I tried last year to be that teacher that stayed later, got there early, read all the PD, got up at 5am to try to be everything. Here in Australia, you are hired on a yearly basis. You have to re-interview. I didn't get my job again. I practically killed myself working as hard as possible and it never meant anything to admin. This year I'm at a new school and I've been working contract hours. I've found it is helping my energy levels. I'm not utterly exhausted and sick like last year. I feel better and can actually be a better teacher because I'm not shattered all the time! Just the odd migraine every month instead of every week.
After 25 years of teaching, I may say I only work the number of hours teachers are supposed to work for some years now; we don't have a fixed time to work, we have a number of hours (20 hours of classes, 2 hours for class management, 2 hours for mentoring, 8 hours for autonomous work a week). After a near meltdown 10 years ago, I stoped working for free; nobody values my work more for it, nobody is going to make a statue of me and put it on the school entrance because I work lots of hours.
As a high school student, I always make an effort to do this lol. It's amazing how much less homework you have if you're willing to work really hard during school.
Greetings from California ! You speak the truth that SO MANY of US in the trenches NEED to HEAR ! Keep up the great job . You seem like an AMAZING Teacher AND an AMAZING HUMAN ! Love and Blessings to you and yours . I will continue to watch, learn and be inspired by you and your new adventures .
Have you done 40 Hour Teacher Work Week? You have to pay, but it is the BEST investment! Teach middle school science and was routinely working 12 hour days (at school). Now, I leave at the end of contract hrs, I RARELY work weekends or at home. It is the best thing I have done for my professional self, and I highly recommend it!
Thank you for this suggestion. I'm definitely interested and looking into this program for school year. Efficiency is key. This was my first year teaching and I just want use my time more wisely next year.
What does the program even entail? I've heard of it but I don't know if I can justify paying for tips on how to work only 40 hours. I don't get what the program offers I guess
@@asarelahlynn every week they give out tips/ actions. There are a LOT of freebies from TPT and premade things that you can use. Honestly for me the upfront cost paid for the time I saved and the freebies.
I like how you have a set schedule. I have two little ones at home and I try to wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning. I am doing work sporadically throughout the day and in 3 more weeks our school year will come to an end. I can't wait to spend some time with my kids this summer and family this summer. I know my kids in my classroom are looking forward to it too. I think in some ways we all need to step back a bit and relax (it will be okay!) Have a great week, Michelle!
My goal is to stick to contract hours with in 15 minutes. (I graduate in October) while it might take me a few weeks to get prepped for this. My family needs me, and I can’t sacrifice my health to work 10-12 hour days
When I was a teacher assistant in a special education class, the teacher said if you spread my paycheck across all the hours I work, it would come out to be about ten dollars an hour.
People who aren't teachers don't realize how much work online learning is, and how hard it is to maintain a work life balance at this time. When you work from home, work and home blends together. Thank you, for doing this video. It highlights how much work us teachers are doing. It is also a good reminder for us to prioritize our lives a little better! Awesome job Michelle!
I really like your June challenge. I was speaking with a team of teachers, and administrators the other day about the importance of, and ways to, support teacher morale. This is a great idea!
This video is just what I needed to get me through the last few weeks of distance learning. I LOVE your channel! I discovered it at the beginning of distance learning and have been watching your videos from the beginning every day ever since! I have been teaching middle school French for 22 years and I have to say that I have learned SO MUCH from your channel. I am also an introvert obsessed with organization, so I really feel like I connect with you. Keep doing what you are doing. You are an inspiration to all teachers! I love your idea for your June challenge! I can't wait to see how it turns out!
I loved this video, as a teacher I decided that some years ago and I really know it works. At the beginning it’s hard and sometimes we have to cheat on ourselves especially with online teaching but it can be done. Congrats!
This is the 4th school year I have followed you all the way from Israel :) (Im a high school English teacher and homeroom teacher). I love the challenge vlogs and how you reflect on the process you went through.
“Your work fills your time” is something my AP Calc teacher always said. She would tell us “you have this period and this period only for this test because if I tell you you can have extra time, you would be sitting in this room all day.” And it worked. (Obviously, she wouldn’t have done that in the case of IEP students.)
Me- ninth grader with adhd whose sixth grade math teacher NEVER let have ext. time AP calc te@cher -says that Internal me- excuse me I have rights External me-says nothing bc of my anxiety even though the math curriculum we used was meant for tests to take different amounts of time for different people because it was mastery. It’s mastery in the sense that until you pass that skill, it will keep coming up on worksheets and tests, but each skill always is 6 questions. So if I have 3 unmastered skills, I have 18 questions just from pas chapters, not including the 18 other questions from the skill I learned that week. And so fifth grade me would have a 36 question test, while my classmates have a 18 question test and don’t have adhd.
Michelle, you are so wise to learn now about the need to have other passions besides teaching! I have been teaching for 30+ yrs and its something that Ive only forced myself to do in the last 10 years or so. It’s so hard to get sucked into doing school work when it’s in your home. I made a schedule for contract hours as well at the beginning of remote learning but have struggled with sticking with it. Part of the reason was thinking - what else do I have to do? I might as well do something for school because there’s always something to do! It’s a struggle and I don’t know how you do it with your channel or how teacher with young kids at home are handling this!
I completely agree with you, finding that balance is a must! I also under took a challenge which was a continuation of a previous challenge. I had previously challenged myself to be thankful for one thing every week for an entire year and when lockdown kicked in I challenged myself, best friend and Mum to find something we could be thankful for every day. Up to 77 of 83 and still counting! Looking forward to the next video, thank you!
I’m just so glad I came across your videos at the beginning of quarantine.. I’ve learned so much and I feel like you are a colleague I would want to work with!!!
I totally totally love you! I think it’s important to take time off and not center your life around your work as a teacher... so I’m pretty much down with your challenges. I recently started taking out time for myself even when I still have lots to do and I’ve found that it’s helped me discover more about myself.. so I’m just going to keep doing that!
