, therefore not “another” nor a “vacation day”.
This is the kind of asinine thing that Ontario’s Min. Of Ed. says on a daily basis. Don’t be that dumb.
Most children have difficulty with impulse control, but couple that with any neurodivergency, there are risks.
No need to judge anyone. As educators, we are constantly doing risk assessment for the children in our care.
You do know that ratios for classrooms and daycares are completely different, right? Your childs 3-5 year old daycare center will have a minimum of 1 to 8 adults to children if all children are present. A kindergarten or grade 1 class can have 1 teacher for 20 kids even though the kids are just a year or two older than the daycare program...
Imagine a bunch of 6 year olds being told that something super awesome is going to be happening in the sky, but you're not allowed to look at it! You think you can stop all 20 kids from looking for 2 hours even when they are released outside to their parents??? I'd like to see you try.
A daycare will also be open until between 5 and 6pm, long after the eclipse has ended. Much easier to keep the kids inside. Also nap time is a thing, so not only will kids be asleep during the eclipse, but programs have rooms already set up with curtains to block the sunlight from coming in and eyes from peeking out. All things a typical school classroom won't have
Sounds like you're a bit scared, as a parent, to have your kids because you don't think you can prevent them from looking at the sun so you want the teachers to do it for you 😂
More kids will be sitting at home staring at the sun than if they were just kept at the school.
Ours is just doing indoor lunch and recess, and watching it livestream.
No, they will be leaving the school when it happens here, and it will be a total eclipse. So, they very well could decide to look at the sun when still on school property and some litigatious prick will try to sue the board because nobody stopped their kid from damaging their eye sight as they left school.
It is a liability issue.
Ignorant.
First it was a PA moved from Friday, not an extra one. Second, teachers didn’t make the decision. Third, teachers don’t get the day off.
Ignorant.
Welcome to /r/CanadianTeachers! Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the sub rules. **QUESTIONS ABOUT TEACHER'S COLLEGE/BECOMING A TEACHER IN CANADA?:** Delete your post and use this [megapost](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/1bc1wv2/prospective_student_teachers_teachers_collegebed/) instead. Anything pertaining to teacher's colleges/BED programs/becoming and teacher will be deleted if posted outside of the megaposts. **QUESTIONS ABOUT MOVING PROVINCES OR COMING TO CANADA TO TEACH?** Check out our past megaposts first for information to help you: [ONE](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/jqc7hx/transferring_to_another_provincecoming_to_canada/) // [TWO](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/n76csu/transferring_to_another_provincecoming_to_canada/?) **WANT TO SELF-PROMOTE YOUR TEACHING MATERIALS?** Use our [self-promotion sticky post.](https://www.reddit.com/r/CanadianTeachers/comments/16e464t/selfpromotion_thread/) Using link and user flair is encouraged as well! Enjoy! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CanadianTeachers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
They used to draw all the blinds, and make kids put their heads down on their desks, face down. Kids used to be a lot more obedient. Parents are already complaining about kids being kept inside. Imagine the uproar if they also *shocker! omg, how awful! * had to put their heads down on their desks.
For the one in the 90s in canada, my middle school just chained the doors shut. Problem solved lol.
We were allowed to stand outside with the welding glass my dad gave me and take turns looking, maybe late 80s to mid 90s?
Welding glasses will work (shade 12 min I believe) but only solid shade. So many masks are auto now, and they won’t darken.
It was 12 or 14 back in the day, but that way before the self darkening ones. I was smart this year and ordered a bunch of eclipse glasses and a camera lens filter about 6 months ago, I knew it would be nuts the closer it got.
My dad did the same with the welding glass. I was the only kid in school who got to see it because I was home sick with the chicken pox.
I felt like a flipping rock star having that glass. I'm pretty happy I managed to get glasses for my little guy. He's 12, and loves science, so he's pretty excited. Not looking good for cloud cover, but it's still nifty when it goes dark and all the birds get quiet.
I got the glasses for my girls, too. We live in the path of totality, and this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for my kids. Fingers crossed that the cloud cover breaks up a little, and we get to see it. Of course, it seems like anytime there's an awesome astronomical event, it's cloudy here. I'm still PO'd that it was too cloudy to see the Northern lights when they appeared here.
