Recent Comments by blahpook subscribe to this feed

doogle (Member Profile)

Fusionaut (Member Profile)

Fix Your Posture with This Animated Guide to Sitting Right

lucky760 (Member Profile)

griefer_queafer (Member Profile)

Deano (Member Profile)

FlowersInHisHair (Member Profile)

Fusionaut (Member Profile)

oritteropo (Member Profile)

oritteropo (Member Profile)

marinara (Member Profile)

JiggaJonson (Member Profile)

blahpook says...

Agreed - I have instated a 24-hour policy on grading - first of all 24 hours before my students can even ask about a grade (usually they tend to forget after a day and that buys me more time in grading), and 24 hours after they receive the grade before they can ask why they received a particular grade. Like you said, they need that one-on-one feedback so there's no getting around the extra time and effort involved, not to mention planning for classes, keeping them engaged with assignments, etc.

In reply to this comment by JiggaJonson:
Very true. Speaking from experience, think of it this way, one 2 page paper for an average of 30 students in the room X 6 classes in the day (you do get one prep) = 180 papers you have to comb over and correct. Even if you limit your time to 5 minutes per paper that's 900 minutes (or 15 hours) of work you're taking home.

I can also tell you from experience that the day after a student hands something in, they expect it to be graded. Hell, I've gotten a "How did I do on that paper?" at the end of the day before I even went home. Aside from that though, the students really need quality feedback if they are to improve. You have to get them graded asap for their sake and for yours because the world doesn't stop just because you have a pile of papers to grade.

To make a long story short, every assignment is like that. After too much of it it's VERY easy to get burnt out quickly and the summers off are the times when you can plan ahead for the coming year and re-cooperate from the enormous work load that was on your shoulders during the school year.

So yeah I get summers off, because the rest of the year I'm working 60-80 hour work weeks and not getting paid for any overtime.

In reply to this comment by blahpook:
This is one of the best (if not overly optimistic) responses to this I've seen on the internets so far:


"How many hours a day do you work? 8? I arrive at my school at 7:30 a.m. and leave between 5:30 and 6:30. If I have to meet with a parent, it can sometime go later than that. When you leave work do you take your work home with you to work on later? I review lesson plans and check papers for at least an hour every night, many times longer. Do you work on the weekends after putting in your 40-hour week? I spend many hours every weekend checking papers and preparing for the coming week. Do you have to have a license to do your job? If you do, who pays for that license? I have to have a license, and I have to pay for that license myself. If you have to have a license, do you have to complete a mandatory number of continuing education classes? I do. If you have to complete continuing education classes, do you have to pay for them out of your own pocket? I do. When do you think I take those classes? I take them during the summer. I am at my school until at least the second week of June, and return by the second week of August. That hardly constitutes a whole summer. When people say to me, "It must be nice to have the summer off and still get a paycheck." I always say to them, "Do you remember all of those extra hours I put in over the school year? I am just getting paid for them now." When do you get paid for your overtime hours? Do you have to wait until summer to get paid? Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, I am just telling you the facts. I love my job! I would never want to do anything else. Do you love your job? Do you have children? I hope you have respect for their teacher/s, because most of them work as hard as I do and deserve your respect. And by the way, I like Ann Coulter. and Sara Palin, I think they are brave women. But, I also think Ann misspoke on this one. I would love to have her come and spend a week with me. I bet she would go home and write a book about how fortunate we are to have good teachers."


JiggaJonson (Member Profile)

oritteropo (Member Profile)

JiggaJonson (Member Profile)



Send this Article to a Friend



Separate multiple emails with a comma (,); limit 5 recipients






Your email has been sent successfully!

Manage this Video in Your Playlists

Beggar's Canyon