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!
This is great advice! Even as a veteran teacher, it is SO hard to do!
ReplyDeleteExcellent article. Very interesting to read. I really love to read such a nice article. Thanks! keep rocking. Teaching jobs
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