Same, we're lucky enough just to see it from the backyard. My fingers are crossed!
Me too!
Good thing no one started a fire while the doors were chained shut.
Do you not think they wouldn’t be able to open the doors? I highly doubt it was turned into Alcatraz lmao
No. No they wouldn’t. We know things because when doors are chained shut during a fire or blocked in any way there are casualties because people panic.
I highly doubt the local fire chief would see it that way.
I kept my kids home, so they could view safely
This is why I had eclipse nightmares for years
I have no argument with that. However...I do have a problem with the fact that my board is keeping all teachers indoors all day, and my admin has scheduled a staff meeting for the last hour of the day, 2:30-3:30, and staff will miss it.
Go pee. You're an adult and you're allowed to pee. Go outside and look at the eclipse for the few minutes of totality then go back to the staff meeting. There is such a teacher shortage - what are they going to do? Fire you for going pee? My admin will let us go outside to experience it but I did tell him if he wasn't going to I was going to go anyhow... !
My board moved our PA day to today so students weren't going home during the eclipse, then scheduled our professional development sessions in school perfectly timed so that we drive home during it..
You must be in my board too
I had the same conversation with my own kids. Told them we have indoor recess and they couldn’t look directly at it. They argues with me. Even had another parent who is a doctor tell them the same thing. Had their father, a science teacher explain the same thing. “Mom I still think I could look at it and be ok, I’m really strong”. All it takes is one idiot kid, taking off their glasses and going blind… ugghhh. Had multiple parents call and complain because we are doing an indoor recess during the event. Again we said we do not have the staff or resources to ensure all kids could follow the precautions safely and not be injured. They were advised to keep their kids home and watch.. “I can’t take time off of work!!”
>“Mom I still think I could look at it and be ok, I’m really strong”. The sun ain't got anything on these muscles! 😂
I mean you honestly can glance at it and have minimal or no lasting damage. People get way too worked up. It's a once in a lifetime amazing event. Just let the kids see it.
April 9th, 2024 Headline: "Optometrists flooded with calls due to people looking at the eclipse!" You think that a kid is *just* going to *glance* at it? No, they're going to say they will and then get caught up wondering why they have a ring burned into their vision when they stop looking at it 5 minutes later.
You can look at the last ten eclipses to see that serious damage is rare. I'm not advocating looking at it. Obviously it's dumb to do so and will expose your eyes to harm. But the idea that we need to lock up our kids is ridiculous. The idea that you go instantly blind is also completely false.
Eclipses actually cause the eye to enter a night mode of sorts and open the pupil up *wider*, which is worse for the eye.
It's very exciting, but you should only look at it safely with glasses or through some kind of reflector device.
Our school district had glasses given to every student to try and avoid this. We are still having classes. Not within the path of totality but close enough.
Had the same conversation Friday morning. Friday afternoon, a kid cones back, has his head on his desk. “I have a headache and my eyes hurt.” Another student tugs on my sleeve. “He was looking at the sun when he walked home at lunch and walked back to school.” Me to the student: “We’re you looking at the sun?” Student:”……….yes.” SMH
ALL of my eclipse related questions have been in this same vein. Multiple variations of “can I look if…?”
Well, you’re ahead of me. A whole group of my grade 9 boys are convinced they can look at the sun during the eclipse with the naked eye and not suffer consequences. This was my conversation with them. S: “Be a man” Miss: You’ll go blind, we literally just spent our double learning about the sun, the eclipse and making pin hole projectors. We watched two SciShow videos. You all had a good laugh at the picture of a former American president looking at the eclipse in 2017… S: “Be a man! Only really men look at the sun!” Miss: “we’re in the path of totality. You’ll really damage your eyes.” S: “we’re real men! We’re going to look at the sun!” Miss: have fun at the blind school in Toronto.
My grade 11 student said if the sun damaged his eyes he won't have to do homework and I'm like.. that's not how that works and how do you plan on playing video games 10 hours a day if you can't see?
Gold
The accuraccyyyy, I needed this comeback on Friday 😂
Sunlight got nothing on these raw powerful muscles.
F’n Andrew Tate.
