How Many Hours Should I Work?
I spend 26 hours per week in class, including monitoring and greeting during passing periods, and in mandatory meetings of the utmost importance. (First, let’s not minimize the physical and pychological toll it takes to be “on” that much, especially when your audience is captive and, for the most part, doesn’t really care about what you are saying.)
I usually get to work about a half hour early…plus 2.5 hours per week.
I work through lunch without eating 3 or 4 days per week…plus 3 hours per week.
I stay until 4:30-5:00 every day and then go pick up my kids…7.5 hours per week.
I do a little grading while at the same time taking care of the kids and making dinner until the wife gets home…plus 4 hours per week.
Two or three nights a week I will work for a couple of hours after the kids have gone to bed…plus 5 hours per week.
I work on average 8-10 hours over each weekend. About half of that time is always while my wife takes the kids somewhere fun so I can sit and do the most mind-numbing shit imaginable that doesn’t even get me any exercise or fresh air…9 hours per week.
That’s 57 hours per week. That’s about all I’ve got for this. I know a lot of teachers work a lot more. They are engaged in some combination of wasting their time, burning themselves out, or just plain being stupid. Particularly when most of the out-of-class time requires brain function, to quote myself, “only a notch or two above blinking and digestion“. And then you have diminishing returns. How much time should I spend on the kid who has already failed this class once, failed another of my classes and gives no indication that he intends to come to school much or do any work?
Do I just need to have higher expectations? Call his mom…again? Bring her in? Have all of the teachers , a counselor and a social worker meet again so we can simultaneously waste the time of 6-8 people at once? I suppose that’s more efficient…in a way. Draw up a “behavior and attendance contract”? Has anybody really seen these things work for more than 10 days? Or do they just take up time and make us feel like we are doing something useful by creating yet more “documentation’? How much time should we spend once we have all realized that we are wasting our time?
If you’re a teacher, that’s when you double-down!
And even at 57 hours I am always way behind in terms of entering my data for this and that and documenting this and that and even just the basic shit that even I think is important like grading and giving feedback. That’s why I wonder: If I make a phone call to a parent, why do I have to document that phone call? Half the reason I don’t make the call in the first place is because then I have to take the additional time to record it somewhere. (I know. “It only takes a couple of seconds.” But I say to you, everything only takes a couple of seconds or a couple of minutes and I am tired of dividing my day into hundreds of mindless, repetitive tasks every week with my only real goal being to get through more of them the next week.)…The administrators will tell you it’s important to document parent contacts for legal reasons and in case some parent ever asks and is upset, then we will have documentation.
Bullshit.
First, in six years I have never, ever been asked for any sort of documentation for any reason about communication with parents by anybody other than my supervisor who has “check parent log” listed on a big list of boxes to check when they are “evaluating” me. Second, an excel spreadsheet with a bunch of real or made-up phone calls doesn’t prove anything, in or out of court.
Dammit…I usually like to tear it up a bit on Columbus Day. Spain is fuckin’ awesome. However, while my wife took the kids to the park and then hung up Halloween decorations, I spent the whole day grading papers and putting useless numbers into the “standards mastery tracker”. Big fun and totally useful.
Ssshhhh…Do you hear that sound?…It’s the Achievement Gap shaking in its boots.
Mr. Teachbad
UPDATE: Holy Crap!!! I somehow forgot to include my planning period into the figures above. That is 85 minutes per day; 425 minutes per week…let’s say 2/3 of that time is actually working…4.5 hours.
That bumps me up over 60 hours per week on this job that is 30% babysitting, 30% teaching and changing the world, and 40% treadmill.
57 hours a week and you still haven’t fixed all the problems of the world? Evidently you have just been putting in seat time, and not thinking really deeply.
You might argue that there are many brilliant minds throughout the country being paid to come up with solutions, and the best they have done is tell you to fill out a phone log and/or move to Finland, but that is why we expect more of you. Heck, if the k12 teachers of the world can’t solve all of our problems, then who can we turn to?
I’m feeling the same way. I’m a first career teacher in my 4th year. Last year I moved from middle to high school and I just feel trapped. I don’t know if I should go back to an upper middle class middle school (where I’m belittled by parents, the kids, and administration), stay where I am (where I teach a dumbed down class to a mind numbing test and deal with kids who refuse to study, do homework, or even give s shit), or just switch careers altogether. I spend half my time searching for new jobs and grad school programs.