I totally agree with you. Online teaching entails more work than actual teaching. I am teaching Math in high school and most of the time I am stucked in my seat doing online work and my butt hurts. I am glad we are done. Our last day of school was last friday. And in a week summer school is coming.
Hi, Michelle! You´ll never know how greatful I am to you for sharing your videos, ideas and enthusiasm with all of us! I am watching & enjoying all your videos them! You are a source of inspiration specially during this long lockdown we are going through!! It seems we won´t be going back to school so online classes will go on. Thanks a lot from Buenos Aires!
Hi Delores, I would love to get your advice on my new channel Mrs. Boyt Live on TH-cam. I want to know if my videos are being received well or if I am veering in the wrong direction.
definitely try this challenge when we return to the classroom. I find that working just contract hours is so much easier at home without interruptions from students. In school, I can never get correcting done.
While watching this video before going to bed, I realised that I spent entire Sunday either preparing for online teaching or thinking about it . So ur challenge of May would be now my challenge for June . Thank you 😊
Good for you! This sounds like a challenge that has been so good for you and even Billy will benefit from. I love your willingness to experiment, learn, and change, as well. You are an inspiration.
I’m excited to see that you had great results with this. I’ve been teaching 4 years now. After trying a couple of times on taking homework home on nights and weekends my first year. I decided it wasn’t for me! I don’t take school work home in evenings or weekends. Yes I stay later than some teachers. But I love the freedom feeling when I get home.
I am so glad you were able to do this. I have family that work in special education in the US. There is physically no way they could complete their work in contract hours. They often do not get planning time. The students are with them for almost the entire school day, often including lunch times. And no in school time is given to put together alternative assessments portfolios which are a huge undertaking and almost always done in the teachers’ own time. This is a widespread problem through most sped programs.
Good for you!!!! I'm so happy about the balance you have found! I noticed your videos are shorter and education focused. I still love hearing about your personal life too, but I respect the changes! Thank you again.
I learned years ago that you have to leave it at school. Our situations are a bit different as I am a single mom of two so once my contract hours are done I am done. I think that work/life balance is especially important for teachers because so many people put the expectation on us to be the last one leaving. I need time to be mom and girlfriend and just me. I hope every teacher out there will embrace this challenge. ❤️
Hi Michelle I am not a teacher but this video just re-enforced what my husband keep telling me. I love my job and always try to be ahead on my to do list. And this has jeopardised my health. I will be trying to stop working outside my work hours from now on.
Thank you for your videos. I am actually using them as part of the Profession Development minutes for certain ones, especially technology related. As a teacher assistant and with remote learning there has not been a lot for us to do so we do 180 minutes a day of PD. You are a good portion of that. THank you
When I saw the title of this video my first thought was "how did THAT go?!" I'm currently teaching from home and I've never worked more hours outside of what I'm contracted to do. We are filming videos to upload for the children to watch for their input then marking etc gets done whenever I have time. Plus emailing parents all the time to keep them updated and answering any concerns etc. I suppose forcing yourself to work only your contracted hours concentrates your attention on your work and you get distracted less. I might give this a go over the next month.
I loved this challenge! I am a second year first grade teacher. I noticed even from last year to this year I was able to reduce the amount of time I have worked past contract hours. I notice the veteran teachers in my building have it down to a science of only working contract hours so I hope I am able to keep prepping and becoming more efficient as I go. I am looking forward to seeing what other challenges you complete and ways to interact with you! You have helped me so much in my first two years of teaching!
Love that you did this challenge especially in the middle of distance learning (couldn’t be easy as my friends are struggling). You didn’t come close to breaking the rule to help out your student who finally got a device (student needs over anything else). I love what you are doing for June with the teacher shoutout!! I’m working on a idea that will help teachers in the fall. I’m hopefully going to announce it in the next couple of weeks. I’ve got an idea for you for the teacher monthly challenge!! Something I’m trying as well (a true challenge given the circumstances is a fitness challenge). Remember fitness is not only physical but mental as well. Rules are for the physical challenge at least 60 minutes of physical activity (lifting, cardio, etc.) and for the mental challenge aka stress reliever are 45 minutes of doing something lite on the brain (sudoku, jigsaw puzzle, or now my personal favorite paint by sticker (exactly how it sounds). One rule for the mental challenge is that you cannot be on a device(can’t use a puzzle app).
Thank you again for all you do! I enjoy your videos and the little nuggets I get out of it. I would like to know how or if you do planning in the summer.
Wow reminds me How the Good Lord is teaching me similar! And providing the Grace for to Porter ! Thank you Teacher! I'm beginning my Spanish and English classes by the Grace of God and these lessons are what Blessings look like. God bless you loved the information in every video about teaching
It is so true about work filling your time! Have you ever noticed if company is coming ( before social distancing!) later in the day, it takes all day to clean the house... but if they call and say,”Hey! We caught an early flight, we’ll be there in an hour!” You get that house cleaned in an hour!😂 I wish I would remember that in regards to work!! I was always the last to leave work, not because I was so dedicated, but because I was so disorganized 😢 Thank you for this.
Wowww! Well Done I'm a child I think teachers work too hard on the weekend u guys deserve a break! (I also want o to be a teacher! I've wanted to since I was in EYFS
Another Michelle teaching in Maryland. I'll start teaching secondary this upcoming year. We teach very different grades but you still give me ideas for things I can transfer to middle or highschool
A senior teacher at my first school told me one day how proud she was and what a good new teacher she thought I was because I always prioritized my time to work so I had as little as possible to do at home. At the time it was necessity because I had a baby and a preschooler at home and my husband lived in another town for work. I think learning those skills early on in my career helped a lot, and so did switching positions to teach music, since I do not have grading to do. Music is a lot harder to teach during class, and I do work extra when we have special programs, but I am able to spread the load and not take too much time from my family at home. I was hoping to plan a lot over the summer, but since we have no idea what is going on in the fall I think it would be a waste of time. Good luck with teaching in this crazy time everyone!
