A Deserved Break?

We all know teaching is not for the faint of heart but we've all heard people gripe and complain about how teachers get the summer off. All of a sudden, teaching becomes a pie job! Teachers need to have summers because they have one of the most important jobs! Taking care of our kids. Teaching them about life and their future careers. Not to mention, sleep! Do you know the typical working hours of a teacher? I don't think there are any because teachers are always working. If you're a teacher, I'm sure that you've seen the sun come up and the sun go down on many occasions. Teachers are sitting at their desks grading papers, giving extra help for tests or projects, reviewing college essays, attending staff meetings or parent teacher conferences. You can't do those things while kids are in the classroom so, the only time life is before school begins or after it ends for the day. That's a lot of hours that we're at home sleeping and relaxing after a tiring day that wasn't spent in the classroom. Teachers also need the Summer to have some time to themselves! If you have kids or have ever been around kids, you see that they are pretty needy people right? They don't want to be left alone so they probably figure that you don't either. Personal space or personal time? What's that? 

To one kid that could be all the time, imagine that times ten or twenty. There's no time to yourself when fifteen fifth graders are involved. They also need days to spend time with their own family and friends. By the time teachers go in before the sun rises and they may not get home until the sun sets they probably don't get to spend a lot of time with their own kids, spouses, parents, siblings or even friends for that matter. Summer vacation opens up the schedule to read the bed time stories, head over to mom's for a few days or even just have a nice dinner with their partner. Teachers also need time to set the books down and decompress for a few weeks. Step away from the red pen and lesson plans and think of something else.

 However, after a few weeks away it's good for them to have fresh eyes looking at their lesson plans and making adjustments when thinking back to how things may not have gone to plan last year. Pulling the text books out and having time to make improvements will create a better experience in the year to come for both the teacher and the students. Summer vacation is also a time that a lot of teachers find secondary income. It's a well known fact and belief that teachers are not paid what they should be paid even though they carry degrees and some even Master's yet, they are in the most underpaid position in America. So, when a teacher cannot find the time during their ten hour work day during the school year to work another job, the only time that's left is the Summer!

 Teachers also take their Summer vacation as a time to improve their specialty. They will often sign up for classes, courses or conferences to gain more knowledge to further their education which in turns furthers the education of their students. In all honesty, the list could go on for days of the benefits of Summer vacation and why teachers deserve to have time off along with their students but these few reasons speak for themselves. Teachers deserve time to recharge, spend time with family, better their lesson plans and better their own education. Summer vacation may be filled with a day or two at the beach but it's also filled with self care and teachers deserve all the care that they can get!

Have a great summer!!