Question for High School Teachers

[Anonymous]

I used to be an elementary teacher, and left due to burnout and stress. We were treated like children by the admin, and worked about 60 hours a week minimum, usually spending many hours a day in meetings, long after students had left. There was little to no time for planning, so we didn't really do that in a meaningful way.

Well, I went to BTS for my son's school this week and was surprised to hear the HS teachers saying that they leave school at 2:45 (which is when the kids leave). They also seemed, based on what I saw, to have pretty detailed lesson plans for each day. In fact, it looked like the entire year was planned. So HS teachers, please tell me, how many hours a week do you work? Do you have to spend a lot of time in mandatory meetings every week? Do you get planning time during the day? Do you get yelled at and picked on by administrators, or is the HS more professional than ES?

I have a certification for HS, and am wondering if I'd be happier there.

[Anonymous]

I think you were at the wrong school. Elem teachers at DC's school left 10 minutes after students left and there was no work on weekends because there were no real grading requirements.

The HS lesson plans can be very standardized or you can inherit one or borrow one from a teacher who teaches the same class. They curriculum gets updated periodically by the central office ofc but they also usually provide lesson plans and other materials. One big difference is you have to have student drop in hours during lunch and/or before school/after school.

[Anonymous]

I'm a middle school teacher, but my answer is that it really depends on a lot of things. Prep load is huge. So is class size. The years I've had four preps, I've worked solid 6 day/60 hour weeks. I would go into school every Sunday and put in a solid work day just to keep up in addition to getting to school early every day and brining work home in the evenings. Also, how long you have been teaching the prep matters. Refining the wheel vs. reinventing. I'm finally teaching just a single prep and would say I work about 50 hours/week. I get to school between 6 and 6:3. I do leave at contract time, but bring work home and work another hour or two in the evenings. I typically only put a couple of hours in on the weekends now. Subject matters a lot too. Moving from ELA to social studies was a huge plus for me in terms of work-life balance. IMO, teaching is never going to be 40 hours/week, but 60 is unsustainable in any field, but around 50 is reasonable for a professional.

[Anonymous]

You can work 40 hours per week. You just can't be the martyr that some teachers like to be.

[Anonymous]

^from a HS teacher who refuses to do more than what the contract demands

[Anonymous]

It depends on your personality. I leave with the students, now that we have a block built into every day when students can come see me for help. No more staying after school. I work quite a bit at home on the laptop but that is my planning. It looks different than an elementary teacher. But no, I’m not spending hours per week.

I brought home about 75 tests to grade and if I do them this weekend they will take several hours. I might grade some and finish a little at a time next week. There is rarely time to grade during the day.

Overall, I don’t work that much at home. I update my Schoology page each unit and emails every morning before leaving. There are some teachers in my school that stay until 5 and come in on the weekends to plan.

Admin demands change year to hear based on who they are. Some micromanage more than others.

Sometimes we are on teams with people who meet weekly, as they want us to do. With 2-4 subjects, that is 2-4 planning blocks each week. My current teams are not like this and we share things electronically and talk casually over lunch.

If I didn’t feel I was being treated professionally or if I was getting scolded like a child I would leave and go work at a different school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a middle school teacher, but my answer is that it really depends on a lot of things. Prep load is huge. So is class size. The years I've had four preps, I've worked solid 6 day/60 hour weeks. I would go into school every Sunday and put in a solid work day just to keep up in addition to getting to school early every day and brining work home in the evenings. Also, how long you have been teaching the prep matters. Refining the wheel vs. reinventing. I'm finally teaching just a single prep and would say I work about 50 hours/week. I get to school between 6 and 6:3. I do leave at contract time, but bring work home and work another hour or two in the evenings. I typically only put a couple of hours in on the weekends now. Subject matters a lot too. Moving from ELA to social studies was a huge plus for me in terms of work-life balance. IMO, teaching is never going to be 40 hours/week, but 60 is unsustainable in any field, but around 50 is reasonable for a professional.

I’m a middle school teacher and agree with this. I will say it’s pretty common to see teachers move from elementary up to middle or high school but most don’t move down.

