Uncategorized | Oct 4, 2012
How to work a 40 hour week as a teacher
By Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
How to work a 40 hour week as a teacher
By Angela Watson
A 40 hour week for a teacher is almost unheard of. The growing number of teacher-bashers out there have somehow gotten the idea that we work far fewer hours that. And of course, anyone who’s ever worked in the field knows that the time spent at school combined with the time spent on paperwork at home often averages out to 50-70 hours a week…or more.
I believe there’s a healthy balance between the perception of teachers working only from 9-3 and the unfortunate reality of them working 7-7. As a classroom teacher, my goal in finding a work-life balance was to dedicate 40 hours a week to my job. Sure, I might spend additional time in the evenings looking online for new lesson ideas or making manipulatives while I watched TV, but those were tasks I really enjoyed. They didn’t feel like work to me, and I didn’t do them every day. My goal was to complete my “work-work” tasks during the course of an 8 hour day: grading, paperwork, photocopies, etc.
I succeeded about 90% of the time. The beginning and end of the school year were the major exceptions. At those times, I was always prepared to work as many hours as it took. 70-hour weeks were not atypical for me in August and September (weekends included). And during those years when I was new to the grade level, school, or school system, I sometimes had to settle for alternating 8-hour days and 10-hour days, or spending Sundays working from home, but I did always manage to get to a 40-hour week by late October. Usually, the only time I’d go beyond 40 hours in a normal work week was if there was a special project or event coming up.
So that means I don’t have a fool-proof system that will guarantee you’ll leave the school parking lot before sundown every night. But I do have some tips to share that made it easier for me to work a reasonable amount of hours. I’ve shared seven pages of timesaving tips for teachers in chapter 34 of The Cornerstone Book, Timesaving Strategies: Discovering How to Be a Teacher and Still Have a Personal Life. Here are six additional ideas ideas for lightening your workload:
1) Replace worksheets with hands-on activities.
The more paper and pencil work you give, the more stuff you’ve got to photocopy, organize, pass out, collect, grade, record, and return to students. Not only are hands-on activities more meaningful for students, but you’ll spend less time making photocopies and grading papers. It’s a win for everybody.
2) Make the most of Morning Work or Bell Work.
When your kids come in the room in the morning and after lunch, there should be something on the board for them to get started on right away. While they are doing morning work, you should be able to complete attendance, check all homework, read and respond to parents’ notes, and so on. My goal was to get this done in 15-20 minutes, but typically I didn’t end the morning work time until I finished these tasks–I wasn’t about to leave myself with a messy pile of half-sorted papers and someone’s class picture money just lying out on my desk. I felt no guilt about this because my students’ morning work assignments were meaningful and open-ended: the kids were actively engaged in projects, reading books, etc. When my administrative tasks were done and I was comfortable with beginning our day, we started.
3) Choose bulletin boards that are timeless.
The background paper and border you put up in August can be left there until June. Switch out student work once a month (or every 6 weeks) and choose stuff that’s not tied to the holidays or seasons. (What’s the point of putting up Valentine’s Day work on February 8th when it’ll look dated on February 15?) You can also put your students in charge of the bulletin boards: let them choose their best work, self-reflect on the back of their papers, and hang them up. At the end of the year, their monthly work sample choices can serve as a portfolio.
4) Keep your room neat and clean during the day instead of staying after school to straighten up.
It only takes a few seconds to push student desks back into position and remind students to pick up their belongings that are on the floor before you take the class to lunch. Tape up that poster that’s falling off the wall while students are writing the heading on their papers. Clear or at least straighten piles of papers on your desk during a moment of downtime instead of checking email for tenth time. Tidying up for two minutes here and two minutes there can easily save you a half an hour that would otherwise be spent staying late after dismissal.
5) When you work beyond your contracted hours, try to choose times when few other people are at school.
I was contracted for 35 hour weeks when I taught in Maryland and 37.5 hour weeks in Florida, so a 40 hour week for me meant coming in an hour or so early or staying an hour late. I found that I could remain completely undisturbed for at least forty-five minutes if I came in early, but staying late was pointless because I’d end up hanging out in a co-worker’s room or slumped at my desk in exhaustion. There’s no point in working long hours if you’re not really working. If you’re too tired, someone is constantly coming in and asking you for things, or you’re tempted to wander next door to chat, pick your “overtime” hours wisely…or even complete them at home.
