The Life of a High School Teacher

Olivier Chabot|April 28, 2024|Advice To Myself, Health, Learning, Money, Teaching
Reading Time: 4 minutes

I currently teach high school math and data management in Ottawa. I’m fortunate to be able to teach courses that interest me in the first few years of my career. Luckily for me, not many teachers can teach those courses nor want to because of the increased stakes and workload. Most Ontario high school schedules consist of four 75-minute learning periods daily. We teach 3 courses per semester and have a preparation period. So far, my first semesters consisted of Data Management (MDM4U), Advanced Functions (MHF4U), and one other course such as grade 9 (MTH1W) or grade 11 (MCF3M) math. My second semesters usually consist of Data Management (MDM4U), Calculus and Vectors (MCV4U), and another filler course.

This schedule is demanding for a few reasons. First, I invested and continue to invest countless hours into the MDM4U course materials. I rebuilt from the ground up the MCF3M course. The MTH1W course needs some love, but I prioritize other projects. Second, I don’t teach the same course twice in the same semester, so I have to plan for 3 separate courses. Third, the grading workload is heavier than average because of the number and length of summative evaluations. MDM4U is especially heavy on marking due to the many projects and continuous feedback.

Class sizes for these courses tend to be high (25 or more). If the time required to grade a test is roughly 15 minutes, then this results in 6 to 7 hours of grading per test. Multiply that by 8 tests per course and 3 courses per semester, and you get over 150 hours of marking per semester. Marking alone fills our preparation periods. Never mind preparing course material, sending emails, calling parents, building the course website, printing copies for the students, writing custom report cards twice per semester, and other administrative tasks.

What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task.

Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor E. Frankl

Although this schedule is gruelling, it’s exactly this tension that makes the work meaningful. Other aspects of teaching make the struggle worthwhile. The mentoring relationship you form with students is truly special. This is one of the reasons I prefer to teach the older students. You have a front-row seat to their self-actualization. Graduated students often reach out to update me on their lives and professional development. I got to coach badminton this year. Coaching is a great opportunity to connect with students and help foster their interests.

I like the school I’m at. Our principal is solid, and I feel valued and supported. I like my coworkers both in the math department and also school-wide. I get to bike or walk to work year-round. We also can work out and shower at school.

My statistics and technology knowledge allow me to feel like a big fish in a small pond. This is important to generally feel competent and contain imposter syndrome. Working for a big company in tech or statistics might accelerate my learning, but it would almost certainly come at the cost of feelings of inferiority.

How Would My Life Change if I Won 75 Million Dollars?

I like my job. That said, I don’t think I’d be a full-time high school teacher if I had millions of dollars in the bank. I’d most likely teach part-time. That way, I’d benefit from having something to do while having more flexibility in my schedule. Here are some of the activities for my free time if I only taught one or two courses per semester:

  • Exercise (yoga, walk, bike, tennis, squash, badminton, hockey, hike, fitness courses)
  • Medical appointments & self-care (physio, massage, meditation, sauna, chilling in nature)
  • Cook and eat meals with my family
  • Walk our kids to school and pick them up afterwards
  • Read
  • Write
  • Think
  • Record podcast episodes
  • Create YouTube videos
  • Creating online courses
  • Attend university lectures and take courses
  • Teach university courses
  • Work as a consultant on projects that interest me
  • Speak at conferences and provide workshops
  • Have a drop-in tutoring centre a few times per week
  • Attend appointments and do errands during the day while most people work

My evenings would be spent like they are now:

  • Long dinners with friends and family
  • Socializing
  • Playing board games and poker
  • Watching TV shows or movies on chill nights
  • Reading before bed

My weekends would be spent:

  • Socializing
  • Hosting brunches, diners, and board game nights
  • Camping or at the cottage
  • Resting and sharpening the saw on Sundays

Ideally, we would travel around once per year. We would live in a central location in a comfortable home and have access to a cottage where we could disconnect.

Time to Pivot?

My current life is not far from my ideal life. Teaching full-time does take its toll, however. It leaves me with little energy to pursue other projects during the school year. I have a tough time sacrificing the best hours of my life for the next 30 years. And why would I do that? Because it’s what most people do? Because it’s the default option in the field? For money?

I would likely make more money with the side projects in the long term than by teaching full-time. The salary of Ontario teachers maxes out at just over 100k per year after 11 years of full-time teaching. I believe teaching two courses per semester instead of three would result in two-thirds of the pay. 70K per year is still good money for a significant increase in flexibility. Furthermore, this amount would be supplemented with other income streams from my side projects (YouTube, online courses, tutoring, consulting, research grants, university teaching, writing, conference speaker, exam prep sessions, investments, workshops, etc).

If teaching part-time is an option, I think it’s the best course of action given my current goals and value structure.

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