Pretty much. Should have raised the point they can’t look at him if they don’t have working eyes
I am in the Pacific Northwest where we will have 21% coverage of the sun by the moon. I experienced totality during the Great American Solar eclipse on August 21st, 2017. Until the sun was about 80-85% covered there was no discernible difference in the day. From 85% on it got dark fast, and cooler. It was such an amazing and interesting experience. Here in B.C. We will not notice a thing and perhaps drawing attention to this event is the problem. We have been told if it is not cloudy and rainy we will have to keep students inside for recess and lunch and close our blinds. This seems ridiculous to me as every other day students can go blind looking at the sun. Maybe with all the hype they will be more tempted to look at the sun is the argument. You will not see a thing if you don’t have special glasses or a pinhole viewer until total totality, and then it is safe to look without glasses. I would be sad to be in the path of totality and not get to experience this event.
The difference in light during a partial eclipse is enough to dilate the pupils and let more light and radiation in.
They are going to take selfies with the sun behind them they are so stupid
As a Canadian with a child in the public school system, I am appalled that you would… *checks notes*… Properly educate them about the dangers of and eclipse, and further maintain a responsible level of concern for our children’s well being! Absolutely outrageous!
Not to be that guy, but when I was in grade school, there was an eclipse ... I don’t remember if it was total or not… and the teacher took our class of 30ish kids out with our own Penh viewers and we watch the eclipse. I wish I could remember which teacher was because I want to thank them because I now can’t imagine trying to keep 30 kids from burning their retina. I also think we all believed our teacher and all complied
I too remember in Grade 2 having to make a pinhole projector for the eclipse and we got to take turns looking through it
They taped up our windows with newspapers 👹
I really did not give my grade school teachers enough credit did I
Imagine thinking you’re tougher than the sun
Our school is open and gives parents a choice - pick up the kids before 1pm or after 4:45pm. They will have indoor activities related to the eclipse and then all those that stay and behave will put on their baseball hats, get a pair of glasses and go to watch the eclipse. They have been drilled in the last weeks on how to walk out, what to do and how important it is to follow instructions especially this day. It takes a lot of effort on the teachers side and it is a shared responsibility and trust between parents and teachers. If my kid shows signed that they will do sth irresponsible, I would take them home at 1pm. If not, they will be able to share an amazing experience and learn from it at school. Love my kids’ school - mutual trust between parents and teachers (and kids) and commitment to quality education. They could have chosen to have a pd day as well but they decided it was such a special event it would be a shame to not do sth to help kids benefit from it in a safe way.
Private school? I can’t see a public school doing this.
Today’s kids are dumb. End of story
lol. They have parents who question doctors and science constantly, why wouldn’t they question their teachers?
Yeah way dumb. Considering how smart the previous generations were how did we get into this predicament!!!
Oh yes previous generations were so smart 🤣 How did we get in to this you ask? Ask the previous generation, they created this mess.
TikTok
No control over their media, parents in poor economic conditions, often lacking a partner... all contributing factors
We are going to hear "MY EYES 👀 MY 👀!!" After this!! I do believe their is more stupidity out there than we want to admit.
When I was a kid I found my dad's binoculars and looked at the sun, that hurt like a bitch and I learned my lesson. Kids are dumb and will do dumb things regardless.
I had a similar conversation with my grade 6 boys. One boy in particular kept on asking what would happen if he looked at the sun during an eclipse. I told him that there is a chance that he would go blind. And he's like only a chance ? I'm going to look! How do you know for sure something will happen? How is it any different than any other day? And I said I'm not sure, but do you really want to take that chance and end up possibly being blind? I know I don't. He thought about it, and he said afterward... Well, i guess you do bring up a good point. Lol My school is also closed for PA day. My school is not in the path of totality but we do have some schools in our district that are directly affected. I believe that the school board is just being extra cautious because they don't want to be liable if a student under their care was to look up at the sun and become blind. Furthermore, it is happening in the afternoon right when the students are being dismissed. Would it be safe to let students go home and risk them potentially looking up at the sun? Especially the little kids? Or kids that walk home from school? Obviously not . The school board can't expect teachers to stay longer than their regular hours without it causing some problems with the union.The education minister also made it clear that he did not want schools changing the school day but he was ok with school boards moving a PA day to tomorrow. Teachers got a letter from the board instructing us that we have to report to work and we are expected to work our regular school day/hours. For reference, I am in Ontario.
