Homeroom Teacher Responsibilities by Jes O'Kelley https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm Use this space to reflect on successes in SY1617 and areas for growth in SY1718. en-us 2017-02-09 19:49:11 UTC 2025-09-30 02:47:33 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Folder.png We have several responsibilities but I have just enough time to do just that and no more for my homeroom students. https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153161099 2017-02-10 19:23:11 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153161099 I would like more time to engage with my HR students in a positive way. So much of our HR duties are negative - attendance reminders, truancy, withdrawals, etc., that we have primarily become rule enforcers instead of community builders. https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153164626 2017-02-10 19:35:02 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153164626 From a leadership doc we worked on this year: https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153236458 Daily Homeroom Teacher Tasks
Respond to E-mails and phone calls within 24 hours 
Update contacts in IC Contact Log
 
Weekly Homeroom Duties
WWU
Release wwu recording
Send pdf powerpoint version
Monitor attendance (2X per week)
Email non-compliant students and document
Advisor sweep / referrals
Monitor last student log in for truancy
Truancy referrals 
Withdrawals and win-back
Computer requests/tech issues
Review weekly tracker data
 
Biweekly Homeroom
Encouragement email – red and yellow students
Update biweekly document
Meet with advisor
 
Monthly/Seasonal Homeroom Duties
Praise email for kids who are passing all classes
Attendance in IC
ILP’s 1st and 4th quarter
Compact Emails/Follow-Up
504’s
State testing notifications/confirmations
]]> 2017-02-11 19:48:33 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153236458 jokelley https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153533108 Many of the HR teacher tasks are cumbersome and not effective. I feel like there are ways to streamline some of the processes so that teachers can spend more time being relational and less time hunting down truant kids.]]> 2017-02-13 18:57:15 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153533108 HR duties are so tiresome. I would love to focus my attention on my content kids, but as soon as I start digging into content I get an email about a random HR responsibility that has to be done that is really "front office" duties. https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153606061 2017-02-14 01:37:58 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153606061 Can advisors take over all HR responsibilities? and content teachers just focus on content. I think teachers could dig more into the weekly data (looking at quizzes, tests, ect, CC attendance) if we had more TIME. HR duties take so much time away from content. https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153606205 2017-02-14 01:39:11 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153606205 Many of the things HR teachers do are what secretaries/counselors in the front office would do at a BAM school. Attendance, truancy, withdrawals...please take these tasks off the HR teachers shoulders. https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153606416 2017-02-14 01:40:39 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153606416 Teachers who have more teaching responsibilities - math teachers, two preps, EOC courses - need more time to focus on content. Homeroom students, especially those newbies, don't get the attention they would if they had a dedicated staff member who just handled hm tasks. https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153685335 2017-02-14 12:48:57 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153685335 With HR duties, it feels like the content teachers work 2 or 3 full time jobs at once. We are asked to dig into the data to improve teaching, to raise the average, make EOC score higher, etc. Then we also have to take care of all the "front office's" administrative tasks in working with HR students. This too much is really too much. https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153702580 2017-02-14 13:53:03 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153702580 Homeroom Duties https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153707345 Many things have gotten better such as we no longer do 4 ILPs a year and we no longer schedule students. Thank you! There are still a lot of responsibilities for HR teachers and with uping the time in CC sessions and data digging, HR is definitely slighted this year. I would like to see our systems work better for us such as: taking notes, entering grades, and entering attendance in IC is time consuming when we are toggling back and forth from IC to LMS to OHS etc. Tracking truancy is confusing because there are so many different dates! There is: no attendance recorded, no logins to LMS, no logins to OHS... This needs to be clearer. I love having the advisors, but the referral process is still unclear to me. I have to ask every time.]]> 2017-02-14 14:04:30 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153707345 No time for HR chall_gca https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153709794 I spend most of my time teaching and preparing to teach. I feel this should be the primary role of a TEACHER. Preparing lessons, updating OHS, grading, and teaching takes up most of my time. The rest of my time is filled with calling back and trying to communicate with families in my content classes. I rarely have time to contact HR students. Unfortunately, I typically communicate with the HR students that contact me. I try to send emails to the ones who are failing classes, but that is maybe once a month. Teachers with more than one prep should not have as many HR students or HR responsibilities. Can advisers take on some of the HR responsibilities? I do not feel comfortable withdrawing or being responsible in making sure students have the correct credits for graduation. ]]> 2017-02-14 14:09:03 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153709794 Stream line process so that we don't have to handle so many trackers. I understand and don't have an issue with the ILP's...students have a base "person" to rely on. HR teachers should only be responsible for checking attendance and sending out notifications on "red" students from bi weekly check ins. T https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153724379 2017-02-14 14:40:14 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153724379 https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153724936 2017-02-14 14:41:27 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153724936 Do away with WWU. When 30 students out of 5 homeroom show up and there are 5 teachers sitting in there, it's not an effective use of anyone's time. Send a recording on Monday morning with the weekly announcements and be done with it. https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153737854 2017-02-14 15:09:31 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153737854 honestly having the HR duties on top of trying to be an awesome content teacher isnt working. We are splitting our time instead of really working in one area and so BOTH HR teacher and content teacher are compromised. In a BAM school the content teacher doesn't have all these extra responsibilities. We have a FAST team...let them take over HR duties.. https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153782237 2017-02-14 16:51:24 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153782237 I get that students need a HR teacher in case they have a question...I get needing to do ILPs and welcome calls, and send out testing notifications, and honor roll stuff...but the truancy stuff, WDs, attendance...that should be on the FAST team...make HR duties POSITIVE...again...welcome calls, honor roll invites, testing notifications...and the NEGATIVE things should be given to the "front office" https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153783481 2017-02-14 16:54:25 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153783481 I just keep thinking back to BAM school and what roles the front office did and what roles the HR teacher did...HR teacher did NOT do attendance and WDs. They didn't call and track down students if they were missing school or failing all their classes. Content teachers reached out to their kids who were failing THEIR class. https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153787864 I remember HR being a once a week thing were we got announcements, honor roll certificates, testing information. Can GCA please go to this format. Can we have a "front office" to take care of WDs and attendance. And Let content teachers focus on the content and THEIR kids. ]]> 2017-02-14 17:04:35 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153787864 https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153859703 Too many responsiblities. Are we really doing anything well as we are spread so thin.]]> 2017-02-14 20:11:49 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153859703 Homeroom feels very forced at this point. It is "that one extra thing" that we all have on our plates, and it is the area where we are really the least effective. I essentially feel like a virtual switchboard for my homeroom students, but outside of that, I am pulled much more strongly in the direction of building relationships with and engaging my content students. https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153859788 2017-02-14 20:12:11 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153859788 hailey_hillsman https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153860349 I feel overwhelmed sometimes trying to be a good content teacher and be a good homeroom teacher. It is difficult to give adequate focus to both.]]> 2017-02-14 20:14:50 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/153860349 We cannot do a great job of being content teachers AND homeroom teachers. We are spread entirely too thin to do a good job at all of these. Something's gotta give with the workload! moneal_gca https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/159103155 2017-03-09 19:27:14 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/159103155 too many HR tasks are clerical. Hire a clerk specialist to do those non-content/teaching tasks https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/159149127 2017-03-09 22:38:08 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/159149127 Homeroom Advisors https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/159158212 This seems to be one thing that could easily shift away from content teachers. Something has to go away. Adding more & more just means less time for each important item. Responding to emails & phone calls within 24 hours has become impossible.]]> 2017-03-10 00:18:17 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/159158212 Building Relationships https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/159175474 I think all of our HR duties should be filtered through the question "Does this build a positive relationship with the family?". Truancy, attendance, etc. don't help up have positive relationships. There were some ideas suggested this year that could help with that, but they were extra tasks that I don't think anyone had time to complete. I think what makes the FAST so effective with students is the expectations for contacting families. Since this is the biggest piece of what they do, they have the time to make contact and do it well. I don't think most content teachers want to start calling HR kids on top of everything else, but really HR serves no point if we are talking to each of those kids every month or so. I know that I would struggle to complete that task, but I know it would help families. Is it possible for there to be teachers/FAST who are just HR teachers?]]> 2017-03-10 03:30:01 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/159175474 https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/159251361 There are too many responsibilities on teachers. All of the things we are supposed to be doing with our HR kiddos are things that teachers in traditional B&M schools would never have to do. This would be the work of counselors, front office staff, etc.   Shift these responsibilities to FAST.

