Best teaching specialty for work/life balance

[Anonymous]

I teach elementary and am seriously burned out by the long hours. I want to pick up another endorsement for something less time consuming. It can be an elementary specialty such as reading specialist, esol, etc. or even teaching secondary as a general ed teacher (unlike most elementary teachers, I'm not scared of working with teens.). Which area of teaching would give me the greatest likelihood of working a 40 hour week.

[Anonymous]

School librarian but those jobs are hard to find; SLP; OT. Not sure what you mean by secondary general ed; secondary teaching is by subject matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School librarian but those jobs are hard to find; SLP; OT. Not sure what you mean by secondary general ed; secondary teaching is by subject matter.

Like middle school math, science, etc.

[Anonymous]

Pretty much all the specialties except ESOL are going to be limited opportunities.

I'd pick Reading Specialist, since Title 1 actually means there are positions available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pretty much all the specialties except ESOL are going to be limited opportunities.

I'd pick Reading Specialist, since Title 1 actually means there are positions available.

But do they work less hours?

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the school. Also, in what district do you teach? I teach elementary ESOL and work way more than 40 hours. But I know ESOL teachers who work in high SES schools that have Lots of support and resources at their fingertips which makes for less work. But that's also true of classroom teachers in high SES schools. In my experience, working at lower performing schools means way more hours no matter what you teach.

[Anonymous]

You have to be out of the classroom to work less hours.

[Anonymous]

What is a secondary "general ed" teacher?

In any case, don't choose secondary English. It takes soooo long to read and comment on the many, many drafts of all the papers. Recently one of my students told me she wants to be an English teacher because she loves reading and writing. I told her that becoming an English teacher would mean she has very little time for reading and writing.

My secondary Math colleagues have the least grading time because Math tests and homework, even at high levels, just don't take as much time to grade as compositions.

[Anonymous]

OP, are you the same poster who thinks middle school teachers don't work as hard as elementary school teachers?
Teaching is hard work. It's long hours. All of it. Maybe you should consider another career path or part-time work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on the school. Also, in what district do you teach? I teach elementary ESOL and work way more than 40 hours. But I know ESOL teachers who work in high SES schools that have Lots of support and resources at their fingertips which makes for less work. But that's also true of classroom teachers in high SES schools. In my experience, working at lower performing schools means way more hours no matter what you teach.

Me again. Another thing to consider about elementary ESOL if you're in MCPS is that central office continues to change the allocation formula. I did calculations using our current numbers the formulas from two years ago, last year, and the upcoming year and there has been a reduction of almost 2 full time teachers during that time. According to the formula for next year we should have 3.6 teachers for 203 students, including many Level 1 and 2 students. With the ELL Enhancements being added to Curriculum 2.0 in order to build capacity in classroom teachers, I really think they're slowly phasing out the role of ESOL teacher and eventually might have an ESOL specialist in each ES, kind of like the reading specialist or math focus teacher role. This is just my speculation but the writing is on the wall.

[Anonymous]

I'm an ES ESOL teacher and it is possible you could see it as an "easier" job. I have a ton of paperwork at the beginning and end of the year which is stressful and time consuming but the rest of the year isn't bad. We used to have an ESOL specific curriculum which made my job doable but not anymore. There is definitely less busywork than homeroom teachers have. Collecting money, permission slips, forms, etc etc is very time consuming so I don't have to do that. When my students go on a field trip or have an assembly, etc, I get a free period. I am much happier as an ESOL teacher than a homeroom teacher. I wouldn't say it is less work, I would say the boring work is concentrated into 2 parts of the school year.

[Anonymous]

I'm thinking you might need to either try a different school district, or you may need to approach your job differently.
I'm an elementary special education teacher in a rather affluent suburb in the NY metro area, and my school day is 8 hours (max). There are many classroom teachers in my school who I know are in half hour before school starts, but they are out the door 10 minutes after the kids leave.
As a teacher who works with multiple teachers in multiple classrooms, I have the benefit of seeing different approaches to the job in action. There's one younger teacher in my school who gets in 2 hours early each day and leaves an hour after. She gets (lovingly) teased about it. She's a good young teacher--but it's not like those extra 3 hours are are making a huge difference in the "final product."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm thinking you might need to either try a different school district, or you may need to approach your job differently.
I'm an elementary special education teacher in a rather affluent suburb in the NY metro area, and my school day is 8 hours (max). There are many classroom teachers in my school who I know are in half hour before school starts, but they are out the door 10 minutes after the kids leave.
As a teacher who works with multiple teachers in multiple classrooms, I have the benefit of seeing different approaches to the job in action. There's one younger teacher in my school who gets in 2 hours early each day and leaves an hour after. She gets (lovingly) teased about it. She's a good young teacher--but it's not like those extra 3 hours are are making a huge difference in the "final product."

This is the key, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pretty much all the specialties except ESOL are going to be limited opportunities.

I'd pick Reading Specialist, since Title 1 actually means there are positions available.

But do they work less hours?

Fewer hours.

I guess teaching English/writing is out of the running.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm thinking you might need to either try a different school district, or you may need to approach your job differently.
I'm an elementary special education teacher in a rather affluent suburb in the NY metro area, and my school day is 8 hours (max). There are many classroom teachers in my school who I know are in half hour before school starts, but they are out the door 10 minutes after the kids leave.
As a teacher who works with multiple teachers in multiple classrooms, I have the benefit of seeing different approaches to the job in action. There's one younger teacher in my school who gets in 2 hours early each day and leaves an hour after. She gets (lovingly) teased about it. She's a good young teacher--but it's not like those extra 3 hours are are making a huge difference in the "final product."

OP here. A lot of people put emphasis on how much time the teacher actually spends at school I think that means very little. I'm actually not in the building very much beyond my contract hours, but I bring a ton of work home with me. Some people just prefer to do their work in the building before going home. I'm looking for something that I can do in a 9 hour day and be done with.