Salv

OK, so let's be fair. Your friend has prior resources to draw from (third time teaching the same grade) and he doesn't make all his worksheets himself (not sure how he does this, maybe some help from a colleague?) - that would definitely make it easier for him than it would for my wife who was in her first year. Obviously you feel you know that all teachers work their hours at work then just hammer out some worksheets and then have free time - but maybe you can re-evaluate your point of view because I think if you really think about some example scenarios (like the one I laid out) you could see how one hour on Sunday couldn't possibly be enough time to come up with lessons for the week and mark papers. I know my wife has busted her ass this year for her students and works a lot of hours - but I am not unreasonable, I know that a lot of teachers are overpaid ($90,000 is ridiculous) and that if anything, teaching gets easier with years because your material has already been created - you don't need to do as much work. Teachers get a lot of shit - it's really not that easy of a job, it obviously has it's perks and the pay is absurdly good after you've been working for a number of years - my wife recognizes she has it good, but I really think you're assessment of a teachers work hours is off-base. People complain a lot that the quality of education for children has slipped and it's the people that put in extra hours to create fun and engaging lessons (not just a worksheet) that can change that, but when you paint all teachers with the same brush you really do a disservice to improving our education system. Just a thought.

Realistically look at a possible scenario. You're qualified to teach grades four through twelve - in September you get a phone call saying that a position has opened and you're hired - you start in a week - you teach grade seven and eight. You usually teach grade four - but now you're teaching a grade seven and eight curriculum. You basically have to create each weeks lesson plan week to week - the curriculum just tells you what the kids have to know, not how to teach them, or what worksheets to use (which you have to create yourself). So if you're in this position, how do you think it's unrealistic or an exaggeration to be working additional hours every night to create tomorrows lesson plan? You made a post earlier that seemed serious so I assumed you were open to discussing this.

The concept of working nine months versus eleven months should be irrelevant because the teachers I know (and my wife is a teacher - grade seven and eight) work 10+ hours a day. Throughout this school year my wife works from 9:00 a.m to 4:00 p.m, comes home, eats dinner, and then works for another three or four hours on average. Typically we watch a show at night or sit in our backyard to have a coffee - that's the amount of free-time she has. Sometimes it's only one or two extra hours - sometimes she is up past 11:00 p.m finishing up work. She usually spends four - six hours on the weekend doing marking and coming up with new lesson plans for the kids - so I can easily say she puts in ~60 hours a week or more. So yes, she only works for nine months, but that nine months is considerably more work and more stress than any 9-5 job I know. Do you personally know any teachers? I speak from experience (I also work for the school board) - do you? What exactly is your background that gives you any sort of indication of how hard teachers work? From my perspective, teachers are one of the biggest scapegoats in the province - people think teaching is easy and they get a three month vacation.