TIME! There's NEVER enough time!
Hi Everyone,
Although I had just said I was going to probably post about once a week, I figured since I had the day off for Labor Day and I'm just starting out, maybe writing some more would be fun..
I thought I'd share today about something that comes up a lot concerning teachers. Our time. How much we do or do not spend at school. How often we take work home. What amount of time is exactly spent in front of our students and of course the big one- SUMMER BREAK!
It's easy for me to sit at my desk and talk about how much work I do and the time I spend on it. However, if you are not in the education field it's not something a lot of people realize. Every year I think about tracking my hours just to get an idea of how much work time I actually do, just for myself, and even though we're about 2 weeks into the new year, I think this could be the year!
Most schools take about a week before the students arrive just for teachers. This time is spent setting up our classrooms, getting to know new colleagues, many meetings, lesson planning, copying, and figuring out any of the latest developements and changes in the curriculum. Someone asked me once if setting up my classroom took about 4 hours. I feel terrible for admitting that I started laughing. Loudly.
At the end of the year, most schools require teachers to pack up their classrooms. This means everything. Books, papers, pencils, decor, charts, personal affects, manipulatives, centers, technology, the classroom library and just about anything else you can think of. Every single thing must be in a box or bin and labeled. This process takes days. When we return in August or September, our boxes have been moved, our furniture is out of place and the classroom is usually an overall disaster. Our custodians work so hard in our school, especially over the summer doing repairs, cleaning the floor and doing overall needed maintenance. Their job of moving all our stuff in and out of our rooms is not easy and I always remind myself of that.
I usually spend the first day moving my furniture where I want it. This is not an easy task and I try very hard to not scratch the newly waxed floors or bend a table leg in the process. I start to situate boxes into general areas hoping I labeled them well enough to make this process a bit easier. Opening a few always feels a bit like Christmas at first, but that usually wears off after about 3 or 4 boxes.
It's amazing how fast that times goes. I feel good about my progress yet wonder what exactly I did. I think this concern comes from knowing that the next few days are filled with meetings, trainings and anything else that can take me away from my classroom and getting it done. Along with my classroom, I still have my lesson plans to do, copying for the first few days and activities/papers for our open house that week.
I ended up working 6 days during that first week and a half. (The first 2 days were optional and if I had come in, unpaid.) Most days I arrived at school around 7:30. I am contracted (and paid) to work from 8:10-3:50. On average I would leave around 4:30 during the week but had 3 days of staying till about 6:00.
Over those 6 days I was contracted (paid) to work 45 hours (we don't get paid for our 1/2 hour lunch.).
Over those 6 days I worked approximately 55 hours (a few more but I did take a longer lunch on 2 of the days).
One week in and I'm already over by 10 hours. Since that work week I have brought home work most nights. The first few days/weeks of school is like nothing else during the year. Although I had worked on lesson plans, every night they had to be tweaked now that I had actually met my students and was getting to know them.
Having a better idea of what they were capable of changed what I thought I would want to do. With simple changes comes a few extra copies and things here and there that need prepping. Those extra 30-45 minutes add up quickly.
During the first week of school we are also asked to sit with our students at lunch to help with the transition and also have some more time to get to know them. This is an important bonding time and I do enjoy these moments. These moments are, however, unpaid, and again, start to add up.
During the first 4 days of school I arrived at school everyday at 7:00 and due to late buses or back to school meetings, was there till 4:15. I also had no lunch breaks.
For 4 days, I was contracted (paid) for 30 hours. I worked 37 hours.
Again, 7 hours does not seem excessive, but 2 weeks into the school year and I already have 17 hours of unpaid time, and that only includes time spent at school. Add on the extra 2 hours at home and we're up to 19.
I'm not writing this to be an "I told you so" teacher. I don't want applause or people to tell me how sacrificing I am. I just want non-educators to understand how much of that time that is spent on our jobs is just that, OUR time. If you worked an extra 19 hours in a 2 week span, would you be ok with that? Would you request overtime pay or extra time-off built into your contract.
I know, I know, I can hear some of you now, Christmas Break, holidays, SUMMER BREAK!
I am going to continue keeping track of my hours this school year. I will share the discrepancies whether in my favor or not. True transparency and honesty is how our conversations will get started and continue to grow.
For now, enjoy your Labor Day holiday, everyone! We'll have smiling students waiting for us tomorrow!
