This is for all the office workers out there. I know some think a teacher's job is so easy. We leave work at 3:15 and receive 3 'paid' months off every year.
The only days I leave work at 3:15 are the ones when I'm rushing across town to grad school. Most days I leave between 6:00 and 7:45 (when they lock up the building.) Most days I arrive between 6:15 and 7:00am, but we are required to be there by 7:30am. We are also required to sign in and out. A lot of teachers feel that requirement to be a 'slap in the face', because it is a blue collar type of restriction.
We only receive 30 minutes for lunch. This does not allow enough time to leave for lunch, except maybe to race through the McDonald's drive thru. Students leave our classroom at 2:45, but we are not allowed to leave the building until 3:15. If we need to make a doctor's appointment or take a sick child home, then we must sign out and that time comes out of our alloted days off.
We do not have phones in our classrooms. There are times I need to call a parent about a misbehaving student, follow up on a ceiling leak at my apartment, or make any of those other short phone calls that need to be done during a day. When these situations arise, I must use my cell phone. I also have 25 students listening in on the call.
This morning, I walked into the front office. It was just before 7:30 and I need to sign in, check my box for paperwork, and chat with a co-worker about what I missed on-campus while at a training yesterday. Instead, I have a parent waiting for me to arrive so that she can discuss her child's grades with me. She had calculated the average herself and decided I was wrong by six-tenths of a point.
Are you ever in your office waiting for a phone call? Maybe you would like to walk to the copier, get a drink of water or use the restroom, but you can't because you're waiting for a phone call. How do you feel? Trapped? Each day I must be in my room while I have students. If I need to use the restroom, I must wait. If I forgot to make copies, I just do without that activity and must quickly think up a different way to teach the desired lesson. If I need to speak with someone in the office or another teacher, I just hope I remember later or write myself a note that may or may not get covered up by all the papers on my desk.
Yes, I love my job. Yes, I chose my profession. I am simply sharing what my daily life at work is like.
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Hmmm...that's odd. I do have a telephone in my room, but here's the strange part: It's mounted on the exit wall, while my desk and computer desk are on the opposite side of the room. If I want to call a parent, I have to write down eveything (contact info, grade info, etc.) from the computer, then walk over to the other side of the room, take a seat on one of my lab stools, and make the call. Heaven forbid if I forget to write down some info...and it has happened.
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