The true length of a teaching day

[taylweaver]

So a certain friend once noted that perhaps part of the reason that teachers make less money is because they work a shorter day. Well, all I have to say to that is, if teachers got paid for every hour we *really* work, we would be a whole lot richer.

Take, for example, yesterday:

Hours of instruction: 4
Hours of supervision (lunch and homework time):2
Total paid hours: 6
Hours spent in the school building: 9 (6 teaching hours plus 3 prep hours)
Lunch break: none (I eat with the kids - see above)
Hours spent preparing before class: 15 minutes reading train books for social studies while eating breakfast
Break I took for dinner: 1 hour?
Time on the phone with friends: 1/2 hour
Time spent preparing lessons: The remainder of my evening (2 hours?)
Plus, throw some commute time in there. I may or may not have graded papers on the train yesterday - I can't recall.

So I spend nearly every waking hour of nearly every weekday working.

Oh, and did I mention that last night, I was even teaching in my sleep? Or maybe sleep is the wrong word considering the restless night I had... I kept dreaming about grading papers, so that I woke up feeling like I had hardly gotten any rest at all.

My job - a summer job, no less - is eating up nearly all of my time.

This frustrates me.

Especially because I am being paid very little for my actual teaching hours as it is.

Maybe the reason there is such a shortage of teachers in this country is that there is this sense that teaching is an "easy" job, with less hours. Well, it is if you don't spent any time preparing to teach your kids...

And now I am off to - can you guess? Yep- plan some more for tomorrow.

Comments

[j00j.livejournal.com]

Bleh. Having done things like tutoring and America Reads that required lesson prep, I was at least aware of that issue. Teachers work hard. That being said, the perception of it being an easier job with fewer hours might also come from summer break? People probably fondly remember their breaks as kids, frolicking about freely in the sun, and probably assuming that their teachers got to do the same thing. Now, I'm sure most teachers teach summer school or do other work in the summer, including preparations for the next school year, but again, like all of your exhaustive lesson preparation, this is work most people don't see. No excuse for the lousy pay, insert snarky rant about teacher pay versus, say, professional athlete pay, here.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

I understand.

I am counted as spending twenty hours a week teaching, although I actually stand before a classroom one hour per week.

I use every one of those twenty hours.

So you're actually teaching now? Mazel tov on employment, and sorry your work is not sufficiently appreciated.

[taylweaver.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

Be happy you get paid for your out-of-classroom time.

By the way, to those who have already read and/or commented. I added a line or two to my post - see if you can find it.

Re: The added line

[margavriel.livejournal.com]

The following two lines are definitely a later accretion:

Oh, and did I mention that last night, I was even teaching in my sleep? Or maybe sleep is the wrong word considering the restless night I had... I kept dreaming about grading papers, so that I woke up feeling like I had hardly gotten any rest at all.

My job - a summer job, no less - is eating up nearly all of my time.

It is (slightly) interesting that this insertion changes the grammatical referent of the demonstrative pronoun this in the following sentence, This frustrates me. In the original version, the referent was the fact that you spend nearly every waking hour of nearly every weekday working. In the edited version, the referent is the fact that your summer job is eating up nearly all your time. I admit that the two facts are slightly different, but their nuances are slightly different, and this affects the way we relate to the word this in the following sentence. Blah, blah, blah.

I guess my training in comparing manuscript versions of passages in Tanakh and Talmud has equipped me to notice subtle differences in different recensions of your post. That and a metrocard will get me a ride on the subway....

Re: The added line

[mbarr.livejournal.com]

Yeh, as long as the Metrocard has 2.00 on it, or is an unlimted that hasn't been used in 18 minutes :-)

[mbarr.livejournal.com]

Oh.. I know. I did this about 10 years ago.. and they paid 20 or so an hour of teaching IIRC. This was afterschool, gifted, etc... and it was expected that we'd work at *least* one hour out of school per hour teaching. And it was computers, something which I actually knew, well.

On the other hand, the biggest problem you have is that you're teaching multiple subjects, in diverse levels, all during your first year of really teaching, with vague syllabi, and even more vague goals.

Were you teaching in a elementary math program during the year, you'd have teachers manuals, homework sets, and handouts all made by the book publisher. Not to mention the course objectives, and syllabus would be set.

Even if you had to do all this the first year, you'd be able to use much of it the second year. I think this may be the reason that some places pair newer teachers w/ more experienced ones, in the same subjects... to make it possible to keep the new teachers beyond the first year. It seems silly to make the hardest year the year you are least prepared for it, and have the least ability to deal with it.

So... in the realm of getting your mind a vacation, I propose taking you out for something fun tomorrow night.

Anyone else want to join? Even if it's as quick as just getting ice cream, or something. You need more fun :-)