Why am I penalized for working during planning periods?
Administrators and colleagues often expect teachers to spend planning periods socializing or putting in face time in the department office rather than quietly grading. This creates a culture where teachers who choose to work are labeled as unreasonable, leaving them feeling punished for trying to get their actual job done.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Taking work home to grade in the eveningsDid this help you?
- 2Considering alternative paths to licensing to move to public schoolsDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I was told that that’s an unreasonable expectation and I should be using my planning periods to “talk shop“ with the rest of the department, and only use them to grade if I’m really overloaded with grading a major assignment, and otherwise I should be grading at home.”source ↗
“I have also been told to put in more face time in the department office even though I don't have a desk there and it's a place more for chitchat than working. Ugh! I'm sorry. It's not unheard of but I wouldn't call it normal or helpful?”source ↗
“Yeah our department is *very* social with each other. Which cool, everyone is nice, but like when I’m at work I want to work? And it feels weird to be punished for that?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 11Why are teachers losing planning periods and lunch breaks?
- 6Getting disciplined at work for missing billable hours targets
- 17How to survive year-round mandatory overtime in public accounting
- 5Is it normal to have no work to do at a new job?
- 5Why are admin meetings taking over teacher prep periods?
- 3Does keeping to yourself at work hurt your career?