Blog 4 – Free Choice How teaching has changed.
I had to take a month off from my Full Sail classes last month. So I am starting up again. I am anxious to get back to work on my research documentation. It has been a very interesting and extremely busy year. I must say that if I could do it over again, I would have to make a decision of not participating in this Master’s program, or do much more to divest myself of some of the duties that I am currently doing at school. The Full Sail Masters is a very intense program, which requires many hours of work each week.
I have been talking to some of my fellow teachers about the workload we face in teaching and how it has changed over the years. At first I thought it was just me and the fact that I am getting old and slowing down. But younger teachers also feel like they can’t keep up. Every year, we are required to do more. Many of the things we do are not directly related to teaching. There is more paperwork, more forms to justify what we teach, and more information about our students that may help them in their future classes. My school is requiring many of us that teach electives to teach two or more levels or classes during one period. Even though I am only supposed to teach four classes a day, this year I am teaching six different classes.
I wish I could find a way to get back to teaching where I spent more time getting to know my students and less time filling out reports and forms about my students
CK, I agree with you about teacher workload. It seems as it things are constantly added but nothing is taken away. As a teacher you can call me, leave voicemail, send email, or put a note in my mailbox. I am not against any of these methods of communication, but it just takes more and more cycle time.
ReplyDeleteI am elective teacher as well and it is not uncommon to have 4-preps per day and I too run multiple disciplines or classes in the same physical classroom. Sometimes it can be hard to keep the intricacies of multiple specialties on instant recall. I too feel like everything is spinning fast.
On the paperwork and especially the survey front I agree with you. It seems that each week there is a new form or survey that we are required to complete along with our students. Last week I processed 4 forms, 4 surveys, and 2 recommendation letters. Some of the surveys take as long as 15 minutes. It is crazy.
All this is done in the name of higher standards and accountability, but just serves to burn out teachers and keep them from their primary task of educating and inspiring young minds.
Old retired tell me that text book choice was the biggest stress every couple of years. Think of all the choices that need to made now in a school, it is mind boggling. Can we ever get back to simplicity?