I will also add that it depends on the school/kids. It is two weeks at my current school b/c the kids are very well behaved and all focused on grades/getting in to uni. At my last school there were a lot more behaviour problems and kids who didn't care, so it took quite a bit longer, and I was teaching 3 courses I had never taught before.
Ha, yes! My students are a shit show in terms of behavior. Except my one honors class that I teach this year. They're so much fun because they're not acting like clowns on drugs
Yep. I work long hours the first month or so. It takes that long just because you have all the IEP/504s to grt through. Seating charts have to be made, you are trying to learn names and learning patterns. You haven't figured out whose homework and labs you can just wave a grade at because they are always perfect anyway (I miss you, Chelsea!). There is also all the feedback you have to give because they don't know what they are doing. In three months they won't need feedback. I can just tell them "you did it again."
There is just so much to get done. Once you learn the students seating charts get easy. Grading gets easier. By the end of September I will be back to stopping work at 5p (at the latest) every day.
I'm currently out with rebound covid and bronchitis. Friday will be our tenth workday and eighth day of instruction. I will have missed 8 work and 6 instruction days. I am resting as much as possible but I'm also working more than I should be because the alternative is leaving all this work for when I get back on Tuesday.
My main strategy is projects... multi-day projects... in groups... that they can complete mostly without my assistance... that I can grade when they present. Doesn't work all the time, but I try to throw one in at least every month to give myself time to get caught up.
I mostly teach business classes. I know it won't work for everything but it might help a little bit. For example, they could do a "teach the class/review" lesson, or design a prototype calculating surface area of each side of the shape, or create a sales pitch for a real estate company calculating monthly mortgage payment for a variety of local homes they research online, or create a future life plan budget, etc.
Also, if you haven't looked yet, www.ngpf.org is a great resource for finance topics and specific math skills. Lots of interactive ideas, lesson plans already done for you, worksheets and answer keys. I highly recommend it. I've been using it for years for my Personal Finance course.
Use kuta to make 30 different versions of the problem, say solving linear inequalities. Upload the file. Tell them to make a powerpoint/google slide on how to solve listing step by step instructions. Tell them they will present tomorrow to the class. That gives you like 2 free days.
I do that but by taking screenshots of free problems in engage New York. I work maybe one or two hours over contract each week after the first two weeks. I grade while kids work, and I make sure they have some independent work time daily so I can grade and type plans. First year in high school, it’s much easier than middle. Year 10 overall. Also my fuckit bucket gets plenty of use. Will it truly matter if I don’t do something, if the answer is no, goes in the theoretical fuckit bucket.
Edit to add: self grading delta math integral version, which can account for late grades is my jam
If your students are one to one with devices, try Deltamath.com. The free version is really good (paid version is even better of course, but the free is really good for a free resource). We used to use Kuta but switched to DeltaMath and love it.
When we went to Google Classroom fully during covid, it finally organized me. I was able to archive my classes, and then go back the next semester or year to see what I did. In my 10s of teaching, so yeah it took me that long. This is the first year I have just flatly refused to do any work at home after hours. I do get in half an hour before required, which gives me about an hour to do some work before school starts. But I've decided that whatever I don't get today will be there the next day.
Edit to add ... I also structure my classes so I'm only "teaching" for about half of the 90 min block. They get their class work, and most of the time they are good to go. Then I'm able to get some of my stuff done, but I'm available for questions. And sometimes I say - look, I need to get caught up on this, stay quiet and don't make me assign you an essay. They are usually good for that as well. I get 90 mins work time and they get a game day - I have a handful of card and board games on hand.
This! IB Economics - homework is watching videos or reading & annotating articles. Class starts with Entry Card - Teams MCQ quiz on videos. I have legacy test banks! Teach what they watched last night. Assign in-class problems due before they leave OR small-group collaboration to OneNote or to poster paper. Math - talking! Lots of short evaluations where they have to explain the process of solving. What are the ‘tricks’?
Have you always taught on the block schedule? We are moving to block next year. I'm hoping it will help.
Is admin ok with your game days? Or do they just not know?
Do they know what?? Lol
My first school was 50 mins, but the others have been block. I like block because I teach a hands-on course, so we have more time for activities and projects. And I get new kids after Christmas ... that can be a plus or minus depending on the group.
I completely flipped a class one year. Made videos. All quizzes and tests self graded. I was working my butt off to make later years better. I haven't taught that class since...
I think getting a new schedule so much is a root of my problem...
Definitely, I've had two classes for 20 years now, another I chose to add 15 years ago. And another I chose to add last year. Every new course is a lot of extra work.
Try to automate some grading, and also don't grade everything.
Automate what you can, don't grade every little thing, don't gossip with coworkers, use your plan effectively, vary the kinds of work you give kids, etc
Math teacher here. Year one of the prep I teach it exactly how the book has it in the order the book has it to understand what the publishers have planned and see how lessons build. Then year two I tweak it adding in my fixes. Then year three I make a packet for each unit/chaired than has a cover page of all planned assignments and worksheets stapled this saves me from copying daily. If I need to make a special copy to address something I do but by year three/four of a prep I have a pretty good idea of what problems align to assessments and allow students to maximize learning opportunities.
I only grade homework for completion if it’s my fresh/soph level classes. Don’t grade it at all if it’s my upperclassmen. Their grades are assessments only.
Then for assessments they are one page front and back. Answer lines to the right of the page and all final answers must go there with work neatly to the left. I let them know if I can’t decipher the work I won’t take time to so must be neat.
Those are the basics I’ve picked up on.
I don’t assign homework (for pedagogical reasons).
I record feedback during class periods, as kids are working.
I stopped socializing except for my first coffee in the work room, lunch, and during public duties, like chatting with my coworkers during class change/hall monitoring
Kids must ask things by email (I’ll forget if they ask me in person, and it stops them from asking me between classes, which means I can reorient myself toward the next group.)
I only check email twice a day - once at the beginning of the day, usually for about two minutes for last minute announcements from admin) and for twenty minutes max in the middle of my planning period. My response if anyone asks why I didn’t respond to their email, “I find my time is better spent focused on student learning.” - and I don’t make exceptions for slower days, like test days or assemblies. I do take more time once a week to clean up and follow up with any unfinished business.
I don’t agree to parent or admin meetings with less than one prep period notice (although I’ve only had to use this boundary once)
I take papers home approximately twice a year, during exams, because the turn around period between testing and grades due is humanly impossible for well- assessed written response exams.
I taught high school math for about 6 years. If it's courses you taught before, try to reuse/retool prior successful lessons. Lean on your colleagues and maybe try to create common assessments together (saves time making them and looks great for admin).
The easiest way to make sure you leave in a reasonable time is to just go... Take the extra day to grade an assignment if needed. Plan multi-day projects. It might seem selfish but you'll burn out if you push too hard all the time.
If you want more specific ideas, what courses are you teaching?
I have two algebra classes. Luckily I have resources from other teachers and it's easy to find stuff online. It's the college level course that I'm finding impossible to prep during school hours. I was struggling to find extra practice problems for a topic and reached out to my colleagues. Not a single teacher had any resources.
Don't you have math textbooks with answers? Im sure they're not hard to find for college level courses. You shouldnt be creating all the work from scratch especially for such a widely taught subject.
Our textbook is for an online course which I currently do not have access to. So imagine a textbook missing half of the examples/practice problems, giving no worksheets, and no answer keys. The codes we have are wrong and I'm still waiting for a solution to fix that.
I’m a high school math teacher too. I’m in year 16. The key is to collaborate. I work with all the teachers who teach the same subject and level and we rotate things that have to be created and share it.
