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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’d loooooove to see parents come in to model lessons. [/quote]

Well, parents aren't teachers. I don't have your education and experience. So that would be a dumb thing to wish for. [/quote]

Plenty of non-teachers say it’s an easy job so come on in and try it out. [/quote]

I’m a retired teacher. The teaching is the easiest part. It’s all the other stuff that you don’t think about that takes away your time to plan and grade that makes it hard. It’s unbelievable what crap teachers are asked to do other than teaching. [/quote]

Me again. Let me give you a concrete example that illustrates this. I remember years ago on the first day we went back. It’s always the week before the students come back. Keep in mind that our classrooms were packed up completely in boxes and what not at the end of the previous school year. We need the week to basically unpack and decorate in time for Open Houses, some of which are scheduled on the Thursday before school starts. That literally gives the teacher 3 days to unpack and decorate. But in those 3 days, we are required to attend all sorts of meetings and do things that take us away from the work we need to do in our classrooms.

So first thing Monday we always have a giant staff meeting that takes up most of the morning. We get a rough master schedule but still have to decide within the team which exact schedule we are taking (A, B, C, D, E). We are required to let admin know who is taking what schedule at some point later in the day. At the end of the meeting, we usually expect to get to work in our classrooms unpacking the rest of the day. But not this time. No sir. We were actually tasked with the most ridiculous assignment ever: we were given several different stacks of papers and had to stuff, address, and stamp our own envelopes to mail to our students. We were given the stamps, the address labels, and other labels to add to one of the papers in the envelope. It was a paper with our students’ class assignments (we had to attach a label to the top of that paper first before stuffing it), a sheet with bus info, and the lunch menu. We were also told to include a personal note in there. So I had to type that first, print it, and go to the copy machine to get 25 copies and then sign each one by hand and put the kids name somewhere on the letter. All of this takes time. They were due to the office by 1 pm. Keep in mind the staff meeting ended around 11 am. I still hadn’t had any time to do any classroom unpacking and my contract says I get to leave for the day at 3:50 pm.

So there I am on Day 1 frantically stuffing 25 envelopes and labeling and stamping and I’m thinking: why tf isn’t the office staff doing this? It’s nearing 1 pm and I’m not done yet and I get a call into my room from the office: “Mrs. Larla, where are your envelopes?” I say I’m almost done. Finally at 1:30 pm I walk to the office to deliver my envelopes. I’ve now wasted almost the entire day on a meeting and an administrative task that I shouldn’t have to be doing in the first place. I haven’t unpacked one box in my classroom. I know tomorrow I am expected to drive to some far off place in the county for some ridiculous professional development which won’t help me set up my classroom or get ready for my students the first week. That usually takes most of the day.

So my choices are: I stay at the school working in my classroom way past my contract time to unpack. Because I can’t get unpacked in just two and a half hours and I know tomorrow I won’t have much time in my room because of the county required meetings outside of the building. Open House is Thursday. We must be done unpacking and decorating by Wednesday end of day. So I do what I always do - I stay way past 3:50 pm. I am there until 6 ish usually.

This is why a lot of teachers actually come in the week before the first week which is off contract time. [/quote]But, it’s just 2 hours.  Can’t you give a little time of your own off contract time?  All this talk about contract time seems like you are nickling and diming every move.  Give a little.  Come on.  To set up. [/quote]

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