Myths About Teaching, Part 1

  

How much time does a teacher really work?

A. Well, according to the district, we only work for five hours a day.  At least, that’s what we technically get paid for and that is how our “hourly” rate is determined.  For example, if the district has to hire a substitute to cover my class, that individual gets paid for five hours of teaching at the current sub rate of $27.50/hr.  Obviously, a teacher’s hourly rate is higher than that, but the same principle applies.  If the district has to pay me overtime at my hourly rate, it is calculated assuming a five hour work day.

B. Although we only technically teach for five hours, we are contractually required to be at work from 8:15 to 3:20.  This is slightly longer than the student day, but assumes that we need to be here several minutes before we have to start teaching and for about twenty minutes after we stop teaching.  It includes one period of prep. time. (The actual amount of time can vary by school and even by day.  Four days a week my prep is fifty minutes long and one day a week it is forty-five minutes long.)

We are also required by contract to attend one faculty meeting per month that is sixty to ninety minutes in length, and one extended department meeting per quarter, which adds an extra half hour to that day.

We are required to earn three supervision points per year which can be fulfilled by supervising an after school activity (which typically lasts from about an hour and half to three hours) or by joining a committee.  I’m currently on two committees, which require about an hour of my time per month per committee.  I earned my third point by supervising the fall play one evening.

Additionally, at my job site, we are required to complete hall monitor duties before school and/or at break a little over one week per month.

While our lunch is technically “duty-free” many teachers schedule meetings with each other or with students during that time.  Some teachers, like me, occasionally use the time to catch up on grading.  A few host student clubs in their classrooms.  Only a handful of teachers can actually be found in the teacher cafeteria, enjoying their “duty-free” thirty minutes.

Two days out of the school year, we are required to attend evening events: Back to School Night and Open House.  Although students are dismissed an hour early on those two days, teachers invariably use at least that one hour to prepare.  The events themselves are typically scheduled to run from 6:00 to 9:00, with the last parents filtering out at about 9:20 and the custodians starting to lock in the straggling teachers at about 9:30.  (Last year, I was afraid I might have to spend the night in my classroom.)

C. What a typical day really looks like for a teacher can be quite different from the theoretical day we get paid for.

I usually arrive at work sometime between 7:00 and 7:30.  I use my time to prepare for the upcoming day, finalizing my lessons, making copies, and getting my boards ready.

At 8:00 the students are allowed to enter the hallways.  At that point, I must be available for student questions.  This is usually when I check my work email, since it’s an activity that can be easily interrupted and resumed.

The first bell rings at 8:20 with class starting at 8:25.  I spend that five minutes making sure the students inside my classroom get started on their warm up activity and simultaneously monitoring the hallway as students race to class.

I teach a two period block at the beginning of the day, which means 105 uninterrupted minutes of instruction.  When the bell rings, students have their ten minute break, so a few often loiter in my classroom to ask questions or serve detentions.  At the end of break, I return to the hallway to help supervise students returning from break and going to class.

My prep. period is next.  During that fifty minutes, I make a trip to the office to check my box and turn in any detention slips or referral forms.  I sometimes have paperwork to do, such as gathering assignments for students who are sick or suspended for several days, or writing a brief progress update for resource students who have an IEP meeting coming up.  If I need to speak with an administrator or counselor, this is when I have to try to find them.  On some days, I may even have time to start planning the next day’s lesson, get ahead on making copies for the next day, or do some grading.

I then teach one more period before lunch.  During lunch, I check work email again and then my personal email while I eat.  I may have one or two students come in to serve a detention, take a make up test, or get help on some work.  If I’m on a roll, I may continue the grading I started during my prep, or I may do some personal reading.  Regardless of  my activity, I am constantly monitoring the hallway to make sure that students have not entered without a pass.  A few minutes before the bell rings, I station myself out in the hallway to discourage students from running and pushing as soon as the bell rings.

Four days a week, we then have SSR (sustained silent reading) for twenty minutes.  Fortunately, I have a pretty good group of students at that time, and only have to get on a couple of kids to actually read and not distract the others.  I keep these same students for another two period block.

At the end of the day, it takes me about five minutes to clear my classroom, another five minutes to help clear the hallway, and another five minutes after that to deal with the students that keep straggling back in to ask questions or kill time.  I generally take one more trip to the office at that point, after which I could technically leave.

That is not, however, when I leave.  This is the point in the day during which I might call a parent, update my grades, check email one last time, make sure I have some idea of what I’m going to teach tomorrow, touch bases with colleagues, etc.   I might have a parent conference or some sort of meeting.  On an average day, I leave sometime around 4:00.  Once or twice a  month, I’ll have one of those unusual days when I’m at work until 5 or 5:30.

So, how much time does a teacher really work?

Well, it sort of depends on the teacher, but the simple answer is that we always work more than we get paid for.

February 10, 2010   Posted in: Uncategorized, Work

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