My ‘Contractual Hours’ Experiment

Recently I read an article about the extra unpaid hours worked by teachers in the UK. I found the article disturbing in that not only did teachers on average work an extra 12 unpaid hours per week, but that I could include myself in this group.

I justify the extra 10 hours a week. Telling myself that tutoring, giving tests, developing curriculum, making podcasts, attending IEP’s/504’s, and staff meetings mean that I am dedicated to my job and that’s just what it takes to do my job at the level of perfection I have come to expect from myself. In my 9^th year of teaching, I’m questioning the burn-out that may soon follow.

WHAT IF I only worked contracted hours? What if I drew a line in the sand and refused to stay extra hours? Would I feel less tired? Less stressed? Would my own children know my face? Would the school implode without my extra time? Would I be the teacher I want to be?

So here is my challenge: Work from 7:15-3:15 every day for one week, (this includes 30 minutes of a break for lunch with no students-15 minutes added to each side of my contracted day).

The Rules:

      1.       I will not arrive before 7:15 and will not stay after 3:15.

2.       I will not tutor students or do work during my 30 minute lunch.

3.       I will not work from home the weekend before or after, and on evenings.

The extra information:

1.       I have picked an easier week with less after school and before school mandatory meetings.

2.       I am not giving a test in any class this week (no extra time to plan).

3.       I will attend one mandatory lunch meeting I cannot decline due to scheduling.

My promise

1.       I will blog once during the week and once after the week is done to address:

a.       My emotional state

b.      My physical state

c.       My grading pile

d.      My overall self-assessment of my effectiveness as an educator

e.      My colleagues assessment of the above (just to make sure I’m not kidding myself)

As a self-professed perfectionistic/work-a-holic, I am terrified at the thought of not working the extra hours to do things just right. But my curious nature wants to force myself to see if there is a more sustainable number of hours that will allow me to balance my career and life.

The Shock of Overtime

A lot has happened since our last post, and while much has happened, a feeling we have each had over the years finally coalesced into an actual thought.  Are we overworking ourselves?  A week ago a teacher friend of mine from another state posted on Facebook that he felt like he was doing so many things that he was doing none of them well.  I sympathized because I feel the same way most days.  Then another friend sent an article to us, from the UK, discussing the hours teachers "must" put in to be good teachers and suddenly we understood!  The title is "Teachers work more overtime than any other professionals, analysis finds", and it can be found on the tes website at https://news.tes.co.uk/b/news/2015/02/27/teachers-work-more-overtime-than-other-professionals-analysis-finds.aspx.  While there are differences between primary and secondary teachers, both work at least 12.5 hours more than their contracted hours per week on average.  This made us think about WHY we are spending so much time outside of the classroom without being paid for it.


My husband has a "normal" job.  He is an engineer at a utility company.  Other than talking through some successes or frustrations with me at home, he does not do a single bit of work outside of his office.  He might stay 15 to 30 minutes later than "quitting time" without pay, but that is more of an exception rather than the rule.  If he (and his department) fall behind due to a large influx of work, the company will allocate overtime pay to compensate him for his time.  He does not often need to stay awake at night wondering how to help a contractor meet his deadlines, because he has time during the day to do it.  He is a dedicated worker who really cares and works his butt off to do his very best, but that desire doesn't translate to having to "donate" his personal time to keep up.  I have also worked in the normal sector.  At no time was I required to spend hours and hours of my time to get a job done outside of the time given to me during the day.  I am sure there are other jobs out there that may require unpaid overtime, but I would be interested to know what their average pay is to compare to the pay of a teacher.


I looked at my typical work week and determined an average amount of time spent on planning, grading, tutoring, etc. outside of my work hours during the day.  This has definitely changed over the years.  My first year teaching, I did not understand that there is some (albeit limited) flexibility in when things get graded.  The day before the quarter grades were due I went to work at 8am and did not get home until 11:30pm.  By 9:30 I had broken down into a crying-fest being so exhausted and knowing I had to get up in just a few hours and come back.  Why did I stay so late?  Well, we had a very labor intensive lab that I needed to mix chemicals for, and I had assigned a large project that I had just collected.  I worked from 3:30 in the afternoon until 11:30 that night to get all done.  My husband dropped dinner off for me, and I did not take a break during that extra 8 hours.  I never did that again, at least to that extent. 


For me, I come in to the classroom 45 minutes before school starts (contracted hours start 15 minutes before) and stay at least an hour after (again, by contract I have to stay 15 minutes).  This is 75 minutes of unpaid work a day.  I do this every day.  Over the course of 180 student days (and I do the same on teacher workdays), this adds up to an average of 6.25 hours per week.  During this time I am making copies, setting up labs, tutoring students, writing assignments, quizzes, and tests, or making power points.  I do sometimes find the time to work with other teachers or even have a short conversation about things outside of the classroom, but easily 98% of this time is spent focused on some aspect of my job.  We also have meetings that occur outside of work hours.  Staff meetings, meetings for students with IEP or 504's happen outside of contracted hours, and we do not have a choice about whether we want to attend or not.  This is not included in our pay calculations.  It is just the way it is done. 