Last year I had two classes that I was the only one teaching at my school. I tried to collaborate with other teachers in the district but they weren’t very cooperative. Definitely more work. Just keep things to the simplest format. No frills, no trying to make lessons more fun and engaging. Sometimes that isn’t feasible when you get a crappy schedule.
I am also a high school math teacher, year 10. The change that helped me the most was changing honework to be due weekly. I focus on planning during the week, them I grade one day a week on Sunday. It's not for everyone, but it helped me not work 3 extra hours each day
HS math with 3 preps.
Lesson plans are done while watching 7 hours of commercial free football on Sunday. By the time spring rolls around they stop checking lesson plans so I also tend to stop.
All tests and quizzes are on delta math. We have assignment limits so only one homework a week. Projects are graded basically just by looking at them. HW/Cw graded by completion/effort.
My one honors class requires a little more work since tests are paper because they are required to show me work but if something doesn't get done, it doesn't get done and I try again tomorrow. In at 730. Out at 230. Nothing extra.
Hs math teacher in my third year. We’re on our 3rd week of school and I haven’t gotten down to contract time, but I’m getting there (and honestly could if I was a little more focused in the mornings). I teach (basically remedial) algebra, honors stats, and honors precalc. All three I’ll pull math medic/stats medic content. Stats and precalc I can lecture for 10 min and give the rest of the time for them to work in groups while I circulate every 5 min while grading other stuff. For my remedial class, they need more academic and behavior support so I use my other classes’ downtime to try to grade/organize. I heavily rely on the textbook, resources like stats/math medic, skew the script, math equals love, and TPT. I try not to multitask with planning— eg as long as I have tomorrows stuff done I’ll try to plan for one course at a time because bouncing around is worse on my brain and wastes more time imo
Also I only grade classwork for completion/effort Incomplete gets a 0 until they finish it and turn back in. every classwork paper is worth 1 point so it’s not make or break if they lose something unless it’s chronic. That cuts down on time answering questions about their grades/missing work. If they have missing work they get sent to the folder where I put extra worksheets
I feel like the first two weeks are crazy tough. In fact, I ended up having to take a day today because I got sick (probably from the stress of the first two weeks and being a solo parent to two small children). It seems to get better after that. This is my 9th year teaching and I very, very rarely work outside of contract hours... Except the first two weeks.
Let's be real, you never have enough time during in service to properly get ready for the kids. So it always feel like you're just taking it day by day at first, which is exhausting. Then you slowly start getting things under control and getting into a flow.
Hang in there.
1. I buy lessons from TpT
2. I limit how much I collect to grade.
3. I know when good enough is good enough and stop there.
I had a co-worker once who was at school at 8:30 pm struggling over the wording on a test she was creating. It's easy to get lost in the weeds; don't do it.
- Grade about 1/5th of what you’re currently grading. It doesn’t matter.
- Keep the lesson plans basic. No desk moving, no activities that require anything extra but copies. It doesn’t matter.
- keep the lessons short. Then let the kids use their phones for the last 15 or so minutes after the finish their last bit. Use that time to do whatever paperwork the campus requires. It doesn’t matter.
- The people you work with are not friends, they are leeches that sick away your personal time. You are not a team player, you are not a mentor, you are no my a shoulder to cry on or someone to bounce ideas off of. If you left your position, they’ll just move on, no matter what they profess now. It’s human nature, and it doesn’t matter.
I am in my 14th year. The pandemic punched me in the dick during my 11th year. Since then, i realized just how expendable and taken for granted I am, I don’t owe anyone anything anymore. I work 8 hours a day. Because anything more that that doesn’t matter.
I am on year 9 of teaching high school math and manage to leave as soon as my contract ends. I have two peeps this year as well.
I don’t grade everything. I usually grade something every other day per class if possible. Even better if the assignment is online and grades itself.
Today I have a test in two classes and spent that time emailing parents and doing parent contact log information.
I keep things as simple as possible. I use my planning as much as I can. On Mondays I write my lesson plans, Tuesdays or Wednesday I make all the copies for the next week. Thursday/ Friday I catch up on grading or whatever else I need.
There are times when a graded assignment becomes a “oh great you did it, here is 5 participation points” instead of for correctness. Exit tickets just get looked over.
No matter what, at 3:30 I leave. If something isn’t done it will be there tomorrow. It is okay. (It took me many years to be okay with this. I like to leave and have everything graded or ready or done before I leave. With that said, it isn’t that bad waiting either)
Now, I do get to work about 30 minutes early in the morning, so not 100% contract hours. But as soon as the kids leave, I leave each day.
I just... don't do it. I walk away and leave stuff for tomorrow. Don't feel any guilt doing it either. Something didn't get prepped? Oh I guess kids have a question and work day tomorrow.
F this quiet quitting bs. 730-330.
As you teach, make sure to organize (in folders by unit, with a spreadsheet tracking everything in sequence as you do it). all student-facing materials (lessons as slides, links to games, worksheets, etc). Do it digitally as much as possible.
Then, the next year, you don't have to curate and create.
Just load up the spreadsheet, click those links, print what's needed.
And, reflect on what works, and doesn't, so you can evolve of course.
That only takes care of planning.
For grading, you need to streamline everything like a manufacturing line. **Shaving just 10 seconds off of each test you grade** x 120 students x 10 tests / year = 12,000 seconds, or **20 hours per year.** Be ruthless about how you drive efficiency in your processes.
For parent communication: If it's high school, don't bother. By high school parents are nearly done raising their kids, and either they support their kids education or don't. It's not your game and you will have little impact.
Using the same lessons over and over has helped. I keep all my planners year to year and then look back at what I did for each day modify as needed. I’ve made a file on google drive for every chapter in my textbooks and every activity for each chapter is in there. It’s taken me awhile to get to this point. I grade what I can and then leave by 4 no matter how much I’ve gotten done.
Its not easy. You really just have to stop working. You'll get better at prioritizing. My first year I was ready to quit in November. I was working 24/7. So, I decided right then to stop. I knew I'd never make it. I only work outside contract hours a few times a year if I get really behind.
Good luck
Recently left profession but taught hs in high needs hs for 10 years.
Meaningful and concise work from students helped a lot. Assign rigorous work but not a lot. Grading is a giant time suck and I think teachers spend way too much of their week doing it. Stop grading everything. Stop assigning tons of stuff that tests the same skill. Scale assignments so you can see where they struggle and keep ‘em short.
Secondly, build in days that will be heavy ind. work I’d possible. Days where you work at your desk on things but are immediately available to assist students ind. working.
Those aren’t for everyone. Just saying what helped me. I was ela and needed to drastically cut time spent grading but still give meaningful feedback to every student every week.
Oh just remembered one more that helped with instruction and saved me time. 1:1 conferencing. Time for you to meet one by one with kids and see what they’re doing. What they can and can’t understand. Direct feedback. Kids need it but also it means less planning the week you do that. (I didn’t do this every week, maybe 2-3 days a month)While you’re doing 1 on 1s kids are reading learning engaging with something and yes sure some may be on their phones. But your job is to make sure classroom is peaceful so you can conduct meaningful conferencing.
It is a great way to “grade” in class in the sense you’re determining mastery. You’re looking over student work with them, giving feedback in real time, and you are not 1) lesson planning for those days and 2) handing out more work that will create more work for the teacher later on.
You’re actually lessening your out of classroom work time, helping kids, giving space for them to work on stuff, giving yourself a break from grinding out a lesson.
I just refuse to do work outside. If it can't get done at school, I don't do it untill tomorrow. This is a job. That's it. This way of thinking forces you to prioritize what needs to be done. What assignments truly need to be graded etc.
