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#1 - I'm confused by what you are speaking of with the number of "preps". Where I taught a "prep" was a preparation period. So most teachers had 1, while some had 2. When you are saying 6 "preps" are you speaking of six classes?
"Preps" are the number of courses that you have to prepare for. For example, say I teach a freshman geometry class, an pre-algebra class and an algebra class....I have to prepare for 3 courses. I might have 2 sections of each so as teachers, we hope the 2 classes are at about the same place. But the material planned is the same.
When we are saying we have 5 or 6 preps, that means we have 5 or 6 different courses to prepare for. 4 preps takes twice the amount of time to prepare for as 2 (or almost....there are always diverse learning levels and styles that still require differentiated instructional planning across more than one class).
I am being serious when i say I am surprised Scocar that you were a teacher and didn't know what this meant. Did you teach college?
Two things:
But your main complaint has been classroom discipline and I think you'll find 9th graders to be generally better behaved than the upper classes. You major behavior problems won't be so bold I would think. I know that when I taught high school my worst class was my junior U.S. History class. They had juniors and then seniors that were retaking the class after failing. Many of them were disrespectful and didn't care. My sophomore World History classes were much more manageable.
I've taught in 3 different high schools, and my fresh and soph were never more manageable than my juniors and seniors. In my experience, upper classes are always better behaved. hmmmmm........this is an interesting perspective....wonder if it is just my state.
"Preps" are the number of courses that you have to prepare for. For example, say I teach a freshman geometry class, an pre-algebra class and an algebra class....I have to prepare for 3 courses. I might have 2 sections of each so as teachers, we hope the 2 classes are at about the same place. But the material planned is the same.
When we are saying we have 5 or 6 preps, that means we have 5 or 6 different courses to prepare for. 4 preps takes twice the amount of time to prepare for as 2 (or almost....there are always diverse learning levels and styles that still require differentiated instructional planning across more than one class).
I am being serious when i say I am surprised Scocar that you were a teacher and didn't know what this meant. Did you teach college?
I taught mostly 7th and 8th grade in Arizona. Our schedules that we got at the beginning of the year even had "PREP" written in the box that was our planning period. I've never heard a teacher refer to a class they had to prepare for as a "prep". It's not that I didn't understand it as much as I was surprised by the terminology. Obviously since we used the word "prep" to describe our planning period, it would have been very confusing to also use it in to describe how many classes we had to prepare for.
My wife, while not being a teacher, worked in several schools in Arizona in their front office. I just asked her: "What would you say if I told you a teacher had 4 preps?". Her response: "I would say she not doing any teaching!"
Interesting how different terminology is used in different areas. I wonder if it's a regional thing or a state thing.
I've taught in 3 different high schools, and my fresh and soph were never more manageable than my juniors and seniors. In my experience, upper classes are always better behaved. hmmmmm........this is an interesting perspective....wonder if it is just my state.
I don't have much experience at the high school level. I student taught for one year where I had a sophomore World History class, and junior/senior U.S. History class. Plus this year, while applying for my Missouri teaching license I've taught ACT Prep to juniors and seniors.
In my limited experience I've found that the juniors and seniors that are behavior problems are much more defiant. I can usually handle the disruptive kids. So while the problems in the lower grades might be more numerous, I've found them to be of a more manageable nature. When juniors and seniors are behavior problems they don't seem to care at all what you say to them. Many of them are not in line to graduate, and their outlook on school has been ingrained. The younger ones still have a shot to change for the better. I can use leverage with them to try and get through to them. I had a senior in my junior/senior U.S. History class that had 1 credit total in high school. He had failed every other class. His parents would not let him drop out, so he was just waiting until he turned 18. What motivation was I supposed to use to him to take school seriously and pass my class?
That is one reason that I really liked middle school. To me 7-9 grades are the ones where the kids were the most open to molding. Younger than that and they were to immature to even think about their future. But at about 7th grade they are just starting to consider those things. I've found that if they didn't "get it" by 9th grade, they were not going to get it. I taught many students that came in as 7th graders with very little care about their grades and were consistent behavior problems. Many of them left 8th grade as completely different kids. Of those that didn't "get it" by the end of 8th grade, most of them never did. But there were a few that going to high school in 9th grade sort of woke them up. When they came back to visit me I noticed a big change in them.
I've taught in 3 different high schools, and my fresh and soph were never more manageable than my juniors and seniors. In my experience, upper classes are always better behaved. hmmmmm........this is an interesting perspective....wonder if it is just my state.
In my school, freshmen are considered to be in training. Hence freshman teachers have more latitude in discipline. There is a demerit system in place for freshemen and teachers can issue detentions without the office's approval.
I'm really surprised that anyone would think that freshmen were better behaved than upper classmen. Freshmen don't yet know the rules. They're coming out of a middle school environment where they are not allowed to fail into an environment where they can fail and grades are permanent. They are also given more freedom in the high school which results in more behavior issues until the training sets in. Unfortunately, there are always a few for whom it never sets in. Those would be the problem children I deal with right now.
