The 27 Hour Day

I feel like I often get great ideas while working out. Well, today, I figured out an answer to almost all the problems with elementary education. Are you ready for it?

The 27 hour day! Don't roll your eyes yet, just hear me out. This is how it would work: School would start in the morning along with most other businesses. The school day would remain the same: Kids going to their "specials" classes (art, music, gym, library, reach, etc), staff meetings once a month, and of course the insanely growing Professional Development that we are given which will surely fix the problem with failing children (even though it currently takes away from our small amount of planning time which is necessary to be a prepared teacher).

But here's where it all changes. After the kids leave, elementary teachers have an extra THREE HOURS of UNINTERRUPTED preparation and planning. They can read all 27 of their students' Reading Response Logs. They can read all 27 of their students' Writing Journal entries and comment on them so the kids know they have an actual audience with their writing. They can correct the weekly homework, district-encouraged math workbooks, and any other student work that needs to be looked over. When all the STUDENT work is done, they can sit down and read the Lucy Calkins'  Reading Workshop Chapter to prepare for the following day's lesson. They can read the different assigned chapters from their 5 different reading groups so they can have a meaningful discussion with students about what they read the previous night. They can sit down and read the Writing Workshop Chapter to prepare for the following day's lesson. Please keep in mind that EACH of these daily chapters is typically 16 pages long (as well as the Reading Workshop chapters). They can read over and plan for the following day's math investigation and/or create student specific problem solving questions. They can look at the grade level standards for History and Science and create units or modify preexisting units that will captivate the students and encourage learning. They can change their bulletin boards more than once a year. Then, once teachers get home after work, they still have time for a good healthy workout, won't need chiropractic appointments to fix their broken backs from carrying so much work home with them every night, and can pursue their own personal interests- like cleaning the house, working on a hobby, or just taking a bubble bath guilt-free.

So what are the students doing while out of school? MANDATORY FAMILY TIME! Yes! Students MUST spend the extra three hours with their family: reading together, going over any homework together, playing games together, going places together - NOT R-RATED MOVIES, cooking together, volunteering together, and finding ways to promote learning in all areas of life.

All teachers reading this are laughing right now at the thought of three extra hours of work- we're already underpaid, but get this, since this is THE answer to our problem, teachers would get PAID for their extra planning and work, thus feeling motivated to be the best teacher they could be- our extra work and contributions would finally feel valued- WE WOULD FEEL VALUED.

Now, there is a big problem with this picture: What if BOTH parents are in elementary education and have children of their own? Yeah, that is a problem. Teachers' kids need family time too. I guess I haven't worked that one out yet. And in re-reading what teachers would do in an extra three hours a day, I wonder if it's actually enough. I'd be willing to give it a try.

But for now, I'll just continue doing pretty much everything I listed above in the amount of time that I have - or however much I can get done before getting too stressed out and bringing the rest home with me to taunt me from my backpack and make me feel awful for even considering to sit down a read a book of my own choice, write this blog, or watch a movie with my husband. I'll keep putting off doing my scrapbooking, organizing, and any other hobby interests I have to make sure that I'm prepared for my next day of teaching. But you know what? I'll still do my best to smile every day at school and let my students know that my job is to be the best teacher I can be and their job is to be the best learner they can be. The question is, how long can elementary teachers last with a lifestyle like this?

Now, I need to decide: Time with my husband or reading tomorrow's chapters for school... What would you do? You'd think it'd be an easy choice, but nothing feels worse than having 27 students staring at you or getting out of control because you're not prepared...

Happy Tuesday Night.