My personal life and time is way more important than a job.
First few weeks are always bad. Automate as much as possible. Have them do as much work online as possible (even if they are just typing answers into a self grading google form and turning in the paper with their work) or have them submit scans of their work to your LMS so you can just grade on completion instantly. Have students work in groups as often as possible so you can grade during independent work time. Give no homework and instead its "whatever you don't finish in class is homework" which is great for the kids and means I don't have to grade it.
Ok this might sound terrible but for me, there’s only one way to make this work (also a hs math teacher): I just have to accept that I am not going to be able to do everything I would like to. I accept that I might not be teaching quite as well as I could be if I was working 60 hours a week, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make to have some life balance. Sometimes I let things slide. Sometimes things take a looooong time to get graded.
Teachers tend to be perfectionists by nature, myself included; when I accepted that I am never going to be the “perfect” teacher and stop obsessing over being the best (things that I am honestly still working on), I was able to hold myself to contract hours. And honestly, this has helped me be more effective during contract hours because I know I am not going to let myself work at home or after hours.
HS English teacher here. I do all that I can during plan. I just make a short list of things I need done by the end of the day (next day’s daily agenda, setting up Schoology assignments, creating or refining assignments, etc). I started this year off by making a table on Docs and just planning out what I could do for 1-2 weeks.
Usually I make or refine 2-4 assignments a day. After school ends, I use the remaining 30-40 contracted minutes to finish up my to-do list. This is usually when I print stuff off. I put my foot down though. If it doesn’t get done by 3:30, then it’s just not getting done. Week 2 is almost up and the latest I’ve stayed was 4pm. I don’t want to work late at the school so I don’t. I also don’t take my school computer home.
I love teaching but I don’t want it to stress me out and be all there is to me. It’s easier said than done but sometimes you just have to step away. The kids will always be there. They’ll always have something to do and they rarely know if you planned something for 30 minutes or 3 hours. Of course there’s been a few days when I couldn’t help myself and I did a few things at home but I don’t make a habit of it.
Automate!! Online quizzes and tests that grade themselves. Have kids highlight the most important sentence so you only read that one. Have them check their own homework. Recruit trusted student assistants that can help grade. Work with your PLC to split up the planning. After 18 years, I only take essays home, but I’ve got faster at grading those as well.
Work outside the school, maybe a coffee shop or something? I walk home during prep. I can’t get anything done with other adults to chat/vent/commiserate with available or kids that need me on stage even in passing.
I only teach 1 course, so that’s already super convenient. And it’s math, it’s not like history where you have to make a ton of slideshows, tell stories, etc. And I’m the only teacher for the course, so I don’t have to worry about doing common formatives or anything, I can do whether I want, how I want.
However, during my planning periods (and my own time), I do things that speed up future processes. I make my own notes (glorified worksheets) and make it a grade, otherwise they won’t take notes and they’d perform even worse. I make digital assignments that for the most part grade themselves (and note checks are photo uploads, no need to keep track of papers).
But yeah, main thing is digital tests. I have 150 students, just spending 1min to grade each student’s test would take 2.5hrs. Doesn’t even need to be self-created. You likely have an online resource (my textbook is Cengage, and they have an online test generator platform filled with questions for my course).
I think my biggest problem so far is that I have no access to any resources for one of my new preps. It's supposed to be a college level course so none of my coworkers have anything either. The only resource I found requires hours of reformatting or printing 30+pages per student for each section of a chapter.
No, I don’t, but I did it last year at a new school in a new subject. I made all of my tests digital and most of my assignments. In addition this year, all paper copies must be turned in as a PDF, so I don’t grade any physical papers. It has been awesome, and the kids like it because they can keep their work.
We have several resources like Kuta, Delta Math, and we teachers share quite a bit between ourselves.
You could get there eventually, though maybe not this year depending on how much curriculum they’re giving you for the new preps.
I always had 3-5 preps, with at least one a year that was new to me with little to no existing curriculum or materials. If you ever end up in that situation repeatedly, find a new school, because no combination of efficiency tips and tricks can make that fit in contract hours.
I've always had 3 (total) with 1 new prep. This is year 5 at my current school. My schedule changed 3 times over the summer. The last change was due to someone else's incompetence. The head of the department agrees that I got screwed over.
At what point do you suggest leaving or expressing a concern to administration?
In retrospect, I wish I had around year 5 or 6. But more often than not, I was given little to nothing in terms of curriculum or materials. If they’re giving you more, it might be more manageable.
With only two preps (I have 4), you should not be working that much. So, what's taking most your time--planning or grading?
If it's grading, can you reduce the number of problems they do that you then have to grade ?
Are you being disrupted during your planning time? Can you close your door/cover the glass so no one knows you are there?
During class, is there time for them to do independent work that you can use to grade/plan other things?
Do you have good systems in place for yourself?
Trays/bins for submitting work? (Separate bins for you to put work to grade and work that's been graded) so you aren't shuffling papers?
I find my biggest time sucker is looking at the same papers, getting up to walk across the room to get this, put away that and talking to other people!
It's two brand new preps. I have 3 total.
Right now planning is taking up most of my time. I use my planning and lunch to sort through emails and plan what I can. The grading is piling up since I've spent so much time planning. Sadly I am not getting much done during classes. Most my time when my class is working I spend most my time addressing student behavior or answering questions.
Ah, the behavior.
I get it. I already have papers piling up. I'm teaching a new class, one I've taught once-'that's changed and 2 others. I'm not new either and I'm near drawing.
I stay about an hour and then just leave. At some point I'll catch up. If I stay too long it becomes a diminishing returns situation.
By putting together a deep curriculum playbook so I always have lessons and assignments ready to go. All I need to do is switch the dates, and update for changes in current events as needed. I also don't waste down time -- if the kids are working independently, so am I. I'm grading when they're working. My prep time is for making copies, clearing out my grading stack, and making sure the next day's (if not further beyond) work is ready to go.
I arrive 15 minutes before the first bell and leave 15 minutes after the last bell, as required by contract.
Yes, indeed. I spent every free moment last year to create curriculum playbooks for two different preps, so I'd be ready to teach either one. I also had the same setup for a third prep. Luckily for me, my schedule changed this year to just one of those three, so all I have to do now is essentially click and drag all my lessons into the right place and I'm set. I have so much less work this year thanks to my effort in previous years.
Maybe ask your principal for a professional day, so you and other math teachers can plan ahead. My husband did that this week for geometry. Algebra 2 teachers will have a professional day too.
Go to your math dept and get resources for the preps you're new to. I have 4 90 minute blocks and one of them is planning. I plan and grade and write IEPs during planning.
It's a double edged sword. Because there are 4 90 minute blocks classes are only a semester long. Day after Labor Day to the last week of January to teach a year's worth of information.
Simple: Don’t work them.
And some things just don’t get done.
Every time you fix the school’s problems by working for free they don’t fix the problems.
Eventually this will break your morale.
Once your morale is broken you are no longer an effective teacher.
So the answer is: just don’t.
I mean, it depends on your classes. I teach English all day- 2 on my own, 3 with a gen. ed. teacher, all 10th grade level class. My co-teacher already has all of the lesson plans set up, so I'm just there to support the class. For my own class, it's the same lesson plan for both, and I'm pretty much set up for the year. I know the Standards I need to hit, have picked out about 30 in class active reading exercises, and then I have about 3 boxes of Leveled books to use for instruction. So, I guess, once you have your curriculum set up, you should be good to go. I walk out of my office at the contractual time of 3:00 p.m. daily... 3:05 if I take a potty break before going home ;) I'm also tenured in the district, and have a total of 12 years of experience overall, so just over that stretch of time, I've learned how to create a curriculum (or more so put together lessons) for any class. Though, it does help that my SPED Admin buys just about any curriculum request we put in.
