A few teaching in public high school questions.?

Question

How much freedom does a teacher have in the material they teach or does it depend by state?

How much off time does a teacher get in the summer usually? 2 months?

I know when I went to school (private) the students would have off days but the teachers would have to come in for a "professional development" day or something along those lines, how long do those ususally last? Few hours, 8hrs, more?

What kind of work and meetings do teachers go to after the school lets out for summer?

Do you typically get all of spring break, winter break and fall break if you have it off like the students?

Answer 1

I would go as far as to say it depends on your districts contract.  In the state of Pennsylvania, school districts need to fulfill 180 days.  If they start the last week of August, this usually takes the school to the 2nd week of June.  On average, this gives the teacher about 10 weeks off in the summer (unless they choose to teach summer school, etc.).

The "professional development" days that you're referencing are sometimes called "in-service".  These days can be a number of things ... fulfillment of Act 80 hours, seminars, department curriculum planning, etc.  Typically they are meant to last the entire school day (8am-3pm for our district) but you usually get out early.

In our district, teachers are off for the summer - nothing is scheduled.  Certain departments, however, may meet one or two days during the summer to talk about and plan curriculum for the following year.  But nothing is written in the contract for teachers as far as "summer hours".  Administration, however, does have to fulfill a certain number of hours each summer.

All "breaks" or "vacations" like Christmas, etc. are for teachers and students.  Teachers are also off during those times.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Sounds like you only care about having a job with time off.  Teaching sucks.  Be prepared to move to where ever  you can find a job because there are too many education grads.

Answer 3

Well it depends on the state but u usually have to go to workshops in the summer.u have to earn extra days off

Answer 4

The previous answer is correct, however it is misleading. It would be incorrect to think you would enter the profession and have all that time "off".

It is correct that you do not have to go into the school site.

Writers do not have to go into an office... do they have all that time off? No - most will tell you that they work every day - most have a routine they get into. It is the same with teachers. You have to plan and take care of career responsibilities during the summer.

Most student holidays, you will find me with a stack of papers to grade - I am at home, but certainly not "off".

Here is my schedule:

Two weeks prior to the school year, I go in to set up, plan and organize my room (it is torn down every year as they need to se the rooms) This last year it was Aug 13 - We had meetings the week prior to the kids starting (meetings lasted 8 am -3 pm daily... department, faculty and team) Kids started Sep 4.

I work every day from 6:45 am to about 4:30 pm on site, and ususally take an hours worth of grading home daily. Weekends, I plan the next week and do any grading I missed - Usually 8 am to noon sat and sunday.

Christmas break this year for the kids was 3 weeks. I took my computer home and stacks of work. enough to plan and grade for about 2 of the 3 weeks. This is a good time for me to catch up on my long term planning. (I try to go for 8am to noon)

Easter break was a week - 4 of the days I graded.

School lets out for my kids this year June 20 - I will spend the next week tearing down the classroom and deciding what to take home. I will not return to my school until the middle of Aug - giving me 6 or seven weeks.

I dont get "summers" most people think we relax and do nothing all that time. I wish. 16 years and never. So what do I do?

*university courses -  teachers are required to keep a certain amount of units or staff development hours to keep their credentials

*Plan - You have a whole new year - you must change what did not work, plan new activities to keep things fresh, create assessments, tinker with what did work, update lesson plans. i could esily fill the six weeks doing this.

*work - many teachers teach summer school.

*workshops - there are many programs through the universities that offer training to teachers.

I learned long ago - that the more you do during your supposed time off, the easier and smoother the year will go - My students deserve to have a well planned classroom. Newer teachers often underestimate the amount of time pressure put on us.

So - (sorry so long) there *are* teachers who will take the time off and do nothing - sadly I have seen too many - Their classrooms reflect it.

What will I do this summer? plan and take a UCLA math course.

good luck to you!