I stayed at school until 5:00 PM on Friday. Generally I stay until around 4:30-5:00 on any given day but this was a Friday. As I was making copies in workroom one of the other teachers came in and started chatting me up about how hard I was working and asking about my weekend plans. As she was leaving she said, "Now I better not see you in here Monday morning in the same clothes, please go home soon!" I laughed and smiled but then realized I still had about 10 separate more pages to copy... I'll be out of here soon.... maybe...
I've learned a lot about a teachers work schedule during my first month as a student teacher. Here are a few observations I've made... none of which were really talked about in college...
1. Teachers are mandated to arrive at school by 8:15 (15 minutes before school starts), most are there between 7:00-7:30
2. Teachers are mandated to stay at school until 3:35 (10 minutes after school gets out), most stay until anywhere between 5:00-7:00
3. Yes, they do have a lunch break for a full 55 minutes! Well I should say 55 minutes labeled "lunch". Drop the break, teachers are usually spending the first 20 minutes responding to emails and phone calls from parents. Now you have 35 minutes, still plenty of time! Wait... you have an IEP meeting, make that 15 minutes for lunch. Or... wait! You have students coming in to make up assignments that you need scores for (wouldn't want them to miss MORE instructional time), 15 minutes for lunch again. Or... wait! You have copies to make, this morning your students didn't exactly understand the concept you taught them. Might as well bump that social studies lesson and create a brand new language arts lesson to reteach this afternoon before you fall too far behind! Wait... is that the 2nd week in a row we bumped a social studies lesson?
Lunch break? You mean the 10-15 minutes teachers have for lunch.
4. Well we do have a special everyday, sometimes two in a row! (Specials are art, music, physical education, and library time. Each one lasts for 30 minutes) Everyday the students are gone for an additional 30 minutes sometimes 60 minutes in the afternoon. Surely that's a great time to catch up on something! Wrong again, more e-mails to respond to, more planning on how to catch students up, more planning for the 4 different leveled reading groups and 4 different leveled spelling groups you have, etc.
Break time does not exist for the average elementary school teacher who is teaching for a full sized class for the whole day. These teachers are constantly buying time throughout the day to find the energy to keep going and to keep planning and to keep responding and communicating with other teachers, principals, and parents.
My school day runs from 8:25-3:25 in terms of student hours. (Students don't actually get into the classroom until 3:35 but the first bell rings at 3:25 to line up).
That is 7 hours of time the students are under the responsibility of the classroom teacher.
Lets take out roughly 1 hour for the student's lunch/ recess time.
Another 30 minutes for a special.
Another 30 minutes for morning recess/ snack time. (Although that is supervised by the classroom teachers, there is no teaching going on)
That is 2 hours of no instructional learning time 3 days a week and 2 days a week with 2.5 hours gone.
There are roughly 5 hours a day of instructional time in a students day with their classroom teacher. Therefore a teacher needs about 25 hours of teaching time planned each week. Maybe 24 hours if you add the 2nd special twice a week.
It's crazy when you put that in numbers! I know, some people might think that's a big numbers considering "ALL THE FREE TIME TEACHERS HAVE" But really, how much do you think goes according to plan during the day?
Students get pulled out of the classroom, students get sick, students don't finish all of their work, technology fails, the lesson doesn't get across to the students as well as planned, students go to the nurse, students have to go to the bathroom (ALL THE TIME!), book fairs happen, fire drills happen, the students simply can't stay focused... these are all natural occurrences during a day.
And sometimes during those "breaks" in the rare moment that you don't need to get something done... it is nice to just sit in silence and take a few deep breathes.
It's so much easier to actually plan while the students are not in school because you really don't need to worry about them or worry about what's happening next. It's the only time you can really take it all in and determine what worked/ did not work during the day. Hence staying the extra 1-3 hours after school.
A student said to me, "After school, do teachers have a teacher party?"
"What is that?" I asked
"Like when they eat food and listen to music!"
See that would be nice! Just some free food, music, and relaxing! Sounds glorious.
No, no we don't have teacher parties. We just plan for tomorrow.
One day at a time
Most teachers are working so much harder than people ever think. They don't have time to sit around and enjoy a lunch break. If they are sitting around and talking, they are talking about what they are doing that afternoon and asking for advice or for another worksheet or to borrow a book.
"Teaching, the hardest job you'll ever love"
"I teach, what's your superpower?"
"Keep calm and pretend it's on the lesson plan"
"Don't make me use my teacher voice!"
Just a few t-shirts/ posters I've noticed in the classrooms at school :) all too relatable! ;)
To set the record straight, I know plenty of jobs involve working extra hours, short lunches, no breaks, etc.
But teachers experience all of these things and cannot show their anger, stress, or exhaustion because the students are there. You can't just decide to cut the day short and take a breather. Heck, you can't even walk out to the bathroom! There's no time for a personal moment. You just need to keep going. Most importantly, you also need to keep your energy levels up! In order to keep students engaged and learning you need to keep on smiling, keep on moving, and keep on your energetic spirit.
This job really isn't for everyone, even when you think it is for you. The statistic is that within the first 3 years of a teaching career, 50% of teachers will quit being a classroom teacher because of the stress.
That's just the reality. Every job has it's own reality. But this is the reality of MY job.
At the end of it all, I love my major, I love student teaching, I love being in the classroom, I love coming in early, I love staying late, I love my students, I love planning, I love grading, I love teaching.
I wouldn't change anything about this career. Except for maybe the respect a classroom teacher receives from the rest of the world... but that's for another blog post ;).
I'd much rather love my job even with all the extra craziness than settle for an okay job that has more consistency and benefits.
Loving what you do is so important. It makes the good days great and the not so good days tolerable because you love it anyway.
Student teaching has been the BEST reality check to make sure you really want this whole teaching thing. I've learned more in 5 weeks than I have in my entire program.... and I still think I'm in it for life. Even with the crazy! :)
4 weeks until midterm... what?!
This is all going TOO fast.
**Also! Please check out this link! It puts the whole teacher schedule vs. salary thing into a perspective. ****
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2011/02/23/if-teachers-are-mere-babysitters-pay-them-accordingly/
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