Fair Teaching Load for High School Classes

[Thames Pirate]

Which is what leadership is focused on instead of scheduling. That was my point. The board doesn't complain about scheduling. They complain about the effects of scheduling. They also complain about anything else leadership has screwed up. If leadership is inept, that is a lot.

[Cooldude]

Cooldude wrote:
> I am teaching five HS language art classes a week 4 core including AP and a
> writing elective. Class sizes are 16-22 and block periods. I have three blocks every day. What do other
> other teachers consider fair and reasonable?

[PsyGuy]

@Thames Pirate

Is your position that scheduling and the effects of scheduling are distinct phenomenon? That the former does not proceed to the latter?

It would appear that your claim in regards to cause and effect is that effect can occur with out cause?

[Thames Pirate]

Like I said, always on the attack. No, my position is that when inept leadership is the reason for scheduling problems, inept leadership is often the reason for other problems in addition to scheduling.

[PsyGuy]

@Thames Pirate

Diligent and Persistent.

This was not your claim,as you stated "The board doesn't complain about scheduling. They complain about the effects of scheduling."

I concur with your position that scheduling is often a symptom of greater issues in leadership.

[Cafare52]

Best practices is 2 preps anything more than 3 is teacher abuse. In Michigan it is against the law to have more than 3 without the teacher signing a waiver. With the waiver they also get a pay increase. I want masters of content and curriculum. How can you be delivering the goods with so much to plan for?

Large schools should be able to accommodate 2-3 (max) whereas smaller schools spread them out in a way that hurts students. I had 5 preps before which really meant I had 3 because I was usually winging 4 and 5, sadly for my charges.

I am in a situation now where I will be going from 2 to 4 next year. I am hoping I can handle it cause if I can't I will have a miserable work life which will drive me away from a place I otherwise really like.

[PsyGuy]

@Cafare52

I believe you are confusing "best practice" with preference. A successful argument could be made that 1 prep is a better practice than 2 preps.

It really depends what you are prepping, primary ITs prep 4-6 lessons a day. Id much rather prep 4 maths courses, if all im doing is turning the page, demoing the new skill and then independent work is far easier task then prepping for 2 different chem studio (lab) units.

[justlooking]

There are different ways of looking at teaching load. I'm North American, but from my understanding, British teachers are used to teaching 5,6, 7 preps and find our "complaining" about that work load puzzling. I can never understand that myself. If you have a certain number of hours to plan, even if that number is very generous, you still have to split that time between 2 different courses or 5 different courses, for example. It seems like the lighter prep load will always have better planned classes.

[PsyGuy]

@justlooking

The differences in practice are very different. The UKNC is very, very prescribed at all age levels, and its a single unified curriculum. Its not the USNC which is really 50+ different curriculum frameworks, with some concurrency when it comes to Common Core and NexGen. A UK DT will have 5-7 preps but assuming they have prepped it in the past in a previous year/term prepping it again is little more than reviewing the course notes and summary and readying the resources, its going to be the same cookie cutter lesson class after class, because thats whats been approved by the leadership for the course guide. You can take a course and barring changes to the NC standards it will be very likely the same course 30 years later.

[chilagringa]

justlooking wrote:
> There are different ways of looking at teaching load. I'm North American, but from
> my understanding, British teachers are used to teaching 5,6, 7 preps and find our
> "complaining" about that work load puzzling. I can never understand that myself.
> If you have a certain number of hours to plan, even if that number is very generous,
> you still have to split that time between 2 different courses or 5 different courses,
> for example. It seems like the lighter prep load will always have better planned
> classes.

I agree. Surely reducing prep load is THE best thing that administration can do for quality teaching. I would rather have larger class sizes (within reason of course) but fewer preps if I had to choose one over the other

[PsyGuy]

@chilagringa

I disagree that reducing prep load is "THE best thing" leadership can do to improve the quality of teaching. I would argue that resources are far more important than prep load and prep time.

[Thames Pirate]

I disagree. A good teacher can create fantastic lessons with limited resources. Hiring good teachers and then giving them the time and support they need is critical. Yes, resources are part of that, and they matter--but what good is an iPad project if I don't have the time to learn how to use it or to create the activity with iPads? What good is having access to cool supplies if the lesson we do with them isn't meaningful? I suppose one could argue that time and good people are resources, but that simply underlines the point that time and good people who know how to make the most of it matter most.

Fewer preps makes it easier for me to collaborate and integrate horizontally. It means I am often teaching a lesson more than once, giving me a chance to immediately refine it based on how it worked earlier in the day. It means I have more time to draw in outside sources and materials, more time to create technology or cross-curricular integrations, more time to give meaningful feedback to students, more time to adapt a lesson based on formative assessments, etc. More time is the single most important resource a teacher can have, and that is achieved through things like fewer preps.

[PsyGuy]

@Thames Pirate

What good is an iPad project without iPads. An IT can always expend their persona time to learn those devices or create awesome lessons or collaborate, or align your curriculum. There are a lot of bottom tier ISs that give their ITs nothing and no matter how long or dedicated those ITs are there lessons end up being worksheets and overhead. You can also create more time by extending the work day, everyone leaves at 6 instead of 4, now you have time, and if you dont have anything constructive to do with that time because you dont have resources to do anything with then its just 'waiting' until you can go.
There was a DS/IS somewhere (I think it was CAN) that didnt give its faculty and students textbooks, with the idea that the ITs would create the curriculum out of necessity, that they would "write the texts themselves". It was horrible the faculty had about a months worth of material to draw upon, and fatigue and exhaustion set in that creating everything was an enormous tasking to undergo in real time.
You can have all the time in the world, but you cant make a pot without clay. An Art IT had to do a ceramics lesson without clay. Their first idea was to take a shovel and just dig until they hit the clay layer and then take a couple buckets to the IS and problem solved, except the clay was far too sandy and there wasnt enough of it They ended up using a blender, scrap paper, water and glue and creating this paper medium that you could mold into shapes and then let dry, it was a mess, no amount of time would have substituted for clay.

We can disagree about our priorities.

[Cooldude]

Block schedule and I have 5 preps including an AP and class sizes of 16-23. To prepare thoroughly and mark assignments each week is overwhelming.