But then one kid will make it all worth it
This post comes at the perfect moment as I literally was just thinking how I worked all day while at school and have yet to really quit and take any time for myself. It’s almost 10 PM and I still have a stack of papers and alist of “to-do’s” waiting to be taken care of. To make matters worse, I’m getting those daily dickhead emails asking where my 100 worthless forms are and then informing me that the County has come up w/yet another pointless form that has to be turned in within the next day or so.I’m starting to wonder when there will be a bathroom break form for every trip I make!Forms, forms, forms! It’s the teachers’ version of a TPS report (for those who have seen Office Space) How does one get everything done? How does one NOT care that they’ve spent their whole day ass deep in school work and 1/2 of it for NO pay and NO recognition? Hours put into this job? Way too many if you intend to do a decent job. And you are absolutely right…is it really helpin little Johnny who has taken the class 3 times and makes more money selling drugs than I do in my “respected” career?! Sometimes I truly wonder…
haha…one year I made up half my phone calls…it’s easy since 90% of the time the phone has either blocked the school number, it’s disconnected, it’s the wrong number (on purpose), the message machine is full, the message machine isn’t full but you get the feel it’s the wrong home (on purpose), or lo-and-behold someone answers and says they’ve never heard of little johnny……
So…I made up my half documents and then waited to see what would happen. I’ll be darn ….nothing happened. No one even asked to see my fake log book. And you know what ….I had more time to spend grading little Johnny’s failing lousy work that he copied from someone else.
We had a mindless planning day today I actually was foolish enough to think I could plan. Nope a three hour meeting that involved nursery rhymes (yes yes…I’m a high school teacher). I was beat to hell when that ended. So back to kiddos tomorrow…they’ve a relief at least over trainers who only know nursery rhymes….
Quite exactly what I was looking for while doing a grad level, weekly application. Hy do I feel trampled because I seem to have the best interest of the community at heart. From the students to the grandparents, spanning generations and professions, everyone can play a dynamic role in the advancement of the group. If only people would all think that “little johnny” was actually a person just like themselves to be respected and have the opportunity to succeed. Be thankful their life turned for the positive and not let it go to their head?
People need to question, become involved, and engage themselves in their community and one aspect of the community is the local school house. You all sure do exhibit the classic signs of burnout. May I ask if any of you have read any articles as to how this process can be altered, slowly over time?
Here is an article I have found
http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=10&sid=2002a830-be14-4d55-9352-70c969f934e3%40sessionmgr13&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=eric&AN=EJ809773
Hi Aryk….I’m not quite I understand your post? (and btw…the link will not open without a Walden U id and password)
Are you suggesting that we are burned out and need to work on that? And your article has some help?
Assuming you mean that….Yes I’m burned out but probably not on what you think. I work unbelievably hard to get these kids to learn. And sometimes I succeed. I get the feeling most of the posters here do the same. It’s horribly degrading and defeating to be put through mind numbing workshops by people whose teaching techniques and knowledge are poster child ads for what not to do. These are people whose prime job objective is to NEVER go back in the classroom.
If you teach in a low income school and you work at it….and despite Arne Duncan, Bill Gates, M. Rhee and company’s present thinking….most teachers I’ve seen do work at it D*MN hard at it. It’s awful hard not to get a burned out when you call home to try and figure out how to help little Johnny and mom hangs up on you the minute you say you’re his teacher. Get enough of this plus apathetic kids, crappy pathetic administration, mind numbing paperwork that never ends, meetings where you’re treated like a 2 year old and you burn out.
What really makes me feel bad is how young the teachers are now that are burning out. I’ve earned my burn out after 30 years of this. But I wasn’t even close at my 6 year mark. Then I was starting to really get the hang of teaching and loving it. Now what I see is fabulous young teachers dead tired, wrung out from stress and wild eyed deer in the headlights. If they’re in an inner city school they are desperate to figure out how to get out fast.
This isn’t “burnout” …this is something else and it’s really bad. It takes at least 6 years to train a teacher….and 6 years for the brightest and best to start getting serious about figuring out they have to move on fast. This is more than burnout that can be fixed with some mental excercises. This blog puts to words what that something else is. I would hope…but don’t count on it…that eventually, before we wreck out educational system totally, some of what’s talked about here will matter.
