Dear Bored Teachers, I refuse to take ANY work home. Like ANY work. I am not paid for it, I will not grade and lesson plan on my only time off with my two young kids. My principal recently came to me saying some parents and students have complained that their assignments haven’t been graded in over a month. I responded that I’m always required to do other duties during my planning period, so that’s why that time cannot be used to grade. My principal responded, “It is part of your contract.” I looked at my contract and it does mention that I may be assigned “additional duties.”

My question is: Am I in the wrong? Am I a bad teacher for not being timely with my students? Can the principal actually request of me to work on my weekends, after filling up all my planning periods with “extra duties”? – Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,

Thank you for sharing your feelings with us. You are most definitely not in the wrong to assume that you can and should have a normal life outside of teaching. We all should.

Lugging a mountain of paperwork home in a little red wagon is literally an uphill battle that will cause you to feel overwhelmed and leave your family with leftover parts of you. They deserve to have a present parent who isn’t completely losing their shi@ all the time because they are completely stressed from taking work home.

However, students need timely feedback on summative projects in order to grow and learn from their mistakes before they forget their thought processes. Therefore, timely feedback should be at the top of the priority hierarchy. The extra duties your administrator gives you should be the tasks that can wait.

The job of any good administrator (notice, I said good here) is to make sure that teachers have the time to focus on the main goals of teaching and learning. Consider holding a calm discussion with your administrator about your work level and your priorities. Administrators should remove items from the plates of teachers, not pile them high like a Thanksgiving dinner. 

If they are not receptive, look for another place to work. If this is not possible, there are ways to work smarter, not harder. In other words, cut corners where there aren’t corners. Some examples are below.

How to work smarter, not harder

1. Instead of taking home basic daily practice work, file non-essential student papers in what we older teachers like to call the circular file. (trash can)

2. When students are working independently, grade a few papers. You won’t be taken out in hand cuffs for this.

3.  Use every teacher hack out there.

4. Collaborate with other teachers. There is no need to create everything on your own.

5. Prioritize students, and everything else can wait.

6. Elicit parent volunteers or college students for extra help.

Teaching is hard work, but we often make it harder by wanting everything done perfectly. We take too long on each task. Stop doing this, and find a steady rhythm that allows you to take time for your health and family. It’s difficult, but it’s possible.