Are Floaters Belly Up?

Are Floaters Belly Up?

by Angela Hughston

The term "floaters" conjures up images of bloated, glassy-eyed bodies bobbing on the water's surface. Yet, a new breed of floaters bob through crowded high school hallways today. And, although most administrators consider floating a benign necessity, in my research, I found that floating can have detrimental affects on teacher attitudes and student learning.

Each day, I, along with nine other English teachers, leave our rooms so the four floaters in our department have some place to hold their classes. The routine has become an accepted part of the job. If you teach English, either you will change locations each period or you will allow another teacher to take over your classroom for at least one period each day. In all, at my school, we have a total of ten floating teachers who displace more than fifty other teachers.

With the recent passage of Georgia Governor Roy Barnes' education reform bill which limits class sizes, three new teaching positions will be added next year, but no new classrooms. The idea of teaching smaller classes is wonderful, but the lack of sufficient space for additional classrooms is rarely considered. Already, classes are being held in some strange locations. A space seemingly as small and safe as the English department book room has become a classroom. English teachers have found themselves conducting classes in the chorus room, a technology lab, math classrooms, a social studies classroom, and the theater stage.

In my research, I focused upon two floating teachers of English who also serve as coaches. Although both began teaching at the school two years ago, neither has ever had the advantage of a home base. Both must make a small cart the classroom and steer it through a sea of students to go to their rooms each period of every day.

As the enrollment figures for high schools across the country are expected to grow by 13 percent from 1997 to 2007, the crisis for new classrooms is centered in high schools. High schools cost much more to build than elementary schools and require more space and land. Many school districts will not be able to meet the needs of their student population adequately by simply buying more portables or double-shifting students (U.S. House Democratic Policy Committee).

Some of the manifestations of overcrowding include the use of portable buildings, the need for two school sessions in one day, a rise in dropout rates, the loss of art and music instruction, and students jammed into spaces never intended to be classrooms (Department of Education). Too few classrooms, too few lockers, too few electives, and too much confusion put stress on administrators, teachers, and students (Conners).

"Nowhere else [but in schools] are large groups of individuals packed so closely together for so many hours, yet expected to perform at peak efficiency on difficult learning tasks and to interact harmoniously" (Weinstein 585). Weinstein reviewed several studies and found evidence to suggest many undesirable reactions to high density

in schools, such as dissatisfaction, nervousness, less social interaction, and increased aggressiveness.

Corcoran et.al. found that overcrowding and heavy teacher workloads created stressful working conditions for teachers and led to higher teacher absenteeism. Other disadvantages for teachers include less time to spend on innovative teaching methods such as cooperative learning and group work activities, more time spent on maintaining order in the crowded classroom, and higher levels of burnout which often lead to higher faculty turnover. Such factors force administrators to devote more time and energy to maintaining order and hiring faculty than to more important tasks related to improving their schools (Burnett).

Overcrowding can have a negative impact on student learning. A study of overcrowded schools in New York City found that students in such schools scored significantly lower on both mathematics and reading exams than did similar students in underutilized schools (River-Batiz and Marti). Other adverse conditions created for students by overcrowding can include fewer elective choices; lunch periods that start early, end late, split classes, and provide inadequate space and seating in the cafeteria; crowded hallways, the breeding grounds for fights and bullying; and less individual attention from teachers (U.S. House Democratic Committee report).

Unfortunately, as the overcrowding problem grows, more and more teachers will be compelled to float from classroom to classroom. To date, there is precious little research on the effects of this widely accepted practice. Stan Lewis and Skip Matherly are two English teaches who float where I teach. Although the school is only eight years old, it has had floaters from day one. In the following years, the number of floaters has gradually grown to ten, four of whom are in the English department, including Lewis and Matherly.

