Paper short abstract:

After the last bell rings, and the students are dismissed for the day, teachers find themselves starting a second shift: coaching extracurriculars, grading papers, and preparing materials for the next lessons. I explore how they balance those demands with the rest of their responsibilities.

Paper long abstract:

While the common perception of teaching is of a work day which ends at 3:30, and three months of vacation in the summer, those who enter the profession find the reality to involve far more hours of work during the school year, and a far shorter break at the end. Many of these duties are unpaid, or at best come with a small stipend which does not make up for the added responsibilities. Meanwhile, teachers still have to deal with their own adult lives, caring for themselves and their families, while participating in their community or finding ways to maintain adult friendships.

Texas has a problem with a teacher shortage, exacerbated by public policies which demean and discredit public education in general and teachers in particular. In 2023, Governor Greg Abbott called four special sessions attempting to pass a school voucher program, while failing to increase teacher pay and only creating a token bonus for retired teachers. The Brazosport Independent School District, where I work as a substitute teacher, has a particularly high risk of losing teachers to industry, particularly STEM teachers, as the town was built around the chemical industry and the plants are always glad to hire experienced scientists for higher pay.