]]> 2017-03-10 13:14:44 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/159251361 AGREE AGREE AGREE https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/159262357 I wish there were an "I agree" stamp I could just paste on top of so many of these notes already. We can either be good content teachers or good HR teachers but not both. So many of our HR responsibilities should be shifted to a "front office" staff. GCA is paying professional, certified educators to act as clerks. HR tasks do take a lot of time away from when we could be working on content tasks. We spend time calling and begging LCs to update attendance or we're updating attendance in IC or making notes about this or that when we could be analyzing our quiz data or enhancing our OHS to improve the actual teaching of our content course. (which is what we are trained to do) We are professional educators, not clerical staff. Of course, we've been saying all of this for years and we're still doing the same things. Guess it can't hurt to say it once more. ]]> 2017-03-10 13:53:37 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/159262357 Streamlining Contacts https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/159347501 Once a student is working with FAST or FASL, those team members could track attendance and contact for truancy. That saves multiple contacts being made for the same issues. This could include failing grades at the end of the semester too. Some contact logs for students are SO long. 

]]> 2017-03-10 17:59:30 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/159347501 NO HRs for SPED teachers https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/160238955 Please understand that I am NOT a SPED teacher. However, I work closely with them and I can tell you that all of them are WAY overloaded. SPED teachers including co-teachers should not have homerooms. The amount of work that they are responsible for is just unfair. It's unfair to the teachers and the students. How can a SPED teacher effectively provide support for students with disabilities when they are crushed by administrative tasks each day. ]]> 2017-03-15 13:20:12 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/160238955 HR is administrative https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/160272743 I have a homeroom of a different grade than my content grade. There are so many questions that my homeroom students have that I don't know the answer to, because most of my time is devoted to content with a different grade. Also, the ILPs are well received by the parents. But they don't like all of the reminders to update attendance and after a while they stop answering phone calls because they see it's GCA and they are worn down from so many people calling them all the time.]]> 2017-03-15 14:56:25 UTC https://padlet.com/jokelley/w085gfoab7sm/wish/160272743