6) Create a self-running classroom that frees you to teach.
I’ve shared a lot of resources on this topic on my website and even more extensively in my book and webinar series. Creating a self-running classroom means empowering students to take charge of their learning and learning environment. It means giving students ownership over the learning process instead of carrying all the responsibility yourself. Teaching kids simple procedures for every task in the classroom will save you countless hours of instructional time throughout the year because your classroom activities will flow more smoothly and have fewer disruptions. Automate your routine tasks so that not a moment is wasted and you can focus on what matters most about your job: teaching and connecting with kids!
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Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
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I think this is such an important topic. I get kind of annoyed with teachers who are constantly “so stressed out,” but they don’t put anything into place to rid themselves of unnecessary work.
I’ve started grading writing with the students so I don’t have to take it home. I think it’s valuable for them to see what I’m thinking as I read their writing.
I’ve also found that I’m much more productive when I come in early to work, rather than stay late. Also, when I come in early I feel good about myself and empowered. When I stay late, I get depressed and like I don’t have things together. That being sad, I do have 1 or 2 days a week when I decide ahead of time to stay late and finish a report. When I plan it ahead, and it doesn’t happen every day, it doesn’t bother me as much.
Thanks for the extra tips!
Well said, Molly! Grading writing with students is a great idea–much more meaningful than just handing a paper back to them with red marks all over it. Grading writing has always been one of my least favorite things to do, too–so time consuming!
And you’re right, something about staying late always made me feel depressed, too. It created anxiety, like “I SHOULD be out of here by now!” Coming in early just made me feel like I was on my A game!
I have enjoyed reading your ideas about how to not spend so much time at work. I usually work an hour or two overtime most days because I’m a special education teacher and I have to write IEPs and such, but this year I started writing lesson plans for the next week while the students were doing independent work so I was able to leave earlier. In previous years I was walking to my car when it was dark and no one else was around…that’s just crazy! I also wanted to add that I don’t grade any paper with red pen. It has such a negative connotation. I always use green, or orange, or purple…some color they can read easily, but not that dreaded “red pen”.
I use a different colour pen for each term. We have four terms. It makes it easy for the kids to see when they did a piece of work and how much progress they have made. I mark writing with individuals during class time. When students have edited their work they put their name on the board. They work on things they have not finished or read until it is their turn to work with me. I tend to focus on only one or two things for assessment in a writing piece and that it what we discuss. These things are clearly articulated at the beginning of the writing period. I teach a combined Year 3 & 4 class so I might have them really focus on say ‘using topic specific words’, or using a new line when a new person starts to speak. I talk a lot about baby steps and improving our writing bit by bit. I underline words that are incorrectly spelt and expect the student to make the corrections necessary themselves. I always write a comment that states what the student has done well and the next area the student should focus on. It is amazing to see the students turning to read their comments before they start writing,
I believe the word is “spelled” not “spelt.” How ironic!
Eileen also wrote “colour” rather than “color,” so I assume she’s from another country in which “spelt” is correct.
Molly,
Can you explain to me how you grade writing with the students? This overwhelmed English teacher would really appreciate it. Thank you.
Katie,
I teach learning support in elementary school so I’m guessing that not only do I not have as many students as you do, they also are writing significantly shorter pieces.
That said, I still think it’s a really valuable part of instruction so if you think you can swing it, it would be good for the students and save you time at home!
I have my rubrics ready and I just pull each student to conference with me. The student reads their essay to me and I go through and explain my thinking as I score each component according to the rubric. Other students are either finishing their essays or doing other independent work.
Hope that helps. 🙂
I don’t see how you can “get annoyed” with people for expressing their discontent and stress when you admittedly have a small group setting which makes it easier to complete work within a given time frame. While that’s a great idea and I’m sure it helps you significantly, you might want to add a suggestion that works for the population of teachers that don’t have smaller groups so that you don’t come across as judgmental. Unless you mean to …
I’m guessing she meant that she gets annoyed at people who complain yet don’t do anything to help themselves. I, too, teach in high school, so have larger numbers of students to deal with. I didn’t feel judged.
