Holidays & Half Days In CPS: They Just Keep Coming

Even though CPS has one of the shortest school days (and number of student days per year) among big cities, the holidays and half-days just keep coming in CPS.  After the long December holiday (two full weeks!) and the pre-holiday parties and interruptions that came long before that, already in the very new year we have MLK Day followed by...a half-day for school improvement planning.  That's today.  And we're not done yet.  The 26th is another one of those citywide PD days (as well as the end of the quarter.  February is even worse. 

Comments

OMG, time for teachers to do professional development! Time to meet together, learn new techniques? Quick, call Homeland Security. This is obviously the work of terrorists trying to undermine our American way of education, ie. more time on task.

And we hate freedom!!

[Alexander]

yes, freedom is bad. call Homeland Security. excellent ideas.

the question isn't really whether PD can be good, but rather IS it good. and given that the school day and length of year in CPS are so short, there's the tradeoff with instructional time to consider.

Make PD better. Take charge of it. Don't give it up for "more instructional time." Instructional time can also be bad. More bad instructional time is also part of the terrorist plot to destroy America.

Alexander,

Dont' hold back the superlatives. I believe CPS has the shortest amount of instruction time (whether measured by school day or school year) of any big urban school district in the country.

That fact should be enough to warrant "code orange", no?

Alexander,

Dont' hold back the superlatives. I believe CPS has the shortest amount of instruction time (whether measured by school day or school year) of any big urban school district in the country.

That fact should be enough to warrant "code orange", no?

I am going to suggest something really radical. We do not treat teachers as professionals because we are not willing to pay to separate out their function as babysitters from their function as teachers. What if we paid Park District people or child care workers or anybody with experience with children and youth to handle some every day things like recess and bus duty? What if that freed teachers' time and minds to think for a few minutes a day alone or with colleagues about their practice?

What if we paid for art, music and/or sports programs that could be held during weekly professional development so students were doing something constructive while teachers had concentrated time to work together? Most kids in CPS get little or no exposure to serious arts and music, and everyone is crying about childhood obesity. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

I've worked at two schools and so far, most professional development is a wash. Sure, I'd love to 'take charge', but you know that is up to the Principal and his/her ego.

Why not have professional development after school? Usually it can be boiled down to 2 hours, (that is, if the principals and speakers learn how to run something efficiently. Its scary to see a principal muck up a meeting by not getting to the point...think of what he/she does to the entire school day-by-day?)

I know, a lot of people will say, "we already work too many hours." Fine. Make them paid hours.

The fact CPS has the shortest school day and the shortest school year (our students are in school over 20% less each year than kids in New York!!!!) and NO ONE in CPS seems to cares?!?! Then, we complain about our salaries, when teachers in New York get paid only a coupld grand more than we do, yet their houses, on average cost MUCH more.

Second city teachers do one thing that is First: complain.

[CPS Teacher]

In my limited experience, I think or calendar is pretty standard for Illinois.

The first school I substituted at in the suburbs went 6 less days than Chicago and went from 8-2. They had a 40 minute lunch instead of a 20 minute lunch.

The first school I teached at had a 20 minute homeroom and a 40 minute study hall and went from 8-2:30. CPS is no frills education. I wouldn't mind a longer day if it was meaningful and paid. However, more time isn't necessarily time well spent.

[Ex-CPS Teacher]

If you broke down the salary of CPS teachers to an hourly wage, they'd probably be the highest paid teachers in any urban school district.

"More time isn't necessarily time well spent." Is this the argument against a longer day. Then make it time well spent, that's your job. Frankly, I don't care how under-appreciated or underpaid you feel you are, its your job. You knew what you were getting into when you signed up for this profession.

However, it will take a lot more than a longer day. But if a longer day included increased prep time for teachers, perhaps an actual recess for students, and increased learning opportunities outside the classroom (science labs, library time), I think it would be an amazing improvement for both students and teachers.

[CPS Teacher]

Ex-CPS Teacher I am not advocating a longer day or pushing for the current day, but my caveat is exactly the same as yours. Throwing time at a problem is the same as throwing money. Time helps, but if its wasted time, what's the point. The suggestions you make are excellent. I don't think adding 5 minutes to every class period would have much of an impact by comparison.

One place American teachers and especially urban teachers lag behind is in collaborative time. I would like to have the same time I had in the suburbs to plan creative lessons with my colleagues. In Chicago we get out earlier so I'm not complaining, but I'd willingly spend another 40 minutes of scheduled planning time.

To outsiders, perhaps it does seem like the CPS school day is shorter than others. However,the amount of instructional time is the same as other schools, at least where I live. In the suburban schools (where I also attended grade school) we went to school from 8:50-3:15, which is only 30 minutes longer than our school day. However, we had a 15 minute recess in the morning, a one-hour lunch period, and then another 15 minute recess in the afternoon. We had an enrichment class everyday (my students currently only have 3) The one-hour lunch allowed for teachers to collaborate, as well as commiserate and socialize, which helped with team-building and the overall tone of the school. The teachers worked as a team. This virtually eliminates the need for the monthly staff development days we have. I can only speak for my own school, but those half-days are a complete waste of time. I'd much rather have my students there, learning something, than sitting around BSing, or listening to people complain about things.

Alexander, I don't know where you work, but I teach in the Englewood community, and believe me, we need every one of those days off! I don't suppose you have any idea how stressful it is to work in this community. Our students are so needy, and we just give and give and give. We need those days without students to recharge a bit, so that we don't completely burn out and/or snap.

[Alexander]

i get the need for days off, but that's different from PD or SIP time, and i think the most appropriate comparison is not CPS to the suburbs but CPS to other cities. here' the link to a recent comparison:
http://district299.typepad.com/district299/2006/12/1001_hours_a_ye.html

I totally think the relevant comparison is CPS to the suburbs, because if the working conditions in the suburbs are better, teachers will leave Chicago and go work there. And they do.

I second the point made by CPS teacher about collaborative planning time. That is one of the essential working conditions that helps people stay motivated and improves their practice.

While some people may say we spend too much time on holidays and half days if you are in some of the worst performing schools you understand the need for these days even if there are no constructive or beneficial professional development acivities.

After all the paper work, lesson plans, walk-through preparations, observations, etc. many of us are struggling with high school students that read at the 2, 3, and 4 stanine but are expected to perform at a much higher level. There is not enough support for special ed students which at these schools comprise a larger than normal percentage of a class and usually do not have the support of a special ed teacher. We work our a____ off to reach as many of these students as we can but we also spend so much time dealing with other issues during instructional minutes.

I reflect on my practice and lately I have not been happy when I realize that I am more of a classroom disciplinarian and a personal motivation coach (which usually falls on deaf ears) than the teacher I used to be. I miss that. I am frustrated that I spend the first fifteen to twenty minutes opening the door over and over again for late students who then need to be given the instructions for the days lessons. I'm tired of having students threaten me, curse at me and tell me they don't care if they flunk and actually work really hard at not doing any work.

What is the answer? We haven't been able to figure it out but it isn't longer school days and fewer days off. Perhaps as Chicago and other cities continue to re-invent the wheel one day they will come up with a real solution.

Wake me when the change is not on the horizon but actually here.

[Account Deleted]

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