[Anonymous]

I leave at 3:15 but I’m taking stacks of work 6” thick home to grade. I have 149 students (they have to pay you more if you go over 150) across 2 preps, so it’s a decent amount. Each prep meets once per week, but this year one of my preps is me as a singleton as I’m the only teacher of the course, so I get extra planning time (and I need it, since I have no one to share with!)

I probably spend an equal amount of time planning and grading, vs an elementary teacher where planning is way more than grading.

And yes, all the dumb meetings still exist in HS. Department meetings, faculty meetings, equity meetings, test proctoring meetings. They’re just a bit different since we have 250 adults in the room vs 50.

[Anonymous]

I went to ES BTS night and my kids classroom teachers are with the kids 5hrs 10mins a day unless it is their rotating day of no recess, then it’s 4hrs 40mins. Teachers do not eat lunch with the kids.

[Anonymous]

I’m a high school English teacher. I work 65 hours (on average) a week, much of it on the weekend. I don’t see it being a “martyr” as the teacher above posted. It’s what’s needed to get my job done.

I have essays to grade this weekend. If I only use contract hours, I wouldn’t get those back with comments for about six weeks. That’s ridiculous.

I’d love more planning time at work, but that’s not how the system is currently set up.

[Anonymous]

From someone who's been at all 3 levels, ES by far has the best work environment. Your situation at your ES was not the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can work 40 hours per week. You just can't be the martyr that some teachers like to be.

I think 45 is maybe a bit closer to reality, though some weeks can be less. It's like spending money on your classroom, in our area it isn't usually required but something people choose to do. My district has one after school meeting a week (staff and committee alternate)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can work 40 hours per week. You just can't be the martyr that some teachers like to be.

I think 45 is maybe a bit closer to reality, though some weeks can be less. It's like spending money on your classroom, in our area it isn't usually required but something people choose to do. My district has one after school meeting a week (staff and committee alternate)

Except 45 isn’t enough.

If I have a stack of 120 essays to grade, that’s 30 hours of uninterrupted work. I get 30 minutes of planning a day. That stack alone would take me 60 DAYS worth of planning periods to grade, and that doesn’t account for:
Other assignments that need grading
Lesson planning
IEP / 504 updates
Responding to tons of student/parent emails

Hence the 60 hours this job takes. If we’re really talking about WHY teachers are quitting - this is it. You CAN’T do this job in 40 or 45 hours. Not well.

If we really wanted to do education correctly, teachers would spend no more than half the work week in front of students, leaving the other half to actually do the bulk of the work.

(We would also dramatically revamp the admin level. I’ve worked for far too many administrators who create work for teachers simply to justify their jobs, but that’s another discussion.)

[Anonymous]

I’m a HS teacher and probably work 60 hours per week. I’m starting year 4.
I have 150 students and grading takes forever.
I don’t often stay at school past 4 pm but I always bring work home. I picked HS because I like older kids, although they can be a nightmare sometimes, and I enjoy teaching advanced content. I teach juniors and seniors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can work 40 hours per week. You just can't be the martyr that some teachers like to be.

I think 45 is maybe a bit closer to reality, though some weeks can be less. It's like spending money on your classroom, in our area it isn't usually required but something people choose to do. My district has one after school meeting a week (staff and committee alternate)

Except 45 isn’t enough.

If I have a stack of 120 essays to grade, that’s 30 hours of uninterrupted work. I get 30 minutes of planning a day. That stack alone would take me 60 DAYS worth of planning periods to grade, and that doesn’t account for:
Other assignments that need grading
Lesson planning
IEP / 504 updates
Responding to tons of student/parent emails

Hence the 60 hours this job takes. If we’re really talking about WHY teachers are quitting - this is it. You CAN’T do this job in 40 or 45 hours. Not well.

If we really wanted to do education correctly, teachers would spend no more than half the work week in front of students, leaving the other half to actually do the bulk of the work.

(We would also dramatically revamp the admin level. I’ve worked for far too many administrators who create work for teachers simply to justify their jobs, but that’s another discussion.)

I was referring to 45/week for elementary school