A Day in the Life of a First-Year Teacher

Friday, March 16, 2012

10 hours? Sounds about right.

recent article that I read reported that according to a national survey of teachers, teachers reported an average of 10 hours and 40 minutes of time spent on work - either in school or out of school.

From my experience, I have come to discover that this piece of data is completely true. Teaching is not "an 8 to 2" job by any strech of the imagination. Even though my school ends at 3:30, I'm at the school tutoring students/calling parents/coplanning with colleagues/doing professional development/helping students with personal problems/grading/recording grades in the gradebook... (the list goes on and on) usually until 5:00 between Monday-Thursday. I then go home and reflect on my day and lessons on this blog, finish up my grading and lesson planning... (again, the list goes on and on) for about another 2 hours at home.

Most people don't know about the extra work teachers go through to actually try and do a good job at teaching. We are constantly thinking about how to make our practice and our lessons better. We are reflecting and planning for next year. We are working tirelessly to make sure all students can benefit from engaging and effective lessons. I'm proud of the work that I do each and every day for my students. Many New York teachers are. Many teachers around this country are. I think the public deserves to know how hard we actually work.

Just the other day, some "friends" from high school called me and asked me when I would get a "real job". I was FURIOUS -- teaching IS a real job!! Just goes to show the ignorance some people have torwards the teaching profession.

At the end of the day, I'm glad that there are very many highly effective teachers out there working day in and day out to improve the educational outcome of their students. One day, others will be able to see, honor and truly understand the work we do for our students.

Go teachers! :)

4 comments:

  1. you are so honest about what you say! it's great to have a teacher like you in new york's classrooms. you are absolutely right-teachers work much harder and longer than they get credit for. i think you should do a school time card to show how many hours you spend on school! thanks for keeping us updated! :)

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  2. Thanks! It's very true! That sounds like a GREAT idea actually... maybe I can do a time card for one specific day and then record my hours for an entire month? That's a really nice project idea! Are you a teacher too?

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  3. thanks for the reply! you're welcome...your blog is very honest and detailed. i am not currently a teacher but i am in college in LA. i am considering a major change to education, so i've definitely been keeping up with a lot of teacher blogs and shadowing some teachers. so,in the future, i will be a teacher!

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  4. Wow! I think it's great that you're changing your major to education! It's a really rewarding career, especially in the inner city. :)

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