Reply to DCPS Survey - Increase Instructional Time

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Reply to "DCPS Survey - Increase Instructional Time"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am a DCPS teacher. I've got about a decade of experience in the district, and I have been rated highly effective for nearly the entire time IMPACT has been in effect. If DCPS implements an extended school year, I will leave.

There's been a lot of discussion on this board about how teachers aren't the only people with stressful jobs, and how those people don't get summers off. That's true. It's also true that I don't have one of those jobs, in part because I know myself well enough to know that I can't maintain that level of stress without a significant break without burning out.

If they add four weeks of school to the school year, I will burn out. I will not be highly effective anymore. I took a summer job last summer that had me working for four weeks with children in a far less stressful job than teaching, and when I returned to school this fall I realized that doing that was a mistake. I am good at my job partially because I do have the opportunity to recharge, and I didn't have that opportunity this summer. I won't do it again.

Maybe all of this makes me lazy, or a bad teacher, like many people have suggested. I don't think that I am, but I'm not going to argue with people who think that teachers are entitled whiners. But I'm also not going to put myself into a position where I cannot be successful, and where I can't serve the kids that I love as effectively as I can right now.

[b]If the proposal was for year-round school, I'd be all for that. I think longer breaks throughout the year and a shorter summer break is a far better model than what we currently have, both for students who don't have the summer slide and for teachers who never reach the end of school level of burnout because they can recharge throughout the year. But extended school year--no. [/b]

For the record, I also think this is a terrible idea for students. Anyone who has been in a school building in June can tell that the students are burnt out too. It's not just because they know the school year is basically over and the days are full of fluff activities--I've been in buildings where academics continue right up to the end, and the kids are still out of control. They need time off. They need time to play and be kids. [/quote]

This is the key point. I voted for "longer school year" under the assumption it will be something more akin to year-round school. Take the 10 week summer break and make it 6. Spread three weeks of vacation around during the year: an extra week off in fall, winter and spring. Maybe even break up the 6-week summer holiday to be one week off, a few weeks more of school, 4 weeks off, then resume school again. Winter and summer should have breaks longer than one week; fall and spring should instead have two different one-week breaks.[/quote]

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