LOVE YOUR CHALLENGES! I’m super excited for this month & always so appreciative! I just got your book & I can’t wait to dive into this weekend- woohoo! Do you plan to do more videos about this aspect of your ‘teaching life’? You have inspired me to think out of the box! Again, THANK YOU❤️
As a junior in high school, I did some different challenges over online school. “Can I get all my work done for the week in under two hours?” and “Is it possible to write an 8 page research paper in one week?” The answer to both of those is absolutely yes. And trust me, I did them well. I am far too academically competitive to let work slip. I learned that school (which I absolutely love) for me is more a mental break than mental stimulation 😂
During the school year I would stay at the school until 7pm, work all day sunday at home. Grade and make stuff after i leave school at home. I don’t know to this day how to only work during school hours. I don’t get how the other teachers do it. Next year will be my third year!
This is something I very much struggle with, I work so hard to make assignments look aesthetic and functional, that I find it very hard not spending 12+ hours a day working on them (even when using templates). I need to figure out how to be more efficient. Thanks for the video!
I love the month of June's challenge...I hope that paraprofessionals/teacher assistants are also in the support as well. Because we would love to get shoutouts and giveaways, etc.
I think when I'm a first year teacher I'll definitely work out of contract hours because it's my first year and trying to get the hang of things, but eventually I do want to work just contract hours, be more productive and not waste time that way I can relax at home and do other things! Thank you for this!!!!!!
Hi! I just wrapped up my first year of teaching and phew I sure spent a lot more than my contracted hours working on school stuff! It really helped to have something fun to look forward to like hanging with my bf or a delicious meal so that I get my work done and can go home! But it was such a fun year, I learned sooo much!
I would highly suggest you set yourself up with some personal boundaries. One thing that I did wrong my first years of teaching was working too much and not setting a limit for myself. Timers are your friend!
In my district, we are paid through three pots of money. The first is our main contract of 7 hours per day for the 180 days. The next is our optional hours. These are district directed or building directed professional development days for a total of 35 hours this year. It does fluctuate from CBA to CBA. Then we have what is called TRI pay, which stands for Time, Responsibility, and Incentive. This contract is worth 3% of our base salary main contract, and is meant to cover that extra time you end up spending beyond the school day or when you spend some of your lunch at the copy machine. When teachers show up exactly 30 minutes before the bell rings and leave exactly 30 minutes after it rings at the end of the day, I can't help but wonder if they are actually earning 3% TRI pay. 3% of the 1260 hours we are paid for is 37.8 hours. spread that out over the school year and that's about an hour per week above the contract. Do other districts have this? My first year of teaching was in one district and I was so happy to have a job that I didn't pay attention to anything that was going on, and the rest of my career has been in the district I described above.
I was really curious about this challenge and your positive response toward it makes me want to do it once we go "back" to work this June. 😊 As a teacher, it's very rare that I never get to work after school hours or during the weekend. But given your realizations, I'll try it out from June 8 to July 8. Classes will resume here in the Philippines in August, so I still have time to get used to working only during contract hours before we start online teaching. 😊 Thank you always for being an inspiration!
You are such a diligent teacher!! but doing the job well you need to dedicate lots of time to accomplish everything. Yeah, I have worked more hours remotely than usually in person teaching Teaching job never ends.Love you ideas! and waiting for the June- thoughts) Take care!
I think this is so important for all of us as teachers, especially now with the lines between school and home so blurry. I had to do much the same thing back in July, if only for my mental health, because I was spending literally 12 to 14 hours a day on school stuff and I still wasn't getting everything done. Since our school has gone with asynchronous learning, I've been more flexible with my hours; I don't necessarily work from a set time to a set time, but rather mark off sixteen half-hour blocks in my planner each day and color them in as I spend that time working on school stuff. It has definitely saved my sanity, and it's so true what you say....I get MORE done in LESS time when I set myself limits, and still have time for myself and my house and family! And yes, I don't get everything done that I would like to....but then, I wasn't getting everything done before. :)
Yes. Prioritize your life and your family if you're in teaching for the long haul. We won't make it if we burn ourselves out working constantly. When we take breaks, we can be so much better at our jobs.
Do you deal with any guilt? I feel guilty when I don’t have time to completely get a fun engaging activity ready for my students and have to forgo it. Also with upper admin breathing down our backs, I get “their priority stuff” done first and then I’m burned out for grading, lessons and small group intervention activities.
Working after your end of contract hours to help a student in need with technology is perfectly acceptable, and even preferred. You didn't fail your challenge and that student (and parents) were grateful for your help. Don't be so hard on yourself.
When I first started teaching until about 4 years ago, I worked outside my contract hours. I got really sick in 2016 and realised it isn't worth it. Since I've started working only 8-4, I've really noticed such a difference in my health.
I think the factor of pacing really helps this process too! I don't think teachers get enough chances to do it and see how it plays out. I'm starting my first teaching year soon and I want to be able to balance this work-life so BAD. maybe anxiety about balance isn't helping either🤪 I really hope you follow up on this challenge the next time you get a whole month in the classroom!
I can relate to your story about finishing a semester's worth of work in one day. I finished a month+ worth of health worksheets in 8th grade really quickly and then read in class after that.
