West Virginia Teachers on Strike, still make sure hungry students are fed

[Fireball]

Here you are saying not to make assumptions, and then in the very next breath making assumptions about how much work your teachers did growing up.  First of all, free periods aren't free.  We use those periods for planning (I only get one every other day btw) and for catching up on grading.  Of course those periods only help a little when we've got 7 classes to plan and grade for.  

I can tell you that most days I come home from work, and spend roughly 2 hours each night working on grading/planning.  Usually it's a little more.  (Grading by hand takes quite a bit of time, especially since I have more than 100 students.  Then I have to put the grades in the gradebook, as well as into the computer) Then I spend a couple of hours on the weekend finishing up any leftover grading that I didn't have time for in the week.  How much depends on how busy the week is.  Early in the quarter it's not too bad usually.  Later in the quarter it can be a nightmare, and I can spend all weekend grading 3-5 page papers written by a large number of students. 

I'm not complaining, fwiw.  I know that other people have tougher jobs.  But people often underestimate just how much work we teachers do.  There's a lot more to teaching than just going by the textbook.  






I've definitely had a mix of subs.  When I went on maternity leave both times the sub did a wonderful job.  I don't take too many regular sick days myself, but on the few occasions I've had to for a funeral (like when my mother-in-law died) I've had mixed results.  Some are great, and have no trouble with students.  Others are good substitutes, but have some trouble keeping the students from eating them alive.    Once in a while I'll get a 'movie sub' who just puts on a movie.  (Which is fine, as long as the movie is tangentially related to the material.)  Usually I'll leave my lesson plan, unless I'm just totally out of it.  Their job is hard enough as it is.

Grading tests and homework. Don't get me started!  Trying to read test and homework answers in a student's crabbed "handwriting" nearly made me go blind. I don't think that anyone realizes how difficult that kind of thing can be until they experience it. I know that I didn't. I realized when I was 14 in drafting class that I could make my handwriting much more legible than the chicken scratching that I had used up until then. It's called "shop hand", and is all caps. Just look at a drawing made in that era, and you will know what I mean. People who study graphology claim that it is a sign of a big ego to write like that, but I have to point out that clarity of communication supersedes that to them.