How many periods do you have?

Hi all, I am a middle school Spanish teschtt so I teach all the 6, 7 and 8th grade students. I was told that I'll have 8 periods. In middle school how many periods do you have? Is 8 a lot? I am going to be a first year teacher.

 

Between my DH and I, we have taught anywhere from 5 to 8 periods per day.

Next year I will have a six period day. My DH has a seven period day.

Within our building the sixth graders have a 5 period day. The sixth and seventh graders have a 6 period day.

 

I have 6 periods! How long are your classes?

 

Our school has 8 periods. I teach 6 periods, have a planning period, and I leave before the last period.

 

The students have 8 periods of which one is lunch. I have an advisory period (a study hall/support period) and teach 5 periods. So students are in my classroom for 6 periods but I'm only actually teaching during 5 as the advisory period isn't an instructional period. I can't imagine teaching 8 periods per day unless they're quite short (our periods are 52 minutes) and even with short periods that a whole lot of grading with so many students!

The language teachers at my school teach 6 periods - two each for sixth, seventh and eight grade.

 

My private school is very generous with prep periods and you typically get multiple prep periods, especially if you teach AP classes and many different classes. Since I teach 3 AP’s currently, I got 3 prep periods last year (AP Stats, AP Calc AB, and AP Calc BC).

This year, I’m teaching two periods of AP Stats, one period of AP Calc BC, and one period of Calc 3, and so I get 3 prep periods. I love it and they are spaced out so my schedule looks like this:

1) Prep
2) AP Stats
3) AP Stats
4) Prep
5) AP Calc BC
6) Prep
7) Calc 3

I don’t really need the prep periods as I am a very quick grader and my classes are already prepped for for the entire year. This means I essentially get three free periods each day. This gives me time to grade if I need it, answer parent and staff emails, make business phone calls, make copies, set up activities, etc, or just relax.

 

We have 8 periods for junior high and high school, plus a half hour for lunch, which doesn't count as one of the periods.

 

Do you have a prep?

 

Yes, we get one period as a prep and then a half an hour for lunch.

 

Only 30 minutes for lunch?! I get 45-50 minutes depending on the day of the week. That sucks...!

 

We have a 9 period day, each period roughly 40 minutes or so. We teach 5 of the periods, have 1 period of duty (study hall, hallway, cafe, etc), and have 3 periods off.

 

I'm not sure how many periods my school has, but I was told that I will be teaching 3 70-minute classes. I will also have a 45 minute prep period, a 15 minute data period, and a 30 minute lunch. I will also have 45 minutes a day for meetings with my grade level team and math team. So I am assuming we have a 5 period day plus lunch.

 

9 periods?! I’ve never heard of such a thing. I’m glad I only have 7 periods (50 minutes each).

 

I’m confused. How do you leave before the last period?

 

6 (60 mins) periods a day with 8 periods total (we have a rotating drop schedule and two periods a day drop). I teach 5 periods of 8 plus I have a 45 mins lunch everyday. One of the three periods is a duty like study hall (which is essentially like another prep period). Some days I only teach three classes but one to two days a week I teach 5 depending on the week (with only one prep). Next year I will have only one day of three classes but I’ll never teach more than 4. It’s a complicated schedule to explain but I like it.

 

Wow yalls schedules are complicated compared to mine. 4 periods, 3 are 85 mins long, 3rd period is longer due to lunch. Lunch is something like 35mins. Teachers have 3 classes and a prep.

 

Yes, though 1 of the 9 is a lunch period. We have lunch periods 4-8 so students can have it at any of those depending on their schedule. I have grown to love shorter periods as it is more brisk, intense, and faster paced. We get them in and out, and have not time to waste. There was some talk about moving to a block schedule, and most teachers in my school are in favor of longer periods, but I'm not. For kids who don't love math, more than 40 minutes is overkill.

 

I've had everywhere from 30-60 minutes depending on how the schedule worked that year. Honestly, I don't need much more than 30 minutes. Forty minutes was probably my favorite, but sixty minutes was way too long.

 

I like the relaxation time and am not willing to give that up. Also, I watch Netflix on my iPad as I eat lunch! It’s awesome, haha!

 

I’d love a half hour for lunch. We get 20 minutes.

 

So in reality you all have 6 periods a day, not counting the "off periods". That still seems like a lot of intermission time being spent in the hallway from the students, or maybe it's just me.

 

None, since my hysterectomy!