I do find that I am more productive when I have a set time. Not working in school stuff over the weekend has made me a lot happier. (Though I still work on my blog, but that's bookish, not teacher.) Distance learning is exhausting. A fifteen minute lesson takes forever. You have to script it (at least I do so I don't ramble.), film it, edit, and upload. I did find that way did work better for my students. Zoom was great for questions, but not all of my students could be on, couldn't get on, or/and we would end up getting kicked off-I'm in a very rural distract with very limited internet access. Uploading a prerecorded lesson allowed my students to watch the lesson whenever they needed to and as many times as they needed it.
hi Michelle! i really am looking forward to your june challenge. i am intersted in some exchange with other teachers like you, because it motivates me a lot..big hugs from 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
I wish I could have done something like this. The closest I came was that I was adamant that I did not bring work home with me. Work was at work and home was at home the two didn't mix. Now I was at school until the janitors kicked me out of the building every night, but it didn't come home with me. I will say though that I was at a school where planning time was actually structured meetings four out of the five days a week, so I actually only had one hour a week that was my own time to work in. Next year I will be at a school where I get at least 5 hours of my own personal work time during contract hours, so I will try to do something like this as well.
@@justinmiklich230 it would have been in Alabama which is where I went to college and did my student teaching. However, at a failing title one school in Georgia, apparently not so much. And we also always had visitors to our meeting to observe and take notes etc. There was somebody that did not work in our school in our meetings at least once a week. The governor's office of student affairs (GOSA) the county, an organization called RESA (I can't remember what that stands for) on top of just admin. we had sign-in sheets at every meeting to prove over there, as well as a formal meeting minutes template that we had to take minutes in and submit every week. And there were different meeting minutes formats depending on what meeting you were having. So we had three different forms, one that was for RTI/MTSS, one day we "collaboratively planned" ELA, one for collaboratively planning math, and the other one was data teams. It was a lot.
@@Lauraellis101583 Wow! I feel sorry for you and the staff in that district. It's totally different in our district in Colorado. We have contracted time for a certain amount of planning time per week (I believe it's 160 minutes) that is just for the teachers. If we choose to plan together, that's our choice, but is not mandatory. We do have a meeting with our principal during our plan time, but it's just once a month.
kind of a random thought from a psychology student; rather than say for instance "i forced myself to stop working" you could say "i pushed (or urged) myself to stop working after 4 pm". the word forced has an unwilling tone, and using a more guiding positive tone like words like pushed or urged can help the mind put the goal of stopping work at 4 pm in a more positive light 🥰
Hi Michelle! I enjoy watching all of your videos. This isn’t necessarily a #teachermonthlychallenge suggestion, BUT I know you taught 4th grade reading this school year. I would love for you to do a video or blog post or something to discuss how you taught reading. Your math lessons and instruction was always so engaging and interesting, which makes me want to see how you infused that same type of enthusiasm/engagement into your reading instruction. PS...I’m a 3rd year reading teacher, so I’m always looking for ideas and ways to improve. Thanks!
Hey Michelle! I love your videos! As a monthly challenge next year how about connecting with one or two students a day? I would love to hear your ideas on how to connect with them and their parents to make them feel special. 🤷🏻♀️
That is so thoughtful of you to do appreciation when you are a teacher yourself! Would it be possible to choose a couple newer teacher tubers! (Shameless plug!) I have been watching you since my first year of teaching and I’m now on year 4!!!! Huge fan and have learned so much from you!
If you know any first year teachers, could you do a q&a type video with new teachers? I just graduated two weeks ago with a music education degree and I've learned a lot from your videos and other resources as well!
I think this works if you have your lessons already planned from previous years, or if you have a curriculum that breaks subjects down into lessons- as a Middle and High school English teacher in Ireland, we have no such luck, and I have spent so much time outside of contract hours just trying to keep my head above water....
I am currently going for my Elementary Education degree. Could you please do a video on student teaching?? All your tips and how to create the perfect student teaching binder! Thanks!! I love all your videos and have so many saved in a teaching playlist on youtube for when I have my own classroom one day!💖
I tried last year to be that teacher that stayed later, got there early, read all the PD, got up at 5am to try to be everything. Here in Australia, you are hired on a yearly basis. You have to re-interview. I didn't get my job again. I practically killed myself working as hard as possible and it never meant anything to admin. This year I'm at a new school and I've been working contract hours. I've found it is helping my energy levels. I'm not utterly exhausted and sick like last year. I feel better and can actually be a better teacher because I'm not shattered all the time! Just the odd migraine every month instead of every week.
So true! If you don’t over work yourself you can give more of your best to the kids!
What a horrible system having to interview each year! When do you see this in industry? Teachers in Australia need to unionize.
@@mayapastrana4444 there is a union. It's because of the union I think they did that. There were no jobs at all so they made it a treadmill. 😶
After 25 years of teaching, I may say I only work the number of hours teachers are supposed to work for some years now; we don't have a fixed time to work, we have a number of hours (20 hours of classes, 2 hours for class management, 2 hours for mentoring, 8 hours for autonomous work a week). After a near meltdown 10 years ago, I stoped working for free; nobody values my work more for it, nobody is going to make a statue of me and put it on the school entrance because I work lots of hours.
As a high school student, I always make an effort to do this lol. It's amazing how much less homework you have if you're willing to work really hard during school.
Can you please tell all of my students that?! LOL
Greetings from California ! You speak the truth that SO MANY of US in the trenches NEED to HEAR ! Keep up the great job . You seem like an AMAZING Teacher AND an AMAZING HUMAN ! Love and Blessings to you and yours . I will continue to watch, learn and be inspired by you and your new adventures .
Have you done 40 Hour Teacher Work Week? You have to pay, but it is the BEST investment! Teach middle school science and was routinely working 12 hour days (at school). Now, I leave at the end of contract hrs, I RARELY work weekends or at home. It is the best thing I have done for my professional self, and I highly recommend it!
You found a great balance and that is key to longevity in the profession!
Thank you for this suggestion. I'm definitely interested and looking into this program for school year. Efficiency is key. This was my first year teaching and I just want use my time more wisely next year.
@@dazzlingcelery Sign up starts over the summer so you can get an early start. It does get better the longer you teach! Best of luck!!
