So friend is moving to a new program for HS students. How would you run your class and do ALL the things typically required w/OUT planning time? We're going to assume you have NO aide and no parental helpers. Please address as little or as much as you would like: grading, shopping for class supplies, student conferences, IEP, email, phone, lesson planning, meetings, etc, etc. How does one drastically streamline to make it work or do you just go insane? Group tests? Students grading their own papers? How much of your OWN time would you put in if you were NOT a new teacher? Be honest! You may not turn in resignation letter the next day!
I wouldn't shop for student supplies. Students can provide their own supplies. If the school wants to provide supplies, that's fine too. I wouldn't go to meetings off contract time. I would find a way to assess student mastery without having to handle a lot of papers. Projects and presentations are one way to go about doing that. For smaller, practice-type assignments, I'd have students grade their own work as we went over the material. I likely wouldn't put those grades into the gradebook, though, just because I couldn't be certain that students were being truthful about their grading. I'd handle emails during whatever bit of downtime I had throughout the day. Maybe as students are doing their independent practice, I'd shoot off a few emails. I'd make phone calls only when absolutely necessary, and I'd keep them short (in the 5-minute range). I'd do my planning on my own time. I'd try to streamline my plans as much as possible by setting a standard daily and weekly agenda. For example, every Friday can be vocab day, every Thursday can be test day, etc. That's easy to implement and easy to cut and paste into lesson plans. Of course, all this assumes that I'd take a job with no planning time and an unpaid lunch. The fact is that I would probably not take a job like that unless I had no other options.
I can't believe I'm even typing this, but my tests would be scantron. They would have to be radically different tests than the ones I give now, but that would be my solution-- it would save hours on the grading end each month. The actualy course prep wouldn't be much of an issue. I do that over the summer, then do very little else. At this point, my prep is basically a topic and a page number. As far as the unpaid lunch, though-- is she getting paid by the hour?? To teach??
As an English teacher, there would be precious few essays I would grade in an environment like the one you've described... There's no way I would be able to accurately assess the students' writing. Calling home? We'd do that in class with the kid sitting beside me. (I like to do that anyway...) Lesson planning? I would outline all I could during the summer, but as for the prep, xeroxing, etc., I guess I would just be at school an additional hour or two a day. This is just a situation that's setting up your friend for burnout and/or failure.
There is a newer law in my state. If the student cannot provide their supplies, the school has to. Therefore, some shopping is required. Even getting things shipped requires my Internet time to locate and write up the order and submit it.
If the school has to, why does the teacher? How is it determined that the student can't vs. doesn't want to? I'd never take a position with no planning time. Most of my planning is done at home, but I am busy during planning making copies, setting up equipment, grading, making calls... I hate the days that my planning period is overridden for some reason.
It sounds like she is going to be paid hourly. Being "off the clock" at lunch would be a good thing otherwise.
They're doing something similar around here at a school where I live. I honestly think about that all the time. What would I do if I never had a prep? I would go INSANE! I would have the students read a lot and work on research based projects. It's sad how so much is being taken away from students/teachers. This isn't in Wisconsin is it? It's so scary what's going on.
Ok, granted, I'm elementary, but preps are actually relatively uncommon in my area for elementary teachers, so I guess I don't see the problem as much as others would. I never had a prep during student teaching in either district I was in. We planned/prepped before school, after school, etc.
Is this a charter school? I can't imagine a public school paying a teacher hourly unless it's actually a TA job or something. What is the position exactly?
I just interviewed at a small school where there was only one prep period a week and you had to eat with your class. Outside. It's 90 degrees right now with 90 % humidity. This school was not a place for me.
At all my elementary placements, prep has been combined with lunch. I would trade that in a heart beat for 5 minutes between classes.
That doesn't sound good either. Yes, pd. =paid. Either way, could anyone share some good time saving/ or shaving tips? Thanx for those that did already! "Shaving" tips would be things you just have to delete, due to time constraints.
