Forums » Smalltalk » AMA: Split Campus Middle School Art Teacher!

Hey, hey, I'm Gab! I'd been a book for a couple Living Libraries in the past and wanted to join in on the fun again hehe, though with a different thing about me!

Aaaaaanywaaaaaayyys, like the title says, I work as a split campus middle school art teacher! What that means is that I work at two campuses instead of one! In the mornings, I teach at one campus and then in the afternoons, I teach at another campus. They're both middle school and I teach the same subject at each: art!

This is actually my first year as a split campus teacher! The past couple years I worked full time at just one campus.

Anyways, ask away!

How are you finding split campus compares to teaching on just one? What are the pros and cons of the two?

It's... definitely an adjustment. I often find myself having to get to work early and stay late so I can keep up with things. Not to mention, the two campuses are very "go, go, go" and have a lot of events that I often stay for as well. And the cultures for both are fairly different from the school I used to teach at! The pros for having one campus to work at was definitely that it was a little easier for me to get grading done quickly and not have to worry about having time to grade before needing to eat and getting to the next campus! Though I do have to admit, my first campus was... a little rougher than the campuses I'm currently at. Fights inside and outside the classrooms were definitely more common (I had a couple happen in my classroom myself)

The pros for split campus: I have amazing teams (both department and admin) that are always willing to help me! Not to mention, one of my coworkers at my morning school is very straightforward and great at reminding me about things I need to keep on top of (which I need with how scatterbrained I am). I also get separate budgets for supply lists so I'm not struggling with having to juggle one budget to split between both campuses. I also don't have to share my room with another teacher at my morning campus, which is nice! I also get about an hour and a half for lunch and travel time between campuses, and they're only a couple miles apart (with my new apartment being between them) so I can often make a quick stop home for lunch! And two of the admin at my morning campus knew me from my old campus since they worked their my first year of teaching before they moved on to the morning campus I work at!

The cons: Like I said, it was definitely an adjustment and I seriously underestimated just how much work juggling two campuses would be. My first few weeks were definitely a learning curve as I struggled to get my feet under me lol. And teaching art specifically has been a big balance with trying to make sure I have the materials for my kiddos (especially since I can't take materials from one campus for the other). I'm also stuck in a portable at my afternoon campus, share that one with another teacher, and have no sink in there (which is very needed when kids make messes) so improvisation is also a big thing haha. Not to mention, my portable is pretty much on the opposite end of the campus from the other two art teachers for my afternoon campus, so I don't really get the opportunity to drop by as much as I'd like to in order to pick their brains. And I don't have a conference that lines up with the art teachers at any of the campuses (I did with the art teachers at my previous campus), so it can be tricky to be able to get/share ideas and communicate.

What is the commute like?

It's not that bad actually!

I'd recently moved to an apartment that's close to both campuses (I had waited until I got the news on my job relocation to do that since I was planning to move out of my parents' house anyways) so it only takes me, like, 10 minutes to get to my morning campus. And the schools are literally just down the road from each other, a couple miles apart (seriously, all I have to do is turn onto a road and go straight to get to my afternoon campus from my morning one) so it takes me about 10 minutes as well, depending on traffic. Then, my apartment complex is actually a lot closer to my afternoon campus (a little over a mile) so it takes me around 10-ish minutes to get home since traffic's usually a little heavier by then.

All in all, it really isn't too bad! I'm usually out of my apartment by 7:15-ish and am back home around 4:30-ish.

I feel like this answer is probably in what you've shared already but I'm going to ask blatantly anyway, so are you basically hired by two different companies?. Obviously schools are government but you say two separate supplies so

I guess I'm wondering if kinda.. do you have two part-time jobs or is it the same and it is a full time job?

Nope! It's the same company (school district) I just get two different supply budgets, one for my morning campus, and one for my afternoon campus. So, it's still a full time job, just with two different sites I work at!

That’s cool, I always adored our art teachers (made my secondary degree, high school graduate in art).

My question:
Is there a significant difference between the schools looking at the students, like one is more privileged or one school is dealing more with students in precarious situation?

Not that I've noticed! Maybe it's because they're so close together, but both schools have very similar demographics. Though, I will say, one is a Title I school (which means a large percentage of students are economically disadvantaged), but I haven't noticed any large differences between either school.