What does the program even entail? I've heard of it but I don't know if I can justify paying for tips on how to work only 40 hours. I don't get what the program offers I guess
@@asarelahlynn every week they give out tips/ actions. There are a LOT of freebies from TPT and premade things that you can use. Honestly for me the upfront cost paid for the time I saved and the freebies.
I like how you have a set schedule. I have two little ones at home and I try to wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning. I am doing work sporadically throughout the day and in 3 more weeks our school year will come to an end. I can't wait to spend some time with my kids this summer and family this summer. I know my kids in my classroom are looking forward to it too. I think in some ways we all need to step back a bit and relax (it will be okay!) Have a great week, Michelle!
So many challenges with little ones at home. I feel you 100%
It was the key to being able to teach long-term. With 40% attrition rate in teaching in the first 5-years, a life/work balance is a must!
“Work to live, not live to work” comes to mind. I a “productive procrastinator” too. I think I’m going to try and give this ago too 🙂
Yes! So important!
Yassss!
Absolutely impossible if you were in the classroom!
I’ve missed so many of your videos but I’m going to binge watch them
same
Wouldn’t it be great if all teachers actually stuck to their contracted hours.
I actually worked harder during Covid-19, trying to master the art of online teaching.
Here in Argentina we are only and only paid hours in classroom with students. 😭
@@gauchita That's all we are paid for as well, but many times teachers work outside that time
@Eden Wild That's the same here as well
My goal is to stick to contract hours with in 15 minutes. (I graduate in October) while it might take me a few weeks to get prepped for this. My family needs me, and I can’t sacrifice my health to work 10-12 hour days
When I was a teacher assistant in a special education class, the teacher said if you spread my paycheck across all the hours I work, it would come out to be about ten dollars an hour.
People who aren't teachers don't realize how much work online learning is, and how hard it is to maintain a work life balance at this time. When you work from home, work and home blends together. Thank you, for doing this video. It highlights how much work us teachers are doing. It is also a good reminder for us to prioritize our lives a little better! Awesome job Michelle!
I really like your June challenge. I was speaking with a
team of teachers, and administrators the other day about the importance of, and
ways to, support teacher morale. This is a great idea!
Me too! I’m a newbie watching your videos but I’ve been teaching first grade 25 years. I am thoroughly enjoying them all.
This video is just what I needed to get me through the last few weeks of distance learning. I LOVE your channel! I discovered it at the beginning of distance learning and have been watching your videos from the beginning every day ever since! I have been teaching middle school French for 22 years and I have to say that I have learned SO MUCH from your channel. I am also an introvert obsessed with organization, so I really feel like I connect with you. Keep doing what you are doing. You are an inspiration to all teachers! I love your idea for your June challenge! I can't wait to see how it turns out!
Online teaching is so much more work than teaching in the classroom! Thank you for acknowledging that.
I loved this video, as a teacher I decided that some years ago and I really know it works. At the beginning it’s hard and sometimes we have to cheat on ourselves especially with online teaching but it can be done. Congrats!
This is the 4th school year I have followed you all the way from Israel :) (Im a high school English teacher and homeroom teacher). I love the challenge vlogs and how you reflect on the process you went through.
“Your work fills your time” is something my AP Calc teacher always said. She would tell us “you have this period and this period only for this test because if I tell you you can have extra time, you would be sitting in this room all day.” And it worked. (Obviously, she wouldn’t have done that in the case of IEP students.)
Well said!
Me- ninth grader with adhd whose sixth grade math teacher NEVER let have ext. time
AP calc te@cher -says that
Internal me- excuse me I have rights
External me-says nothing bc of my anxiety
even though the math curriculum we used was meant for tests to take different amounts of time for different people because it was mastery. It’s mastery in the sense that until you pass that skill, it will keep coming up on worksheets and tests, but each skill always is 6 questions. So if I have 3 unmastered skills, I have 18 questions just from pas chapters, not including the 18 other questions from the skill I learned that week. And so fifth grade me would have a 36 question test, while my classmates have a 18 question test and don’t have adhd.
Michelle, you are so wise to learn now about the need to have other passions besides teaching! I have been teaching for 30+ yrs and its something that Ive only forced myself to do in the last 10 years or so. It’s so hard to get sucked into doing school work when it’s in your home. I made a schedule for contract hours as well at the beginning of remote learning but have struggled with sticking with it. Part of the reason was thinking - what else do I have to do? I might as well do something for school because there’s always something to do! It’s a struggle and I don’t know how you do it with your channel or how teacher with young kids at home are handling this!
I completely agree with you, finding that balance is a must! I also under took a challenge which was a continuation of a previous challenge. I had previously challenged myself to be thankful for one thing every week for an entire year and when lockdown kicked in I challenged myself, best friend and Mum to find something we could be thankful for every day. Up to 77 of 83 and still counting! Looking forward to the next video, thank you!
I’m just so glad I came across your videos at the beginning of quarantine.. I’ve learned so much and I feel like you are a colleague I would want to work with!!!
I totally totally love you! I think it’s important to take time off and not center your life around your work as a teacher... so I’m pretty much down with your challenges. I recently started taking out time for myself even when I still have lots to do and I’ve found that it’s helped me discover more about myself.. so I’m just going to keep doing that!
I totally agree with you. Online teaching entails more work than actual teaching. I am teaching Math in high school and most of the time I am stucked in my seat doing online work and my butt hurts. I am glad we are done. Our last day of school was last friday. And in a week summer school is coming.
Hi, Michelle! You´ll never know how greatful I am to you for sharing your videos, ideas and enthusiasm with all of us! I am watching & enjoying all your videos them! You are a source of inspiration specially during this long lockdown we are going through!! It seems we won´t be going back to school so online classes will go on. Thanks a lot from Buenos Aires!
Hi Delores, I would love to get your advice on my new channel Mrs. Boyt Live on TH-cam. I want to know if my videos are being received well or if I am veering in the wrong direction.
