Korean Job Discussion Forums

jadarite

I work at an elementary school. I know lesson planning is part of the job, but today I found out the school wants me to do at least twice as much. Probably closer to three times, but I don't want to find out lol

I have to submit daily lesson plans to my co-teacher for 3 afternoon classes. I have no problem with that. Now the school wants me to submit morning plans for each grade. Normally, this wouldn't sound bad. The bad thing is that the lesson planning is like doing 2-3 lesson plans for each grade because they stay for three 40 minute classes.

It ends up being like 25-30 lesson plans a week.

So, first question I have is, are you public school teachers who have 20 or 22 hour contracts planning 22 classes? Or are you planning more? If more, how many more?

I usually write what I did and make suggestions for the next time I meet with a class after I finish each class. Normally, I don't plan weeks in advance because I find myself changing the lessons before classes start. I would think it would be more beneficial to put time into noting what you did and what you should do next instead of planning weeks in advance what you "might" do and will more likely not do.

Dodgy Al · Joined: 15 May 2004 Location: Seoul

I teach 25 classes per week. I plan each lesson and send it to my co-teachers over CoolMessenger, usually on a Thursday.

What I do:

12 x grade 1 classses = 1 plan
12 x grade 2 classes = 1 plan
1 x teachers' class = 1 plan (for my own reference)
Total number of plans = you do the math(s)

25 plans a week? Holy crap, dude! You might wanna think about standardising the lessons if possible.

nomad-ish · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:23 am Post subject:

i plan about 5 lessons a week:

1 - advanced 3rd graders
1 - lower level 3rd graders
1 - 1st or 2nd graders (they alternate each week)
2 - bogus morning classes that i dread every week

my co-teacher has told me that i have to hand my lessons in at the end of the semester, but not before my actual classes.

why do you plan 25-30 lessons a week? don't you teach the same thing to every class of a certain grade?

jadarite · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:27 am Post subject:

I thought they were going to be standardized, which would have been like 12 in the afternoon and actually only 1 or 2 in the morning, since I teach the same lesson.

What makes it more is that the school wants me to change those morning lesson plans to fit each grade. You're only teaching 2 grades, so you can repeat the same lesson plan with a different class.

Maybe what I can do is pick a lesson from the afternoon classes and teach that same one to the morning class at the same grade level. That would bring it down to 13 or 14 a week.

We use a book, so planning isn't that time consuming, but it's like doing taxes. They want things filled out a certain way, and of course in .hwp format only.

jadarite · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:43 am Post subject:

"why do you plan 25-30 lessons a week? don't you teach the same thing to every class of a certain grade?"

If my second post didn't clarify it, I have 2 kinds of classes. One is role-playing and the other is textbook oriented. I teach 6 grades in the afternoon, but they are doubled up (1 and 2 together, 3 and 4, 5 and 6). I meet with them 4 times a week, making 12 unique lessons.

With the role-playing classes, they decided to schedule 2 hours with 3 forty minute classes within that time span. I am complaining about it because I don't think 1st and 2nd graders will sit through it all.

I have been scheduled to teach 1 grade at a time. So I got 6th grade for Monday and Tuesday. 5th grade has been scheduled on Wed, Thu, and Fri. In this case, I only need to plan 1 lesson for both grades. What makes it idiotic is that one 5th grade class couldn't come today because they had physical evaluations. Another 5th grade class can't come Friday because we are having a field trip. The 5th graders who would benefit the most won't be able to use the English village that the school paid tons of money for until November.

The reason why 6th graders won't benefit is that the middle school in this area is not good. So, the better students move to a different city with a better school. We have lower level students in the 6th grade as a result.

VanIslander · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:47 am Post subject:

one hour out for every hour in the classroom

makes for an 8 hour work day

Starla · Joined: 06 Jun 2008 Location: Seoul

I just started at a public elementary school but I get the impression that I'm supposed to plan with my co-teachers. So that's what I'm doing now though I don't know if that will change with me doing the planning. I teach 23 classes and 3 grade levels so it's 3 lesson plans a week. Each one takes about half an hour. I'm not complaining.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

I am currently teaching 26 classes.
I take 5 hours for lunch.
I spend the rest of my 40 hour week (9ish hours) doing planning.

My co-teacher asks for 50 hours of work each week.

He gets 40 and gets reminded that he only gets 40.

I ask what he wants and let him choose what he wants me to prioritize but whatever doesn't get done by 4:30 doesn't get done.

When he says that Korean teachers do the extra work I ask him if I look like a Korean and will I get 8 weeks of winter break.

End of that discussion.

Don't put up with the crap unless you want plate-loads of it for the next year.

.

bogey666 · Joined: 17 Mar 2008 Location: Korea, the ass free zone

It's when I see such posts that I realize how lucky I got.

no one asks me for my plans.. I teach what I want.. with absolutely no interference.. my coteachers just translate what they want to translate

and it's basically the same lesson plan for all classes. Now I'm beginning to tweak it slightly since some classes are better than others (though these difference are really marginal) but the basic material stays the same... I slightly ramp it up for some... dumb it down for others.

I ask my Korean coteachers for suggestions. I rarely get any constructive ones.. except games.. competition games and candy. (hard to do games because of the layout of our English room and class size)

it's easy work for them.. maybe they like it that way.

and I'll get the same vacation they will.

I've raised the issue of perhaps coordinating some lessons, etc but was told by one of my co teachers (who's also my coordinator) that the korean teachers must teach what they teach out of the book (way way out of reach of our students, and they just try to prepare the students for the tests)

she realized it's not effective, but she must do what she must do.

I'm expected to break that cycle.... and try to make English more interesting, appealing/fun for them.. as well as exposing them to a native speaker and a cultural aspect.

it's fascinating how every school is different.

jadarite · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 5:33 am Post subject:

Thanks everyone for your comments.

saw6436 · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Daejeon, ROK

I refuse to hand in or give copies of my lesson plans to my school. I show them once a week to the school's head teacher but I keep them and give no copies.

Oh, I don't make new plans. I just use ones from previous years and "update" them a bit

IncognitoHFX · Joined: 06 May 2007 Location: Yeongtong, Suwon

Yikes! Where do you guys work?

I work in an HS and only make two lesson plans per week, one for the beginner classes and one for the advanced. Usually the beginner's class just gets a dumbed down version of what the advanced students get and an easier worksheet.

My lessons have been going swimmingly, too.

some waygug-in · Joined: 25 Jan 2003

Last year my grade 5 co-teacher asked for lesson plans. I wrote up 1 plan a week, and occasionally extra plans for special classes.

The other grades never asked me for any plans.

This year, nobody asks me for lesson plans, they tell me what they have planned and sometimes allow me some minimal input.

I guess I'm lucky in this regard.

nomad-ish · Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:30 pm Post subject:

Easter Clark · Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Location: Hiding from Yie Eun-woong

When I first arrived at the school they told me I had to do six months' of lesson plans because the "official" was coming to audit our school, or something like that. I said it would take me several weeks and then I was told "We need them by the end of the week." I really wonder what happened to the lesson plans from the previous FTs at the school...anyway...So I googled "semester plan" and "course syllabus," found the most convoluted lesson plans I could, and submitted more than 100 pages of "my" lesson plans, with topics ranging from high school social studies to university world lit. I haven't been asked to submit anything since.

Koreans love paperwork so much, I thought it was only prudent to bury them in it.