Teachers (or any full time employees) schedule....

I really miss grading essays. Essay teaching / marking was my favourite part of teaching.

When I taught HS I was at school from 7:30-3:30/4 every day. I didn’t prep at home much but since I taught English I did a lot of grading. Once dh was home by 6 I put work away for the night. I didn’t go back to teaching after kids because of the demanding schedule.

My advice to you would be that 6 classes to prep for is a lot. Perhaps speak to your administrator and remind him/her about the benefit to repeating classes. If you could repeat some of the classes you teach that helps teachers improve their teaching skills and cuts down on the amount you have to prep/ helps with burnout. I’ve had 6 preps in one year and it’s a lot. I never got to repeat a block so I never got to improve my lesson. Teaching is a process so having the opportunity to repeat a lesson gives you a chance to try any changes.

Just want to add that dh isn’t a teacher but he works long hours and is often working on things from home after the workday is over or is called in for emergencies after his regular day ends. He is salaries so doesn’t get paid for evening work. He just sees it as part of his responsibility. I think after hours work happens in a lot of professions.

. His hours are unpredictable and he can be gone for 12+ hours regularly. That is why I stayed home after kids. It was too hard to plan schedules with his unpredictability. I really miss grading essays. Essay teaching / marking was my favourite part of teaching.

I ended up quitting. I couldn't take the pressure anymore. My work day was 8:45-3:50 but I was usually at work 7:15-5. I taught 3rd grade, which is a high stakes state testing grade. Our principal required 45 minutes at the end of the day to be intervention every day. We were required to write individual plans for all of our students (I had 25-28 each year) for the interventions. Even if several needed intervention on the same thing, they each had to have a separate plan to put in their portfolios. That took a lot of time. I worked through my lunch (kids recess) and ate at my desk and then had to supervise their lunch. I also got a 40 minute planning time daily. I taught in an area of the district that had a lot of tough family life situations... parents in prison, drug rehab, domestic violence, kids living in cars, kids coming in hungry, etc. The principal asked us what we were going to do to guarantee these kids passed the test? We told her we were doing everything we could (including 2 of us offering before school tutoring/intervention groups and the other 2 of us offering after school ones). Of course the kids that really needed it never showed up. We said that it was beyond our control if a child came in tired because they had mice running across their bed or couldn't sleep because their parents were beating each other up the night before, or came in hungry and couldn't concentrate (I did keep b'fast stuff in my room for these kids). . . She said she didn't want to hear it, we were not allowed to place any of the responsibility on the parents and that if the kids didn't pass, she was holding us personally responsible. I went home that night and told my husband that for my mental health, I had to quit. We had a 2 year old who was in daycare more than he was home. When we got home, I made dinner, we ate. Dh played with him for a bit while I cleaned up, I gave him a bath, read a story and he was in bed. I was with him at the most, 2 hours a night. Then, I went back to working on school stuff or housework. It was no way to live. Our family life and my health was being affected. I finished out the year, put in my notice and never looked back.

Now I sub. i do it on MY terms. When it works in my schedule. I teach what the teachers leave for me without the pressure of testing, parents, principals. It works for me.

I can totally feel for you OP and all the others who are in education.