What I Do On My Summer Vacation

I love being a teacher. I love the kids, the classroom energy, the connection to the community, the cycles of the year – and summer vacations. Students aren’t the only ones asked about what they did on their summer breaks. A summer break is one of the best perks of being a teacher and I treasure it.

During the school year, I try to strike a balance between work, family, and everything else but school still gets the biggest chunk of time. I spend hours in the classroom with the kids. I come in early and stay latel. Yet, schoolwork doesn’t remain in the schoolhouse. I go home and read, grade, plan, make phone calls and do countless other school related tasks. Teaching is not a job that can be left at work – even during the summer. I spend a significant amount of time doing schoolwork over the summer.

I try to amortize my summer free time into the school year. I complete many of the tasks that I would otherwise need to do during the school year. I do about 80% of my planning during the summer. I create handouts and schedules. I prepare literature units and activities. I go over my students’ end of the year feedback with a fine-tooth comb. I revise, add and delete, restructure and reinvent. I take a few hours a day to do school work so that I can have those hours for my family and myself during the school year.

I go day to day for each my classes and look at how things worked during the past year and what changes are needed for the year ahead. I completely prepare materials for the first few weeks of school. I plan the first semester as completely as possible.

The best laid plans of teachers and compulsive people often go astray. My plans are not fixed in concrete. However, I find it easier to revise plans than to build them on the fly. Sometimes I have to throw them away and start over but more often, they need some tailoring and tweaking. This summer works creates free time for me during the school year.

Summer is also a time for me to be a student. I have taken courses on everything from gifted education to technology to American literature. I take on the big projects like revising my website, finding new texts and writing new curricula. I try my hand at blogging. I learn a lot during the summer.

The best part of summer is that I spend time with my family. We go to museums and parks, take short “overnighters” and see movies, plays and concerts. We have a great time together. My kids have their own activities and I spend a large portion of my summer sitting in the stands of baseball and volleyball games as well as schlepping them from classes, camps, and other events.

My children go to overnight camp and that gives my wife and me the opportunity to travel. It is delightful to have time for just the two of us. We hiked in the Rocky Mountains this year and it was fantastic.

The summer gives me a chance to pursue a long list of tasks that are set aside during the school year. I organize, clean, build, plan, buy, and work on a long list of home improvement projects.

I read and relax, spend too much time on the computer, and go to lunch and dinners with friends. I saw a ton of people this summer and gained a lot of weight with them.

My summer vacation is full. I use a good chunk of it for school, and a larger chunk for those things that don’t get their fair share during the school year. Summer vacation balances the school year’s frenetic pace. It is the reset button that makes the school cycle possible.