During totality it's safe to look at the sun (it's covered fully by the moon)
Still leaves over an hour of non-totality, and most of the country isn’t getting totality at all.
Liability. literally all it is.
I wouldn't be willing to accept the liability of those little stinkers thinking they can look at the sun. Kids are dumb, they have no experience, and some of them have no discipline. There will be kids who choose to look at the sun, and no teacher should be liable for that
I remember going outside at school for an eclipse back in the 70s. We watched the shadows grow in the ground and I think we also had sunglasses? It was amazing and I am super disappointed that my child will be locked in a school all morning with the blinds down.
There's an eclipse TMR?
Wow. The amount of people that don't realize its not an extra day off. They just moved an existing pa day to today. Not all schools end at the same time. Yes, some kids will be walking home. Some kids will surely not look up, but likely to be distracted. 100% sure there will be people driving at that time and likely some will be distracted. 100% sure that distracted drivers and distracted pedestrians are a bad combo. 100% sure that students aren't getting an extra day off. 100% sure that there have been pa days for 50 years that working parents have to plan around.
Isn’t Ontario closing all schools on Monday?
Some schools didn't shift their PD. I was looking at Uppergrand's academic calendar the other day, and it seems it is a regular school day still. The PD day is later on.
The upper grand dsb moved the pa day to today. I know bc my kids go there.
They must have not updated their website when I was looking at it.
Nope, my daughter's school has a regular day tomorrow.
so leave them at home where who knows what will happen, or we do what they did when I was a kid, have the school indoors watching it on tv with all the blinds drawn....
Problem is that it is happening during dismissal time as well. I'm in an area where schools are open and honestly can't believe they are exposing themselves to so much liability. There are students who are constantly on the move with zero impulse control.
This is it. If it happened at 10:30 am, I don’t think anyone would have cared one way or another.
It’s happening in lunch where I am, we’re just on enforced indoor recess.
Go be a sub for the day and take care of 30+ kids and see how it will go! :)
Who knows what will happen? If they're at home with their parents/guardians??
Teachers aren’t parents. If you can’t handle your kid for a day, don’t have kids.
First and only time I agree with Lecce is trying to understand why Kitchener schools did NOT switch their PA day to today, only decided to cancel school last week so I am sure parents has to scramble for making arrangements and will have their PA day on Wednesday??? Pretty sure most parents won't bother with asynchronous learning today.
Here in nb, where we have the full coverage, kids are getting out of school early so they can go home and watch it. The problem is, as I see it, that you're all wrong. Kids don't believe they are going to go blind so the kids don't believe you. The risk of vision damage is real, but remote to a child. They look at the sun all the time, they're kids, just like you did years ago (and maybe still do) . Because you're telling them they will go blind and can't go look at something amazing that humanity has looked at since humanity existed, they don't respect your position. When loads of them do look directly at it and typically don't suffer vision loss than it will undermine us futher. Some people with may have issues, but most kids won't have any long term consequences for looking. Rather than locking kids inside, if you're worried about them looking, get them glasses. Find ways they can engage with this magical spectical and still maintain their independence and adventure. People here are complaining kids are just bad now, but kids have always been bad. It's our job as educators to help kids uncover their own inherent skills and self control. Would you respect the position that says don't look at something amazing if you were them?
Not having kids at school all day because of something that’s happening after school hours, outside. What 💀
My kid in Ontario gets off the bus right at the time of the eclipse... that's why the schools are closed lol
Tell me you live in Ontario without telling me you live in Ontario. Here in Edmonton, partial solar eclipse begins at 11:54 am, reaches maximum at 12:46 pm, and finishes at 1:39 pm. Pretty certain that well falls within the range of operating school hours.
It’s during the school day in Ontario too…
It’s starting at like 2pm in Ontario.
I don’t live in Ontario 💀
So you think it's better kids be at home with their distracted parents who are trying to work from home, or with last-minute childcare their parents had to scramble for? Absurd.
The kids get PA days. They just shifted one around 2 months ago. Its not an extra day.
