As I am sure some of you can attest, being a teacher is a very time-consuming job. From late August to early June, we spend a significant amount of time at school doing, well...teacher things. I usually start my day at 6:00-6:30 and am one of the first to arrive at my school in the morning. I am not a morning person so you can imagine that it's sheer force of will that gets me there with a pretend smile on my face. From the first bell to the last bell we bust our tails making magic within the walls of our classroom. On conference nights we stay late until well after dark meeting parents, hearing concerns, and making plans to alleviate student issues. We spend time making calls to praise and work with parents. We create lessons, refine plans, and correct work. What it all boils down to, is that great teachers are hard workers.
If you haven't heard it, there is an old joke that goes "What are a teachers favorite months?" The answer is June, July, and August. I don't think it was a teacher who came up with that joke, just another person who likely has little understanding about what teachers really do. For one thing, I don't get paid for those months. My contract runs through the school year and I'm only being paid for those months. Like many other teachers (I've been surprised by the number of recent articles about this) I work a second job during the summer. In my ten years of teaching, I've only ever really taken off one summer when my daughter was less than a year old. Almost every teacher I know in my school has a side hustle - painting houses, doing yard work, bartending, waitressing, golf caddy, and I even know a few who give blood throughout the year to get a little extra money. Those of us not working an actual job are bettering ourselves through educational opportunities or spending time outside of contract hours refining our craft (or learning a new curriculum like I am this summer).
Even though I spend so much time working, my favorite moments are spent with my two kids. Jacob is twelve years old and Ellie is five years old. I'm lucky enough to have a summer "side hustle" that only involves a couple of hours a day during the summer and can be done in spare moments throughout the day. So, my kids basically get my full attention for three months during the summer. That means we go on hikes, swim, take day trips, make art, read, and basically jam as much as we can into those three precious months. It is fantastic.
Sometimes I need to remind myself that how we spend our time is something that's worth considering on a daily basis. Thinking about what is really important and prioritizing your actions based on that is something that everyone needs to consider. The power of saying "no" is something that I've learned in the last few years and it's helped me be a better steward of my time for sure. I find ways to work the mundane around what I really want to do every day and squeeze every ounce out of my summer days. It's important to me that I spend time with my kids, re-energize myself, and increase my level of happiness.
If you ever feel overwhelmed or burdened by your work life, I encourage you to step back, take a breath, and reconsider how you spend your time.
Ben,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the issue of the general population having a misconception about the way teachers are paid. It has long surprised me that people think we get paid for being off during the summer - and ha! That's never true. I, too, have always had a summer job, mentoring positions, working concession stands on the side (untill I started my EDS), after school jobs, administerting the ACT test every time, and keeping up with 2 children as a single mom. And as for summers...well it has been a series of training, professional development, book studies, etc. throughout my 25 years as a teacher.
I also don't think that the average population understands that we are required to do all of the "at school" functions, PTA (or whatever parent-teacher association) meetings, open house, parent conferences, phone calls, extra-curricular coaching, tuturing outside of school hours, etc. etc. etc. Additionally, we cannot leave the school without permission and signing in/out. We cannot go to the bathroom as needed and every thing we do is in the eye of the pubic opinion, even personal. When I taught elementary school, one of the kindergarten teachers said we live in a professional prison. I was so young, that it took me a while to understand what that meant.
I do love and appreciate my job, but the misconceptions people have about education and being a teacher are very annoying sometimes. I completely agree that my time with my two children have always been special and precious to me, and they are what really make my life whole. I have to admit that many, many students over the years hold a special place in my heart as well. They are precious and have nothing to do with the "outside noise" that aggravates us. The students also make me happy and they are the reason I love my job!
This was an awesome post Ben!
Philomena :)
Thank you! It's amazing what presumptions people make about others. The comment from your fellow teacher about being in professional prison is an interesting one. And I will agree with you that my students are what keep me going most years.
DeleteI was just talking to my husband about this earlier this month. He works a full time job, is finishing his degree, and works as a youth pastor, all on top of having a 5 month old daughter. I reminded him that his time was valuable and although he has many responsibilities he needed to allocate time to each and make it known what time he could spend on an activity. Thankfully his classes are over for the summer and we finally have some time to breath!
ReplyDeleteThat time is so crucial - I look at my kids sometimes and I wish I could slow down time a little bit. It seems like just yesterday I was building a daddy water park in my backyard for my four year old son...
DeleteBen, thank you for your post! I'm lucky enough to be able to spend time with my family during the summer without working, but I'm shocked to hear that you have three months off! We have almost exactly two months of summer break where I live, and I pack in as many trips and excursions as I can. Once school starts again (the first week of August, this year) we'll be busy with karate, piano, scouts, clarinet, full-time work, and school.
ReplyDeleteA counselor at my school recently told me that we need to plan more evening events for working parents, that we need to work in the evenings more to support students whose parents work full-time. I couldn't help wondering, though, if we're working long hours supporting students whose parents work all of the time, whose responsibility is it to support our children?
Melissa,
DeleteIt's not quite three months, but pretty darn close. My contract runs from the few days of August to the first week in June. I think your thought of "whose responsibility is it to support our children" is an important one. I work in a school where we are fairly well supported and I've had colleagues cover for me at times so I could attend my own children's events. Those late nights are the hardest and I feel like a balance is necessary to make it work properly.
This is my first summer spent not working during the summer and that's only because I just had a baby at the end of May. I already know that things are going to be very different when I return from my maternity leave in October. I usually stay an hour or so after work to grade, lesson plan, make copies, etc but now I'll be counting down the minutes until I can go home to my baby girl. It's so easy to get caught up in other things during the school year especially when you care for your students and put effort into making sure you are being the best teacher you can be. This post is a great reminder to keep things in perspective because time goes by too fast!
ReplyDeleteAdding new kiddos to the mix always changes perspectives! Congratulations on the baby! It's all about finding balance...and in my opinion being selfish with your out of contract hours is not a bad thing.
DeleteWell said Ben. I wish everyone could walk a year in a teacher's shoes. I truly enjoy my summers off with my kids, but I also really love what I do. Like you, I'm not a morning person and yet I am one of the first to arrive at school, so I feel like I should get an award for that. :) My last 5 years of summer have been wrapped in getting my bachelors, setting up my classroom, and now earning my masters. I so, so, so look forward to next summer where I can truly relax and recharge my brain.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of getting an early bird award! I think it's a lot easier for people to judge others based on preconception or misinformation (or a few bad apples) than to actually do the sometimes difficult work of investigating what's really going on or searching out the truth. I have friends who seem to get amnesia during the summer when they tell me how lucky I am to have summers off, I'm usually quick to point out to them that most teachers are still putting hours in after that last bell rings in June.
ReplyDelete