A Day in the Life...
I found a link to another professor who wanted to dispel the myths that teachers have the "easy life." It is so true. Yes, we may only actually teach 15 hours a week but what we do outside the classroom is enormous.
Here is my typical day:
7:45am - Alarm goes off. Hit snooze button.
8:15am - Realize I have to get out of bed and shower ASAP.
8:30am - Out the door to work with a stop at Dunkin' Donuts to pick up my coffee.
10:00am - Arrive at school. Yes, my commute is that long.
10:15am - Go through my mail, sort through the numerous worthless books the publishing companies send to me and respond to the huge list of e-mails sent to me in the middle of the night by "panicked" students.
11:00am - Go to class and teach. The first 10 minutes are a waste of time because about 1/4 of the class shows up late (even though they know they lose points for lateness) and I would have to repeat everything I said. Then I can finally lecture. Hopefully I won't catch too many students texting their friends, playing solitaire on their laptop, or conversing not so quietly with their friends. Yes, it feels like middle school on some days.
12:20pm - Class is over and it is technically my lunch time. However, I spend that time going over my lectures for my next round of classes, prepping notes, grading papers, or responding to more "panicked" e-mails. If I am lucky, I'll actually eat lunch and I'll get to bitch about my students to my office mates. If I'm not lucky, I'll get a line of students wanting to see me (even though this isn't my official office hour).
1:40pm - See 11am times two.
4:30pm - Return to my office and finish what I was doing for lunch. If there is a department meeting, I head to that.
5:00pm - Back in my office for my office hour. If I'm lucky I can get some more work done. If I'm not, I have a line of students going out the door. Sometimes it's for school related work, other times I'm advising them or acting as a shoulder to lean on.
6:00pm - I lock my office door and make it look like I'm not in. Then I can finally get to work with the lesson preps for the next day, any test writing and grading that needs to be done, and go through the last of the "panicked" e-mails.
7:00pm - I leave school.
8:30pm - Sit down for dinner.
9:00pm - Up to my home office to sit down and get more work done (lesson preps, test writing, grading). Also, I spend time checking the Chronicle for tenure-track job openings and work on my CV.
11:00pm - Clean the litter pans then watch the news.
11:35pm - Turn on David Letterman. I must watch the "Great Moments in Presidential Speeches" every night.
12:00am - Go to sleep.
I'm at school four days a week with the 10:00am to 7:00pm schedule. This doesn't include the 20-30 extra hours I do work at home either in the evenings or weekends. If it's towards the end of the semester, that number is higher with the larger amounts of grading I have to do.
And I get paid under $40,000 to do this.
But I love it.
Here is my typical day:
7:45am - Alarm goes off. Hit snooze button.
8:15am - Realize I have to get out of bed and shower ASAP.
8:30am - Out the door to work with a stop at Dunkin' Donuts to pick up my coffee.
10:00am - Arrive at school. Yes, my commute is that long.
10:15am - Go through my mail, sort through the numerous worthless books the publishing companies send to me and respond to the huge list of e-mails sent to me in the middle of the night by "panicked" students.
11:00am - Go to class and teach. The first 10 minutes are a waste of time because about 1/4 of the class shows up late (even though they know they lose points for lateness) and I would have to repeat everything I said. Then I can finally lecture. Hopefully I won't catch too many students texting their friends, playing solitaire on their laptop, or conversing not so quietly with their friends. Yes, it feels like middle school on some days.
12:20pm - Class is over and it is technically my lunch time. However, I spend that time going over my lectures for my next round of classes, prepping notes, grading papers, or responding to more "panicked" e-mails. If I am lucky, I'll actually eat lunch and I'll get to bitch about my students to my office mates. If I'm not lucky, I'll get a line of students wanting to see me (even though this isn't my official office hour).
1:40pm - See 11am times two.
4:30pm - Return to my office and finish what I was doing for lunch. If there is a department meeting, I head to that.
5:00pm - Back in my office for my office hour. If I'm lucky I can get some more work done. If I'm not, I have a line of students going out the door. Sometimes it's for school related work, other times I'm advising them or acting as a shoulder to lean on.
6:00pm - I lock my office door and make it look like I'm not in. Then I can finally get to work with the lesson preps for the next day, any test writing and grading that needs to be done, and go through the last of the "panicked" e-mails.
7:00pm - I leave school.
8:30pm - Sit down for dinner.
9:00pm - Up to my home office to sit down and get more work done (lesson preps, test writing, grading). Also, I spend time checking the Chronicle for tenure-track job openings and work on my CV.
11:00pm - Clean the litter pans then watch the news.
11:35pm - Turn on David Letterman. I must watch the "Great Moments in Presidential Speeches" every night.
12:00am - Go to sleep.
I'm at school four days a week with the 10:00am to 7:00pm schedule. This doesn't include the 20-30 extra hours I do work at home either in the evenings or weekends. If it's towards the end of the semester, that number is higher with the larger amounts of grading I have to do.
And I get paid under $40,000 to do this.
But I love it.
Comments