Teacher Math (teaching)

[Warning: The following material may not be suitable for all audience due to it's cranky content.]

[Oh yeah, and it's also very teacher-y. Those of you who don't really like the kids should just skip this one.]

I have 12 students. There are 8 periods in each day. Two periods are for special classes (taught by another teacher) or lunch each day. Except for Tuesday; Tuesday has two special classes and lunch. I am in my classroom, with children, for 29 periods a week. In those 29 periods, I have 27 pull-outs (a time when someone comes into my classroom and takes a student out for a special service). Some of those do happen at the same time (i.e. Physical Therapy and ESL teachers take different students at the same time). But, sometimes they are taking 4 students out at once.

All of these numbers made me want to cry as I looked at my planbook. I feel like I am not given time to teach the students. If my class were the US Congress, we'd never reach a quorum. Even if I had my students in there seat, the time that we'd actually be learning would be grossly overshadowed by test prep I'm required to teach so my class can pass the 3rd and 4th grade tests.