I've fielded the same question about a dozen times over the last two weeks, and I suspect many of my colleagues are in the same boat. Maybe my colleagues have fought the urge to loudly and obnoxiously point out the inaccurate assumptions made by this question just like I have as well... "So, are you glad it's summer break?" The question comes in a few slight variations ("I bet you're glad for summer vacation huh?" "Are you glad to be out of school?") and they all make inaccurate assumptions. Inaccurate assumption #1: Once kids are done with their regularly scheduled school year, I am also done with my regularly scheduled school year. This year, the last day of school for students was Friday June 1. I went to Teacher inservice from Monday June 4 through Thursday June 7th. Also... there is no such thing as a "Regularly scheduled school year" for teachers. Sure, school is in session Monday through Friday, September to June. However, my mind never completely shuts down from school mode, and every summer I make wholesale changes in everything from unit plans to the entire structure of my class. For instance, this summer I am expanding from a 4th quarter trial run of gamifying my class into a full-scale, year long program. To do so, it requires a more individualized and thematic program that I am creating from scratch. Then of course there are parody video ideas, alignment to Standards Based Grading (which I have already written about here and here) and website updates to make, including reflecting on my practice (what up Charlotte Danielson???) here in this blog. Inaccurate assumption #2: Oh, I forgot about in-service, and I guess you probably have to go to school in late August too, but at least you have two and a half months in between, right? Wrong. Summer School started Monday June 11th... 3 days after in-service ended. Summer school is 5 days a week through mid-July, with the exception of a long weekend around the 4th of July holiday. Plus, remember that whole "my mind never completely shuts down from school mode" thing I just mentioned? Yep, still applicable here. Inaccurate assumption #3: Well, at least summer school is easier, right? Yes and no... I teach extension classes that students join by choice, but whether it's their choice or their parents' choice is often up for debate. There are no grades which make things easier in theory, but also provide at least some sense that the class doesn't really matter to the kids. Students have plenty of energy to burn in the summer, and I often struggle to get much productivity out of them when they are asked to do tasks on a computer with no true accountability for the final product. Not to mention the fact that I am a 7th and 8th grade teacher, and one of my summer school sessions is 3rd through 5th grade, adding another challenge. Granted, summer school ends at noon, not 3:15... and YES, I do get paid an extra hourly wage for my time. To sum it up, summer school isn't necessarily "easier" than regular school, it's just different. Maybe if they let me "teach" conditioning class I'd say it was easier though :) Inaccurate assumption #4: I bet you're ready for a break from all those students, right? You think I became a teacher because I want to get away from the kids as soon as possible??? Where is the logic in that? I'm sure once the NBA season ends, everyone says to NBA players "well, at least you don't have to play basketball for awhile"... yeah... right. There might be some teachers out there that don't particularly enjoy working with kids, but I am not one of them. Also, don't you remember I teach over a month of summer school? I'm not getting a break from the students anyway! Inaccurate assumption #5: It must be sweet to get paychecks over the summer while you're not working I could remind you how I AM still working, but by this point it's getting repetitive, so I'll take a different angle and describe a typical week during track season when I get paid my typical salary amount as well, despite missing dinner and bed time with my kids due to away meets, time on the weekends diverted to assessing student work and planning because there is none left on the weekdays, and my wife constantly shuffling her schedule as the best dang realtor in Rock County to accommodate my 60 hour week. A construction worker might get huge checks in the summer when they work ridiculously long hours, then much less in the winter if there is less work to be done. I have the same peaks and valleys in hours, but the checks come in equal amounts. OK... TO BE FAIR: The people that ask me those questions DO make several inaccurate assumptions, but the fact that school is not fully in session for 12 weeks is undeniable. The LAST thing I want to do is be another one of those teachers that seems ungrateful, unsatisfied and unhappy with my profession. In my experience, that attitude hurts the image and perception of teachers, and at this point in time, the image and perception of teachers can't take much more damage. So even though I just told you how wrong you are when you ask me about my summer break...
...sigh... ... you're right. Summer break is more of a break than some teachers care to admit. I mean, I just went into full defensive mode up there telling you how hard teachers work over the summer and all the things I do that turn my "break" into a glorified period of working from home. However, the fact of the matter is I have more time in the summer to relax, get re-charged and do things just for ME. I get to play in the sprinkler and kiddy pool with my kids. I will make new meals and take more of the cooking burden from my lovely wife. I can change the oil in my car. I am training for 3 triathlons in August. I am even a few seasons deep into a Madden 08 Franchise Mode on my PS2 for cryin' out loud! People that assume teachers get 3 months off annoy me. One of the only things that might annoy me more is teachers that look for sympathy by rattling off every "overworked, underpaid" mantra in the book. I don't point out the incorrect assumptions about summer "break" so you can feel sorry for me and call your political representatives to demand better pay for teachers (although if you did, that would be like, really awesome of you)... I do it so you realize my summer probably isn't the vacation many imagine. I don't need your sympathy though, because I biked 10 miles this morning, ate breakfast with my son and made breakfast for my daughter, and this afternoon I think we'll play with some toy cars, go to the park if weather permits, and make some tacos with avocados and black beans... All while Mrs. Honish is able to freely schedule showings. So to all the teachers out there, enjoy your Summer "Breaks", and try not to be too hard on the people that make so many of those incorrect assumptions. To all the students out there, enjoy your Summer Break... no quotation marks needed... you have no idea how much free time you have on your hands right now, or how quickly it will disappear. Because of that, I urge you to not waste the whole summer on video games... ...unless it's Madden 08.
