How much does a first year teacher make per HOUR?

Figure an 8 month year, because of summer, christmas and spring breaks Figure 4 weeks per month of 5 days and 8 hours per day. So we have 1280 hours. Now divide into 30k and we get around 23 usd per hour. Now this can be changed by assuming lots of time for home work, etc., but it's still better than 11 bucks. Still, one of the worst facts in America is how little value we place on teachers. Why should a sports figure earn millions while the people who teach our kids get 30k per year?

You are all forgetting that first year teachers put in way more hours at home and on the weekends than veteran teachers! They have to develop their entire curriculum, they take longer to grade, they don't know how to say "no" to requests to be on committees, to chaperone dances, to sponsor clubs, etc. It is not unreasonable to assume a first year teacher puts in 60+ hours a week. This could come out to as little as $11 an hour.

Some states allow a check for summer time. Others are contract set amount per school year. Teacher hours are not usually clock in and out like a factory job. And they have days of work when school is not in session also for class preperation or school faculity meetings.

My first year of teaching, we had 183 contract days at work. Although the required hours were 7:30 to 2:40, I was typically at work from 7 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m. most days. (so if we figure 4:30, that is reasonable), I was realistically at work 9.5 hrs a day. Plus, for the 38 instructional weeks, I spent about 3 hours planning each weekend plus another hour entering grades, so that was an additional 152 hours total. Add to that the required evening supervisory activities (4 per year, typically 2 hrs, for 8 total). So we have 183 * 9.5 = 1738.5 + 152 + 8 = 1898.5 hours. If the salary had been 30k (mine was 33k, in the suburbs of Chicago), that would have been 15.80/hr. A lot depends on what you teach. I am an elementary music teacher. A classroom teacher will likely need to do more planning, but then again, they probably have planning periods, where mine were taken up by travelling between buildings. So give and take ... it can vary. For a dedicated classroom teacher not inheriting a curriculum, 11/hr may be a reasonable estimate for the first year. Consequently, the second year gets a lot better. I find myself leaving work about a half-hour earlier on average this year, plus I usually only spend about an hour or two working at home on the weekends. It always improves over time. Teaching is not a bad-paying gig, but one has to allow time for a decent income and financial stability -- it doesn't happen right away.

Most districts (in the south) work an average of about 185 days per school year. So, let's take the 185 days and work with that. 30,000 / 185 days = $162.16 $162.16 / 8 hour day = $20.27

Probably depends how many hours she works. Most people who make 30,000 a year and work 40 hours a week 52 weeks a year make more like 15-17 dollars or something like that. She's probably claiming she's putting in a 60 hour work week, all year long. I love how teachers act like their jobs are so hard and they're so underpaid and underappreciated. I have never met a teacher who worked 40 hour weeks 52 weeks a year, and only got paid 30,000..... but I know a lot of other people who have very necessary jobs who get paid that, if not less, and they can actually be *fired* if they don't do their jobs properly!

Yep 11 bucks an hour sounds right. Dont be a teacher (bad salary) around 8 hours a day

To add to this, with the numbers figured, if a teacher works 190 days at 9 hours a day for 30,000 thousand a year, they will make at around $17. This would be a first year teacher with an undergraduate degree. If you're anything more, you'd make more. Compare this to your buddy who just landed a 50,000 a year job working all year round. Considering they don't work on the weekends and they'll get two weeks off in that first year (just as unlikely as the teacher only working those 190 days), that person will work 246 days at 9 hours a day for 50,000 and make $22 an hour. But most your friends won't be that luck with their first job out of college, and will make 40,000 instead of 50. When I drop their income down to a more expected average but still make them work the normal 246 days a year, they only make $18 an hour. One dollar more than the teacher. They did work more, and thus made more in the end, but almost every school lets teachers work more to to let them make up that difference.