Yeah, but are you typical?
Typical for what? The VAST majority of teachers that I daily observe hardly ever stop working. Even eating their lunch is alternated with grading papers, calling parents, xeroxing handouts (when there is paper to do so!), etc. And the ludicrous Commie Core Curriculum and Danielson evaluation system (nothing but a time-leaching gotcha system) take away further time from the essentials, like WRITING LESSONS. Teachers have to be mainly concerned with jumping through the 22 hoops that the Danielson evaluation system demands, and offer “artifacts” of their teaching, to prove that they taught according to the 22 criteria. This is more important than spending time with students. There’s only so much time in the pie, and these new ridiculous things make each essential slice so much the thinner. Teaching in NYC high schools these days consists largely of having groups of kids read handouts and puzzle out questions among themselves, with the teacher only providing minimal assistance and very few notes. That’s what they want, from word on high. That’s supposed to be better than the teacher lecturing the students and the students taking notes. Which is what they WILL do in college, so they better get ready for the Big Fall.