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Dear Class of 2021,
I was too cold on the last day of school. Too emotionless. I didn't properly show all of you what you really meant to me, and I don't know why I didn't. Maybe because I feel like it's my job to hold it together at school. After all, sappiness and sentimentality is not really part of my persona. Plus, there's the unwritten rule that teachers aren't supposed to have favorites. So I'll start with an apology for not finding the time to tell all of you about the impact the Class of 2021 had on my career and my life while we were still at school. I went up to the podium at the awards ceremony with every intention of delivering at least a brief expression of how awesome you really are and how much I will miss you... but when I got to the part where I was going to directly address you all, sitting out there in the center of the auditorium, I froze up. There was an awkward pause and I said "and THAT'S IT" and exited the stage faster than I should have. Since I totally blew my opportunity to address you all in person, I'll try my best to put it all out there now. The thing is, I don't possibly know how to tell all of you everything I'm thinking. I went to the last day of school suppressing lots of different emotions: pride in knowing how much you've all learned, grown and matured, excitement to see what you'll accomplish in high school over the next four years, anxiety about what the school will be like when you're gone, and incredible sadness at the realization that you will not set foot in Room 17 for class again. Summer break is great, don't get me wrong... but the start of this summer break feels like it may have come too soon... due to the undeniable fact that I am not ready to see you go. I haven't felt like this about watching 8th graders transition to high school since my very first class of seventh graders, the graduating class of 2017, moved on from the middle school in 2013. They were my guinea pigs and showed me how much I had to learn about teaching, but also affirmed for me that I had chosen the correct profession. I had never invested so much time, energy, thought, emotion and even real money into a group of 125 people before. Watching them go was harder than I thought it would be. And yet, our middle school is physically attached to our high school. PLUS, administration had me teach a section of Freshman Global Studies in 2013-14. I quickly realized that it was irrational to "miss" the class of 2017... I was actually more than ready to break my ties with them and let them move on to other teachers by the end of their freshman year. Having been through that experience, I figured future 8th grade classes would not cause me much mental or emotional anguish when they inevitably moved on. For 3 straight years I was right... but I already had a feeling it would be different in 2017. I don't know what exactly makes your class stand out so much to me. I have tried to figure it out so many times. Were you smarter than the previous classes? Funnier? Did you work harder? Were you more responsible about turning work in? Were you better behaved? I don't believe any of those things can be objectively judged in a group of 120-something unique individuals directly compared to a different group of 120-something unique individuals. None of those are the reason. To be honest, I still don't know what the reason is... but for WHATEVER reason, I have so many deep bonds with so many kids in your class that it makes it tough when you all walk out the door together one last time. Moving on to high school is natural. I suppose wanting to hold on to all the positives from the last two years is natural too... It just sucks to think that they're no longer daily activities and are instead being shuffled to the memory banks. So here I go, filing them away... into the happiest storage area of my brain. I'll always remember the academic things... the first M.U.N.A.F.L. project, the land bridge, Saving the world from the impending zombie apocalypse, Colonizing Africa, as well as taking the role of Africa's farm families, The first ever season of FANschool, PSA's about what to do with the Amazon Rainforest, Some of the best food in the history of the Cultural Fair, Taking a Europe learning celebration in heavy metal clothing, Debates over which World War II era aircraft or weaponry was best in various scenarios, Study Hall grade checks, Trench Warfare dodgeball, And DBQ Essays! But school... ESPECIALLY middle school... is about so much more than academics. All the little things matter just as much as your academic success. So even more so than everything we learned in the Geography curriculum, I'll remember how we got to know each other as people. I'll remember your interests, your stories, and how you got to know me even better than I got to know you. I'll remember the goofy things, the extracurriculars and the laughs. I'll always remember... Discussions of the NBA's G.O.A.T. with more evidence and reasoning than any school essay, and I remember laughing at the constant assertion that Brian Scalabrine and JaVale McGee belonged in the conversation, Food taxes, and getting generous chunks of Reese's broken off for me, Talking about everything from hip hop to which cars are coolest on bus rides from Brodhead, Coming to 5th hour drenched in sweat because I was a card-carrying member of Team Try Hard at lunch recess football or basketball, The critical advice that before one forms an alliance, one must squad up first, Tristianity, The Peanut Gallery, My fist-bump buddy, The crime-procedural drama called "Betley and Key", The Disney Channel original series called "Abby and JuJu", Quizzes about who's birthday is coming up when, Wagering classcomp points on deep shots with the Nerf hoop, Finding Donald Trump in the Little Rascals, Haircuts like Iceman from Top Gun, Grey's Anatomy parody videos, COUP, Risk, Exploding Kittens, Pandemic, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and every other thing we played in strategy club... and watching "Important Videos" on YouTube when we weren't playing, Cordell's Corner, Twin Life, and everything else from WTMS Channel 17 Season 1, Throwing my own shoulders back and high jumping vicariously through you, An Instagram scavenger hunt at the Milwaukee Public Museum, A night at Club 17 (which I guess could also be considered academic), Writing an iSpy Cold War parody together, Fart noises from the other side of my backyard fence, Playing with my kids at the park and sitting next to them at football games, and perhaps the best way to sum you all up (at least for your 7th grade year)... Happy Adventures I'm sorry we didn't have more time to talk about this when we had the time at school, but I do truly appreciate all the gratitude and emotion many of you shared with me before the year ended. At first i made me feel worse about not sharing everything on my mind when I had you all sitting right in front of me, but in the end it is what inspired me to write this and make sure you knew how I felt. Even compiling a list this long, there's no way I got even close to everything I love about you all. What did I miss? Comment below... I'd like to make sure that the files in my memory are as full as possible now that these will no longer be daily activities for us. |
AuthorJohn Honish: Archives
June 2021
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