Two Weeks

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I love my job. I love my profession. I love what I do. I love getting paid to do what I do best: teach, educate, guide, inspire, influence, shape, mold, produce. It brings untold joy, even though there are days that I feel like beating my head against the wall in frustration. Teaching is hard, challenging, and difficult to do well. But it is oh so rewarding to see the fruits of my labours.

But there is one part of my job that I don't particularly enjoy: the comments, sometimes cruel, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, made by others not in my profession. This poem by Taylor Mali is often how I wish to respond to some of the more obnoxious things that I hear from my friends.


Right about the time May comes around, I hear a really silly statement from people not in education:
Gee, teachers are so lucky! They get paid for a full year but only have to work for nine months! It must be so nice to have three months of paid vacation every year!
I wish I had three months of vacation! Teaching is exhausting, and I desperately need the time to recharge my mental, emotional, and physical batteries before going once more into the maelstrom that is elementary education. However, while I have three months during which I am not working directly with students, but here's my summer schedule:

May 28: Last Day of School
June 3-6, 10-13: STEM Enrichment Camp
June 17-21: Chancellor's Academy
June 22-July 5: Vacation
July 6-13: Lake Guardian Workshop
July 19-25: Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute
July 30-31: INTC STEM Conference for New Teachers
August 3: Moving Day
August 5-15: Prepare Classroom and Materials
August 16,19: Opening Institute Days
August 20: First Day of School

So yeah, there are some three- and four-day weekends this summer, but, honestly? I am currently in week two of my two-week vacation.

The next obvious question you probably have is this: Okay, so what are you doing during your vacation?

Well, we went on a weekend trip to Washington, Illinois, to visit my parents and a few of my brothers and their families. It was delightful. We went fishing, we ate delicious food, and we played fun games. Immediately upon returning, Gretch and I began packing more of our stuff. (Note that we are moving on August 3 but I am gone most of July.) Last Saturday we went with my in-laws to Arthur, Illinois, to watch the fireworks display they hold each year. It was amazing! I've decided that small towns do the best fireworks displays anywhere!

This week we are doing more packing. That is, when we aren't going to the DMV so I can renew my driver's license, or going to the store late at night to get more packing tape, or when Gretch isn't in a meeting for Relief Society or I am not tutoring. It is going to be a crazy, packed summer, but it is all worth it!

Comments

William Reger said…
I long for the day when I will be more than a quasi-legalistic familial term in your account. When will I be named!?!?!?
July 2, 2013 at 9:28 AM
Alex T. Valencic said…
I have a strict policy of not naming anyone other than blog authors in posts, unless I have been given explicit permission. It is not my place to choose where and when to splatter someone's name all over the Internet! If you wish, I will start referring to you by name, but please remember that this is a public blog.
July 2, 2013 at 9:30 AM
William Reger said…
Oh. Well. Never mind.
July 5, 2013 at 9:22 PM
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