Ever feel like teaching is less of a job and more of a hostage situation with your lesson plans?
Yeah, I’ve been there.
Seventy-hour weeks. Coffee IV drip.
That moment when your laptop battery dies before you do.
But here’s the good news—today, we’re flipping the script.
Because by the end of this episode, you’ll learn how to cut your hours, protect your sanity, and still be an incredible teacher.
And stick around—because later in this episode, I’ll share the one shift that saved me 10 hours a week without sacrificing a single thing in the classroom.
That’s your open loop, my friend. Let’s get into it.
Busy doesn’t equal productive
Let’s start with a hard truth.
Busy doesn’t equal productive.
I once worked with a teacher who stayed at school till 7 p.m. every night.
She looked like she lived there—microwave meals, a change of shoes under her desk, and enough sticky notes to wallpaper the teacher’s lounge.
But when we looked at how she spent her time, more than half was re-doing things that didn’t even matter. Re-typing worksheets. Over-planning lessons. Answering parent emails that could’ve waited until morning.
Here’s a statistic that’ll hit home—the average teacher works 54 hours a week, according to the National Education Association.
And for many, that number creeps into the 60s and 70s.
So why do we do it? Because we think “busy” means “dedicated.”
But what it really means is burned out with a fancy planner. Time to start thinking like a strategic professional, not a hamster on a wheel.
Stop grading everything (that you don’t have to)
Here’s your pattern interrupt—Stop grading everything.
I can already hear it: “But Steve, if I don’t grade it, how will they learn?”
Well, let me tell you something wild—research from the University of Virginia shows that students often retain more when given feedback instead of grades. Edutopia+1
That’s right. You don’t have to slap a score on everything to make learning stick.
Try “Feedback Fridays” instead. Spend ten minutes having students self-assess or peer-review. You’ll build responsibility—and save hours.
When I finally stopped grading every single worksheet, I reclaimed my evenings. My brain wasn’t fried. And funny enough, my students’ grades went up. That’s the paradox, isn’t it? Doing less can actually create more.
It’s not about working harder. It’s about choosing what actually matters.
Boundaries: the invisible force
Let’s talk about boundaries—that invisible force that can save your career.
If your school day ends at 3:30, stop pretending you’re paid till midnight.
I once set a rule: no emails after dinner. And guess what? The world didn’t end. Parents adjusted. Students survived. I got my life back.
Try this trick—Set two “teacher power hours.” One before school, one during prep. Those are your sacred times for grading, planning, or email. Guard them like you’d guard your lunch.
And here’s a bonus—batch your work. Plan a week’s lessons in one go. Grade one class set at a time. Stop switching tasks like you’re flipping channels. It’s the fastest way to trick your brain into thinking it’s working 12 hours straight.
The open loop payoff
Remember that shift I mentioned earlier—the one that saved me 10 hours a week?
Here it is. I started scheduling my off switch. Every day, I set a firm “done” time—no exceptions.
It forced me to work smarter, cut the fluff, and let go of perfection.
You’ll be amazed how fast you get when you know you’re clocking out at 4:30 sharp.
It’s not about squeezing every ounce out of your day—it’s about designing your energy so you can show up tomorrow ready, not wrecked.
Conclusion
So let’s wrap this up. Working 70 hours a week isn’t a badge of honor—it’s a red flag.
You don’t need to do everything. You need to do the right things, the right way, at the right time.
When you reclaim your time, you don’t just become a better teacher—you become a better human.
And that’s what your students really need.
If you want help picking which tasks to stop, or building your weekly “power hours” schedule, I’ve got you.
Check out my post on creating your ideal teacher workflow for a step-by-step guide to batching and planning ahead.
For more on feedback vs. grades, see this article from Edutopia: The Evidence-Backed Grader Edutopia
