Classes let out today at 1:05 due to STAR testing. Students piled out my door as I sat down to begin. The tasks never stopped their parade across my desk.
And here I still sit, packed up except for my computer, in the early evening of a beautiful April day. The sun slowly sinks behind the hills off in the distance and reflections across campus darken. A quick glance at the clock and I realize that arriving home before 6 o’clock is a distinct possibility. Maybe I even have time for some racquetball before dinner, but danger lies in too much optimism.
I spent the last 4 hours working without interruption. I posted homework, wrote a newsletter for students and parents, updated the classroom Web sites, evaluated 90 student blogs, printed grades, posted grades online, reported grades to the office, finished correcting a few straggling assignments, set up for tomorrow, gathered piles for passing back to students, answered a few pieces of email, and a few other odds and ends.
That all took 4 straight hours. That’s just a reminder for anyone who says teachers get off work at 3:00 each day. True, grades aren’t due everyday, but there’s always 4 hours worth of work to do. Yes, everyday.
See, teaching isn’t very different from your job.