Summer is waning. I struggle to hold on to my optimism as I stare another school year straight in the face. This has become a routine over the last couple of years. Gone is the excitement I used to feel about the first day of school. Instead, it's been replaced with work and maybe a few I-hope-I-don't-suck butterflies. In some ways, I'm okay with this transition. Until I think of all those first-essays-of-the-year I'll be reading in a little over two weeks.
I feel queasy.
But it won't last long. Just like summer. Today is my last day of nothing-planned vacation. Except I've already planned things, made a mental to-do list just like every other day of my life. It includes weeding the garden, washing the dishes, folding laundry, and cleaning the bathroom. I'll get myself to the gym sometime today too and go buy a gift for my friend Kari's baby shower this weekend.
That's what my summer has deteriorated to. A list of things. Always incomplete.
I feel the pull. The evenings are cooler. The spiders are filling up my backyard. The days flip by. I am some weird migratory bird. I might not feel the excitement, but habit is pulling me back.
I can only hope the magic of learning will once again enchant me.
Showing posts with label Being an English Teacher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Being an English Teacher. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Why English Teachers Shouldn't Do Math
I shouldn't have let myself do the math.
Feeling unappreciated and overworked today, I decided to crunch some numbers. I wanted to know how many hours I spend per month grading essays in the three sections of AP Language I teach and how that compares with the allotted amount of prep time I am given during that very same month.
Ack and alas! The results were not favorable.
In an average month, I receive six essays per student. I have 105 AP students. That's 630 essays per month that I read through, comment on, assign a grade to, and ultimately enter into my grading program.
Each of these essays is typically two pages long. That's 1260 pages. I'd estimate that it takes me about two minutes per page, conservatively, to grade for a total of 2520 minutes or 42 hours.
In that same average month, I receive 1.5 hours of prep time per day. Assuming a month is four school weeks long (which is what the above figures are based on as well) that's a total of 30 hours of prep time.
30 hours of prep - 42 hours of AP essays = -12 hours of time to do work
This figure doesn't include any prep for what I teach (planning lessons, copying, etc.), meetings I attend, the rest of the grading I do for AP (weekly vocab tests, grammar tests, in-class work, homework, etc.), or the other two classes I teach and grade work for.
No wonder I'm exhausted. No wonder I occasionally bite a kid's head off when she innocently asks me if I'll stay after school so she can take the two hour final she couldn't make it to. No wonder teachers tend to leave the profession after 3-5 years.
No wonder I hate math.
Feeling unappreciated and overworked today, I decided to crunch some numbers. I wanted to know how many hours I spend per month grading essays in the three sections of AP Language I teach and how that compares with the allotted amount of prep time I am given during that very same month.
Ack and alas! The results were not favorable.
In an average month, I receive six essays per student. I have 105 AP students. That's 630 essays per month that I read through, comment on, assign a grade to, and ultimately enter into my grading program.
Each of these essays is typically two pages long. That's 1260 pages. I'd estimate that it takes me about two minutes per page, conservatively, to grade for a total of 2520 minutes or 42 hours.
In that same average month, I receive 1.5 hours of prep time per day. Assuming a month is four school weeks long (which is what the above figures are based on as well) that's a total of 30 hours of prep time.
30 hours of prep - 42 hours of AP essays = -12 hours of time to do work
This figure doesn't include any prep for what I teach (planning lessons, copying, etc.), meetings I attend, the rest of the grading I do for AP (weekly vocab tests, grammar tests, in-class work, homework, etc.), or the other two classes I teach and grade work for.
No wonder I'm exhausted. No wonder I occasionally bite a kid's head off when she innocently asks me if I'll stay after school so she can take the two hour final she couldn't make it to. No wonder teachers tend to leave the profession after 3-5 years.
No wonder I hate math.
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