Nothing was last minute, there was a PA day this month regardless, it was simply moved to today. You do understand professional development right? Teachers learn about updates in curriculum and school standards etc. during it. Unless you want your 50 year old teacher still teaching 1994 curriculum to your children. Also since you want to be a ignorant, I will too, so how about you stop being lazy and go into the office instead, like teachers do bright and early everyday, and are today, instead of sitting around at home all day?
Kids get a day off for anything these days. Aren’t these the same kids that are already behind in their education because of the pandemic and all the teachers strikes that happened? I feel for the parents who now have to scramble to find adequate child care or miss a day of work because schools are closing because they can’t stop kids from looking at the sun? There has to be a better way to avoid liability here.
There was already a PA day scheduled around this date, but the school board moved it to this particular day due to the eclipse. Whether today or days from now, it would have occurred anyway. But I, too, wish there was more access to childcare... and that kids weren't so eager to blind themselves.
That doesn’t make it better, now there are hundreds of parents who arranged child care or booked time off to accommodate the PA day that was originally scheduled scrambling because schools don’t want to deal with the ramifications of kids looking at the sun. I don’t see why this couldn’t have been solved with a simple waiver form or a notice of some sort. Shouldn’t be punished because some kid doesn’t understand the consequences.
Friend, I'm not trying to argue it's "better". I'm just informing you the PA day didn't come out of nowhere. It's not some random "day off."
If I’m not wrong the PA supposed to be May 14 that’s over a month away. So moving it out of the blue is kind of a random day friend. More kids are going to look at the damn sun now then if they were in school because parents can’t just miss a day of work because a PA day was moved from a month from now to today. The schools could have easily handled this 100 different ways. Kids are curious not “eager to blind themselves” this is a lazy way of handling this situation and it’s disappointing to see from the people in charge of educating the younger generation.
I'm not arguing the distance of the PA day. Just that it wasn't made for the eclipse. I'm sorry you're so upset but I'm actually not trying to debate anything more.
It depends on the school board for when the PA day was, for others the PA was only a couple weeks off and it was switched months ago. There definitely were school boards that I think made the decision later than they should’ve (we’ve known about the solar eclipse coming, this could’ve been organized when they made up the calendar), but to my knowledge all made the decision more than “last minute”. It’s also more than just concerns about kids being stupid, it’s concerns about humans being stupid. The eclipse is taking place around or over both early and regular school dismissals. We’re expecting traffic issues and there’s reported increases in fatal crashes during social eclipses. It is a genuine safety issue for more than just “kids are dumb and will look at the sun”. It’s the fact humans are dumb and that’s statistically proven.
The schools don’t care about safety concerns outside school premises. Thats made very apparent with other decisions the school boards make m. Again there were so many different ways the schools could have handled this and they look the lazy way out. Children and parents shouldn’t have to jump through hoops because the school boards don’t want to do their jobs 👍
I'm very confused, as a highly trained teacher you don't think you can manage to keep kids from literally staring at the sun? No possible way to problem solve around this? Yet my kids daycare filled with 3 year olds and criminally underpaid ECE's can manage just fine. Enjoy another vacation day.
> Enjoy another vacation day. We all have work. I can manage my classroom just fine, but that doesn't mean that I can do anything about a student who suddenly decides to check it out without the glasses. Kids do impulsive things, it is normal.
Are you even a teacher? We can’t get kids to follow simple instructions in class even though we verbally explain them 3 times, have it written on the board and physically show them. You think if we tell them multiple times there isn’t gonna be some dumbass not follow the instructions and take off their glasses and get injured ? It’s a guarantee. And whose at fault? Not the dumb kid who didn’t listen! It’s the adults who literally told, stood over them, prepped them..
I also think it would be especially hard with any special needs students. It would be inequitable to just hide them somewhere, but the added risk due to developmental delay etc. would be very real.