While I do my best to leave work at work so I can focus on things at home, this is not practical.  I do try, but probably average an additional 5.5 hours of school work at home.  Whether this was because I needed to bring work home to grade so students have an accurate accounting of their grades or maybe I am planning a unit and need to develop support material for it, this is work that I cannot squeeze into my busy day.  So all told, I am working at least 11.75 hours without pay each week, and truly cannot see how I can do it any differently.  In conversations and by observations, I am not unique.  I am not even in the minority.  I know very few teachers who work just their contracted hours and leave everything behind.  At least, very few effective teachers.  I have known some over the years, but the quality of education in their classroom was definitely different than the rest.


You may ask why I don't get the required things done during the day.  Class starts at 7:45.   As soon as the bell rings we are off and learning.  At the end of 90 minutes the bell rings for the class to move on.  During this 6 minute time frame I might be able to run to the bathroom, but usually am answering questions for students, helping them find out what they are missing, or having a conversation with a student who needs someone to pay attention to them.  Then the next class begins.  During lunch, a large number of science teachers do our best to disconnect from the classroom and eat together, allowing us up to 44 minutes (from the end of 1 class to the start of the next) of interrupted time to decompress.  Most of us are lucky if we get 30 minutes between getting back to our classroom on time before the next bell, and leaving our classroom after the last class.  Our schedule consists of four 90 minute periods per day.  I teach 3 different class types, with preparation and grading unique to each one.  We each have 1 plan period per day.  This is 90 minutes to work on grading, planning, etc.....except when we have meetings scheduled during it.  One semester we have a total of three 90 minute "free" periods over the course of 2 days.  This is a time where we often get students come to see us if they have the ability.  Not always able to focus on getting the job done.  I have 90 minutes during each day to prepare for 3 different classes.  Chemistry classes.  This means labs to plan and set up, assignments to develop, print, and then grade, lecture notes to create, tests to write and grade, entering grades in the online system, talking to parents via email, and completing paperwork for students who are struggling to be files, as well as try to work with my colleagues to make sure I am doing the best job I can.  In 90 minutes. 


So, knowing this.  WHY are we expected, indeed required to work more than we are paid for?  Our salaries are low to begin with.  I Googled jobs that make my annual salary (and I have been teaching for 11 years in the STEM field and both a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Masters Degree).  A dance instructor, a court reporter, chefs, and convention planners made the list.  There were many jobs that STARTED there, but rapidly went up with experience and degrees.  We are already paid wages consisted with jobs requiring limited to no degree.  And while each of those examples is a job to be proud of, the world would not stop if they did.  Imagine a world without school.  Without educators who spend so much of their time trying to make sure students learn, grow, develop and get prepared for the rest of their lives.


We decided to perform an experiment.  What would happen if we refused to work more than the hours we are paid for? At my rate of pay, I am making $29 per hour for my contracted hours.  If I got paid for the time I spent outside of the classroom, that would increase my pay by $19,373.64 per year.  As long as I didn't work on holidays or over the summer.  Stay tuned for the results of our 9 day experiment!

Innovation? or Just Another Crazy Idea?

One of the biggest obstacles to change we are encountering is a lack of understanding by those in charge.  It isn't that they do not want to improve education.  Quite the opposite is true, in fact.  Our site is embarking on a movement to turn our site into one that utilizes data effectively to drive instruction.  We are also looking to improve our student-readiness for college, and improve testing overall.  My team's plan to incorporate innovation as a regular part of the classroom is something that will allow our school to meet its goals.  The problem is that they hear "innovation" and think we are planning an entire philosophy change that they just aren't ready for.

The solution would be to sit down and present our ideas and our vision, as well as communicate what the impact to our site would be.  Unfortunately, we are not being given the time we would need to share (likely 30 minutes or less), and instead have made the mistake of trying to share our vision in 30 second soundbites to our administrators.  This has created the perception that we are looking to dramatically overhaul the way our school operates, when in reality it is simply adding to the strong program we already have in place.

Over and over again we are reminded that major change happens not only with great ideas, but with the use of strategy.  In public education, strategy hasn't been something we have needed to use often (if ever).  During the course of this movement, we have come to realize that it is a vital skill.  Not with the intention of manipulation, but to avoid self-sabotaging a good plan.  Our eagerness to share what we feel is a game-changing idea has led us to be satisfied with short bursts of shared enthusiasm that has caused us to appear at the best overly enthusiastic, and at the worst, flighty with a series of seemingly unrelated ideas.  If we had waited until we had our plan solidified and then obtained a chunk of time to share our ideas and the method of achieving our goals we would not be fighting the impression that has been developed.  Timing is everything, and in education, this is no exception.  Instead of preparing with our administration for the future, we now find ourselves trying to make up lost ground to try to garner the support from above we will need.

