Would you like to teach in Spain?

One of the most interesting aspects of this exchange (at least professionally) is the comparison between the duties of teachers here in Spain compared with the duties I had back in the states.

In the spring prior to the creation of the "master schedule" for next school year, teachers at my school get a form to fill out, we've dubbed it the "wish list".  Basically it is a list, in order of priority, of some things that we want (or don't want) for our schedule next year.

For me, my wish list generally goes like this:

1.  A planning period in "my" room while it is empty (for purposes of setting up labs)

2.  To have all my classes meet in the same room all day

3.  Planning period at the same time as a teacher with whom I share a common prep (we teach the same class)  

4.  Planning period at the end or start of the day

5.  Planning period adjacent to lunch

6.  Same lunch as all other science teachers

* I would ask for no more than 2 different classes to prepare for but for me this isn't much of an issue.

Sometimes the schedule works out so we can get one of these things and sometimes it doesn't.  In general, I have been pleased with my schedule these past years.  My schedule usually goes something like this:

	Monday (50 min classes)	Tuesday (50 min classes)	Block-day (Wed/Thurs 90 min classes)	Friday (50 min classes)
1st period	Chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
2nd period	Planning	Planning	Planning	Planning
3rd period	AP/IB Chemistry	AP/IB Chemistry	AP/IB Chemistry	AP/IB Chemistry
4th period	AP/IB Chemistry	AP/IB Chemistry	AP/IB Chemistry	AP/IB Chemistry
5th period	AP/IB Chemistry	AP/IB Chemistry	AP/IB Chemistry	AP/IB Chemistry
Lunch 30min	Lunch 30min	Lunch 30min	Lunch 30min	Lunch 30min
6th period	Chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry	Chemistry
7th period	Planning	Planning	Planning	Planning
Tutorial period	Student drop in	Student drop in	Student drop in	Student drop in

I typically have just two different types of classes, either Chemistry or AP/IB Chemistry.  I usually have two sections of Chemistry and three sections of AP/IB Chemistry.  In a week, I generally have eight different lessons to prepare.  Most days, I meet with five different groups of students and I have two periods to plan my lessons, prep labs, correct student work, enter grades, meet with other teachers to plan lessons, meet with councilors and/or administrators etc.  It isn't enough time for all of these to get done, but that's a topic for another blog :-)  I'm also able to have block periods to do labs which often take more than 50 min and sometimes more than 90 min at the AP/IB level.  Some years I have to move to two different rooms, and some years I don't.  Not moving rooms means that I can spend time resetting everything for the next lesson so that I am ready to start class as soon as the bell rings.  I would say that my schedule is a pretty typical teacher schedule for most US schools, although I know that in smaller schools the number of different classes to prepare for can be much larger.  My brothers have worked in schools where one person is half or a third of the science department, in which case you would end up teaching many different subjects.  

Here is a pretty typical schedule of teachers in my building here in Spain for comparison.

	Lunes	Martes	Miercoles	Jueves	Viernes
8:30-9:25	Class 1	Supervision duty	Class 2	Class 3	Class 5
9:25:10:20	Class 9	Class 2	Class 1	Class 6	Supervision duty
10:20-11:15	Supervision duty	Class 4	Class 8		Class 6
11:15-11:40 (break)			Supervision duty	Supervision duty
11:40-12:30	Class 2	Class 5		Class 8	Class 2
12:30-13:20	Class 3		Class 3	Class 7
13:20-14:20 (lunch)		Supervision duty	Supervision duty	Supervision duty	Supervision duty
14:20-15:10	Supervision duty	Class 6	Class 5	Class 4	Class 3
15:10-16:00		Class 7		Class 1	Class 7

Here are the highlights if you are not interested in analyzing it.  This teacher has nine different groups of students she sees in a week, from as few times as once a week to as much as four times during the week.  Of these nine groups of students, only two groups are actually the same class (in this case, classes 4 & 8 and 6 & 7) .  This means that she has seven different subjects and in a given week she has 19 different lessons to prepare.

Another interesting aspect of this school is that students don't move, teachers do.  So after every class the teacher leaves and goes to the next room while the students wait for the next instructor to come in.  In the states, my school has 5 minute passing periods for kids to move from one class to the next but here the schedule doesn't account for transition from one place to another.

In comparison to what I have done in the States, this schedule seems challenging.  I consider myself fortunate in that at my home school, I have only two classes to focus on.  I can spend time thoughtfully preparing for those two different subjects; coming up with lessons, objectives, materials, assessments etc. in a way that I can't imagine doing if I had a schedule as demanding as this one.  I am thankful for the system I work in back in the States and amazed by the work that my fellow teachers here in Spain manage to get done week in and week out.

Regardless of which system you work in, there are some things that are universal for a teacher:  teaching is a challenging profession, there is always more to get done than there is time to complete it, we will toil away in a constant state of sleep deprivation, students will challenge us to bring our best lessons to the classroom every day, students will be the most difficult and most rewarding part of our day all at the same time, all of this seems a little more manageable when you love it!



Unrelated to this comparison is my own schedule for this year.  Because my duties are somewhat different from those of a typical teacher here at GSD, my schedule looks a bit more... well, strange.  As I have mentioned before, I am working on speaking Spanish so it is a bit difficult to put me in front of a class of students and hope for much learning to take place.  However, the students and I have one important thing in common, not a common language but rather a desire to speak a second one.  Therefore, my job puts me in many different classes during the week so that I can work with the students on their English speaking abilities and they are kind enough to help me on my Spanish at the same time.

	Monday (Lunes)	Tuesday (Martes)	Wednesday (Miercoles)	Thursday (Jueves)	Friday (Viernes)
8:30-9:25	ESO 4o:  Chemistry	ACC Chem lab 12:30-2:10	ESO 1o (A):  Project		ESO 4o:  Biology
9:25-10:20	ESO 3o (B):  Biology		ESO 2o (B): Nat Sci.	ESO  2o (C):  Project	ESO 3o (D):  Biology
10:20-11:15			ESO 3o (E): Biology	ESO  2o (B):  Project	ESO 1o (A):  Project
Break Supervision	Language practice			Language practice
11:40-12:30	ESO 1o (A):  Project	ESO 4o:  Biology	Forestry class	ESO 3o (C):  Biology	ESO 4o:  Chemistry
12:30-13:20 (1:20)	ESO 2o (A): Nat Sci.		ESO  2o (A):  Project	BACH 1o (CCSS):  CMC
COMEDOR			Line up area		Tables 13-16
14:20-15:10 (2:20-3:10)			ESO 4o:  Biology	ESO 3o (A):  Biology
15:10-16:00 (3:10-4:00)	ESO 2o (C): Nat Sci.	BACH 1o (CT):  CMC			ESO  1o (B):  Project
16:00-17:00 (4:00-5:00)			Dual Graduation pgrm

I see 23 different groups of students, usually just once a week but one class I have three times a week, I expect to be their full time teacher in January!

It's an exciting, crazy and exhausting adventure and I'm lucky to be a passenger!