Lewis is in his second year of teaching at Rome High School. His classes include ninth grade college prep and tenth grade tech prep. He taught at a smaller, rural school for two years and in a girls' private school in Japan for three years, prior to coming to joining our faculty. In Japan it is customary for high school teachers to go to the students' room , so Lewis had prior experience with a different type of floating. In his present position, along with his teaching duties, Lewis is the head wrestling coach. As a floater, he has no homeroom, but is assigned an additional morning duty.

Matherly, also in his second year of teaching at Rome High School, he has taught in several schools, larger and smaller than Rome, public and private, and has had to float at previous schools. Amazingly, all but three years of his 15-year teaching career, Matherly has floated. In addition to teaching eleventh grade college prep and tenth grade tech prep English, he is the head girls' basketball coach.

Before a school day begins, Matherly may call the basketball team members around him for a pep talk after their morning practice session. Then Matherly winds his way around computer equipment, television screens, bookcases, and too many student desks as he teaches English to tenth and eleventh graders in a room designed to be an interactive computer lab. Matherly must operate a classroom out of what is known as the GSAMS (Georgia Statewide Academic and Medical System) room two periods a day.

On many mornings, Lewis may be in the parking lot for morning duty prior to spending two class periods roaming among desks on risers and using a piano for a podium. It is the chorus room most of the time, but for second and third periods, it serves as Lewis' tenth grade English classroom.

While both find few advantages to their current floating arrangements, no homeroom duty and plenty of exercise (mentioned with a laugh), the biggest problem is organization. Misplacing papers, difficulties getting class started efficiently, being interrupted by people looking for the "regular" classroom teacher, and students not knowing where to find them are detrimental aspects of floating cited by both Matherly and Lewis..

The maps (Figure A) show just how much "exercise" is required in a day for these two floaters. It is important to remember that they move to each of these locations, sometimes pushing a cart, during the same six minutes that approximately 1,300 students are flooding into the hallways to go to their next classes. Once they maneuver to their next locations, these teachers are supposed to have a sponge activity ready for the students to begin immediately, as required by our school policy.

"I have little time to get my sponge on the board," Lewis said. "Sometimes it can be difficult at the beginning of class getting them (students) settled down and working on the sponge."

"If anything it (floating) helps us relate -- they (the students) float, too. It is a problem, though, if a student needs me," Matherly said. "I'm difficult to track down."

During his unit on demonstration speeches, Lewis spent much more time helping students store items they had brought for their speeches than he would have needed to do if he had his own room. Early on the morning the students were to give their speeches, he was storing props in the English workroom, various classes, and posting notes to inform others not to disturb the materials. Students anxiously searched around the building for him prior to the homeroom tardy bell so they could give him items that would not fit in their lockers.

Along with the obvious storage problems, floaters have to plan their computer use more carefully as well. Some teachers are more generous with their supplies, room equipment, and space than others. Floating successfully becomes a contest in reading personalities.

"I must adhere to other teachers' rules and polices. I would like to have my own space. I would be more organized," Lewis said.

Another floater summed up his feelings by commenting that floating from room to room "is tiresome!"

Informal conversations with Lewis' first period freshman college prep English class of 29 students and Matherly's sixth period junior college prep English class of 23 students offered some insights into the students' views of floating. All the students in both classes were well aware that their teacher floated because the teacher had told them at the beginning of the year, and they regularly witnessed the regular teacher shuffling out of the room as they arrived. In a poll, the juniors responded that their parents would not know that they had a class with a floater, but approximately half the freshmen said their parents knew. One said his parents knew because they became frustrated at the open house trying to locate that particular teacher. All but two of the freshmen said they had at least one other teacher who floated. One student summarized the sentiments of many in the following comment: "Harder to find them. Don't always have all the materials. Don't return work as fast. Takes longer to calm down the class. Harder to do make up work. Always seem to be in a hurry."

A few students felt the late starting times for classes offered them the advantage of extra time to finish homework assignments at the beginning of class. Many students saw the disorganization that comes with floating as a way to "get out of" class work. Apparently, floaters are more apt to forget or leave behind assignments, papers, and materials for class.

