When was the last time your principal or admin. actually lightened the load??? (university, public school)
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Having taught for many years, I thought it would be a topic worth discussing. The invariable "piling on" may very well be the biggest problem facing teachers today. I just read a post where the new teacher reported working 70 hrs. a week. Now, clearly that is unsustainable. I actually feel compelled to start attending board meetings just so that I can continue to ask the question, "When was the last time any of you concerned yourself with teacher stress levels, conducted a survey to see how teachers felt about the loads that they are carrying, did a single thing to see to it that those loads were actually reduced?" I may be on a 1 man crusade, but who else will speak up?
Having taught for many years, I thought it would be a topic worth discussing. The invariable "piling on" may very well be the biggest problem facing teachers today. I just read a post where the new teacher reported working 70 hrs. a week. Now, clearly that is unsustainable. I actually feel compelled to start attending board meetings just so that I can continue to ask the question, "When was the last time any of you concerned yourself with teacher stress levels, conducted a survey to see how teachers felt about the loads that they are carrying, did a single thing to see to it that those loads were actually reduced?" I may be on a 1 man crusade, but who else will speak up?
Not many. Even the CEA and AFT are unwilling to stick their neck out for teachers. The popular view being spun is that teachers just show up and collect a check, at least that's the way our governor has portrayed teachers here in Connecticut. It's a great diversion from the real problems of unemployment, rising oil costs, health care costs, etc.
Hi I'm the new teacher you are referencing. And yes, 70 hrs a week is unsustainable, but its my first year and to be expected. I'm learning the standards and content for my grade. From what I hear next year will also be another rough year with long hours, then it starts to lessen.
And I've been slacking on this week off. I'd planned to write some units, and I didn't. So while I could have taken the chance to lighten my load when school resumes, I choose not to. That's on me.
However I have to laugh at your post because it is so accurate. Most of my extra work comes from my principal. And up until November he had no idea I was working late or coming in on weekends. He leaves nearly everyday at 3:15 on the button unless there is a rare meeting. Luckily I have an AMAZING mentor who has stood up for me and told the principal his ideas and demands are unreasonable. She's also gone to bat for me about using the textbooks in the classroom. She tells them its expecting too much for me to have my own resources my first year, that I am still learning the curriculum and standards.
Without her I would have quit by now. She's gotten me through some stressful situations. Its hard for a new teacher because we KNOW we can do better than we are doing and we are worried our kids our going to be harmed because of our learning curve. That's where a lot of stress comes from, when I get done with a lesson and realize I could have done it better had I done it in an entirely different manner. I file it away for next year but feel guilt that this year's kids aren't going to get to experience it (given time constraints and the breadth of subject matter we have to learn this year reteaching isn't always an option).
Each year it was a new initiative, a new inclusion, a new integration, a new idea, a new direction. Never was there a "stop doing this...". I've discovered that most Principals are very good at delegating responsibilities so they can attend the ridiculous amounts of meetings required/necessitated by administrators, parents, school board members, outside agencies etc. I don't envy their position, wouldn't want the responsibility, but I wish they would have to teach at least 1 semester a year (in a middle school or high school) so that they were actually back in the classroom for part of the year.
Walk a mile in my shoes....it's been a long time since that's ever happened.
Not many. Even the CEA and AFT are unwilling to stick their neck out for teachers. The popular view being spun is that teachers just show up and collect a check, at least that's the way our governor has portrayed teachers here in Connecticut. It's a great diversion from the real problems of unemployment, rising oil costs, health care costs, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sunnyskies1
Hi I'm the new teacher you are referencing. And yes, 70 hrs a week is unsustainable, but its my first year and to be expected. I'm learning the standards and content for my grade. From what I hear next year will also be another rough year with long hours, then it starts to lessen.
And I've been slacking on this week off. I'd planned to write some units, and I didn't. So while I could have taken the chance to lighten my load when school resumes, I choose not to. That's on me.
However I have to laugh at your post because it is so accurate. Most of my extra work comes from my principal. And up until November he had no idea I was working late or coming in on weekends. He leaves nearly everyday at 3:15 on the button unless there is a rare meeting. Luckily I have an AMAZING mentor who has stood up for me and told the principal his ideas and demands are unreasonable. She's also gone to bat for me about using the textbooks in the classroom. She tells them its expecting too much for me to have my own resources my first year, that I am still learning the curriculum and standards.
