What a Typical Teacher's Day Actually Looks Like

Teaching Profession From Our Research Center

What a Typical Teacher鈥檚 Day Actually Looks Like

By Ileana Najarro & Hyon-Young Kim 鈥� April 14, 2022 1 min read

Patrick Jiner walks back to his classroom on April 13, 2022 at Lake Middle School in Denver. — Patrick Jiner, a math teacher at Lake Middle School in Denver, has long work days that start two hours before he teaches his first class and often extend deep into the evenings before he goes to bed.
Rachel Woolf for Education Week

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After a new national survey found that a typical teacher works a median of 54 hours a week, Education Week wanted to take a look at what can go into a teacher鈥檚 daily schedule. Patrick Jiner, a 7th grade math teacher at Lake Middle School in Denver who also serves on the board of the Denver teachers鈥� union, shared his notes on what a typical day can entail.

*Time stamps are estimates.

Actual Teaching Time
Non-Teaching Work Time (Planning, Prep, Meetings, Other Work Tasks)

5 a.m. 鈽€锔�	Wake up.
6:30 a.m.	Leave home on time to account for traffic and a typical 30-minute commute to school. 馃殫
7 a.m.	In the classroom getting everything ready such as warming up classroom computers, reviewing the day鈥檚 agenda, and getting mentally and physically prepared. 馃挭
7:30 a.m.	馃敂 The morning school bell rings and 鈥渢eachers are on fire.鈥� 馃敟 First class period begins. There will be 3 minutes in between this period and the next to clean up and transition the room. (Every transition between classes takes place in 3 minutes.)
8:33 a.m.	Second period begins.
9:36 a.m.	Third period begins.
10:39 a.m.	Fourth period begins.
11:42 a.m.	馃崕 Lunch for 30 minutes. It really means: • Attending to students who want to talk or need to get extra help on work not understood, or • Helping another teacher with instruction questions, or • Addressing disciplinary actions.
12:07 p.m.	Planning period for own class. Sometimes used for substituting in another teacher's classroom because there aren鈥檛 enough substitutes.
1:20 p.m.	Final class period begins.
2:30 p.m.	Students are done for the day. Teachers are not. This is a planning period.
3:30 p.m.	馃懃 Meeting around student data, team meeting, or grade level leaders meeting.
5:30 or 6 p.m.	Arrive home. Spend time with my wife and kids if there isn鈥檛 a Zoom meeting for the union board.
	Make parent phone calls and emails. 馃摟
7-8 p.m.	If it's Sunday night, check emails sent over the weekend, read weekly announcements and schedule for the upcoming week, and get mentally and physically prepared.
8 p.m.	馃摑 Lesson planning at home in the living room. Grading papers and entering data in 2-3 places.
10 or 10:30 p.m. 馃寵	Debrief, take a shower, go to bed, and get ready to start again the next day. (If your mind can stop thinking about what you have to do.) 馃洀锔