". . . they must make the coolest teachers float," one student said grinning at his teacher. Yet, the students seem to recognize that the space is not really theirs or their teacher's. Several students noted that floaters can not be as creative and do not have as many supplies as teachers with their own classrooms.

A student said, "The atmosphere is not their own. My floaters sometimes don't know what they're at liberty to do in someone else's room."

Other students complained that it was more difficult to make up work or to find the teacher when they had a question or needed help. Students found it distracting when the teacher whose classroom was "borrowed" stayed in the room.

Yet, all the students preferred having a teacher who floated to being in a portable building. Several students had been at schools which had trailers. These temporary buildings were viewed as cheap, junky, uncomfortable, a hassle, and no fun to get to in bad weather. One commented that her mother liked the school precisely because it is one of the few schools in the area that has no trailers.

I have had floaters in my room for six and a half of the nine years I have taught in this district. As the department chairman, I have two planning periods. Until this year my planning periods were scheduled together and one floater stayed in my room for two periods. This year I have first and sixth planning and two floaters, Lewis and Matherly, use my room. While the three of us work hard to accommodate each other, the rotating shifts can definitely be confusing. Sharing a room with two other teachers requires more separate storage areas for each individual's items, and it means three different sets of classroom books and other resources. It also means that the stuff students leave behind might be discovered by two other classes of students or teachers.

Most teachers at my school find out whether or not they will lose their rooms to floaters during their planning periods by checking the master schedule that is published just a few days prior to the first day of school. I distributed thirty-two surveys to teachers who have floaters in their rooms this year. Eighteen returned written responses. More than five made special efforts to talk to me personally. Many added extra written comments and expressed a sense of release at being able to discuss the issue.

Floating is so common at this school that most teachers just assumed there would be someone else in their rooms. Some have themselves been floaters in past years. All have had floaters in their rooms in the past.

While having a floater is not welcomed by teachers, it is considered to be the lesser of two evils. One teacher flatly stated, "I would not take a job where I were to float." Everyone mentioned the negative impact floating has on teaching, whether it is the lack of personal space for planning and conferencing to the lack of creativity the situation allows.

"I would rather endure having to leave the classroom during my planning than to be a floater. At least I have a 'home base' and enough personal space to be an effective teacher. I have a room for tutoring, for meeting parents," said one teacher. Many teachers expressed concerns about the ability to conduct demonstrations and lab activities effectively in a school where space is at such a premium.

"The impact on student progress is large," one science teacher said of the floating in their department. Currently, two science teachers float, but another floater will be added to the department next year. The only expansion planned by the district for the high school is two science labs which are scheduled to be completed by the 2002-2003 school year.

"It would be a major hassle pushing a cart between students in the halls between classes!" one English teacher said. The English department, which is located on the busy B-wing which houses all the lockers and is the main thoroughfare, has the most floaters of any department with four. The possibility exists for the addition of a fifth English floater next year.

The inability to display student work and rearrange the room are other major drawbacks of floating and having floater in a classroom. " I like to do group work and many times I have students draw things or do collages. I like to display student work and if I were a floater I wouldn't have a place to put it!" a social studies teacher stressed.

One teacher who now has a floater in her room, but used to float herself said, "I'd rather have a floater in my room. . .Teachers are not very understanding of floaters. It's stressful moving from room to room. You can't get as much done before or after school in the workroom --too much traffic and noise. Also, there is nowhere to keep your stuff. I kept most of my files at home [when I floated.]"

On the survey forms teachers gave these suggestions to other regular teachers with floaters: Be considerate; leave space on the board; offer a desk drawer; learn to use the overhead; provide clear expectations; establish ground rules; be flexible; be patient; don't stay in your room. They also offered the following suggestions for floaters: Borrow, don't take; leave the room as you found it; be patient with the regular teacher as he or she gets his or her things together to leave; maintain status quo; respect the other teacher's property; keep your students in line. All of these comments highlight the degree of cooperation that is needed in a school with numerous floaters.

