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I really feel like my job at school and job at home and job at my other job, is to grade papers. I grade, grade, grade all the time. Today, I graded three sets of papers, on my day off. I just got up from spending over 2 and 1/2 hours grading papers. I'm even amazed by it. Let me explain.
Up until last year, the high schools here had 6 periods for students that ran about 55 minutes each. Great time to be able to teach and actually get through important information. Then someone had this brilliant idea...let's crowd one more period into the student and teacher day. That way we'll be able to not have to pay teachers for the extra period and the students will get another course...to cause even more exhaustion and more stress than they already had with 6 courses.
So, because these wonderful highly intelligent people who have probably never spent time in a classroom since they were in school, made this incredible decision, therefore, teachers now teach 6 short periods per day. (One period is planning and guess what we basically do during planning period? (all 46 minutes of it), you got it, we grade papers because you see, I have an extra 32 students ...in a writing class no less and unlike some teachers (non that I know) I believe that students are actually supposed to WRITE in a writing class. Anyway, isn't this fun!
I wonder how much the students get out of shortened periods and more subjects in one day? I've wondered that since day one of this. You know what's funny? We're supposed to be preparing them for college. Having gone to college myself and having put through two sons through, I happen to know that most semesters, the MOST subjects either one of them took on was 4-5 -- MAX. Never did they carry 7 different subjects with 7 different tests and 7 sets of homework in a semester.
Oh well, then we wonder why students drop out! Go figure, right? Okay, times up, I have to go back and ...grade papers. Later.
