Leaving Work at Work, by Chad Atkinson, Spanish Teacher at Mt. Juliet High School

As a brand new teacher, there is a seemingly endless amount of information to process and an ever-growing list of tasks that need your immediate attention. (Skyward, teacher websites, PD requirements, department meetings, last year’s testing data, future projections, setting up the classroom, lesson planning, etc.) You may be feeling a bit overwhelmed, over burdened, confused, inadequate and already underpaid and underappreciated. Consolation or not, most veteran teachers probably feel the same. Teaching can be stressful, exhilarating, reflective, confusing, frustrating and a down right joyful experience all in the course of twenty-four hours. Therefore, it is important to learn some coping strategies to help you maintain your sanity and to foster your desire to continue in this truly amazing line of work.

           The intent of my blog is to share with you some coping strategies that have helped me a great deal throughout my 10-year teaching career (I am a high school Spanish teacher and that may be important to note as each discipline and grade level requires different approaches and strategies). As the title suggests, leaving work at work is an important concept to embrace. If you can find a way to stay on top of grading papers and not take work home, then you just might make it to the next year! Trust me, as soon as your survival is secured then you can focus on how to thrive in the classroom, and that’s when teaching gets really fun!                                                                                           

           Let’s consider the following statement taken from an article in the Huffington Post on 07/23/2014. “A new report, published by the Alliance in collaboration with the New Teacher Center (NTC), a non-profit that helps schools and policymakers develop training for new educators, found that about 13 percent of the nation’s 3.4 million teachers move schools or leave the profession every year, costing states up to $2 billion. Researchers estimate that over 1 million teachers move in and out of schools annually, and between 40 and 50 percent quit within five years.” That is an astonishing number and deserves a quick look into the reasons why teachers leave the profession so shortly after coming to it.          

            Here’s a short excerpt from reddit.com in which a frustrated teacher is venting. “Similar situation, part way through my third year and I feel like I'm reaching a breaking point. I'm just getting so tired of the same old stuff, data driven goals, writing reflections, and collecting evidence of learning. I just started three new preps in a new school and I'm just trying to stay one step ahead of my students in the curriculum, let alone genuinely differentiating daily work and tests. I just feel like it's all for naught. I'm supposed to do this for another 35 years?” In hopes that you do not become this teacher, let’s explore some options to help us avoid getting too far down this road.

           My philosophy is simple…Do not take work home! Establish a work/play boundary and do your best to adhere to it. I stay after school for at least an hour every day and Fridays for 2 hours in order to get all of my grades entered for the week. Although I do not think you should work at home on a consistent basis, I certainly would advocate for writing down the ideas that come to you in the car, shower or in the middle of the night. Those ideas should always be welcomed regardless of time or day because they are naturally a part of what makes people great educators. I’m talking specifically about grading papers and extensive lesson planning at home. If you let that stuff creep too far into your personal life you may slowly start losing focus on life outside the classroom. Friends, family and personal time all have value and merit are a crucial balance to any teacher’s world. So how do you find a balance? Those assignments keep piling up and your prep keeps getting filled with other duties and responsibilities, such as calling parents or subbing for another class. There just doesn’t seem to be enough time to get it all done. Well, here’s a quick look into the systems I have developed over the years that have helped me maintain a balance. Hopefully they can be modified to fit your style and discipline and save you some time and headache along the way.

#1 – Homework

            If you are constantly under a pile of papers to grade you are probably giving students too many assignments. Try to assign meaningful work and be realistic about how much needs to be assigned and graded. I do not give HW everyday nor do I collect individual assignments to enter as individual grades. Instead I use a HW Tracker and it is collected every 2 weeks. Grades are typically based on effort, not accuracy, and students are in charge of corrections while I closely monitor and interject as needed. I have found that entering one single grade for a 2 week period allows me more time to do other meaningful tasks such as lesson planning. Once again, I teach Spanish 1 and 2, and there are lots of mistakes everyday, so the last think I want to do is mark up a student’s paper to the point that they no longer want to participate in class. In reality, I want to lower the affective filter in my class so all students feel comfortable enough to continue to try. In time, they eventually figure things out and we get to where we need to be.

#2 – Bell Work

            If you assign bell work you may want to approach it in this manner. Do not collect it every day nor enter a grade every day. I collect BW every Friday and enter 1 grade for the entire week. We always correct it in class (student assumes the teacher role while I monitor progress). In this approach, the students are the ones who become the facilitators of learning. If you set up your class this way it empowers students to take ownership of the class and their learning, and I have found that there are some truly excellent “student” teachers in my classes.

#3 - Participation

            Daily participation is a must in my class. In general, participation is really the only way for students to earn extra credit. Here’s how I do it. My seating chart is made in such a way that I have 2 weeks worth of documentation available to me. I document everything, bathroom visits (B), talking (T), off task (OT), etc. but I also document their daily participation. Once the 2-week period is up, I simply tally up their marks and enter 1 participation grade for a two-week period. I keep all records in a Participation folder and if needed they are great to have in a parent teacher meeting.

#4 – Projects

This is a tough one. I do have to take projects home at times but I try to keep it to a minimum. Don’t assign a large project every week or even a month in my opinion. You will bury yourself in extra work and students will complain that they have other projects in other classes as well. If you can assign something that can be graded on the spot, that’s even better at times. Simply put, it’s important to recognize when you are assigning too much or too little.

  #5 – Absent Students

            Inevitably you will have students out and in order to save time, I suggest that you put a bin somewhere in your room that covers Monday-Friday. As you assign work, put the extra copies in the bin to correspond to the day of the week it was handed out, and when students return to class they are responsible for collecting the missed handouts. I have an extra space for last week’s work, where I put all of the old handouts. It saves time and it puts the responsibility on the student, not the teacher. Parents seem to like that idea as well!

            To conclude, I think it important to note that my first year teaching was a 10-12 hour day, whether I had projects assigned or not. I also worked on weekends. It was a constant chore to keep my head above water and my entire existence seemed to be dictated by my job. You have to invest a tremendous amount of time if you want to be anything better than good. Strive to be excellent. Build a trusting and safe classroom environment. Get to know your students as people and celebrate the wins and losses of your lessons. Reflect daily on what you could have differently to have made the lesson better and remember that your classes are full of people who are more than just math, science, history and Spanish students. They are people who are growing up, exploring the world, dealing with issues at home and they may not always care about what you teach as passionately as you do. Show your students that you care about them more than your subject and you will probably get from them in the end. Take some class time to laugh and joke around and remember, build strategies and systems that will enable you to be free of work once you leave the building. If you can leave work at work, you just might make it to retirement. Good luck! And please feel free to email me if you’d like a copy of anything or have a question!