I worked in a situation kind of like this at a small private school, and I burned out and quit after 3 years. What I did was to do a lot of project-based learning. Group projects take little planning, give you time to interact one-on-one with students while the others are working, and are super fast to assess with rubrics and presentations. I also was able to create bare-bones lesson plans with standards pre-set for the week and certain activities that I recycled daily, weekly, or for each unit. Was my planning great? No. Could my teaching have been better and more creative? Definitely. Did I survive? Barely, but yes!
Geez, I'm sorry to hear this. I just taught this year with no planning period and it was my first year. I had close to 200 7th graders. You simply learn how to get things done quickly and efficiently. There were times where I was at school until 7pm because I have to get things done, but it just depends on what exactly you need to do. There were times when I was able to leave when the bell rang, but again it just depended on the day. I used students who were reliable to grade quizzes and tests. I also would try to have everything planned out at least a week ahead of time so I wouldn't be drowning in planning and grading. Use your reliable kids to help you--they love helping and it makes them feel good. I would also plan my lessons where the students wouldn't always be listening to a lecture. Yes, sometimes I would be in the front of the class the whole time, but usually the next class period the students would be on their own doing an assignment and I would be grading! Schedule in breaks where you can grade and again, use the kids who get done early to staple, paper clip, grade, pass back papers, run errands for you. Sometimes after quizzes I would have kids switch their papers and grade each others. This is a good system and I would walk around while calling out the answers to ensure that kids were not changing the answers for their friends. In terms of buying things for the classroom I'm a firm believer in having the kids make things for the room. I honestly didn't have the money this year to blow on supplies and crap to hang on the wall, so I had my kids make posters that went along with curriculum and they loved it. If kids were done early I'd have them work on crazy coloring pages and we would hang those up as well. I would do this for each unit we did. If I needed some necessary supplies such as pencils I would scrounge around in my school's supply closet or ask parents for donations. If this didn't work I'd hold out until the weekend or I'd just go afterschool. In terms of parent conferences, my school held this once a month and teachers were to be at school from 3-5 and meet with parents. This was extremely helpful. If I had to attend an IEP meeting my IEP coordinator would find a teacher or aide to cover my class for me--this was awesome. Email: I would check during my "breaks" in the classroom--after I took roll, when the kids did bell work, when the kids were reading to themselves, etc. If I needed to call a parent I would try to do it right after school ended. Again, put the kids to work--that's why they are at school! I would have kids put up books for me, stack chairs on Fridays, clean the floor, etc. I hope this helps!
Looking back, I shouldn't have taken that job, but it was the only one offered to me in the city I wanted to move to. In fact, the job probably shouldn't have even been given to me -- I was not trained for the grade levels and some of the subjects I was teaching. I learned a lot from that job, though -- mainly I learned my limits and that I just can't do everything! It was tough but I did learn that there are some things I just need in a job: prep time, some access to modern technology, an administration that is proactive about discipline issues, etc. Now when I go back out there looking for a full-time job, I will know what questions to ask!
I've taught without preps before, and you definitely need to restructure what you are doing. Have the students share in the general classroom tasks as much as possible. That does help. However, I know that one poster mentioned having students help with grading. You need to be cautious about this because that can be a violation of confidentiality in some states.
You will think I am crazy, but I upgrading my current schedule to this 3 years ago and I love it. Now, we get a pretty nice boost in our paycheck when teaching without a planning and that is why I do it. I currently have 7 periods with multiple preps inside them. I am down to 10 total preps this year. This is what I do to prepare for my classes. 1. Get to school 30 extra minutes to give myself 50 minutes until the bell rings. This gives me time to get any last minute supplies, coping, and setup done. 2. My classes are project based, however I rarely do group work. 3. 5-7 minute bellwork is a must - This allows you to setup between classes, and fire off emails. 4. Grade assignments as they get turned in. The hardest thing is not getting yourself backed up. 5. Grade with a generalize rubric for your course. 6. When students are working, and not needing help grade while you walk around. 7. Did I mention grade? BTW I rarely bring home work to grade. 8. I do plan and create materials on my own time.
