Photo by Olena Sergienko on Unsplash
Every teacher knows what it’s like to be overscheduled. Your workday is committed to classes. You are not the master of your own day, but you are slave to the system established at your school. When teachers have free blocks or periods, team and department meetings are scheduled. Or, during the pandemic, teachers cover each other’s classes. Lunch breaks rarely exist as many teachers also have lunch duty, recess duty, or another meeting included in their daily schedule.
So why, on professional days, when an entire work day is devoted to the profession of teaching, are teachers still “scheduled” in activities? Why are teachers required to attend workshops, meetings, or speakers during many professional days? Why don’t we schedule more professional days specifically for planning what we do best-teaching?
I appreciate learning as much as anyone, and I understand the need for teachers to remain abreast of current trends in their field. However, educators need more opportunities to accomplish tasks that directly impact their classrooms. What is wrong with providing teachers time to plan with colleagues, design innovative lessons, or grade papers? Why must professional days so often be “scheduled”?
Some schools have regular professional days built into their schedule when teachers collaborate. These can range from days off to late starts to early dismissal days. What if all schools followed these models? Teachers could use the time to work from home or school on tasks they need to accomplish. Or, maybe teachers would be inspired to create a new unit or learn a new app.
What if professional days were regularly scheduled twice a month? Not a half day, but a full professional work day. Half days tend to be worthless. After a full morning of working with students who are amped up to leave early, teachers do not have the ability to focus and use the afternoon professional time to the best of its potential. With thought given to parent work schedules, the professional day could be arranged on Friday. Friday is usually more amenable to parents.
Teachers would have the full day to work professionally on tasks or interesting projects. I have read where many schools insist that teachers be present in school on professional days (some even during virtual days in lockdown), but when many companies across the globe are supporting remote work from home, why can’t schools offer this to teachers if desired?
What if teachers need to collaborate? We did it for a year virtually, why do we need to be in-person for everything now? Other industries learned quickly that we can accomplish our projects without all being in the office together each day. Meetings are still held. Team members still collaborate.
Some teachers work better from home. I am better able to focus in my home office rather than my classroom which I find to be very distracting and uncomfortable. What is the harm of me grading papers from my cozy pink office chair?
Collaboration could even occur at the local Starbucks. Perhaps a team of teachers gathers over coffee for several hours. I could not think of a more inspiring and enjoyable way to meet and plan an integrated unit.
What if a teacher spent a day in their home office researching Ancient Greece for an upcoming unit? Or what if a teacher spent their morning writing an educational article and the afternoon reading a book about 21st century skills? What if colleagues met at the local coffee shop to collaborate on a unit? These would be ideal days for educators.
Consider companies’ efforts to build 20% time into their work week. These commitments led to amazing products like Gmail and Google Maps. What if schools provided more time to encourage innovation and creativity among teachers? What could educators create?
We need to transform our systems to inspire, motivate, and encourage the educators who are at the helm of .