This setback does not prevent us for moving forward, but it definitely sucks some of the energy out of the group.  Instead of focusing fully on our future, we are instead having to also deal with issues that really aren't issues.  Thankfully we do have the support from our local university as we begin the process of turning our ideas into reality.

The Problems with Data Utilization (part 1 in a series)

The research seems clear.  Schools and teachers who effectively utilize data see increased student engagement and growth.  Our district and site are actively promoting the use of data in the classroom;  implementing a coach from each school to work with the data team in the district office and then return to their site and work with a small team of coaches to begin the implementation process.  As one of the coaches at my school, I am an active participant in helping my department improve (or actually begin!) this process.  The problem we are all having is two-fold.  Not only do we have no tools for data collection except for when we utilize multiple choice style questions, but the big question is "what do we do with the data once we have it?"  I would wager a guess that this is an issue for many. 


In addition to my classroom demands, I have begun collecting articles that talk about being an effective data user.  Unfortunately, I have not yet found much beyond vaguaries and broad suggestions.  As a science teacher, I know how important data is.  We collect it and have students use it to analyze results every time we do a lab.  It seems reasonable to me, but when I look at the overwhelming sources of data we educators compile and collect every year from so many sources, I am overwhelmed.  Where do I start in this process?  How can I help an entire department when I cannot even seem to help myself?  Vertical data collection and disaggregation seems the most obvious place to start, but first I need to figure out what information will help me identify gaps and issues in my classroom.  I am hopeful that this will help me determine the most useful data to collect and then the pursuit of a collection tool can begin.


It would seem reasonable to think that this process has already occured.  In fact, I think it is likely that it has happened well in a variety of places.  Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have resulted in a product at this point that is being shared, or at least I haven't yet stumbled upon it.  So in the meantime, I am working with our coach to try to identify teachers in our district who already utilize data effectively to meet and discuss their process.  Then we are going to make the move outside of our district and look at sites that are known for effective data usage.  This will not be an easy process, but for many years I and my colleagues have lamented the fact that we do not do a better job of this.  I think the journey will go a long way towards allowing me and my peers to grow and change in ways we could not do otherwise. 

Being Ready For Partnerships

On our journey to bring a more innovative environment to our high school, we sought out advice from our local university.  We chose this school because they already had a program that embodied many of the ideas we had in mind for our program.  The University of Colorado, Colorado Springs created a Bachelor of Innovation™ degree 7 years ago that morphed traditional degrees with business ideals and entrepreneurial skills giving students a unique innovative experience in college.  When we approached them, we merely thought to ask their advice about whether our idea was something that would work at the high school level, and to see whether they had any research we could utilize to support this new direction.  We expected assistance and advice, and instead we experienced a team of directors who were not only passionate about their program, but saw immense value in ours.  This led to one of the most surprising meetings we have ever had.  Not only was the department willing to give us advice, they desired a partnership with us to help make our idea a reality.

This meeting opened our eyes to possibilities we had not even dreamed about.  It also showed us very quickly how out of our depth we were in moving into a much larger scope than just a classroom.  I still chuckle when I think back to our March meeting when the Director of Strategic Alliances asked us "what would a partnership with UCCS look like in a perfect world?".  We sat there and looked at each other but had no answer.  We had never entertained the idea of a partnership, and did not know what one would look like in an ideal world or otherwise.  Luckily the directors had a pretty good idea that while we were confident in our classrooms, we were very inexperienced in the business world, so they took us under their wings and helped us determine our goals and how we could work together to meet them.  We also hope to partner with companies for specific niches we will create on our quest for innovation.  To be more prepared, we have determined that we need to address the following:

Step 1 - Identify areas that lend themselves to a partnership.  Universities can offer insight into current events in many disciplines, as well as potentially allow high school students to work with equipment that would be impossible to purchase otherwise.  I know locally we have a college that allows high school students to come in and work in the cadaver lab, an experience that could not occur without them.  In return, students become familiar with the school which can lead to increased enrollment.  Our Forensics class has partnered with a local hardware store, and for the small cost of verbal advertising has donated tool boxes, windows and doors for break-in scenarios, and tool experts to help teach imprints and markings.  There are so many groups available, and too often these partnerships go unused.

Step 2 - In business, a partnership is at least two people working to pool skills and resources and sharing profits.  In education, a partnership between a university and a high school can be created to improve the quality of education in an area, increasing the preparation of students for higher learning.  In both of these situations it is imperative that the goals and expectations of all parties are clear and well- articulated so there are no misunderstandings.  Having a clear idea about what this partnership will mean for both will make the discussion much easier.