Just finished a 40 hour four-day marathon of grading and documenting plagiarism. Class averages have moved up to 58% because I’ve thrown out my expectations. I’ll hug little Johnny tomorrow and change his life. Tonight I need to figure out what the hell I’ll do in class tomorrow to generate more work to grade. I think perhaps articles about burnout will have to wait until I have time…and yet here I am doing something besides grading and it’s only 10:05 p.m….Back to work…
3 hours @ a “district mandated” workshop today on PLANNING (lol) effective science labs and data analysis. another useless piece of crap power point that one of my failing students could have successfully done a better job on. I could have gotten the planning and the data analysis done if they’d left us alone instead of going to the other side of town for that bullshit. I’m praying to hit the lottery….
Hi Gateach….I see it looks like you’re in Georgia also. We had our “professional “training Monday that just about did me in. All of this is focused on what will be coming down the pipes.
Georgia will be leading the country in developing tests for teacher evaluation. ALong with RTP money Georgia was also one of 2 states awarded a grant to develop multi-year testing that will form the basis for teacher evaluations. They will likely start field testing all this next year. We were told Monday to expect merit pay by 2014.
p.s. forms – request forms in MS word form. They will be all excited. Learn to use mailmerge. Create hundreds of individualized forms at the push of a button. They will think you are a god. Saves hours, which you can spend sending snarky remarks to Mr Teachbad.
I love it. Send the snark.
Only 60 hours a week? The achievement gap is most definitely your fault.
Teachbad already know Teachbad bad.
Make Teachbad feel more bad.
I have to comment on what a few people have already said. I don’t know if this is being burnt out…I agree that it’s something worse. I’ve seen amazing young teachers leave school in tears b/c they “just can’t take it anymore.” That’s a bigger issue than just being burntout. There’s a huge problem here and it can’t be fixed with eating healthy, exercising to relieve stress, taking walks on the beach, or napping after work. It’s not a problem easily remedied and I think that’s why it feels so good to vent here and share our feelings with others who truly understand that inner feeling of “there’s got to be something better…this is crazy…”
LMSMY-
You have hit on something that I feel all the time, but don’t always articulate well. Thank you.
I think there is something bigger going on here. Because we all only have at most a handful of schools to compare individually it becomes hard to see the forest for the trees. But I think there are forces at work, all rooted in good intentions I’m sure, that have come together to make this a shit job for larger numbers of us. My school, for instance, seems dead set on 1) taking as much autonomy away from teachers as possible and 2) making sure they never feel as if they are doing well at their jobs.
As I have said before, I would never encourage my own kids, my students, or a friend to become a teacher. Isn’t that sad?
No I don’t think it is good intentions. I think we’re seeing the beginning of the privatization of our school system. There is big, big money behind this. I also thought for a long time that it was misguided but good intentions. But the more I read there simply doesn’t seem to be another explanation. I expect that in wealthy school systems things will pretty much continue and teachers will be well paid (on the scale of teacher pay). But in the inner city there will be a rotating crew of beginning teachers who leave as soon as possible. Merit pay will ensure that pay doesn’t ever get high and total mindless curriculum means training really doesn’t have to be that good. Any college grad will be able to read a script basically will do for a few years.
Read Diane Ravitch’s column “Bridging the Gap”. She’s a smart lady with a lifetime in educational policy (and was heavily involved in No Child Left Behind and now has made a 180 after seeing the destruction it caused). I think reluctantly has come to the same
Hi Ellie,
Yes we had our training on Class Keys(the new eval system) late last yr. Somehow during that training they snuck in a few details about merit pay coming our way. I was told that I worked hard but not very smart…I am @ a loss about what I need to do. Thinking about switching districts b/c the current one I’m in can’t seem to stay out of the headlines or out of trouble. I love my students- I just gotta do what’s best for me and that might mean another school and/or district.
Class Keys seem to be what Impact is in DC. Merit pay is definitely coming. No one is talking much yet but Ga will be one of the initial test states for this type of evaluation. We were one of 2 states awarded federal money to develop tests that will be given multiple times a year. Our evaluations will be based on these tests. You’re not going to hear about this much until after the elections but I know that Barnes and Deal have both talked to test developers about field testing next year. Monday my principal said expect it in 2014. I don’t know what to say……if I was a beginning teacher in a low performing school I’d be training in another field fast.
