Longer work hours announced. I need a hug.

IncogNeato

Just found out that my school day has been extended. Yay.

Sigh.... I wouldn't mind a longer school day except it means less time available for planning, which means staying later every day or bringing work home more. I only see LO awake for less than 2 hours a day during the school year as it is! This is getting me extra depressed about the end of summer. I usually wake her up at 6:30, get in the car to bring her to daycare by 6:50, work from 7:30-4:30, get her home at 5, put her to bed at 6:30/7. Then I try to get to sleep by 9 so I can survive another night with frequent night wakings.

When exactly am I supposed to fit in all of this with nearly 2 more hours a week to plan for and 2 hours less planning time?

 

xxbabycakesxx

=(  aw im sorry.  that really really sucks.  theres never enough hours in a day.

eta- *big hug* 

janneann1127

UGH, i'm sorry. that really blows. :-(

welshgirl

I'm so sorry - sending a big hug across the ocean!

ChristineVet

That just bites.. and I totally know how you feel.  On work days (4 days/week) we're out of the house by 6:45, and not home until 6:45 and bedtime by 7:30.  So basically I don't see him for 4 days/week.  I'm trying to go down to part time though.. which so far is not working.

 Good luck, and hold in there!

jillybean800

WTH? I hope you are getting a raise to go with those longer hours.  People tend to hate unions, but they do prevent crap like that from happening.

IncogNeato

jillybean800:

WTH? I hope you are getting a raise to go with those longer hours.  People tend to hate unions, but they do prevent crap like that from happening.

Oh no, of course not. They get around it by reducing the number of days that we're expected to stay late to plan, which SOUNDS like it makes sense, but the amount of planning we have to do hasn't gone down, just the REQUIRED hours that we have to plan after school. So we'll still be there for those hours because the job has to get done, but on paper it will look like they reduced those hours to compensate for the longer teaching day. Plus, of course, we have more teaching hours to plan for, so we have more planning to do.

And yeah, we're not unionized. 

jillybean800

IncogNeato:

jillybean800:

WTH? I hope you are getting a raise to go with those longer hours.  People tend to hate unions, but they do prevent crap like that from happening.

Oh no, of course not. They get around it by reducing the number of days that we're expected to stay late to plan, which SOUNDS like it makes sense, but the amount of planning we have to do hasn't gone down, just the REQUIRED hours that we have to plan after school. So we'll still be there for those hours because the job has to get done, but on paper it will look like they reduced those hours to compensate for the longer teaching day. Plus, of course, we have more teaching hours to plan for, so we have more planning to do.

And yeah, we're not unionized. 

Oh my.  That's some extreme bullsh!t if I've ever heard some.  As if you guys were just sitting their twiddling your thumbs before in your required planning period, waiting to go home.

IncogNeato

jillybean800:

IncogNeato:

jillybean800:

WTH? I hope you are getting a raise to go with those longer hours.  People tend to hate unions, but they do prevent crap like that from happening.

Oh no, of course not. They get around it by reducing the number of days that we're expected to stay late to plan, which SOUNDS like it makes sense, but the amount of planning we have to do hasn't gone down, just the REQUIRED hours that we have to plan after school. So we'll still be there for those hours because the job has to get done, but on paper it will look like they reduced those hours to compensate for the longer teaching day. Plus, of course, we have more teaching hours to plan for, so we have more planning to do.

And yeah, we're not unionized. 

Oh my.  That's some extreme bullsh!t if I've ever heard some.  As if you guys were just sitting their twiddling your thumbs before in your required planning period, waiting to go home.

Yeah, exactly. I kinda liked the late days because I was going to be there anyway but at least I felt like I couldn't feel guilty about it b/c I HAD to be there. Now I'll still be there (and more, because I've lost so much time overall) but I'll feel like I'm choosing it, which definitely adds to the guilt and sadness.

It sucks because I really like teaching. I've never taught at a school that wasn't struggling to meet AYP, though, so maybe someday I'll get the chance to do that and it will be different. I'm getting worn out!

shaw

I hear ya.  AYP is tough sometimes!  The expectations are always rising.  Unions can't really do much right now other than try really hard to save jobs.  That means asking for pay freezes and asking teachers to pay for or health insurance.  For some reason everyone is on an anit-teacher bandwagon.  We are lucky to have jobs as crappy as they are becoming!?!?!?

jillybean800

IncogNeato, can you do your grading and things after baby goes to bed?  That's what I did when I went back in May and June.  I just set aside an hour, usually from 9-10 where I did grading and other planning.  That way, I was home as much as possible for when he was awake, but still got planning done.  Is that possible at all?

Edit: Sorry, I missed the part where you said you go to bed early.  But as the baby sleeps better, maybe you can stay up slightly later?

Also, here's what else I did: 

1.  More group projects so that when I graded them, I graded 4 kids at a time.

2.  While they were doing projects in class, I graded at my desk.

3. Replaced an essay with an oral presentation, so I graded them in class while they were going on.

4.  Used other people's materials and plans once in awhile.

What grade and subject do you teach?

tiffanyp

Is your LO wide awake in the middle of the night? I know a lot of people will probably disagree with me here (including Dr. Weissbluth), but have you tried putting her to bed later? I have a crappy sleeper too, but she's 10X worse if I put her to bed too early. Ferber says that at 6 months +, you can't expect a baby to sleep more than 9.25 hours at night and 3.25 hours during the day, and that keeping a baby in bed too long is one of the causes of frequent night awakenings.

Anyway, I'm sorry you have to work later. That really sucks. But, if you've never tried making her bedtime later, then it's worth a shot. You'll get more time with her AND probably sleep better.