While teachers attempt to cope with the problems that arise from floating, many become discouraged when they do not feel that any attempts are being made to alleviate the situation. Feeling that floating is not perceived as a problem by the district's decision makers has a negative impact on teacher morale.

"The fact that I can not have my classroom is making me evaluate staying in teaching any longer," said one veteran teacher who is seriously considering retiring earlier than she planned mainly because she sees no solutions to the floating issue being addressed in the district's long term planning.

"Floating lowers morale because I feel we could definitely better handle the situation. There aren't a million trailers, four lunches and the problem of not enough land space here doesn't exist," said one veteran math teacher.

"I don't understand why our school can't have trailers and therefore, having a floater bothers me somewhat. However, I try to make the best of it. It is also not clear to me how it is decided where the floater will go each period. Perhaps, if it was explained and fairly distributed every year into different rooms, my morale would be better!" she added.

While lack of support diminishes morale, personal differences can become points of contention when teachers are forced to work so closely together. Just as Weinstein's study suggest that close quarters creates more aggressiveness among students, the same is true of teachers.

"I have had 'heated' conversations with floating teachers who have allowed their students to 'trash' the room. I try not to let these things bother me too much; however, because it could be me pushing that cart through B-wing!" an English teacher responded.

Different expectations of what constitutes a neat, tidy room is a huge issue between teachers. It is the number one cause of arguments between floater and classroom teacher.

"Occasionally it [having a floater] bother me, but then I think of the poor person doing the floating." was one many comments that expressed frustration about and, at the same time, sympathy for the floater.

The anticipated growth in high school enrollments clearly indicates that there will be a population explosion in high schools across the United States. Yet, it is also clear, that the rate of construction of new high schools is not keeping pace with this growth. The practice of using floaters will continue in order for school systems to cope, even though, studies have shown that overcrowding negatively effects students and teachers.

Although little research has explored the pros and cons of floating as a solution to overcrowding, my survey of teachers confirms that they intensely dislike the practice. What other occupation requires the professional to give up his or her space for an hour or so a day and go to a public space or sit in a book room closet, as I often do, in order to prepare for the objectives of the job? When teachers complain about floating, administrators often reply that we must do what is best for the student, not the teacher.

Yet, students with floaters often do not know where to find their teachers at any point during the day. Students feel less ownership in a room that is obviously not theirs. In my room one year, the students of a floater stole a box of brand new paperbacks and threw them from the school bus window, one by one. Such unexpected events are the norm in classrooms where teachers float. Even students recognize that instructional time is lost each day with a floater. While students are not necessarily complaining about the academic downtime, no one could argue that the disorganization implicit with floating is a boon to student achievement.

The floater is often interrupted by people looking for the regular teacher, and teachers are forced to handle all paperwork twice, once out of their rooms and again when they can be in their rooms. Both disadvantages lead to confusion and frustration which negatively affect the quality of instruction. Teachers on both sides of the floating situation -- those without a room or those who are kicked out of their rooms -- say they feel less prepared; avoid group work or other innovative teaching strategies which involve rearranging the room or require extra materials; have less access to the classroom computers for planning; and often feel stressed out.

Even in the best circumstances, using floaters is no benign practice. Floating contributes to teacher burnout, may inhibit academic achievement, and reduces the overall effectiveness of the learning environment. Perhaps the time has come to consider a radical new alternate -- BUILDING BIGGER SCHOOLS.

Burnett, Gary. "Overcrowding in Urban Schools." ERIC/Cue Digest 107 (July 1995): 4

Conners, Dennis A. "The School Environment: A Link to Understanding Stress. Theory

Rivera-Batiz, Francisco L. & Lillian Marti. A School System at Risk: A Study of the

U.S. House Department Policy Committee, Richard A Gephardt, Democratic Leader. "Overcrowding in American Classrooms." (11 Sept 1997): 4 pp. On-line.

Weinstein, C. S. "The Physical Environment of the School." Review of Educational