You have helped my anxiety with online teaching. I have learned so much from your videos. I love your content. Thank you so much!! Stay healthy!
definitely try this challenge when we return to the classroom. I find that working just contract hours is so much easier at home without interruptions from students. In school, I can never get correcting done.
While watching this video before going to bed, I realised that I spent entire Sunday either preparing for online teaching or thinking about it .
So ur challenge of May would be now my challenge for June .
Thank you 😊
Funny! I hope June is a summer break for you.
Good for you! This sounds like a challenge that has been so good for you and even Billy will benefit from. I love your willingness to experiment, learn, and change, as well. You are an inspiration.
I’m excited to see that you had great results with this. I’ve been teaching 4 years now. After trying a couple of times on taking homework home on nights and weekends my first year. I decided it wasn’t for me! I don’t take school work home in evenings or weekends. Yes I stay later than some teachers. But I love the freedom feeling when I get home.
It brings me so much joy to hear that you are finding the bliss of work life balance ❤️
I am so glad you were able to do this. I have family that work in special education in the US. There is physically no way they could complete their work in contract hours. They often do not get planning time. The students are with them for almost the entire school day, often including lunch times. And no in school time is given to put together alternative assessments portfolios which are a huge undertaking and almost always done in the teachers’ own time. This is a widespread problem through most sped programs.
Good for you!!!! I'm so happy about the balance you have found! I noticed your videos are shorter and education focused. I still love hearing about your personal life too, but I respect the changes! Thank you again.
You sound super intuitive. Could you give me some feedback about my TH-cam channel titled: Mrs. Boyt Live. I am new to the platform.
I learned years ago that you have to leave it at school. Our situations are a bit different as I am a single mom of two so once my contract hours are done I am done. I think that work/life balance is especially important for teachers because so many people put the expectation on us to be the last one leaving. I need time to be mom and girlfriend and just me. I hope every teacher out there will embrace this challenge. ❤️
Hi Michelle I am not a teacher but this video just re-enforced what my husband keep telling me. I love my job and always try to be ahead on my to do list. And this has jeopardised my health. I will be trying to stop working outside my work hours from now on.
Thank you for your videos. I am actually using them as part of the Profession Development minutes for certain ones, especially technology related. As a teacher assistant and with remote learning there has not been a lot for us to do so we do 180 minutes a day of PD. You are a good portion of that. THank you
When I saw the title of this video my first thought was "how did THAT go?!"
I'm currently teaching from home and I've never worked more hours outside of what I'm contracted to do. We are filming videos to upload for the children to watch for their input then marking etc gets done whenever I have time. Plus emailing parents all the time to keep them updated and answering any concerns etc. I suppose forcing yourself to work only your contracted hours concentrates your attention on your work and you get distracted less. I might give this a go over the next month.
The struggle is real!
This was totally impossible.
That was why I quit full time teaching. The paperwork and lack of pay was insane.
I just thought the same thing. My husband would tell me, why are you working so much???
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I loved this challenge! I am a second year first grade teacher. I noticed even from last year to this year I was able to reduce the amount of time I have worked past contract hours. I notice the veteran teachers in my building have it down to a science of only working contract hours so I hope I am able to keep prepping and becoming more efficient as I go. I am looking forward to seeing what other challenges you complete and ways to interact with you! You have helped me so much in my first two years of teaching!
I think self-preservation calls for striking a great work-life balance.
I always enjoy watching your motivating videos.... Thanks
Love that you did this challenge especially in the middle of distance learning (couldn’t be easy as my friends are struggling). You didn’t come close to breaking the rule to help out your student who finally got a device (student needs over anything else). I love what you are doing for June with the teacher shoutout!! I’m working on a idea that will help teachers in the fall. I’m hopefully going to announce it in the next couple of weeks. I’ve got an idea for you for the teacher monthly challenge!! Something I’m trying as well (a true challenge given the circumstances is a fitness challenge). Remember fitness is not only physical but mental as well. Rules are for the physical challenge at least 60 minutes of physical activity (lifting, cardio, etc.) and for the mental challenge aka stress reliever are 45 minutes of doing something lite on the brain (sudoku, jigsaw puzzle, or now my personal favorite paint by sticker (exactly how it sounds). One rule for the mental challenge is that you cannot be on a device(can’t use a puzzle app).
I love your chanle and I think it helps me so much and I hope you never stop doing what your doing .
Yes. Had a new schedule this year because of my children. But working contract hours this year and using time wisely helped.
Thank you again for all you do! I enjoy your videos and the little nuggets I get out of it. I would like to know how or if you do planning in the summer.
Wow reminds me How the Good Lord is teaching me similar! And providing the Grace for to Porter ! Thank you Teacher! I'm beginning my Spanish and English classes by the Grace of God and these lessons are what Blessings look like. God bless you loved the information in every video about teaching
This was very interesting. I am a retired teacher. It’s good to see your enthusiasm for your job and your positivity!
It is so true about work filling your time! Have you ever noticed if company is coming ( before social distancing!) later in the day, it takes all day to clean the house... but if they call and say,”Hey! We caught an early flight, we’ll be there in an hour!” You get that house cleaned in an hour!😂
I wish I would remember that in regards to work!! I was always the last to leave work, not because I was so dedicated, but because I was so disorganized 😢
Thank you for this.
Wowww! Well Done I'm a child I think teachers work too hard on the weekend u guys deserve a break! (I also want o to be a teacher! I've wanted to since I was in EYFS
I have been teaching for 27 years and I wish someone would have told me this long ago. Bravo!
Ms. Ferre is an awesome teacher who cares
i love your videos, I myself am a student and im so inspired by you🥰
Another Michelle teaching in Maryland. I'll start teaching secondary this upcoming year. We teach very different grades but you still give me ideas for things I can transfer to middle or highschool
I absolutely LOVE your channel! You are such an inspiration!!!
