Summer is almost here. People in the general public complain or joke all the time about teacher’s having all this time off in the summer, but I really think some kind of time off from teaching is necessary.
First of all, I’m not getting paid for the time off- as in I still get paychecks for time already worked during the school year, thankfully, but the time off is NOT a paid vacation. Nor is it fully a vacation- I’m still in and out of the school over the summer, doing training things and working in my classroom (cleaning up in June, going in throughout August to set up). And I work at home- for me specifically, this includes reading, selecting, and mapping out my plans for plays for the coming school year as well as getting organized and re-evaluating my lessons and course structure.
Am I constantly doing this over the summer? No- I work at a nice, leisurely pace… set my own schedule, take some time off to visit friends or clean my house or cook an actual meal- stuff I don’t have time to do during the whirlwind of the school year. And some summers I take college classes. Some teachers have second jobs during the summer. While I have been relatively unsuccessful in finding a real job in the summer, I still do summer theatre.
And I have time away from teenagers. Which means I come back in the fall, not wanting to wring their necks. Trust me- time away is needed. So yeah, some of it is a vacation… but some of it is just a restructuring of time- still doing work, but doing different kinds of work. And on my own schedule. I cannot stress the joy that bubbles up inside of me at the thought of setting my own hours. And being able to work from the comfort of my couch or whilst basking in the sun on my back patio. It’s a very freeing feeling, both in terms of being more relaxed as well as opening the floodgates of creativity (without being inhibited by unruly students who wear me down because I have to put more time and effort into disciplining them rather than educating them).
In other words, summer is very, very nice.
I also have time to work on my music library, finding and organizing my songs. Just like how as a director and actor, I like to find music that corresponds with certain scenes, I enjoy soundtracking my own life. Right now, I’m pretty into the following two songs for the summer:
The first one appeals to my indie, funky hipster side-
Foster the People Pumped Up Kicks
The other is more has more of a cool hip-hop dance feel-
Super Bass Nicki Minaj
I got a smoothie as an after work, almost summer treat today. I LOVE smoooooothies. Each day brings me a little closer to summer, which makes me happy. I can feel myself getting more relaxed. It will be nice to step out of the teacher role for a little while, and just allow me a little be of time to focus on me.
calicocas 