Me and my wife (4th grade teacher) were talking to a neighbor who mentioned a good resort that she believed we would like. Interestingly, it was suggested that we don’t work in the summer.
I could see my wife cringe a little as she explained that we do work in the summer but it is just a lot more flexible. So I started digging through my calendar and was surprised to see that nearly every week there were formal, work related events. That does not include the reflection and revisions necessary to prepare the new units for the upcoming year (by the way, just sent in my first module in psychology to the print shop - ready to go). A week long training is coming up and then room prep, community event, district orientation and movie night. Not to mention the first football games of the year.
You call that not working? Well, it is enjoyable work and that is why we choose to do it. However, here is the big question: does one show the well intended neighbor the calendar? What would you do?
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Thanks and have a great week!
Mike Ward
That is a tough one. I feel like when non-teachers make the comment that we don’t work in the sunmmer, as innocent as it may be, we need to continue to be an advocate for our profession. Kindly tell them that many of us work actual second jobs in the summer. Those of us who don’t, still work. If we’re not doing school related work, maybe we’re conducting union business. Perhaps people are parenting, providing great experiences with their own children that can be connected to the classroom. And let’s not forget the professional development we try and complete in the summer so as not to disrupt our classrooms during the school year. My teaching partner and I talk almost…