I, like you all, need to maintain my anonymity, but I teach in a district somewhere south of Oregon and North of Mexico and the name of my state begins with a consonant between B and D. In a weird way, hearing that this problem spans our nation inspires me or, maybe, just makes me realize how many of us face the same issues. This venue—Teachbad’s venue—is something of a haven for me at the end of a day when I’m sorry I have an electric oven instead of gas. This is not my first career, but it is the first career I’ve been in where professionals are treated with all the dignity and respect of day laborers. Too often the sarcasm, bitterness, angst, harsh criticisms, and bitchiness we exhibit as teachers are discounted as simple negativity. One common denominator I have found among competent, intelligent teachers who are good for students is that we survive through cynicism. The fact is that we have answers, not just complaints. I’ve been told by administration to avoid focusing on the negative and dwell on the positive–okay, I’m positive this sucks. Focusing on the negative, they say, is not productive. Three problems with this: 1) what I am told in every meeting I attend is how wrong everything I do is, so there’s not enough positive to fill the hours; 2) it ignores that change comes from acknowledging the negative; 3)what “they” really mean is seeking a change is inconvenient.
I agree with Ellie that this has nothing to do with good intentions gone awry. The only people I meet who have good intentions are those of us in the classroom…and not even all of us. Look where we end up—insightfully frustrated and using pseudonyms to raise real issues so we don’t lose our jobs or actually change things. It’s a hell of a fix to be in. It adds to the impotent rage. I think that may be a possible name for the type of burnout we are experiencing. I’ve been burnt out before; this isn’t it. I’ve been mad as hell and not willing to take it anymore; this isn’t it. I’ve been at the end of my rope before; this isn’t it. But I’ve felt hopeless before, and this isn’t that either. I think that I have never before felt at once as full of righteous indignation and utterly powerless as I do now. Is that it? Are we just tired of preaching to the choir? We are a pretty good choir you know. Maybe it’s time to don berets and goatees and take to the streets in rebellion. Our students deserve a good old-fashioned rebellion. Then again, I have so many papers to grade and I need to call a parent about that incident in third period today. So…tomorrow night maybe I’ll get out the beret. By the way, as I’m typing this, our wannabe ex-ebay CEO, billionaire governor candidate has a commercial on the radio telling everybody that we should all see “Waiting for Superman” ASAP to get the real picture of what’s wrong with our schools so we can help her make a change. Yes, Ellie, I’m sure we’re not in Kansas anymore.
Thanks Two, Ellie, GA, Ass (let’s go with “Sunshine”?)-
You guys are fantastic. Today I feel like we’ve turned a bit of a corner. Whenever I write, I never really know if what I say is particular to my state, district, school, department, or maybe just to me because I am a grumpy asshole. I have tended to think that this must be the case. Who else but me would work in such a crappy, demoralizing place? I’m starting to see the magnitude of this. Thank you all and please keep talking.
Mr. Teachbad…I am very grateful for this blog. And I know you put time into it ……your most precious commodity.
Most of us are dealing with survival right now and having this validate and put that into words is helpful beyond belief.
Ellie
By the way, I have students who would deduce from my geographical clues that I teach in Wisconsin, but I teach English, so it’s not my problem.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/
This is Diane Ravitch’s blog. I think it’s very worthwhile the read to understand the big picture of what we’re dealing with.
Look dude. Here comes the cavalry.
1. Teach only one concept per week. Then develop a bunch of mini projects, in worksheets, and whatever cooperative learning drivel you can throw together. If you can get your hands on an online course developed as an Independant Learning format use it in your class! Circulate, socialize, maintain order and wait for the bell. Collect work, give a completion mark and chuck the work into a student maintained portfolio.
2. Don’t actually mark tests or exams instead just eyeball them and give the kid the mark that you know they deserve.
3. Avoid staff room, stay under radar, and wait for holidays.
4. Enjoy!
C’mon,
One concept per week and not even grading tests? I know teaching is hard but even with 40 hours per week you can do better than that.
I like it.
I love my students…I do. I used to feel happy to come to work, plan exciting activities and lessons….but somewhere along the way things got really screwy. Maybe because I’m a native NY’er and I expected a union but there is none in my backward state that I currently teach in. I started teaching before NCLB was passed and ever since the shit just got really hectic. And now I’m just praying that I can make it until Turkey day.
“full of righteous indignation and utterly powerless”==holy shiv, that’s so exactly it, two cents!
i’ve just read three of your posts and yours is definitely my new favorite blog.
this post is especially interesting to me, as this is my first year NOT teaching, after six years in a large Gothic Metropolis. occasionally i wonder if it was the right decision, or if i’d ever want to go back…there aren’t many places where the reality is quite so brutally real as this post and the comments. so thank you for the dose of reality, and i hope you spread your influence far so that those outside the walls of a classroom know exactly what teachers deal with and what they need, along with the kids.