Given the amount of daily planning time and the assistance of an AI-powered app, Robert can easily turn hardcopy read-aloud passages and questions into interactive quizzes for students in his elementary school classroom.
But if he wanted to design something more engaging, like something for kids to cut out or draw as part of a lesson, his 45 minutes of meeting time would be enough to design it. I don’t have enough time.
One reason for this is that Robert likely has many other tasks that require his attention, such as attending conferences about students with behavioral problems. In addition, Robert knows that in hands-on lessons that don’t involve computers, he needs to spend enough time explaining the steps to his students. (EdSurge is using only Robert’s first name out of respect for his privacy.)
His Alpha Generation students are used to using Chromebooks for school work, so it takes more time and skill to get them off the screen.
“The way they learn, the way their brains take in information, is very individual. They all have a personal assistant in their pocket that provides them with information,” Robert says. “Planning doesn’t take that long. Kids have a hard time doing things without technology.”
According to , public schools provided teachers with an average of 266 minutes of dedicated planning time per week. result From the School Pulse panel conducted in December 2023. The panel surveyed approximately 2,400 school principals representing all grade levels.
That’s about 4 hours and 26 minutes of planning time per week.
Elementary school teachers plan on average about four hours a week, which is 40 minutes less than middle school teachers and 49 minutes less than high school teachers.
What is a “good” amount of planning time?
Is an average of 266 minutes of planning per week considered appropriate or sufficient time for teachers? Unlikely.
Planning time hasn’t changed much over the past decade, at least when you add up the current averages. data Collected by the National Council on Teacher Quality. The report found that teachers consistently identified more time for planning and collaboration as improvements that would make them want to stay on the job.
“Adjusting district plans and collaboration time policies will not be a panacea to solve all retention challenges,” the authors write. “However, districts may want to consider how planning and collaboration time can contribute to broader support for teachers, which in turn can increase teacher job satisfaction and improve student learning.” I guess.”
Looking beyond the average, almost half (47%) of principals responding to the School Pulse Panel said teachers are allocated three hours or less of planning time per week. Only 9% of teachers said they spend more than 5 hours planning.
These numbers also came as 28 percent of schools overall reported increasing teacher planning time as part of the same survey.
Why is planning time important?
Teachers don’t just come to school and provide excellent instruction without preparation.
As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic linger and the mental health of educators takes a toll, the question of whether teachers have enough time to prepare for lessons has come to the fore as a factor in teacher retention. There is.
Last year, the Teacher Retention Task Force recommended that the Texas Legislature commission a time study to free administrators from distractions from teaching, planning and collaboration. (corresponding invoice died ) Fall, Portland, Oregon, teachers and their school districts agreed to new contract This would increase planning time for elementary and middle school teachers to nearly eight hours per week.
One elementary school teacher wrote a letter to the Texas task force saying, “Teachers are expected to accomplish a tremendous amount in a short period of time,” and their daily responsibilities included planning, teaching, and “endless paperwork. ”, professional development, and conferences. . “Administrator wants memorable lessons, and I agree, but we don’t have any time to plan them.”
Robert said it’s not just the additional work that makes planning more difficult, but the needs of a generation of students who grew up with technology are more complex. In his experience, the elementary school students he teaches have difficulty performing activities without the help of computers.
Robert recalls a time when a colleague designed an activity for students to do after completing a standardized test. At that time, no technology was allowed to be used until all students had completed the test. The challenge was to draw animals in their natural habitat.
Some students begged for the chance to search their laptops for drawings of animals of their choice and find YouTube tutorials on how to draw them, Roberts recalled. He was surprised at their reluctance to draw something based on his memory.
“They all require technology to function, so my activities have to be centered around technology. Otherwise, detailed planning is required. No,” Robert explains.
What would really help students is more individualized attention, he says, but it’s difficult for teachers to do it themselves. He recently heard that a nearby school district was cutting staff, but it was limited to positions such as paraprofessionals and teacher’s aides.
“Currently, class sizes are 25:1, but children are required to study in small groups of 10:1 or 5:1 throughout the day,” he says. “I don’t think we have that much time to plan. We need more people to work at the school.”