Great article! More specifics on how to achieve a self-running classroom would be appreciated!!!
Hi, Susan! There are some links in the article to places where I’ve shared resources for that–definitely check the Routines and Procedures section of the site to start. My entire Cornerstone book is basically about creating a self-running classroom that frees you to teach. 🙂
I love this article. It made me feel better to know that other teachers struggle with getting away at a reasonable hour. Unlike some of those posting here I get my best work done after school. I’m rarely disturbed then, although it would be easier if I could get straight into it as soon as the kids leave, rather than doing 15-20 minutes gate duty, but life’s like that. I also find if I put in one good solid day at the weekend, then I can get away by 5pm during the week, and some days even earlier. That’s still 10 hours, but better than 12 hours!
I think I need to set a goal about getting away by 4.30pm 3 out of 5 days by the end of October. That sounds doable! Thanks for the great day-to-day tips.
Hi, Karen! Thanks for sharing your plan. It’s cool to hear how different things work for different teachers. I do know people who prefer to work a day over the weekend so the weekday is not so draining. I did that for a short time, actually, when I was new to my state AND grade level. Sundays I worked about 12 hours to plan and prepare, but I was able to get away by 4 or 5 during the week so it was worth it to me.
I’m teaching a new subject, AP government, for the first time this year and I’m finding it impossible to work reasonable hours. The problem is that not only have I never taught an AP class before, I haven’t taught government before. Sure, I took it in college, but that was 10 years ago! It’s not like asking me to start teaching a class on 20th century history or the Renaissance – I’m doing a lot of learning with/just ahead of students. On top the regular work of planning/grading I’m doing all the readings I assign the kids 3 times (skim to preview weeks ahead, read and take notes like they will, read to review just before teaching that section) and also a ton of “research” to find outside resources to bring in because if all I’m doing is teaching what’s in the textbook, why bother teaching?
That said, the point about grading stuff right then vs taking it home is one I need to remember more often. When I grade things right away, not only does it save me work later, but it’s also more valuable to me than the students. When an assignment sits for a week before I grade it, any feedback I give is pointless to most students and I honestly don’t care as much about it because I’ve moved on with them.
Thanks for leaving such a thoughtful response. I’m glad this post is sparking so much discussion about grading things right away–that’s something I really haven’t thought about much, and it’s so important, both in terms of time management and in terms of being meaningful to students. I know your year will get easier as you become more experienced in teaching AP government. Hopefully you’ll be teaching the same course again next year and can reap the benefits of all those long hours this year!
I was lucky enough to receive one iPad for our class this year, and this is one of my favorite uses for it. I use Engrade, which is a free online gradebook, and their app has a really fast scroll-bar for inputting grades. For something like math journals, especially, I find that it’s so much easier to grade an entry as students finish by walking around the room with the iPad instead of collecting all of the notebooks to grade later and then passing them back out.
I think it would work just as well with a paper gradebook, but as someone who prefers an online gradebook, it’s so nice to be able to carry it with me!
Jenny, that’s a wonderful tip! Thank you for sharing it.
Thanks for the great suggestions! It makes me feel better to know teachers outside my school are working as many hours as I am! I live about 5 minutes from the school where I teach. I also like to go in early to make copies or to do last minute things to prepare for the day. I worry about neglecting my own children so I go to school at 5 am and work for an hour or so and then go back home. That way I can get my kids up and take them to school. As they have gotten older , their afternoons are busy with school activities and this is our best time to “talk”. I would love to hear how other teachers are coping with the many changes from the Common Core Mathematics Standards. I have a new course of study, new textbooks, new TI Nspire CX calculators, and new class management software. More to do than I could get done in a 40 hour day!
Ah, yes, CCSS, the biggest time suck of them all! I can’t imagine how many billions of hours have been spent by educators nationwide as we learn, prepare, and implement the new standards. I am counting on that hard work paying off, and am hoping it will be for the benefit of students.
I know many moms who worry about balancing their own kids with their students. Most teachers I know seem to work fewer hours once they have kids. They adopt the attitude of “If it doesn’t get done, it doesn’t get done. My own kids are more important.” I can totally understand that. Sometimes it becomes more apparent how much extra work we create for ourselves and how much we can actually scale back and still give our students a fantastic education.