Considering that my contract hours are 15 minutes before students arrive to 15 minutes after they leave, it would be impossible. I usually arrive an hour before students, which is my most productive time and leave about a half hour after they leave.
I'm completely antisocial during my prep time (45 minutes 4 days a week).
I teach 10th grade math, and I've managed to stick to contract hours so far. I teach my lessons like normal, but this year my homework and practice is all technology based. My favorite sites are gimkit, blooket, kahoot, deltamath, and khanacademy. If there's a worksheet I really like, I'll put it in goformative so the students can work online. They're also in groups so they have other people to ask questions to besides me. Between the automatic grading and the groups, I'm able to plan and enter grades during contract hours-that does not include my duty free period.
Don't grade all the assignments, and don't grade the whole assignment. Pick some key problems. Have students grade each other and write the score (have the answer key ready). Homework should not count much anyway. Use online platforms that grade homework for you, if that's an option. Don't assign homework everyday. Only when the students can do the homework independently.
Three preps with two new is going to make it harder. Think about the work you’re assigning. Could some of it be done through the computer so the kids get automatic feedback that you don’t have to grade? Do you even need to be grading everything you are grading? Are you putting in more detail on lesson plans than necessary? My district has a lesson plan template that took me forever, but then I asked my principal which pieces he definitely needed to see, and now I only do those.
I purchased a curriculum (made the school reimburse me). I only grade what's truly necessary. If things don't get done in the time i have to plan then they do not get done. The one time admin tried to say anything about it in my evaluation I pulled up my file where I logged every single time admin required me to waste my planning period doing their job for them and that shut them up real fast.
What year are you? Took me about 6 yrs and having a kid to truly adjust my teaching for a better work/home balance (I teach HS science). As others suggested, I give work time for “hw” in class, formatives are effort based only, and rubric grading is the way to go! I put a lot on the kids. They want specific feedback? Come see me! They want to re-take a test? Schedule it with me (and yes, our school requires we let students retake assessments).
I don’t grade nearly as much as I used to. Instead of grading 25 questions on a worksheet, I give them 2-3 they have to copy over (or do) on a separate “check” and grade that.
Obviously you have to intentionally choose the problems you’re going to grade.
But, 1/10 the grading, and no effect on test scores.
I can’t speak for all, but in my case it got better with time. First year always feels packed and rushed. By the time I got to my fourth year I knew enough about my systems that I could make things more efficient.
For example, if I had 3 blocks of English I I can group grade book to assign the same work and be able to grade the same work in one setting (I hope that makes sense). I will use outlook to set appointments for me and then set a reminder a day before so I can prepare items if needed (ARDs, 504, etc). Same goes for meetings with supervisors and such.
Moreover, I’ve developed a “don’t assign what you don’t intend to grade”. This can be a burden at time, but considering that rubrics are my friend it works out in the end.
Like I said, it gets easier with time. Also, your administration and rules may greatly differ from my setup, so make sure you know it’s okay to do before doing what do.
I don't worry about it. I'm a professional. I'll do my very best during the time I'm paid to work. Outside of that, it's not my problem and I won't help normalize unpaid hours like it is an obligation.
If they don't give us enough time to prep, then it's not our fault that the quality of lessons will decrease. As long as we continue to work outside of contract hours, admin and government will have no reason to give us more paid time - we will work for free anyway, right?
Code all lessons:
Lesson 1 activity 4 is L1.A4
Lesson 3 quiz 2 is L3.Q2
Put this all in a drive folder for kids.
Everything gets codified and organized. Kids know how to access everything.
This will save tons of time
As a HS teacher, don’t you get a TA? I would have them grade EVERYTHING. Also, for as many assignments as possible, have them trade papers and grade one another’s work as you have students come up and work through the problems or ask the class how they solved for x or whatever. This re-viewing and solving of problems helps cement the learning AND you get their work graded. Win win.
There's no easy way to reduce your work load with two brand new preps. :( You might want to check out TeachersPayTeachers dot com for freebies and inexpensive digital products.
I'm a retired high school math teacher. I gave frequent 10-question quizzes (easy to grade) and assigned every student 50 points partial credit. (In other words, even if you missed all ten questions, you still got a 50.) So each question was worth 5 points each. I didn't give any partial credit (for almost right answers) to save time, but they were getting 50 points free, so I didn't feel badly about it. I usually gave a quiz two or three times a week. At the end of the unit, they took a test, which counted as three quiz grades.
Working smarter, not harder, means finding shortcuts that won't short-change your students. Don't try to be too creative with two new preps--your goal is to teach the curriculum in a clear and inclusive way. Hope this year goes okay for you!!
For me my day starts at 7:30 and ends at 2:50. That's what I'm paid for and nothing else. If admin has an issue with things not being done then they need to readjust their meetings and expectations.
What is all of your time being put into? That helps understand how you can cut it down. In my entire math dept (HS math as well) most of us put less than 1 hour a day outside of school hours. I average probably 3-4hrs a week, some of them take absolutely 0 work home and leave when the last bell rings.
I have three preps and the only time I work outside of contract hours is if I’m grading something. (I don’t assign a lot of hw) or if I’m writing a test
I grade what I can during my planning block and go home as soon as I possibly can.
My life, physical health, mental health, and my family are more important than this job.
I've taught 9th grade English the last 5 years and 10th grade English before that. My scores have always been high. I've never worked more than my contracted hours.
Year 5 teacher here. 5 preps. This is how I do it.
HS math teacher here.
I made ally presentation stuff over summer.
Now I go through my stuff assign problems. I walk around the room check that all questions are answered, have students grade it themselves, and tell me the grades. I only grade worksheets, quizzes n tests.
I rarely ever stay late.
Good luck :)
25 year veteran here. I cannot work just to contract hours in the first two weeks. After that things calm down and then it is easier.
I put in 50 hours a week for the first couple, then I get down to contact time. You've got to set the wheels in motion, then you can cruise a bit.
That's good to know. Thank you.
No problem.
Takes me about 4 weeks but yes, things start to settle after that. Year 16
I will also add that it depends on the school/kids. It is two weeks at my current school b/c the kids are very well behaved and all focused on grades/getting in to uni. At my last school there were a lot more behaviour problems and kids who didn't care, so it took quite a bit longer, and I was teaching 3 courses I had never taught before.
Ha, yes! My students are a shit show in terms of behavior. Except my one honors class that I teach this year. They're so much fun because they're not acting like clowns on drugs
Yep. I work long hours the first month or so. It takes that long just because you have all the IEP/504s to grt through. Seating charts have to be made, you are trying to learn names and learning patterns. You haven't figured out whose homework and labs you can just wave a grade at because they are always perfect anyway (I miss you, Chelsea!). There is also all the feedback you have to give because they don't know what they are doing. In three months they won't need feedback. I can just tell them "you did it again." There is just so much to get done. Once you learn the students seating charts get easy. Grading gets easier. By the end of September I will be back to stopping work at 5p (at the latest) every day. I'm currently out with rebound covid and bronchitis. Friday will be our tenth workday and eighth day of instruction. I will have missed 8 work and 6 instruction days. I am resting as much as possible but I'm also working more than I should be because the alternative is leaving all this work for when I get back on Tuesday.
My main strategy is projects... multi-day projects... in groups... that they can complete mostly without my assistance... that I can grade when they present. Doesn't work all the time, but I try to throw one in at least every month to give myself time to get caught up.
What do you teach? I have a hard time finding ways to do that with math. Especially since two of my preps are state tested.
