With the announcement of all Minnesota schools closing on Wednesday until March 27, it begs the question of what will the teachers do without students. 

According to Education week, Workdays were originally created to allow teachers and support staff to prepare for classroom work directly related to students and centered around the curriculum. Here are two different kinds of workdays that teachers are given. 

One kind of teacher workday is reserved for grades and for correcting papers. Many teachers appreciate this time given to them. Teachers may have a hard time keeping up with correcting papers or putting grades into Infinite Campus during their prep hour. English teacher Ms. Kristi Rohman said, “Sometimes I have to take home many papers and grade them if I don’t get them done during my prep.” Sometimes teachers preps include: doing study halls, subbing for a different teacher, coming up with lesson plans for their sub the next day, making copies or getting ready for the next period are just some tasks that happen daily.

OHS Principal Mr. Kory Kath, on a teacher workday, goes around to the different departments within the school and looks for issues that might be a concern. Imagine if there were no teacher workdays. Mr. Kath would have a difficult time communicating with families and teachers about grades and instructions. Mr. Kath said, “I wish that we have more teacher workdays. We could meet as staff and adults within a building because there are times where incredible work can happen.” This is also the time for teachers to finalize the grades right before the end of the quarter.

Another kind of teacher workday is a Professional Development day. This is where teachers can have meetings or have a speaker come in and talk. Many teachers like this day because they can meet with their advisers to see what they need to work on or change for next year. Band instructor Mr. Peter Guenther said, “This day is almost like a mini college day.” A teacher workshop day normally happens during a holiday like MLK day or before the school year starts. 

Due to Governor Tim Walz’s announcement on Sunday, March 15, teachers will have work time, to plan out how they are going to move forward with classwork using distance learning strategies. Teachers must prepare if the school is not allowed to reopen on Monday, March 30 and wrap up quarter grades.