I was a senior software engineer who missed teaching physics and went back to the classroom.
Trust me, I put in many, many more hours teaching than I ever did as an engineer. With after school meetings and helping students with physics problems, my day usually runs from 7:30 to 4:00 with 20 minutes for lunch. Often several hours longer if I need to set up or tear down a lab. That does not include the 3-4 hours of work I take home every night for planning and grading. Or the time spent in the fall writing college recommendation letters. Or the six hours spent on either Saturday or Sunday planning. Or the time spent online helping students through email.
Of course I don't get paid for any of this "extra" work. According to my contract, my day ends at 2:30. At the same time, parents and administration expect a teacher to be in it "for the children" . Working outside the contract hours is the norm, however whenever teaching salaries are discussed the "short" teaching day is brought up.
Of course there are many teachers who work within their contract hours, but I don't know many science teachers who do. There is too much extra work required to run a lab, and few schools budget that time into a science teachers duty schedule. I have a hard time believing that even a high school english teacher can adequately read and grade weekly student papers in the time allotted to the school day. Still, once I am tenured (this year), I could do a less adequate job and get the same pay. I hope I quit if that ever happens.
Teaching physics and math is very difficult. Many students come into the courses with limited math skills. I was drawn to teaching because as a physics graduate student I taugh too many undergraduate engineering students with a horrible high school preparation.
Fig
Slashdot Mirror
I was a senior software engineer who missed teaching physics and went back to the classroom. Trust me, I put in many, many more hours teaching than I ever did as an engineer. With after school meetings and helping students with physics problems, my day usually runs from 7:30 to 4:00 with 20 minutes for lunch. Often several hours longer if I need to set up or tear down a lab. That does not include the 3-4 hours of work I take home every night for planning and grading. Or the time spent in the fall writing college recommendation letters. Or the six hours spent on either Saturday or Sunday planning. Or the time spent online helping students through email. Of course I don't get paid for any of this "extra" work. According to my contract, my day ends at 2:30. At the same time, parents and administration expect a teacher to be in it "for the children" . Working outside the contract hours is the norm, however whenever teaching salaries are discussed the "short" teaching day is brought up. Of course there are many teachers who work within their contract hours, but I don't know many science teachers who do. There is too much extra work required to run a lab, and few schools budget that time into a science teachers duty schedule. I have a hard time believing that even a high school english teacher can adequately read and grade weekly student papers in the time allotted to the school day. Still, once I am tenured (this year), I could do a less adequate job and get the same pay. I hope I quit if that ever happens. Teaching physics and math is very difficult. Many students come into the courses with limited math skills. I was drawn to teaching because as a physics graduate student I taugh too many undergraduate engineering students with a horrible high school preparation. Fig