Teacher on break…What day is it?

When people ask a teacher, “Do you have big plans this Summer?”, do they really expect there to be some grand 2 month long extravaganza Bali style? Do they picture their kids teachers to come back to school in August looking like they spent the entire break, lounging in a beach chair, under a palm tree, sipping on drinks from a coconut with tiny paper umbrellas while the surf rhythmically rolls in and out over the sand at our feet? Gee, what kind of dream world do they think we live in? I mean seriously, I’m a teacher, in Texas, for public school.

You know what this teacher is doing this summer, sleeping, binging tv shows I missed out on during the school year, drinking coffee before it gets cold, going to the bathroom whenever I want, and not rushing through my lunch at lightning speed. No one is micromanaging my day or judging my decisions. I am forcing myself to take the month of June completely off, because very soon, my mind will start obsessing about what’s to come this next year. We need this time to recover, recoup, & relax. Teaching is HARD and we don’t get paid anywhere near what we deserve, and don’t even get me started on how little our absolutely necessary Paraprofessionals get paid. I had a comment on my end of the year Facebook post recently that said they were irritated from hearing about how the teacher in their life was “End of the year tired” because how hard could it really be? Sadly I wasn’t surprised by the comment, disappointed yes, surprised no. I pointed out in a private message to this person all of the statistics, negative aspects, lack of consequences for bad behavior, and lack of support by administrators. I got really high up on that soapbox, then took a deep breath, or 10, and deleted my response. Because in the end, I’m just tired. After a long school year, I didn’t have it in me to argue. Nothing I could have said would have made a difference in this person’s opinion.

Teachers need their Summer break, I need my Summer break, and so do the kids. In a little over a week, July will be here and yes I will still be enjoying hot coffee and reading a novel for fun, but I will also be starting to map out what next school year might look like. Planning activities that will keep my students engaged and learning. But most importantly, I will begin organizing my thoughts on how to show my students that I am there for them. The kids are why I chose to be a teacher, it’s not just my job, it’s a big part of who I am.

To my fellow teachers, spend your break doing whatever you need to do to rest and remember your “Why”. Take care of you first, we need you. ❤️