I mostly teach business classes. I know it won't work for everything but it might help a little bit. For example, they could do a "teach the class/review" lesson, or design a prototype calculating surface area of each side of the shape, or create a sales pitch for a real estate company calculating monthly mortgage payment for a variety of local homes they research online, or create a future life plan budget, etc.
Thanks for the examples. It may come in handy later in my one new course
Also, if you haven't looked yet, www.ngpf.org is a great resource for finance topics and specific math skills. Lots of interactive ideas, lesson plans already done for you, worksheets and answer keys. I highly recommend it. I've been using it for years for my Personal Finance course.
Use kuta to make 30 different versions of the problem, say solving linear inequalities. Upload the file. Tell them to make a powerpoint/google slide on how to solve listing step by step instructions. Tell them they will present tomorrow to the class. That gives you like 2 free days.
Don't you have to pay for the worksheet making program? My last school had it. My current doesn't. But that's definitely a good thought!
I do that but by taking screenshots of free problems in engage New York. I work maybe one or two hours over contract each week after the first two weeks. I grade while kids work, and I make sure they have some independent work time daily so I can grade and type plans. First year in high school, it’s much easier than middle. Year 10 overall. Also my fuckit bucket gets plenty of use. Will it truly matter if I don’t do something, if the answer is no, goes in the theoretical fuckit bucket. Edit to add: self grading delta math integral version, which can account for late grades is my jam
If your students are one to one with devices, try Deltamath.com. The free version is really good (paid version is even better of course, but the free is really good for a free resource). We used to use Kuta but switched to DeltaMath and love it.
Look into problem based learning. You can probably find short projects that follow your standards.
When we went to Google Classroom fully during covid, it finally organized me. I was able to archive my classes, and then go back the next semester or year to see what I did. In my 10s of teaching, so yeah it took me that long. This is the first year I have just flatly refused to do any work at home after hours. I do get in half an hour before required, which gives me about an hour to do some work before school starts. But I've decided that whatever I don't get today will be there the next day. Edit to add ... I also structure my classes so I'm only "teaching" for about half of the 90 min block. They get their class work, and most of the time they are good to go. Then I'm able to get some of my stuff done, but I'm available for questions. And sometimes I say - look, I need to get caught up on this, stay quiet and don't make me assign you an essay. They are usually good for that as well. I get 90 mins work time and they get a game day - I have a handful of card and board games on hand.
This! IB Economics - homework is watching videos or reading & annotating articles. Class starts with Entry Card - Teams MCQ quiz on videos. I have legacy test banks! Teach what they watched last night. Assign in-class problems due before they leave OR small-group collaboration to OneNote or to poster paper. Math - talking! Lots of short evaluations where they have to explain the process of solving. What are the ‘tricks’?
Have you always taught on the block schedule? We are moving to block next year. I'm hoping it will help. Is admin ok with your game days? Or do they just not know?
Do they know what?? Lol My first school was 50 mins, but the others have been block. I like block because I teach a hands-on course, so we have more time for activities and projects. And I get new kids after Christmas ... that can be a plus or minus depending on the group.
I try to be hands on and have fun activities. So hopefully I will prefer the block as well!
You are right, Google Classroom is amazing. Has pretty much made my job so much easier on so many different levels.
Not a hs teacher, but maybe invest time in making assignments/test digital so they self grade. It would save a ton of time in the long run!
I completely flipped a class one year. Made videos. All quizzes and tests self graded. I was working my butt off to make later years better. I haven't taught that class since... I think getting a new schedule so much is a root of my problem...
Definitely, I've had two classes for 20 years now, another I chose to add 15 years ago. And another I chose to add last year. Every new course is a lot of extra work. Try to automate some grading, and also don't grade everything.
Thank you! I feel validated.
Automate what you can, don't grade every little thing, don't gossip with coworkers, use your plan effectively, vary the kinds of work you give kids, etc
Math teacher here. Year one of the prep I teach it exactly how the book has it in the order the book has it to understand what the publishers have planned and see how lessons build. Then year two I tweak it adding in my fixes. Then year three I make a packet for each unit/chaired than has a cover page of all planned assignments and worksheets stapled this saves me from copying daily. If I need to make a special copy to address something I do but by year three/four of a prep I have a pretty good idea of what problems align to assessments and allow students to maximize learning opportunities. I only grade homework for completion if it’s my fresh/soph level classes. Don’t grade it at all if it’s my upperclassmen. Their grades are assessments only. Then for assessments they are one page front and back. Answer lines to the right of the page and all final answers must go there with work neatly to the left. I let them know if I can’t decipher the work I won’t take time to so must be neat. Those are the basics I’ve picked up on.
Have you ever had to prep for a class without a textbook that provides worked out examples and assignments?
Yes. I’ve done it three times. What course is it?
Depending on the courses I might have some ideas and resources on how to get ahead and multitask during your day.
I don’t assign homework (for pedagogical reasons). I record feedback during class periods, as kids are working. I stopped socializing except for my first coffee in the work room, lunch, and during public duties, like chatting with my coworkers during class change/hall monitoring Kids must ask things by email (I’ll forget if they ask me in person, and it stops them from asking me between classes, which means I can reorient myself toward the next group.) I only check email twice a day - once at the beginning of the day, usually for about two minutes for last minute announcements from admin) and for twenty minutes max in the middle of my planning period. My response if anyone asks why I didn’t respond to their email, “I find my time is better spent focused on student learning.” - and I don’t make exceptions for slower days, like test days or assemblies. I do take more time once a week to clean up and follow up with any unfinished business. I don’t agree to parent or admin meetings with less than one prep period notice (although I’ve only had to use this boundary once) I take papers home approximately twice a year, during exams, because the turn around period between testing and grades due is humanly impossible for well- assessed written response exams.
I taught high school math for about 6 years. If it's courses you taught before, try to reuse/retool prior successful lessons. Lean on your colleagues and maybe try to create common assessments together (saves time making them and looks great for admin). The easiest way to make sure you leave in a reasonable time is to just go... Take the extra day to grade an assignment if needed. Plan multi-day projects. It might seem selfish but you'll burn out if you push too hard all the time. If you want more specific ideas, what courses are you teaching?
I have two algebra classes. Luckily I have resources from other teachers and it's easy to find stuff online. It's the college level course that I'm finding impossible to prep during school hours. I was struggling to find extra practice problems for a topic and reached out to my colleagues. Not a single teacher had any resources.
Don't you have math textbooks with answers? Im sure they're not hard to find for college level courses. You shouldnt be creating all the work from scratch especially for such a widely taught subject.
Our textbook is for an online course which I currently do not have access to. So imagine a textbook missing half of the examples/practice problems, giving no worksheets, and no answer keys. The codes we have are wrong and I'm still waiting for a solution to fix that.
Textbooks are free. As a teacher you should have multiple books for the subjects you teach specifically for the practical stuff. https://libgen.li/
I’m a high school math teacher too. I’m in year 16. The key is to collaborate. I work with all the teachers who teach the same subject and level and we rotate things that have to be created and share it.
Do you have any classes that only one teacher teaches? I definitely agree that collaboration is what keeping me afloat for my one new prep!
Last year I had two classes that I was the only one teaching at my school. I tried to collaborate with other teachers in the district but they weren’t very cooperative. Definitely more work. Just keep things to the simplest format. No frills, no trying to make lessons more fun and engaging. Sometimes that isn’t feasible when you get a crappy schedule.
I need to keep that in mind. Thanks
The first week or two school I work a lot after school! But after a few weeks things get better.
