Dear Summer Sing,
It's been a good week! I teach at Lansing High School, and our graduation was this past Friday, June 26, which means that this was my first week of summer break! Woo hoo! That first week of summer always feels extra good.
We public school teachers tend to get mixed responses from people when it comes to the breaks that are built into our schedule. Some people say teachers deserve to have these breaks and should enjoy them and be grateful. Others say students should be in school year round for their academic growth and to fit parents' work schedules, and that schools/teachers are just lazy and out of touch for not making it happen. Others note that this is why teachers tend to make less money than other professional jobs - we're only being paid for the time we work. This last one is technically true, actually. Public school teachers are 10 month employees, so we aren't technically being paid for the summers.
Personally, it feels like a requirement for me to continue being good at my job. I need the mental and physical break from the teaching schedule; I can feel my productivity, creativity, and patience with students start to dwindle away if it's been too long since I've had a break from teaching.
I can't help but think that everyone needs these breaks, and teachers are just some of the lucky ones who get them. Even summers when I was younger and I had to work all summer doing a different job to make enough money for rent, etc., it still felt like a great break from my teaching job because I was doing something different. I wish everyone got these longer breaks from the regular routine.
I hope that Summer Sing is a kind of a break for all of you - a chance to replenish yourself and do something that feels good! You are all such a lovely group of people.
See you on Wednesday!
All the best,
Katie
