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The Myth of Having Summers Off
July 8, 2009 | Heather Wolpert-G..."So, you're a teacher, huh?" says the umpteenth Joe Know-It-All. I know the tone, and I know what's coming next: "Must be nice having summers off," he sneers. I don't know what mythical job this guy thinks I have, but I have never had a summer off.
And I'm not sure who these teachers are who are supposedly lying around all summer sipping sangrias without a thought of prepping for the year before them. But I'm not one of them. In fact, is there really a "them"?
Bottom line is that every year since entering teaching, I have seen some of the busiest summer months of my life.
This is for many reasons:
- I work summer school. Hey, who doesn't need the moolah? And it's not just about the hours I spend with students; it's also the hours I need to spend prepping for them. I develop the lesson plans and set up my learning environment for a whole new slew of students that I'll have for only a month or so.
- I attend or lead department and curriculum meetings scheduled during July and August.
- I develop and improve the curriculum that may, or may not, have worked over the school year. Summer is the only chunk of time to reflect and tweak those lessons.
- I build a library of new lessons, because, let's face it, I sure as heck don't have a lot of time to do that during a year packed full of high-energy, tightly paced, overscheduled days.
- I learn the new technology or new curriculum programs I've been given. Once again, summer is the only time to learn them. Case in point: my interactive whiteboard. I received mine in the fall, right at the start of school. I have been learning it as I go, but what with that little full-time gig I have that's called teaching, I have had time to explore only the tip of the iceberg. Summer will, hopefully, be my chance to revisit the training modules, explore the online assistance, create better flip charts, and further integrate the board.
- I train new teachers.
- I explore my own professional development. After all, those units also bump me along on the pay scale. And currently, my only option to get a raise is by spending my own money first, right?
- I lick my wounds. It's true. By the end of the year, teachers are limping toward "vacation." And do the math: If you teach summer school, you have only the weekend between the end of school and the beginning of summer school to take a breath. By the end of summer school, you have only three weeks or so until the start of the new school year. And those weeks are filled moving your students' desks from the pile in the middle of the room, putting up your bulletin boards, shoving shelves back into place, and planning, prepping, preparing, and scabbing over.
Back to my pal Joe Know-It-All: I really should've asked him whether he wanted to spend his year doing what I do. I spend my days, my hours, and my minutes existing at the pace of a middle school student. Frankly, I deserve some time off after that. But the fact is, not only do I not get it, I don't know how I would ever function with it.
After all, thinking like a teacher never ends. And when you love teaching, you can't just turn it off at the end of June.
You still continue to search for books in every store to replenish your classroom library. When a big news story comes out, you still seek out the New York Times to use as a primary resource to refer to in upcoming years. You pick up props and realia to supplement your lesson plans. You attend conferences or seminars to learn new strategies in order to fill in gaps that might exist in your current curriculum units.
The fact is, we need the breaks we get in order to do the job that we do ten months of the year. And the other two months are spent doing other parts of the job.
Civilians don't realize the toll teaching takes on a person -- on their energy and on their appearance, even. You ever see the pictures of a president before his term began and after his term ended? Well, teaching is kind of like that. Adult humans aren't built to spend their days with hundreds of children each day. It takes a lot out of an adult to have their antennae up so high, so often, and so consistently.
And yet, we have troops of people willing to return to the classroom year after year, with no summer break, just for the honor of calling themselves teachers.
The least those civilians can do is acknowledge that while their children are at summer camp, giving them a break from parenting, we intend to do what we always do: be teachers.
How are you spending these summer days preparing for the next school year? We'd love to hear from you!
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Comments (171)
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You see that is just it, and
You see that is just it, and I speak only to those teachers (not the level-headed ones who have responded calmly in this forum) who so obviously have their knickers in a knot - the very fact that you can't conceive of people in this world making under 150k and still working long hours SPEAKS VOLUMES about the insular society you've created for yourself, seemingly thought-wise and socially-speaking. You have dug yourselves so deep into a hole of self-pity that it seems you have no care to get yourselves out. The very fact that at least twice it has been mentioned that teachers are "human beings" too again SPEAKS VOLUME. Who indicated otherwise? Point out one statement or reference made that would depict a teacher as being less than a human being? Again, that is the problem - blatant over-sensitivity because your position is rightly being scrutinized by the people whose children you teach and who pay your salaries.
I sat with a group of friends the other day - a clinical psychologist, a human resourses person, a small business entrepreneur, and myself a writer - all who are highly educated, work long hours, make under 150k, and WHO DON'T GET THEIR SUMMERS OFF. One of them said "too bad to have so little time off in the summer". Another replied, "Oh, to be a teacher." Everyone there agreed. I just smiled.
If we worked those hours and
If we worked those hours and didn't make at least 150K we'd just be in a silly world. Most people do not work from 7am to 6pm. Get real.
Scott, I am truly sorr that
Scott, I am truly sorr that you are so angry.
How can you say that they
How can you say that they don't work hard, gain experience and sacrifice a lot of time. Yes, they have summers, but that doesn't mean that they don't work hard.
I think that you mistake the
I think that you mistake the word vacation. We are contract workers. We are contracted to work for 185, 190, 200, 170... days. Vacation is paid. If you mean time off, than yes we have more time away from our jobs. Please become a teacher, if you think it is so easy.
Responding to yet another perturbed teacher
Or perhaps change your hours to 7am - 6pm and join the real world. 9 to 5 is a factory worker's mentality.
Teachers are not paid for
Teachers are not paid for vacations. They are only paid for the days that they work. It is a huge bonus to have summers off, but we are not paid for it.
The teachers are not paid for
The teachers are not paid for any of the vacation time that you mention. They are not contracted to work those hours.
Yes, they leave at 3:30 or 4, but in most districts they are there at 7 or 8... sometimes even 6:30. I am personally at school from 6:45 until 2:45. I leave at 2:45 so that I may pick up my own children. By leaving at 2:45, I will be spending time at home on school work.
Also, they are leaving, but where are they going? How big is the bag they are carrying? Are they coaching? Are they going to PD? Are they working on a curriculum team? Just because they are leaving doesn't mean that they are not done working.
Hefty pension? I pay 11% of my salary into that hefty pension. This would go down to 6.2% of my salary if I paid into Social security, I would save 4.8%. Plus, my district currently pays 2% into my pension. If I move to Social Security, they have to pay 6.2%. This is a difference of 4.2%. So, in essence, we save the taxpayers money by having a pension system. I also am unable to collect my husband's social security because I have a pension.
Sometimes I think that we
Sometimes I think that we should change our day from 7 to 3 into 9 to 5. It would take away the perception that we don't work a full day.
It sounds like you are very
It sounds like you are very fortunate. Our gifted program was cut. We also don't have an individual aid for a student with special needs.
"retest teachers periodically": Why? I have taken and passed the PSATs, SATs, GREs, WV teacher test, NY teacher test, MA Math teacher test, MA teacher test, MA Engineering teacher test, etc... How many more tests must I take to prove that I can teach?
"let them be held accountable to their students, their peers, the school board, and us parents at a high standard.": We are held accountable: every day.
Business versus teaching: try having your products talk back to you and have an opinion the next time you are creating them.
"receptive to feedback": remember, we receive feedback from everyone. Many of the parents are not skilled in the education field or knowledgeable. Plus, people are generally out of the field of education for at least 20+ years prior to having a child in the school system. Do you think the ideas of someone who sat in a classroom years ago, a person that may or may not have had an interest in education, might be out of touch with how to educate a child?
Sitting in a classroom doesn't mean that a person knows how to teach or what it takes to educate a child. This goes for former students that are now parents and teachers.