Work Hour Count:
Work Week- Contracted: 45 Worked: 55 Over: 10
Week 1- Contracted-:30 Worked:37 + 2 (home) = 39 Over: 19
Although I had just said I was going to probably post about once a week, I figured since I had the day off for Labor Day and I'm just starting out, maybe writing some more would be fun..
I thought I'd share today about something that comes up a lot concerning teachers. Our time. How much we do or do not spend at school. How often we take work home. What amount of time is exactly spent in front of our students and of course the big one- SUMMER BREAK!
It's easy for me to sit at my desk and talk about how much work I do and the time I spend on it. However, if you are not in the education field it's not something a lot of people realize. Every year I think about tracking my hours just to get an idea of how much work time I actually do, just for myself, and even though we're about 2 weeks into the new year, I think this could be the year!
Most schools take about a week before the students arrive just for teachers. This time is spent setting up our classrooms, getting to know new colleagues, many meetings, lesson planning, copying, and figuring out any of the latest developements and changes in the curriculum. Someone asked me once if setting up my classroom took about 4 hours. I feel terrible for admitting that I started laughing. Loudly.
At the end of the year, most schools require teachers to pack up their classrooms. This means everything. Books, papers, pencils, decor, charts, personal affects, manipulatives, centers, technology, the classroom library and just about anything else you can think of. Every single thing must be in a box or bin and labeled. This process takes days. When we return in August or September, our boxes have been moved, our furniture is out of place and the classroom is usually an overall disaster. Our custodians work so hard in our school, especially over the summer doing repairs, cleaning the floor and doing overall needed maintenance. Their job of moving all our stuff in and out of our rooms is not easy and I always remind myself of that.
I usually spend the first day moving my furniture where I want it. This is not an easy task and I try very hard to not scratch the newly waxed floors or bend a table leg in the process. I start to situate boxes into general areas hoping I labeled them well enough to make this process a bit easier. Opening a few always feels a bit like Christmas at first, but that usually wears off after about 3 or 4 boxes.
It's amazing how fast that times goes. I feel good about my progress yet wonder what exactly I did. I think this concern comes from knowing that the next few days are filled with meetings, trainings and anything else that can take me away from my classroom and getting it done. Along with my classroom, I still have my lesson plans to do, copying for the first few days and activities/papers for our open house that week.
I ended up working 6 days during that first week and a half. (The first 2 days were optional and if I had come in, unpaid.) Most days I arrived at school around 7:30. I am contracted (and paid) to work from 8:10-3:50. On average I would leave around 4:30 during the week but had 3 days of staying till about 6:00.
Over those 6 days I was contracted (paid) to work 45 hours (we don't get paid for our 1/2 hour lunch.).
Over those 6 days I worked approximately 55 hours (a few more but I did take a longer lunch on 2 of the days).
One week in and I'm already over by 10 hours. Since that work week I have brought home work most nights. The first few days/weeks of school is like nothing else during the year. Although I had worked on lesson plans, every night they had to be tweaked now that I had actually met my students and was getting to know them.
Having a better idea of what they were capable of changed what I thought I would want to do. With simple changes comes a few extra copies and things here and there that need prepping. Those extra 30-45 minutes add up quickly.
During the first week of school we are also asked to sit with our students at lunch to help with the transition and also have some more time to get to know them. This is an important bonding time and I do enjoy these moments. These moments are, however, unpaid, and again, start to add up.
During the first 4 days of school I arrived at school everyday at 7:00 and due to late buses or back to school meetings, was there till 4:15. I also had no lunch breaks.
For 4 days, I was contracted (paid) for 30 hours. I worked 37 hours.
Again, 7 hours does not seem excessive, but 2 weeks into the school year and I already have 17 hours of unpaid time, and that only includes time spent at school. Add on the extra 2 hours at home and we're up to 19.
I'm not writing this to be an "I told you so" teacher. I don't want applause or people to tell me how sacrificing I am. I just want non-educators to understand how much of that time that is spent on our jobs is just that, OUR time. If you worked an extra 19 hours in a 2 week span, would you be ok with that? Would you request overtime pay or extra time-off built into your contract.
I know, I know, I can hear some of you now, Christmas Break, holidays, SUMMER BREAK!
I am going to continue keeping track of my hours this school year. I will share the discrepancies whether in my favor or not. True transparency and honesty is how our conversations will get started and continue to grow.
For now, enjoy your Labor Day holiday, everyone! We'll have smiling students waiting for us tomorrow!
Work Hour Count:
Work Week- Contracted: 45 Worked: 55 Over: 10
Week 1- Contracted-:30 Worked:37 + 2 (home) = 39 Over: 19
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