Without her I would have quit by now. She's gotten me through some stressful situations. Its hard for a new teacher because we KNOW we can do better than we are doing and we are worried our kids our going to be harmed because of our learning curve. That's where a lot of stress comes from, when I get done with a lesson and realize I could have done it better had I done it in an entirely different manner. I file it away for next year but feel guilt that this year's kids aren't going to get to experience it (given time constraints and the breadth of subject matter we have to learn this year reteaching isn't always an option).
Isn't it nice when the our political heros do a lump sum evaluation. These idiots don't have a clue what goes on in schools, teachers are just an easy target. Surely, the system has nothing to do with it. The # of hours required is a mute point. Prolonged stress dealing with dysfunctional bureaucracies would come up a tad short as well. My concern is for the young lady with a good heart and work ethic that might find herself someday disillusioned, no longer willing to put in the extra hours, leaving at 3:15 sharp just like her principal. Tired of being asked to "put on a smile" the next time some administrator comes up with next "bright idea" hahahah or decides to change your assignment so that all your previous efforts to refine your methods & materials is wasted. I am "retired" but as I say, the emphasis is on "tired." Can you tell? But, I still have a vested interest, and a desire to fight the good fight! Keep up your efforts, in small ways, everyday, despite everything, you do make a difference!
Her first year, she was given a high school (2 classes), a middle school (2 classes), and 4 grades at an elementary school (2.5 hrs per grade per week, for a total of 30 hrs + 5 plan hours + 2.5 hrs travel). This basically required her to warp between schools; which was made all the more fun when she realized there was a speed trap directly on her route between schools. Her plan time was mostly eliminated so she would have enough travel time.
Her second year, she grew the middle school program enough with recruitment (with over half the kids coming out of her elementary school, despite having 5 feeders) so her elementary school was eliminated from her schedule. Instead, she is just required to help out at the elementary schools, on top of running sectionals and full orchestra rehearsals after school. Problem is, her schedule was 40 minutes too short (only 34 hrs per week), since the unpaid after school stuff does not count on her schedule.
So, forward to next year. They decided to keep her new responsibilities, but give her another elementary school again to bring her over 37.5 hrs again (which would now require her to travel 3x-4x per day depending on the day as well as give her a 7 am to 4 pm daily schedule). She jumps through an enormous amount of hoops with lots of begging towards administrators and finds a way to add a beginning orchestra at the middle school. This allows her to drop the extra elementary and cut her schedule back down to 7 am to 3:30 pm.
But.... the district decides to eliminate her middle school and high school schedule and give her 5 elementary schools instead (5 schools * 4 grades * 2 hours/week = 40 hours with warping between schools, but the current teacher has 3 empty 6 grade classes). The current elementary teacher that has been there longer will instead get her high school and middle school classes, because she could not handle the 5 elementary school schedule (and, just maybe, they hope she will quit when she is forced to deal with older kids who need higher technical skills from a teacher and they can stop worrying about all her 5th and 6th graders quitting). She is really looking forward to watching this teacher (with no orchestra experience btw) potentially dismantle her high school program that she doubled the numbers on in two years.
And these are still all just in class hours. None of her hours outside of class count (like her Thursday rehearsals until 10 pm). There is no extra pay for running orchestra like there is for sports. I am almost certain that if the district moves forward with this complete swap of schools, she will quit by the end of next year and go teach privately.
You do realize that this is happening in the private sector as well, and has been for years? People are laid off, not re-hired and the remaining people must pick up their jobs. I work at a public library and we have three full time staff positions that were eliminated. The duties were parceled out among the rest of us.
You do realize that this is happening in the private sector as well, and has been for years? People are laid off, not re-hired and the remaining people must pick up their jobs. I work at a public library and we have three full time staff positions that were eliminated. The duties were parceled out among the rest of us.
But that's not all that is happening in teaching. Yes, our class sizes are up because they're laying people off so our normal teaching loads are larger BUT on top of that we have standards being fed from the government and our administration is demanding that we now have data to show that we are meeting those standards. So, not only are we picking up the slack because there are fewer teachers, we now have the role of data analyst and must defend our positions. Just the increased class sizes are bad enough. The data analysis is a full time job unto itself.
I used to give tests and grade them. Now I have to attach a standard to every question, do an item analysis and report which standards my students are getting and which they are weak in. If I weren't a singleton, I'd have the additional challenge to meet with my peers and compare how my kids did against theirs and we'd be tasked with figuring out why the differences exist. I just want to teach.
