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- Teaching can be an extremely time-consuming career.
- Though the average American school day is only six and a half hours, teachers often spend additional hours grading, prepping school lessons, and giving students individualized help.
- Here are seven things teachers have to do long after the end-of-day school bell rings.
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Some people think that, as far as work hours go, teachers have it easy.
On paper, it's easy to see why one might believe this. The average American school day is only six and a half hours long, and teachers, like students, technically get summers off.
However, the amount of time students spend in school doesn't reflect the amount of work being a teacher actually entails.
Aside from planning lessons and grading them, two tasks which take up hours of time, there are other things teachers need to do outside of class every day in order to ensure their students are getting the most effective education.
Related: 10 alarming facts about teacher pay in the United States
We spoke to six teachers and asked them how much time they spent on their jobs outside of the classroom. Answers varied, but on average most said that they take home two to three hours of work a day. Additionally, nearly all of the teachers we spoke to said they come into school early, and stay around an hour late.
We also asked them what things take up the most of their non-teaching time. Their responses illustrated exactly how much work teachers do outside of school.
Here are seven things teachers have to do on their own time.