I know giving me geometry and physical science are supposed to be a slap in the face given my credentials but I'm hoping this is how it works out. I think I can run a classroom more efficiently if I have the authority to discipline rather than wait until things are bad enough to send them to the office. I'm not an electives teacher and I'm not a liked teacher, therefore I'm in the crosshairs for the worst behavior issue students but as an 11th grade teacher, I lack the authority to actually do anything about that. I'm liking the idea of having that authority.
I find that elementary teachers don't know what preps are. They think of them as prep periods instead of courses to prep for. Right now I have two heavy lab based preps and one prep period. I'm really liking the idea of having 2 or 3 non/light lab based preps and one prep period. I might be able to have a life.
While I'm very good at chemistry and I can set the bar high, I'm frustrated by the fact I simply do not have the time to teach it right. If I had it my way, I'd be doing demos almost every day and we'd be doing labs, at least, every other week but cannot handle the set ups, tear downs and waste disposal if I do that. I'm firmly in the any job doing is worth doing rihgt camp and don't care to do a job I can't do right. I'd LOVE to teach chemistry back in the day when it was recognized that science teachers with labs to prep needed more prep time and had TA's to help. Now we're given the same prep time as everyone else and the same pay. IMO, there is no incentive to teach chemistry when you can teach something less demanding.
Physical science will be fun. I can plan mini labs that have little clean up and can be used year after year. Geometry requires NO lab set up or clean up. I can put my time into perfecting my lesson plans and developing activities to do in class. I just need to make sure the department head doesn't get wind of the fact I'm liking this idea. She's not keen on me because I came out of industry (she has a chip on her shoulder about people from industry having the arrogance to think they can teach). I know giving me physical science is supposed to be a slap in the face but it's not. I think this could be fun. I'd love for teaching to be fun. I'm tired of working my butt off an always feeling I didn't do enough because I, simply, cannot do everything in the time I have that I think should be done to teach chemistry right.
I'm going to be very disappointed if I'm still teaching sections of chemistry next year.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 04-22-2012 at 09:21 AM..
I know that when I got seventh graders as their first year in the junior high system they were afraid of me. Even though I've never taught freshman, I've seen much the same thing from my 8th graders when they went to high school. I came from a district that was K-8, then they went to high school. So in some respects I think that has a lot to do with it. The 9th graders are experiencing their first year off of the smaller campus and so they are timid and scared. Thus they are much easier to make to tow the line. As I said this is not based upon my direct experience teaching them, but from what I say during student teaching, observing several classes, and speaking with colleagues that taught high school.
In Wisconsin (at least the schools that I'm familiar with) call planning periods "preps" or "preptime" (preparatory time). You may say that you have to prep for X number of classes.
I sub in High Schools in two different school districts. Both have seven periods per day, the teachers teach five classes and normally have one planning period & the second planning period may be a "duty period" supervising a study hall, the library or the computer lab or may be a true planning period.
Of course, it varies dramatically how many different "classes" a teacher may have. It is typical to have two or three different "classes" to prepare to teach, but some teachers may have "four" different classes to prepare to teach.
I taught mostly 7th and 8th grade in Arizona. Our schedules that we got at the beginning of the year even had "PREP" written in the box that was our planning period. I've never heard a teacher refer to a class they had to prepare for as a "prep". It's not that I didn't understand it as much as I was surprised by the terminology. Obviously since we used the word "prep" to describe our planning period, it would have been very confusing to also use it in to describe how many classes we had to prepare for.
My wife, while not being a teacher, worked in several schools in Arizona in their front office. I just asked her: "What would you say if I told you a teacher had 4 preps?". Her response: "I would say she not doing any teaching!"
Interesting how different terminology is used in different areas. I wonder if it's a regional thing or a state thing.
All of the teachers I know use "prep" the same way you do. One prep means one preparation period.
The confusion between "preps" and "planning" is related to the differences in meaning between states/school systems.
I have 3 preps, which in my system means I teach 3 different subjects. I have 1 "planning period" per day (that's not entirely true, I have a double planning every other day to manage the AP program and prepare for a Middle States accreditation visit). Last year I had 4 "preps" meaning 4 totally different subjects within Social Studies.
What has made this year interesting is that my schedule was changed at the semester so I could take over an AP class whose regular teacher is on long term sick leave. A permanent sub is now covering what had been my classes during that time. I'm helping him with plans while he does the paperwork.
I have heard the word used both ways, but it is pretty common for high school teachers to use it to denote the number of different subjects to be taught rather than the planning periods. We usually had only one planning period, but we could have up to 5 preps if we were teaching 5 different subjects or even several geometry courses at different levels (honors geometry, regular geometry and lower level geometry would be three different preps with some commonalities).
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In my school, freshmen are considered to be in training. Hence freshman teachers have more latitude in discipline. There is a demerit system in place for freshemen and teachers can issue detentions without the office's approval. 