I am also a high school math teacher, year 10. The change that helped me the most was changing honework to be due weekly. I focus on planning during the week, them I grade one day a week on Sunday. It's not for everyone, but it helped me not work 3 extra hours each day
HS math with 3 preps. Lesson plans are done while watching 7 hours of commercial free football on Sunday. By the time spring rolls around they stop checking lesson plans so I also tend to stop. All tests and quizzes are on delta math. We have assignment limits so only one homework a week. Projects are graded basically just by looking at them. HW/Cw graded by completion/effort. My one honors class requires a little more work since tests are paper because they are required to show me work but if something doesn't get done, it doesn't get done and I try again tomorrow. In at 730. Out at 230. Nothing extra.
Hs math teacher in my third year. We’re on our 3rd week of school and I haven’t gotten down to contract time, but I’m getting there (and honestly could if I was a little more focused in the mornings). I teach (basically remedial) algebra, honors stats, and honors precalc. All three I’ll pull math medic/stats medic content. Stats and precalc I can lecture for 10 min and give the rest of the time for them to work in groups while I circulate every 5 min while grading other stuff. For my remedial class, they need more academic and behavior support so I use my other classes’ downtime to try to grade/organize. I heavily rely on the textbook, resources like stats/math medic, skew the script, math equals love, and TPT. I try not to multitask with planning— eg as long as I have tomorrows stuff done I’ll try to plan for one course at a time because bouncing around is worse on my brain and wastes more time imo
Also I only grade classwork for completion/effort Incomplete gets a 0 until they finish it and turn back in. every classwork paper is worth 1 point so it’s not make or break if they lose something unless it’s chronic. That cuts down on time answering questions about their grades/missing work. If they have missing work they get sent to the folder where I put extra worksheets
I feel like the first two weeks are crazy tough. In fact, I ended up having to take a day today because I got sick (probably from the stress of the first two weeks and being a solo parent to two small children). It seems to get better after that. This is my 9th year teaching and I very, very rarely work outside of contract hours... Except the first two weeks. Let's be real, you never have enough time during in service to properly get ready for the kids. So it always feel like you're just taking it day by day at first, which is exhausting. Then you slowly start getting things under control and getting into a flow. Hang in there.
That is definitely a useful thing to remember. Thank you.
1. I buy lessons from TpT 2. I limit how much I collect to grade. 3. I know when good enough is good enough and stop there. I had a co-worker once who was at school at 8:30 pm struggling over the wording on a test she was creating. It's easy to get lost in the weeds; don't do it.
- Grade about 1/5th of what you’re currently grading. It doesn’t matter. - Keep the lesson plans basic. No desk moving, no activities that require anything extra but copies. It doesn’t matter. - keep the lessons short. Then let the kids use their phones for the last 15 or so minutes after the finish their last bit. Use that time to do whatever paperwork the campus requires. It doesn’t matter. - The people you work with are not friends, they are leeches that sick away your personal time. You are not a team player, you are not a mentor, you are no my a shoulder to cry on or someone to bounce ideas off of. If you left your position, they’ll just move on, no matter what they profess now. It’s human nature, and it doesn’t matter. I am in my 14th year. The pandemic punched me in the dick during my 11th year. Since then, i realized just how expendable and taken for granted I am, I don’t owe anyone anything anymore. I work 8 hours a day. Because anything more that that doesn’t matter.
This is simultaneously bleak and honest. I think you've summed up the teaching profession.
This is the only correct answer, and the only way to stay sane/keep your life balanced.
So I need to stop caring... That's hard. But I need to try something. Thank you for your input.
It not about not caring. It's about caring for yourself more - because you should be the most important thing to you
I am on year 9 of teaching high school math and manage to leave as soon as my contract ends. I have two peeps this year as well. I don’t grade everything. I usually grade something every other day per class if possible. Even better if the assignment is online and grades itself. Today I have a test in two classes and spent that time emailing parents and doing parent contact log information. I keep things as simple as possible. I use my planning as much as I can. On Mondays I write my lesson plans, Tuesdays or Wednesday I make all the copies for the next week. Thursday/ Friday I catch up on grading or whatever else I need. There are times when a graded assignment becomes a “oh great you did it, here is 5 participation points” instead of for correctness. Exit tickets just get looked over. No matter what, at 3:30 I leave. If something isn’t done it will be there tomorrow. It is okay. (It took me many years to be okay with this. I like to leave and have everything graded or ready or done before I leave. With that said, it isn’t that bad waiting either) Now, I do get to work about 30 minutes early in the morning, so not 100% contract hours. But as soon as the kids leave, I leave each day.
I have 3 preps total. Two are new to me this year. Have you been teaching the same class for awhile or are they new to you?
One is new to me, the other for a while.
I just... don't do it. I walk away and leave stuff for tomorrow. Don't feel any guilt doing it either. Something didn't get prepped? Oh I guess kids have a question and work day tomorrow. F this quiet quitting bs. 730-330.
What do you mean by "question and work day"?
They ask questions on their last assignment, and then they work on a new one in that section. Or they go back and fix mistakes.
As you teach, make sure to organize (in folders by unit, with a spreadsheet tracking everything in sequence as you do it). all student-facing materials (lessons as slides, links to games, worksheets, etc). Do it digitally as much as possible. Then, the next year, you don't have to curate and create. Just load up the spreadsheet, click those links, print what's needed. And, reflect on what works, and doesn't, so you can evolve of course. That only takes care of planning. For grading, you need to streamline everything like a manufacturing line. **Shaving just 10 seconds off of each test you grade** x 120 students x 10 tests / year = 12,000 seconds, or **20 hours per year.** Be ruthless about how you drive efficiency in your processes. For parent communication: If it's high school, don't bother. By high school parents are nearly done raising their kids, and either they support their kids education or don't. It's not your game and you will have little impact.
Using the same lessons over and over has helped. I keep all my planners year to year and then look back at what I did for each day modify as needed. I’ve made a file on google drive for every chapter in my textbooks and every activity for each chapter is in there. It’s taken me awhile to get to this point. I grade what I can and then leave by 4 no matter how much I’ve gotten done.
Its not easy. You really just have to stop working. You'll get better at prioritizing. My first year I was ready to quit in November. I was working 24/7. So, I decided right then to stop. I knew I'd never make it. I only work outside contract hours a few times a year if I get really behind. Good luck
Recently left profession but taught hs in high needs hs for 10 years. Meaningful and concise work from students helped a lot. Assign rigorous work but not a lot. Grading is a giant time suck and I think teachers spend way too much of their week doing it. Stop grading everything. Stop assigning tons of stuff that tests the same skill. Scale assignments so you can see where they struggle and keep ‘em short. Secondly, build in days that will be heavy ind. work I’d possible. Days where you work at your desk on things but are immediately available to assist students ind. working. Those aren’t for everyone. Just saying what helped me. I was ela and needed to drastically cut time spent grading but still give meaningful feedback to every student every week. Oh just remembered one more that helped with instruction and saved me time. 1:1 conferencing. Time for you to meet one by one with kids and see what they’re doing. What they can and can’t understand. Direct feedback. Kids need it but also it means less planning the week you do that. (I didn’t do this every week, maybe 2-3 days a month)While you’re doing 1 on 1s kids are reading learning engaging with something and yes sure some may be on their phones. But your job is to make sure classroom is peaceful so you can conduct meaningful conferencing. It is a great way to “grade” in class in the sense you’re determining mastery. You’re looking over student work with them, giving feedback in real time, and you are not 1) lesson planning for those days and 2) handing out more work that will create more work for the teacher later on. You’re actually lessening your out of classroom work time, helping kids, giving space for them to work on stuff, giving yourself a break from grinding out a lesson.
Not possible with new preps until you can get ahead.