You are my #1 teacher, the one I follow to learn more about teaching and self care, thank you 🙏🏼❤️
Hi Nora! Could you give me some feedback about my educational channel titled Mrs. Boyt Live? I am new on TH-cam and would love some criticism.
A senior teacher at my first school told me one day how proud she was and what a good new teacher she thought I was because I always prioritized my time to work so I had as little as possible to do at home. At the time it was necessity because I had a baby and a preschooler at home and my husband lived in another town for work. I think learning those skills early on in my career helped a lot, and so did switching positions to teach music, since I do not have grading to do. Music is a lot harder to teach during class, and I do work extra when we have special programs, but I am able to spread the load and not take too much time from my family at home. I was hoping to plan a lot over the summer, but since we have no idea what is going on in the fall I think it would be a waste of time. Good luck with teaching in this crazy time everyone!
LOVE YOUR CHALLENGES! I’m super excited for this month & always so appreciative! I just got your book & I can’t wait to dive into this weekend- woohoo! Do you plan to do more videos about this aspect of your ‘teaching life’? You have inspired me to think out of the box! Again, THANK YOU❤️
Your videos help me prepare for conducting online classes 💖 Thank you so much!
Thank you for doing this challenge! It is really hard to not work outside of contract hours!
I love your hair, your personality in your vids and your organizing skills. I am not a teacher but I am a parent.
As a junior in high school, I did some different challenges over online school. “Can I get all my work done for the week in under two hours?” and “Is it possible to write an 8 page research paper in one week?” The answer to both of those is absolutely yes. And trust me, I did them well. I am far too academically competitive to let work slip. I learned that school (which I absolutely love) for me is more a mental break than mental stimulation 😂
During the school year I would stay at the school until 7pm, work all day sunday at home. Grade and make stuff after i leave school at home. I don’t know to this day how to only work during school hours. I don’t get how the other teachers do it. Next year will be my third year!
This is something I very much struggle with, I work so hard to make assignments look aesthetic and functional, that I find it very hard not spending 12+ hours a day working on them (even when using templates). I need to figure out how to be more efficient. Thanks for the video!
You have such a positive energy!!! You students are so lucky to have you =)
I love the month of June's challenge...I hope that paraprofessionals/teacher assistants are also in the support as well. Because we would love to get shoutouts and giveaways, etc.
Lots of love from INDIA❤️
I think when I'm a first year teacher I'll definitely work out of contract hours because it's my first year and trying to get the hang of things, but eventually I do want to work just contract hours, be more productive and not waste time that way I can relax at home and do other things! Thank you for this!!!!!!
I think that is why the attrition rate is so high in the first-5 years. make sure you leave some time for family and relaxation.
Hi! I just wrapped up my first year of teaching and phew I sure spent a lot more than my contracted hours working on school stuff! It really helped to have something fun to look forward to like hanging with my bf or a delicious meal so that I get my work done and can go home! But it was such a fun year, I learned sooo much!
I would highly suggest you set yourself up with some personal boundaries. One thing that I did wrong my first years of teaching was working too much and not setting a limit for myself. Timers are your friend!
In my district, we are paid through three pots of money. The first is our main contract of 7 hours per day for the 180 days. The next is our optional hours. These are district directed or building directed professional development days for a total of 35 hours this year. It does fluctuate from CBA to CBA. Then we have what is called TRI pay, which stands for Time, Responsibility, and Incentive. This contract is worth 3% of our base salary main contract, and is meant to cover that extra time you end up spending beyond the school day or when you spend some of your lunch at the copy machine. When teachers show up exactly 30 minutes before the bell rings and leave exactly 30 minutes after it rings at the end of the day, I can't help but wonder if they are actually earning 3% TRI pay. 3% of the 1260 hours we are paid for is 37.8 hours. spread that out over the school year and that's about an hour per week above the contract. Do other districts have this? My first year of teaching was in one district and I was so happy to have a job that I didn't pay attention to anything that was going on, and the rest of my career has been in the district I described above.
I was really curious about this challenge and your positive response toward it makes me want to do it once we go "back" to work this June. 😊 As a teacher, it's very rare that I never get to work after school hours or during the weekend. But given your realizations, I'll try it out from June 8 to July 8. Classes will resume here in the Philippines in August, so I still have time to get used to working only during contract hours before we start online teaching. 😊 Thank you always for being an inspiration!
Love your videos, I am also sharing them with the rest of the staff in my school. Lot of great ideas. Thanks
You are such a diligent teacher!! but doing the job well you need to dedicate lots of time to accomplish everything. Yeah, I have worked more hours remotely than usually in person teaching Teaching job never ends.Love you ideas! and waiting for the June- thoughts) Take care!
I think this is so important for all of us as teachers, especially now with the lines between school and home so blurry. I had to do much the same thing back in July, if only for my mental health, because I was spending literally 12 to 14 hours a day on school stuff and I still wasn't getting everything done. Since our school has gone with asynchronous learning, I've been more flexible with my hours; I don't necessarily work from a set time to a set time, but rather mark off sixteen half-hour blocks in my planner each day and color them in as I spend that time working on school stuff. It has definitely saved my sanity, and it's so true what you say....I get MORE done in LESS time when I set myself limits, and still have time for myself and my house and family! And yes, I don't get everything done that I would like to....but then, I wasn't getting everything done before. :)
Yes. Prioritize your life and your family if you're in teaching for the long haul. We won't make it if we burn ourselves out working constantly. When we take breaks, we can be so much better at our jobs.
Hi Michelle I hope you are having a great day
Love your idea for your June challenge!
Do you deal with any guilt? I feel guilty when I don’t have time to completely get a fun engaging activity ready for my students and have to forgo it. Also with upper admin breathing down our backs, I get “their priority stuff” done first and then I’m burned out for grading, lessons and small group intervention activities.
Love this. Thank you.