 

Yes, though with the duty period, if it's study hall or hall duty, it's basically like a free period in that you can get a lot of work done. Cafe duty sucks though. There's 4 minutes between periods. I get that it adds up, but I think it's good for them to have a break. Too long and they lose attention anyway.

 

Wow, your school sounds wonderful...

 

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It actually is a very good place to work. It would be nice to have a longer lunch period for us, the kids have plenty of time to eat, but not enough extra time to do stupid stuff. Middle school kids and unstructured free time are a recipe for disaster. We get our entire building through lunch in about 90 minutes.

My classroom, the office, the faculty restroom, and the cafeteria are far apart, so I have to plan my time. I usually drop kids off, use student restroom by cafeteria, eat lunch at teacher’s table in the cafeteria, and then take my kids back to class. I know I’m not going to the office, using the faculty restroom, going to my classroom, and sitting down to eat the same day.

At my DH’s school, a bell dismisses kids for lunch, and another sends them back. He doesn’t have to walk them anywhere. His school is also one story, and he is near the faculty restrooms. He has a microwave in his room. Their kids also get 20 minute lunch, but it is closer to 25 minutes with the bells/passing time. We work in different districts.

 

I’m a product of the public schooling system and attended many different schools throughout my upbringing as I come from a military family. At the three middle schools I attended, no student was supervised during lunch (grades 6-8) and there certainly wasn’t any “teacher’s table.” Why is that even necessary?

 

Whoot another military kid. I know the moving around the country all too well.

 

Yay, go us! <gives high-five>

 

High five! I remember 4 different middle schools but I'm pretty sure there may have been a 5th. I definitely had more teachers during that 6-8 block than I can possibly remember. I was exceptionally lucky and got one high school for most of my high school days. (I transferred about a month into the school year freshman year)

 

I went to two high schools — one was in Arizona and the other was in California. The last move to the latter was what made me love this glorious state. Basically, I started my education in Florida and then progressively moved westward (Georgia, Colorado, Texas, etc). Cali has been my favorite state by far and it is where I will stay till the end of my days!

 

Hah! I started in Texas and have gradually moved north. I ended up here in Massachusetts for high school, my previous school had been in Georgia, so you can imagine the culture shock. And yes...I showed up to the first day of school wearing cowboy boots and my hat. It's the Texan in me. You can take the boy off the ranch but you can't get the dirt off his boots! So...yeah! That happened. I've been here ever since. I fell in love too, but not exactly with the state. Some cocky trumpet player up here took care of that.

 

Whoa! We could have been to the same school potentially or been in the same state at the same time.

My dad is an Army and National Guard veteran. My grandfather fought in WWII in the Air Force and received an honorary award from the sitting US president at the time. My uncle served in the Navy for 20 years and my elder brother served in the Marines for 8. Where my father is concerned, he was stationed twice each in Iraq and Afghanistan, once in South Korea, once in Kuwait, and then the rest in various parts of the States, as aforementioned. What about yours?

 

My dad was in the Army for...32 years, if my memory serves. He was an MP which meant me and my brothers got away with absolutely nothing. We went from Texas to N. Carolina, to Georgia, to S. Carolina, back to Texas, Germany for a brief time (that was fun), back to S. Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, back to Germany for a few months, back to Georgia, finally to Massachusetts. I followed in his footsteps, enlisted in the Army the day I turned 18. Although I went for the infantry, went to jump school earned my wings. Served for a few years, during a tour in Iraq got a wee bit too close to the business end of an IED and well hence the prosthetic leg.

 

Wow, incredible! Thank you for your service! Hey, you can tell your students that you ALWAYS put your best foot forward! From one military brat (proudly so) to another, I salute you!

 

I never said that we had any kind of supervisory duty during lunch. Our school does not have a teacher's lounge. The only table where we can eat is in the cafeteria, so we either eat in the cafeteria or in our classrooms. Last year I ate in my classroom because I didn't take students to lunch. When I have students during lunch period, I eat in the cafeteria because it is easier. There are lunchroom supervisors who are in charge of the students during lunch.

 

Oooh. This makes sense now.

 

When I taught in a middle school we had 9 periods. 5 classes, 1 lunch, 1 duty (like lunch duty or study hall) and 2 preps. It all depends on how long the periods are. When I went to the high school there were only 8 periods but the periods were longer.

 

I teach six periods of the same thing - social studies, and I have two periods as preps. Funny, but when I started teaching at this school, I foolishly assumed that I would get all of my work done during those two prep periods and wouldn't have to do anything outside of school