Four day weekends! What a treat for students, four day weekends usually end on a holiday combined with a teacher workday. Now you may wonder, “what the heck is a teacher workday?” It’s basically a day where teachers can catch up on grading assignments, make better lesson plans, schedule meetings with other coworkers, ect. Teachers at MVHS find that teacher work day is useful. Teachers work long and hard hours, so is this day productive to them? Since they have laptops wouldn’t it be easier to just work from home? 

Mr.Linsley who teaches Digital Curriculum here at the school talked about his daily routine when there’s a Teacher Work Day. He first checks his email; he says most of his emails are from students asking if he can update their grades. “I’ll check in with the announcements where they are in production … make sure that they’re not behind … I’ll check the progress of my students.” He also said that he likes to see where each student stands in his class. He mentioned that it takes a long time going through each student. “I have to search the students one at a time.” He said that this is very important to him because he wants to help students that need help or students that might have fallen behind; he likes to either send emails to the students or their parents or even make a phone call to them! “I think about how I can increase productivity.” This shows how this day is effective for teachers. 

Since most teachers have laptops or computers, working at home could be an option for them, but right now it’s not. Mr Lisney commented about teachers working at home saying “Being at home creates entanglement; I’m way more productive at my desk. I do think that [some] teachers would be more effective at home, I’m just not one of them.”

Overall teacher work days seem like a catch up day for teachers, just as students need a day to do homework and get caught up, so do our teachers!

Going further into a teacher workday, Mr. Walsh (Who works in the English Department) said “I’ll do a lot of my normal basic stuff that I do whenever I come in. I’ll check my emails to see if there’s anything I need to do. Again, I follow my normal routine on a normal day, except I have more time to get things done. Take meetings, pick up my room and overall make a lesson plan.” 

He also mentioned that working here at his desk helps him a lot. He stated, “You know we talked about the benefits of getting things done … I do think naturally people are gonna get more stuff done if they are in a work environment … Generally speaking though … I would say it should be required to be at school, unless prior arrangements have been made with your administrator or supervisor … I think arrangements can be made.” This is another example of another teacher getting benefits from this day!

Something else that stood out to me from Mr. Walsh is that he really thinks that this day is very beneficial for teachers, he had mentioned that this day could really help out first year teachers. 

But most importantly is that he mentioned, “I would like a teacher workday at the end of the term after Canvas closes so I can get grades in. That would lower my stress levels.” Which makes so much sense for teachers because having a lot of students they have the stress of getting grades before their deadline. 

He talked about how the first term put stress on him because students were turning things in up until 3pm and then he had to put grades in at 6pm. Which isn’t a lot of time for a teacher who teaches seven English classes!

Ms. Sargent, who is a Financial literacy teacher, also talked about her daily teacher workday routine. “Teacher workday I come in at the very same time as I normally would, and I even come prepared with a drink or a food item that I like, so that I don’t have to leave at all. She checks her emails, she sees where her students are and contacts them, she said that she likes to leave them a message saying that they are missing assignments, and says that it really is effective for her students. It took her about 5 hours to contact each of her students that didn’t have the best grades in her class (this was the last teacher workday). She takes the time to make sure that her students are well taken care of. 

“I love the teacher ‘s workday because there are no interruptions, none whatsoever. So I am able to get a head start or catch up on grades…It really is a buckle down. It’s a heavy concentration time, I would hate to go without them, it’s not that I don’t want the students here, it ‘s just so helpful to have no interruptions.” It’s so crazy that one day can really be helpful for teachers. She said her last teacher workday she stayed over time she left the school building at 5pm!

Keep in mind that teachers do not get paid for overtime work, they dedicate their own time for their own students. Something amazing about  Miss Sargent is that she does all of this so her students are productive. She loves to work and she loves her job enough to put in those extra hours. She works late hours for kids, so they can see where their grade is landing. “In my previous district we were never given a teacher workday, so I’m really appreciative of it here in the Alpine School District. I think it’s a good little break for the kids and I think for us teachers and educators to get ahead of the ball game … Our goal [is] to be … prepared and give [our] students the best education possible.” Such strong words about a day that is focusing on just becoming a better teacher. 

At the end, the day, teachers work so hard for students, and I am so grateful for all the teachers here at MVHS who truly try their best to make an impact on students.

It is so clear that these teacher workdays are very effective for our wonderful teachers!