Seriously, I'd be doing less if I had my old job back in engineering at double the work load. AND I'd only answer to one boss. Because I'm paid with public tax dollars, everyone thinks they're my boss. Every extra child in my classroom is an extra set of parents I have to deal with on top of extra papers to grade. And then there's this whole data mindset that has been handed to us. This would not have been done when I was in industry. Not even with the cuts. You can't hand someone who already has more than a full time job another full time job and expect anything to be done right.
I get very little data analysis done. I do what I have to when the admins ask for it and then just try to get my day job done in the meantime. I can't do it all. I'd love to analyse data but I don't have time. I didn't even do a pretest for second semester. I"m praying they don't want a full accounting on my final exam. It would take me until July to attach the standards to the questions, determine their level and verify that my students learned the standards.
I like the Missouri standards for instrumental music....
all students in an instrumental music class should read, sight read, perform, and demonstrate technique at grade 3, regardless of actual length of time playing, and advanced students (e.g. junior senior) should do the same at grade 4.
Grade 3 Literature: Selections for advanced middle school and high school ensembles, intended to challenge performers with at least 3 years of playing experience (based on private lesson experience).
Grade 4 Literature: Selections for advanced high school ensembles, community-based groups and college/university ensembles as well.
And that is before getting into the improve, group play, solo, and composition requirements for those same classes.
That part is enough fun at a school where students are not even allowed to take instruments home, much less receive private lessons. On top of that, the music teachers have to develop tests and assignments corresponding to all of the reading, writing, and mathematics standards at grade level. They actually have to spend 30 minutes a week working on vocabulary. Not music vocabulary, but testing vocabulary. (And the entire department is required to have articulating final exams between choir, orchestra, and band; I am not even sure how they pull that one off.)
Actually, I take that back... I know how they pull that one off. They have a ridiculously easy and very general final exam that counts for nothing, and then have a separate performance final assignment that essentially replaces the final exam.
But that's not all that is happening in teaching. Yes, our class sizes are up because they're laying people off so our normal teaching loads are larger BUT on top of that we have standards being fed from the government and our administration is demanding that we now have data to show that we are meeting those standards. So, not only are we picking up the slack because there are fewer teachers, we now have the role of data analyst and must defend our positions. Just the increased class sizes are bad enough. The data analysis is a full time job unto itself.
I used to give tests and grade them. Now I have to attach a standard to every question, do an item analysis and report which standards my students are getting and which they are weak in. If I weren't a singleton, I'd have the additional challenge to meet with my peers and compare how my kids did against theirs and we'd be tasked with figuring out why the differences exist. I just want to teach.
Seriously, I'd be doing less if I had my old job back in engineering at double the work load. AND I'd only answer to one boss. Because I'm paid with public tax dollars, everyone thinks they're my boss. Every extra child in my classroom is an extra set of parents I have to deal with on top of extra papers to grade. And then there's this whole data mindset that has been handed to us. This would not have been done when I was in industry. Not even with the cuts. You can't hand someone who already has more than a full time job another full time job and expect anything to be done right.
I get very little data analysis done. I do what I have to when the admins ask for it and then just try to get my day job done in the meantime. I can't do it all. I'd love to analyse data but I don't have time. I didn't even do a pretest for second semester. I"m praying they don't want a full accounting on my final exam. It would take me until July to attach the standards to the questions, determine their level and verify that my students learned the standards.
Ivory,
It's not going to get better in the near future. I suggest you seriously consider brushing up your engineering skills and re-enter the private sector. If this economy turns the private sector will recover. However, the municipal sector always lags several years. With the current changes to education coming down along with the lag effect it will not improve for several years. My prediction is that it will be 2020 before the problems of the current theories for fixing education are truly understood. Education needs a new model that cannot be created in isolation as it is now. Our economic, political, social welfare and international policies need to be revamped to reflect a world which is considerably more interdependent. The task is large and there is no one/no group defining the mission or articulating the message.
Education is an easy target because everyone has gone to school and has a first-hand perspective of what education means to them. However, the experience differs greatly depending on where you received your education. I'm sure that someone who went to a public school in Newark, NJ or Detroit, MI will have a different perspective than someone who went to school in Alexandria, VA or Greenwich, CT.
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But, I still have a vested interest, and a desire to fight the good fight! Keep up your efforts, in small ways, everyday, despite everything, you do make a difference!