Working after your end of contract hours to help a student in need with technology is perfectly acceptable, and even preferred. You didn't fail your challenge and that student (and parents) were grateful for your help. Don't be so hard on yourself.
It's funny how teachers are such perfectionists that we beat ourselves up for the tiniest things.
When I first started teaching until about 4 years ago, I worked outside my contract hours. I got really sick in 2016 and realised it isn't worth it. Since I've started working only 8-4, I've really noticed such a difference in my health.
That’s awesome...This is a hard challenge. I always work late and weekends 😐
I wish I had your work ethic! Jeesh girl send some of that this way!
You are such a blessing. I am studying on TH-cam to be Google Certified. Listening to Brett Petrillo❤
People dont realize the amount of hours outside of our contract hours we work. This was a good perspective for others to see.
Your hair is so pretty!
I think the factor of pacing really helps this process too! I don't think teachers get enough chances to do it and see how it plays out. I'm starting my first teaching year soon and I want to be able to balance this work-life so BAD. maybe anxiety about balance isn't helping either🤪
I really hope you follow up on this challenge the next time you get a whole month in the classroom!
I can relate to your story about finishing a semester's worth of work in one day. I finished a month+ worth of health worksheets in 8th grade really quickly and then read in class after that.
I do find that I am more productive when I have a set time. Not working in school stuff over the weekend has made me a lot happier. (Though I still work on my blog, but that's bookish, not teacher.) Distance learning is exhausting. A fifteen minute lesson takes forever. You have to script it (at least I do so I don't ramble.), film it, edit, and upload. I did find that way did work better for my students. Zoom was great for questions, but not all of my students could be on, couldn't get on, or/and we would end up getting kicked off-I'm in a very rural distract with very limited internet access. Uploading a prerecorded lesson allowed my students to watch the lesson whenever they needed to and as many times as they needed it.
It seems I am most productive with deadlines as well.
hi Michelle!
i really am looking forward to your june challenge. i am intersted in some exchange with other teachers like you, because it motivates me a lot..big hugs from 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
You always inspire me to be a better teacher, Michelle. Thanks for continuing to put up such fun and inspiring content through this time! :-)
OhMyGolly! June sounds AhMazIng! Thank you, Michelle, for being a positive influence for SO many teachers! Sending a million good wishes...
I can’t wait for your next challenge!!! 🤗🤗🤗
Great video!
I wish I could have done something like this. The closest I came was that I was adamant that I did not bring work home with me. Work was at work and home was at home the two didn't mix. Now I was at school until the janitors kicked me out of the building every night, but it didn't come home with me. I will say though that I was at a school where planning time was actually structured meetings four
out of the five days a week, so I actually only had one hour a week that was my own time to work in. Next year I will be at a school where I get at least 5 hours of my own personal work time during contract hours, so I will try to do something like this as well.
Most of your planning time was structured meetings? That sounds illegal to me.
@@justinmiklich230 it would have been in Alabama which is where I went to college and did my student teaching. However, at a failing title one school in Georgia, apparently not so much. And we also always had visitors to our meeting to observe and take notes etc. There was somebody that did not work in our school in our meetings at least once a week. The governor's office of student affairs (GOSA) the county, an organization called RESA (I can't remember what that stands for) on top of just admin. we had sign-in sheets at every meeting to prove over there, as well as a formal meeting minutes template that we had to take minutes in and submit every week. And there were different meeting minutes formats depending on what meeting you were having. So we had three different forms, one that was for RTI/MTSS, one day we "collaboratively planned" ELA, one for collaboratively planning math, and the other one was data teams. It was a lot.
@@Lauraellis101583 Wow! I feel sorry for you and the staff in that district. It's totally different in our district in Colorado. We have contracted time for a certain amount of planning time per week (I believe it's 160 minutes) that is just for the teachers. If we choose to plan together, that's our choice, but is not mandatory. We do have a meeting with our principal during our plan time, but it's just once a month.
kind of a random thought from a psychology student; rather than say for instance "i forced myself to stop working" you could say "i pushed (or urged) myself to stop working after 4 pm". the word forced has an unwilling tone, and using a more guiding positive tone like words like pushed or urged can help the mind put the goal of stopping work at 4 pm in a more positive light 🥰
Hi Michelle! I enjoy watching all of your videos. This isn’t necessarily a #teachermonthlychallenge suggestion, BUT I know you taught 4th grade reading this school year. I would love for you to do a video or blog post or something to discuss how you taught reading. Your math lessons and instruction was always so engaging and interesting, which makes me want to see how you infused that same type of enthusiasm/engagement into your reading instruction. PS...I’m a 3rd year reading teacher, so I’m always looking for ideas and ways to improve. Thanks!
Hey Michelle! I love your videos! As a monthly challenge next year how about connecting with one or two students a day? I would love to hear your ideas on how to connect with them and their parents to make them feel special. 🤷🏻♀️
That is so thoughtful of you to do appreciation when you are a teacher yourself! Would it be possible to choose a couple newer teacher tubers! (Shameless plug!) I have been watching you since my first year of teaching and I’m now on year 4!!!! Huge fan and have learned so much from you!
If you know any first year teachers, could you do a q&a type video with new teachers? I just graduated two weeks ago with a music education degree and I've learned a lot from your videos and other resources as well!
Do you think you could have done this if you weren’t online teaching and you were still in school?
Wow! Good for you!
I think this works if you have your lessons already planned from previous years, or if you have a curriculum that breaks subjects down into lessons- as a Middle and High school English teacher in Ireland, we have no such luck, and I have spent so much time outside of contract hours just trying to keep my head above water....
Your glasses are so cute!! Where are they from/what brand are they?? I loved this video!!
I am currently going for my Elementary Education degree. Could you please do a video on student teaching?? All your tips and how to create the perfect student teaching binder! Thanks!! I love all your videos and have so many saved in a teaching playlist on youtube for when I have my own classroom one day!💖