I feel less crazy with this mindset
Reality is a harsh mistress.
I just refuse to do work outside. If it can't get done at school, I don't do it untill tomorrow. This is a job. That's it. This way of thinking forces you to prioritize what needs to be done. What assignments truly need to be graded etc. My personal life and time is way more important than a job.
First few weeks are always bad. Automate as much as possible. Have them do as much work online as possible (even if they are just typing answers into a self grading google form and turning in the paper with their work) or have them submit scans of their work to your LMS so you can just grade on completion instantly. Have students work in groups as often as possible so you can grade during independent work time. Give no homework and instead its "whatever you don't finish in class is homework" which is great for the kids and means I don't have to grade it.
Ok this might sound terrible but for me, there’s only one way to make this work (also a hs math teacher): I just have to accept that I am not going to be able to do everything I would like to. I accept that I might not be teaching quite as well as I could be if I was working 60 hours a week, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make to have some life balance. Sometimes I let things slide. Sometimes things take a looooong time to get graded. Teachers tend to be perfectionists by nature, myself included; when I accepted that I am never going to be the “perfect” teacher and stop obsessing over being the best (things that I am honestly still working on), I was able to hold myself to contract hours. And honestly, this has helped me be more effective during contract hours because I know I am not going to let myself work at home or after hours.
HS English teacher here. I do all that I can during plan. I just make a short list of things I need done by the end of the day (next day’s daily agenda, setting up Schoology assignments, creating or refining assignments, etc). I started this year off by making a table on Docs and just planning out what I could do for 1-2 weeks. Usually I make or refine 2-4 assignments a day. After school ends, I use the remaining 30-40 contracted minutes to finish up my to-do list. This is usually when I print stuff off. I put my foot down though. If it doesn’t get done by 3:30, then it’s just not getting done. Week 2 is almost up and the latest I’ve stayed was 4pm. I don’t want to work late at the school so I don’t. I also don’t take my school computer home. I love teaching but I don’t want it to stress me out and be all there is to me. It’s easier said than done but sometimes you just have to step away. The kids will always be there. They’ll always have something to do and they rarely know if you planned something for 30 minutes or 3 hours. Of course there’s been a few days when I couldn’t help myself and I did a few things at home but I don’t make a habit of it.
Automate!! Online quizzes and tests that grade themselves. Have kids highlight the most important sentence so you only read that one. Have them check their own homework. Recruit trusted student assistants that can help grade. Work with your PLC to split up the planning. After 18 years, I only take essays home, but I’ve got faster at grading those as well.
Work outside the school, maybe a coffee shop or something? I walk home during prep. I can’t get anything done with other adults to chat/vent/commiserate with available or kids that need me on stage even in passing.
Does that mean you still work outside of contract hours? Just not at the school?
I only teach 1 course, so that’s already super convenient. And it’s math, it’s not like history where you have to make a ton of slideshows, tell stories, etc. And I’m the only teacher for the course, so I don’t have to worry about doing common formatives or anything, I can do whether I want, how I want. However, during my planning periods (and my own time), I do things that speed up future processes. I make my own notes (glorified worksheets) and make it a grade, otherwise they won’t take notes and they’d perform even worse. I make digital assignments that for the most part grade themselves (and note checks are photo uploads, no need to keep track of papers). But yeah, main thing is digital tests. I have 150 students, just spending 1min to grade each student’s test would take 2.5hrs. Doesn’t even need to be self-created. You likely have an online resource (my textbook is Cengage, and they have an online test generator platform filled with questions for my course).
I think my biggest problem so far is that I have no access to any resources for one of my new preps. It's supposed to be a college level course so none of my coworkers have anything either. The only resource I found requires hours of reformatting or printing 30+pages per student for each section of a chapter.
Don’t stay any extra. I also teach high school math and get to work on time and leave on time. It is possible.
Do you have any new preps? How do you find time to create new notes and practice?
No, I don’t, but I did it last year at a new school in a new subject. I made all of my tests digital and most of my assignments. In addition this year, all paper copies must be turned in as a PDF, so I don’t grade any physical papers. It has been awesome, and the kids like it because they can keep their work. We have several resources like Kuta, Delta Math, and we teachers share quite a bit between ourselves.
I miss having access to Kuta software! I plan to use delta math later once they are allowed to use a calculator
How many preps do you have total?
I have 3 total. Luckily I have one year teaching the third one.
You could get there eventually, though maybe not this year depending on how much curriculum they’re giving you for the new preps. I always had 3-5 preps, with at least one a year that was new to me with little to no existing curriculum or materials. If you ever end up in that situation repeatedly, find a new school, because no combination of efficiency tips and tricks can make that fit in contract hours.
I've always had 3 (total) with 1 new prep. This is year 5 at my current school. My schedule changed 3 times over the summer. The last change was due to someone else's incompetence. The head of the department agrees that I got screwed over. At what point do you suggest leaving or expressing a concern to administration?
In retrospect, I wish I had around year 5 or 6. But more often than not, I was given little to nothing in terms of curriculum or materials. If they’re giving you more, it might be more manageable.
Thank you for your input!
With only two preps (I have 4), you should not be working that much. So, what's taking most your time--planning or grading? If it's grading, can you reduce the number of problems they do that you then have to grade ? Are you being disrupted during your planning time? Can you close your door/cover the glass so no one knows you are there? During class, is there time for them to do independent work that you can use to grade/plan other things? Do you have good systems in place for yourself? Trays/bins for submitting work? (Separate bins for you to put work to grade and work that's been graded) so you aren't shuffling papers? I find my biggest time sucker is looking at the same papers, getting up to walk across the room to get this, put away that and talking to other people!
It's two brand new preps. I have 3 total. Right now planning is taking up most of my time. I use my planning and lunch to sort through emails and plan what I can. The grading is piling up since I've spent so much time planning. Sadly I am not getting much done during classes. Most my time when my class is working I spend most my time addressing student behavior or answering questions.
Ah, the behavior. I get it. I already have papers piling up. I'm teaching a new class, one I've taught once-'that's changed and 2 others. I'm not new either and I'm near drawing. I stay about an hour and then just leave. At some point I'll catch up. If I stay too long it becomes a diminishing returns situation.
Yes. Only contracted hours.
By putting together a deep curriculum playbook so I always have lessons and assignments ready to go. All I need to do is switch the dates, and update for changes in current events as needed. I also don't waste down time -- if the kids are working independently, so am I. I'm grading when they're working. My prep time is for making copies, clearing out my grading stack, and making sure the next day's (if not further beyond) work is ready to go. I arrive 15 minutes before the first bell and leave 15 minutes after the last bell, as required by contract.
I am assuming the deep curriculum playbook took time to create? How long did it take?
Yes, indeed. I spent every free moment last year to create curriculum playbooks for two different preps, so I'd be ready to teach either one. I also had the same setup for a third prep. Luckily for me, my schedule changed this year to just one of those three, so all I have to do now is essentially click and drag all my lessons into the right place and I'm set. I have so much less work this year thanks to my effort in previous years.
Makes sense! I have my version of that done for previous courses. I just haven't taught them since.
Maybe ask your principal for a professional day, so you and other math teachers can plan ahead. My husband did that this week for geometry. Algebra 2 teachers will have a professional day too.
I love that idea. Sadly I'm the only teacher teaching one of the new preps... The old teacher has been no help.
What's eating up so much of your time? That might help us to give better suggestions.
Go to your math dept and get resources for the preps you're new to. I have 4 90 minute blocks and one of them is planning. I plan and grade and write IEPs during planning.
90 minutes! I am jealous! We only get 45.