Step 3 - Continued monitoring of needs and expectations will help ensure that the partnership continues to thrive.  It should never feel as though one party is benefiting alone, but should have benefits that satisfy each.  In some cases it is as easy as communicating the wonderful support being received, but in other situations a return on investment is expected.  Being clear about these expectations and ensuring that needs do not change without adapting expectations which can create ill feelings.

We were fortunate with our first partnership.  Despite our lack of knowledge our new partners were willing to help us see where we could go.  Now that we understand, developing future partners will be a much more directed process.  Partnerships between education and the real-world are definitely there.  It takes time to determine how to use them and then make contact with the appropriate person, but the benefits to our students can be huge.  Let's get out there and connect our schools to relevancy!

Innovation As A Way Of Life, Not a Unit

This past year, Kristi, Niki and I spent time in a grant group called Creating Innovators.  This group was based on the book by the same title by Dr. Tony Wagner, and was created to help us see the importance of innovation and begin the process of including opportunities to innovate in our classrooms.  We started out looking at small ideas within our current classes as a project or activity within a unit.  This small view continued until we actually began our book study, at which point our eyes were opened to a much bigger picture!  Instead of looking at innovation as a unit within a class, what about a class where innovation was the entire purpose?  This led to a lot of enthusiastic dialogue between us.

Our thoughts were that we could base an entire class on real-world problems that they could work on in teams to create potential solutions.  We thought about having students present their ideas to others, and knew we needed a way to bring even more to the course.  We are fortunate to not only have a university in our town, but one with a degree called a Bachelor of Innovation™ that has offered us the opportunity for a partnership.  With the help of the BI department, we have decided that we need to include business principles as well as opportunities in science.  Project and Problem Based Learning has been gaining attention and favor in the educational world as a way to make education more relevant.  We believe the addition of entrepreneurial practices to the PBL process turns ideas into impact.

Feedback Please!

As teachers, we often find ourselves isolated in our own small kingdom with little feedback about how we are doing.  We may be observed once or twice a year by an administrator whom we expect and prepare for, but often that is our only source of observation.  I know that personally, I try not to change the way I teach as I really do value honest feedback  The temptation is there especially as I know this might be the only chance I have, but I do my best to be myself.  These visits are by necessity infrequent due to the sheer number of teachers to be observed by a limited number of administrators.  This means that a quick snapshot of our skills is there, but it not really something that can be considered a learning tool.  It can be very difficult to recognize ruts or deficiencies we have slipped into if we only view our teaching through our own filter.  Something more is needed, including a willingness to listen.  Andy Vasily wrote a blog post about our readiness for feedback at http://www.pyppewithandy.com/pyp-pe-blog/thought-of-the-day-saturday-july-26th-2014, and we have decided we are ready.

At our site, the three of us have decided to work together to spend some time throughout this coming year in each others' classrooms.  Our goal is not to make each other feel good with surface level observations.  We are trying to identify things that we each do that are great, but more importantly things that are not up to par or can be improved.  We all have those areas that we could be doing better, but it can be hard to identify them on our own.  The purpose of this exercise is to see our weaknesses in order to improve them.  The three of us have worked together now for six years, and have developed a strong friendship over this time.  This can make being honest easier, as we have a foundation that can support the potential pain a real and open assessment can create.  It can also make things a little more difficult, as we are truly invested in each other and would not purposefully hurt each others' feelings.  However, the benefits truly outweigh the temporary discomfort.

Our game plan is the following:

1. Observe each other early in the year - giving up two planning period twice a semester is do-able.  It is inconvenient, but does not need to be a regular occurrence to be effective. 
2. Meet together as quickly after the observation as possible to go over impressions while they are fresh -  For us, this will need to be before or after school, or possibly during our lunch time
3. Repeat for each teacher until we have each met - This needs to be done early enough that changes can be made before the next observation
4. Observe each other towards the end of the semester - Observing early in the year, and then midway through allows us to make changes between meetings.  The 2nd quarter observation will allow us to hear how our changes have addressed the gap and where improvements are still needed.  What a wonderful chance for insight!
5. Repeat during the Spring semester, looking at changed areas, and watching for other areas of need.

A bonus we will experience in this process is that we also get to share our best teaching practices with each other.  This is something that does not happen at all sites.  There are some progressive schools who have put an emphasis on peer observations, but this is the exception rather than the norm.  Tremendous value exists in the ability to see others and their methodology but few of us get to draw upon this wealth of experience and expertise.  If your site does not build in peer review time, that doesn't mean you have to miss out on the benefits!  Find peers whom you work well with and whom you admire, and get out of your classroom and into their world!