I like it when people are honest about what they think they know about teaching as a job. Not sure they listen when I explain the realities, but at least we have cut through the misunderstanding I always sense even behind compliments. All salaried employees work free overtime and often work through lunch, right? Why do we complain about all the time we work outside of the classroom? Texas teachers are not salaried. I am paid for 187 days of 8 hours; if I miss one of those scheduled days, I am liable for 1/187th of my pay, even if I worked the weekend before and every evening that week. The days when I have no scheduled duty time are not holidays, they are simply unpaid leave. Time during the 8 hours is fully scheduled; by definition, numerous needs and duties attached to the job cant be done during that 8 hours. No grading, research, lesson plans, student data analysis, or even going to the bathroom when Im in front of students; most of those would be impossible to perform with the degree of professionalism necessary while I should be focusing on classroom safety and effectiveness, and that last one would get me arrested. So, my 30-minute duty-free lunch is when I eat, maybe, quickly, go to the bathroom, check my e-mail, make photocopies, and so forth. I have never had a salaried job where my pay was rigidly tied to a defined set of tasks that had to be completed within specific hours, but I also worked during unscheduled hours, no matter how efficient I was during my work day.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 14:15:14 +0000
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