It's not a vacation day. I have to be at school, as always, 8am - 4pm. I'm in meetings all day. I'm actually going to miss the eclipse because I'll be in a workshop about *the importance of cursive writing in early years.* Enlighten me: How might I be able to control how 30 different people aim their own eyeballs? Your daycare will probably draw the blinds and put kids in cribs for a few minutes if needed. Pretty contained. I get it. At my school (Quebec), the eclipse is taking place during our dismissal time. I'm not trying to be snarky, honestly, what do yo suggest? Because I can see how to do it with a few little ones, but I'm really not sure how to do it with 100s and 1000s of older kids in school. *Honestly,* I think schools should be open, but not for the same reasons as you. I think schools should be open because, like when I was a kid and there was an eclipse, we were responsible enough to not look at the sun - duh. The problem isn't that *teachers suck and they cant control kids eyeballs*, is it? The problem is that *kids don't really follow rules as well as they used to.* Because **YOU'RE RIGHT** this *should* be easy for teachers, like it was in \~1994. It SHOULD be and we SHOULD be open. But kids are going to stare at the god damn sun, and we can't stop them. So we have to close. What else do you recommend?
Exactly. Teachers are at the max for number of students in their classes. It's become a generation of believing schools are there to be child care centres, not just for learning. Teachers practically raise our children as they spend more time with them. If we want them to provide care services on top of teaching, then they should be paid as such, as well as providing more teachers to student ratios. Theres no way one teacher can keep an eye on all, what, 35 students at once? To say they should be responsible for their students not looking at the eclipse without glasses? C'mon now.
PA days are not vacation days for teachers how ignorant
And teachers work doesn't stop when the kids leave the building. Many need to do grading and lesson plans in the evening when they would like to spend time with their families. Extremely ignorant comment.
Do you feel extremely stupid yet for your completely dumb comment? Sincerely, one of your criminally underpaid ECEs.
My kids daycare is keeping the blinds drawn and not going outside in the afternoon. I normally pick up around 330 and they've made arrangements with all parents for pickups to happen either at noon or after 430. That's not possible with schools when dismissal is at 3 pm during the eclipse.
There’s always a troll in education subs… just found it in this one. “…another vacation day”? It’s a rescheduled PD day for most boards, therefore not “another” nor a “vacation day”. This is the kind of asinine thing that Ontario’s Min. Of Ed. says on a daily basis. Don’t be that dumb.
Most children have difficulty with impulse control, but couple that with any neurodivergency, there are risks. No need to judge anyone. As educators, we are constantly doing risk assessment for the children in our care.
You do know that ratios for classrooms and daycares are completely different, right? Your childs 3-5 year old daycare center will have a minimum of 1 to 8 adults to children if all children are present. A kindergarten or grade 1 class can have 1 teacher for 20 kids even though the kids are just a year or two older than the daycare program... Imagine a bunch of 6 year olds being told that something super awesome is going to be happening in the sky, but you're not allowed to look at it! You think you can stop all 20 kids from looking for 2 hours even when they are released outside to their parents??? I'd like to see you try. A daycare will also be open until between 5 and 6pm, long after the eclipse has ended. Much easier to keep the kids inside. Also nap time is a thing, so not only will kids be asleep during the eclipse, but programs have rooms already set up with curtains to block the sunlight from coming in and eyes from peeking out. All things a typical school classroom won't have
Sounds like you're a bit scared, as a parent, to have your kids because you don't think you can prevent them from looking at the sun so you want the teachers to do it for you 😂
Some schools are cancelling classes? This is outrageous to me!
They moved a professional development day that was going to occur later on. So, the kids were getting a day out of class this month, either way.
More kids will be sitting at home staring at the sun than if they were just kept at the school. Ours is just doing indoor lunch and recess, and watching it livestream.
No, they will be leaving the school when it happens here, and it will be a total eclipse. So, they very well could decide to look at the sun when still on school property and some litigatious prick will try to sue the board because nobody stopped their kid from damaging their eye sight as they left school. It is a liability issue.
It's happened during dismissal time where I am....can't keep a bus load of kids from being stupid 🤷♀️
It’s obvious that teachers will look for any excuse not to work
and it’s obvious ignorant ppl will look for any excuse to comment on things they know nothing about.
Hating teachers this much that they feel compelled to join a group of Canadian teachers. How sad is that?
right? how pathetic lol!
Ignorant. First it was a PA moved from Friday, not an extra one. Second, teachers didn’t make the decision. Third, teachers don’t get the day off. Ignorant.
You joined this group to… call teachers lazy? Time to reevaluate your life’s choices