Teachers work incredible hours. You may think they have it easy as they only
have to work from 8:00 to 3:00, but what you probably don’t realize is
how much extra time they put into their work, beyond school hours. There are
school obligations like staff meetings, parent-teacher conferences, workshops,
in-services and before and after school programs and duties that take up
several hours a week. Then there are the coaching and sponsoring duties. High
school teachers, in particular log hundreds of hours a year coaching academic
and athletic teams and sponsoring clubs and other school organizations. More
often than not, these activities take place on the weekends, out of town,
sometimes overnight.
Next are the special events. Every time the elementary school puts on the
annual Christmas show, teachers spend countless hours organizing and preparing
for the show. And even those teachers not directly involved in the show are
expected to show up, usually on a weeknight, to support the show. People
outside of education do not realize how much time teachers spend with students
outside of regular classroom duties. Then there is the lesson planning and
grading. Much of these duties are done on off time as well, as there is little
time in the school day to do such tasks. Furthermore, teachers rarely get a
full hour for lunch. They have lunchroom and playground duties or club and
class meetings to attend, so it is common to see teachers eating lunch standing
up while doing something else. Even getting to the bathroom on a regular basis
is a challenge!
Outside Influences
Outside of the classroom walls are many people dictating to teachers what to
do, how to do it and when to do it. From congress to the local school board to
the principal and department chairs, everyone thinks they know what is best for
students. Teachers have to take near constant conflicting direction from the
administration and put up with criticism about the failings of education. There
has been a growing trend in our country to mistrust educators, so parents are
often more willing to blame a teacher for their child’s troubles in school than
work with them to find some solutions. Many teachers fear giving failing grades
to students, knowing they will have defend themselves to the parents, rather
than the child having to defend their actions. On top of the local issues,
every few years a new trend in education comes along and every teacher is
expected to get on the bandwagon and learn a new philosophy of education as
well as mine their way through the bureaucratic requirements -- latest example:
No Child Left Behind.
Appreciation
In most professions if you do your job well, you might expect a raise and/or
a promotion for your efforts. In education, that is not the case. Salaries are
mostly tied to seniority and level of education, and classroom teachers don’t
work their way up a professional ladder, unless they move into the administration
realm. So, there are few professional pats on the back for a teacher. Positive
comments on the annual reviews are usually about it. The average teacher hears
little in terms of appreciation from administration, parents, students, etc.