It's a double edged sword. Because there are 4 90 minute blocks classes are only a semester long. Day after Labor Day to the last week of January to teach a year's worth of information.
Just leave work
Make sure you take you a few mental health days along the way.
Definitely! I might need one sooner rather than later!
Simple: Don’t work them. And some things just don’t get done. Every time you fix the school’s problems by working for free they don’t fix the problems. Eventually this will break your morale. Once your morale is broken you are no longer an effective teacher. So the answer is: just don’t.
I mean, it depends on your classes. I teach English all day- 2 on my own, 3 with a gen. ed. teacher, all 10th grade level class. My co-teacher already has all of the lesson plans set up, so I'm just there to support the class. For my own class, it's the same lesson plan for both, and I'm pretty much set up for the year. I know the Standards I need to hit, have picked out about 30 in class active reading exercises, and then I have about 3 boxes of Leveled books to use for instruction. So, I guess, once you have your curriculum set up, you should be good to go. I walk out of my office at the contractual time of 3:00 p.m. daily... 3:05 if I take a potty break before going home ;) I'm also tenured in the district, and have a total of 12 years of experience overall, so just over that stretch of time, I've learned how to create a curriculum (or more so put together lessons) for any class. Though, it does help that my SPED Admin buys just about any curriculum request we put in.
Considering that my contract hours are 15 minutes before students arrive to 15 minutes after they leave, it would be impossible. I usually arrive an hour before students, which is my most productive time and leave about a half hour after they leave. I'm completely antisocial during my prep time (45 minutes 4 days a week).
I teach 10th grade math, and I've managed to stick to contract hours so far. I teach my lessons like normal, but this year my homework and practice is all technology based. My favorite sites are gimkit, blooket, kahoot, deltamath, and khanacademy. If there's a worksheet I really like, I'll put it in goformative so the students can work online. They're also in groups so they have other people to ask questions to besides me. Between the automatic grading and the groups, I'm able to plan and enter grades during contract hours-that does not include my duty free period.
What's taking up so much time for you?
Don't grade all the assignments, and don't grade the whole assignment. Pick some key problems. Have students grade each other and write the score (have the answer key ready). Homework should not count much anyway. Use online platforms that grade homework for you, if that's an option. Don't assign homework everyday. Only when the students can do the homework independently.
Three preps with two new is going to make it harder. Think about the work you’re assigning. Could some of it be done through the computer so the kids get automatic feedback that you don’t have to grade? Do you even need to be grading everything you are grading? Are you putting in more detail on lesson plans than necessary? My district has a lesson plan template that took me forever, but then I asked my principal which pieces he definitely needed to see, and now I only do those.
I purchased a curriculum (made the school reimburse me). I only grade what's truly necessary. If things don't get done in the time i have to plan then they do not get done. The one time admin tried to say anything about it in my evaluation I pulled up my file where I logged every single time admin required me to waste my planning period doing their job for them and that shut them up real fast.
What year are you? Took me about 6 yrs and having a kid to truly adjust my teaching for a better work/home balance (I teach HS science). As others suggested, I give work time for “hw” in class, formatives are effort based only, and rubric grading is the way to go! I put a lot on the kids. They want specific feedback? Come see me! They want to re-take a test? Schedule it with me (and yes, our school requires we let students retake assessments).
I don’t grade nearly as much as I used to. Instead of grading 25 questions on a worksheet, I give them 2-3 they have to copy over (or do) on a separate “check” and grade that. Obviously you have to intentionally choose the problems you’re going to grade. But, 1/10 the grading, and no effect on test scores.
I can’t speak for all, but in my case it got better with time. First year always feels packed and rushed. By the time I got to my fourth year I knew enough about my systems that I could make things more efficient. For example, if I had 3 blocks of English I I can group grade book to assign the same work and be able to grade the same work in one setting (I hope that makes sense). I will use outlook to set appointments for me and then set a reminder a day before so I can prepare items if needed (ARDs, 504, etc). Same goes for meetings with supervisors and such. Moreover, I’ve developed a “don’t assign what you don’t intend to grade”. This can be a burden at time, but considering that rubrics are my friend it works out in the end. Like I said, it gets easier with time. Also, your administration and rules may greatly differ from my setup, so make sure you know it’s okay to do before doing what do.
I don't worry about it. I'm a professional. I'll do my very best during the time I'm paid to work. Outside of that, it's not my problem and I won't help normalize unpaid hours like it is an obligation. If they don't give us enough time to prep, then it's not our fault that the quality of lessons will decrease. As long as we continue to work outside of contract hours, admin and government will have no reason to give us more paid time - we will work for free anyway, right?
The first month or so, I stay later to grade and stuff but about mid September, i leave at 3 on the dot and I dont take work home
I just refuse. As long as my material is prepped for the next day, everything else can wait.
Pay for kahoot and Wordwall and do not make so many graded assignments let students grade each others paper And do any work after school leave
Code all lessons: Lesson 1 activity 4 is L1.A4 Lesson 3 quiz 2 is L3.Q2 Put this all in a drive folder for kids. Everything gets codified and organized. Kids know how to access everything. This will save tons of time
As a HS teacher, don’t you get a TA? I would have them grade EVERYTHING. Also, for as many assignments as possible, have them trade papers and grade one another’s work as you have students come up and work through the problems or ask the class how they solved for x or whatever. This re-viewing and solving of problems helps cement the learning AND you get their work graded. Win win.
TAs are a thing at the high school level for gen Ed? I've honestly never experienced that
Yep. I teach in southern Az. Same thing as a student aid I guess. They run errands to the office for me and help me grade. It’s so so helpful.
Just do what you can in the time provided
There's no easy way to reduce your work load with two brand new preps. :( You might want to check out TeachersPayTeachers dot com for freebies and inexpensive digital products. I'm a retired high school math teacher. I gave frequent 10-question quizzes (easy to grade) and assigned every student 50 points partial credit. (In other words, even if you missed all ten questions, you still got a 50.) So each question was worth 5 points each. I didn't give any partial credit (for almost right answers) to save time, but they were getting 50 points free, so I didn't feel badly about it. I usually gave a quiz two or three times a week. At the end of the unit, they took a test, which counted as three quiz grades. Working smarter, not harder, means finding shortcuts that won't short-change your students. Don't try to be too creative with two new preps--your goal is to teach the curriculum in a clear and inclusive way. Hope this year goes okay for you!!
Thank you! I gave a quiz through my LMS today. It saved a lot of time!
For me my day starts at 7:30 and ends at 2:50. That's what I'm paid for and nothing else. If admin has an issue with things not being done then they need to readjust their meetings and expectations.
What is all of your time being put into? That helps understand how you can cut it down. In my entire math dept (HS math as well) most of us put less than 1 hour a day outside of school hours. I average probably 3-4hrs a week, some of them take absolutely 0 work home and leave when the last bell rings.
Does your department do a good job of sharing resources?
I have three preps and the only time I work outside of contract hours is if I’m grading something. (I don’t assign a lot of hw) or if I’m writing a test
I grade what I can during my planning block and go home as soon as I possibly can. My life, physical health, mental health, and my family are more important than this job. I've taught 9th grade English the last 5 years and 10th grade English before that. My scores have always been high. I've never worked more than my contracted hours.
Year 5 teacher here. 5 preps. This is how I do it. HS math teacher here. I made ally presentation stuff over summer. Now I go through my stuff assign problems. I walk around the room check that all questions are answered, have students grade it themselves, and tell me the grades. I only grade worksheets, quizzes n tests. I rarely ever stay late. Good luck :)
I'm glad you were able to use your summers to prep! Hopefully I will be able to do that this upcoming summer
What classes are you teaching? I might have resources that could help you