my school is a charter school. last year, before the budget cuts hit us, we had the privilege of a generous amount of special classes (handcrafts, music, pe, spanish, and dance, twice a week each -- we are an arts immersion school). i had 10 planning periods a week each, plus a few breaks a week when i didn't have recess duty. we don't have a cafeteria, so i always eat lunch with my class in our classroom.
this year we didn't have the funds so we have cut our music and pe programs (i teach them myself now). that means i have 6 planning periods a week, and one day i teach all day with only a 20-minute break during recess on fridays. there's been a lot of moaning and groaning around the school at this predicament, as well as a lot of divisiveness between classroom teachers and special subject faculty over how many recess breaks they should cover because of it.
i'm wondering... what is the norm? how many planning periods are 'normal' in an elementary school? this is the only school i've worked at besides my student teaching/practica, so i don't have a lot of experience to base mine on.
Most of us get up to 1.5 hours each day. This is new this year. However, some of the teachers only get 1 hour a day because they have the lower students who don't get Spanish becuase they need 30 minutes of reading intervention daily. One of my grade level teachers has this class so every afternoon I go to her and ask her if she needs me to watch them for a few minutes so she can have a brake. That's just me, not all of the other teachers on the different grade levels do that for their coworkers. My planning time is split between getting some paperwork done, making copies for my grade level once a week, and checking on the teachers in my group. I am a lead teacher and am responsible for 4th, 5th, PE, Gifted, Music, Art, and Spanish teachers. That's 13 teachers plus my self. I also have to stay with the students who were not picked up on time 2 to 3 times a week. The other 2 lead teachers also have this duty. No one in our school has lunch duty, it is in our contract to have 30 minutes of duty free lunch.
It really varies from district to district and even school to school. I think what you have sounds pretty good.
I have 30 minutes 5 days a week and one extra plan 30 minutes once a week. I also have a 30 minute duty free lunch- required by law. I have no recess or lunch duty, but have bus duty once every two weeks.
I have 45 minutes every day. One day a week during every other 9 week grading period, I have early duty. Bus duty is every day, with one time during each quarter for those whose rides are late. Lunch in the classroom--cafeteria to be finished soon--with class.
We have 1 hour of plan time each day with 30 minutes required PLC time once a week. We also have a 25 min. duty-free lunch daily but have recess duty 3 times per week. I wonder how some of you get everything done! I never feel like I get it all done, though I have more plan time than many other people.
I get 50 minutes a day, plus 1 day with 50 minutes more, a 20 minute lunch duty free, and have to cover all recesses! Every six weeks I have door duty which takes 25 minutes a day to cover the door in morning and in the evening. This is my second year at this school district and I am drowning because I feel like I never have a break! A 20 minute lunch really ends up being 15 by the time you go to the bathroom and throw down your lunch. Sounds like a lot of you have pretty good amounts! jealous!
I get 45 minutes on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I teach all day on Wednesday and Friday. However, I get a 30 minute duty free lunch each day. This is the first year that I do not have a planning period each day. I'm sure it will take some adjustments but as some of you said, "it could be worse."
In NYC the mandate is 50 minutes for planning each day and a 50 minute lunch period- but we need to be down there early to pick them up so it's really about an hour and a half that we are kid free throughout the day... It depends on how long your day is though- we are teaching from 8-3. If you are just sitting and eating with them during lunch, at least you don't need a lesson plan for that period! Regardless, even what we have isn't nearly enough!
We have morning recess (if we don't have duty) for 20 min. and our lunch is 45 (if we don't have duty).
We have to teach our own PE/art/music.
There's a Spanish teacher this year, so twice a week I get a break for 30 min. while my kids are in Spanish.
And that's it. Not a lot of planning time at all. We're with our kids pretty much all day, especially because we eat lunch in the classrooms.
This year's big thing during staff meeting was what to do on rainy days. Kids stay in the rooms, which gives 0 breaks from the kids. Apparently the PE teacher was supposed to relieve us for a break, but it never happened and this year we don't have a PE teacher... so that needs to be fixed.
linzeek44: Let them go outside on rainy days! Do they have good raincoats and boots? I'm in Oregon and I don't know WHAT I'd do if we kept our kids in on rainy days. We keep them in if it's pouring but that's it. I think I had *maybe* one indoor recess last year.
Thanks all for your input. It helps me put my situation in perspective.
We get a 40 minute planning period only 3 days a week! : (
Wednesday and Friday we have no planning. Lunch is 30 minutes and teachers do not do lunch duty.
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09-12-2009, 05:56 PM
