well, in our local school system, most teachers are teaching 4-5 periods a day out of 8. perish the thought that they not have 3-4 planning periods a day.
1. I'm sure you are aware that yours is not the only school district in the country?
2. Yes, it does take prep time to organize lessons, arrange presentation, create exams and grade papers. It's harder in high school than in college and harder in college than in grad school. I've done all of them. In grad school you're basically just an ambulatory textbook.