May 12, 2010
19
and we’re below 20 people. Someone asked me today if I had another job during the summers. The simple answer is no, so that’s what I give people because it’s less complicated. This dude says “Yea, that’s why you’re a teacher, for the summer’s off, that’ll change when you have kids.” Dude, you don’t know me at all so how bout let’s not make judgement calls about why I went into teaching or make implications at what kind of teacher I must be if I enjoy having some time off. (And dude, if I had kids, I would want to spend time at home with them, not at a second job missing out on them all summer. No money would be worth missing my child’s life unless it were a matter of homelessness and starvation.)
Because a) the long explanation is that there isn’t TIME for another job because of all the workshops and lesson planning I have to do. It’s impossible to find someone to hire you for 9 weeks, when you have demands like, I need these 4 dates in June off, and then 2 whole weeks in July because, you know, I’m going to an AP workshop in Tampa. Fat chance. b) I work around the clock the other 10 months of the year and really need a week to relax, since I gave up my spring break to take students on a trip and then gave up the next 3 weekends to take students to competitions and go to training, and haven’t taken a real personal day (not a sick one) since NOVEMBER. c) going into teaching for the money and the summers off would make me Stupid with a capital S. d) I went into teaching because I love the Spanish language and wanted to impart the love to children. I was lofty, like most are, and wanted to motivate students to learn, try new things. I wanted to give back to the community that I grew up in, because I don’t believe in abandoning the place you came from. That’s not the way to make things better. These are some of the reasons I went into education. Notice summer anywhere, I didn’t think so. It’s the only time I have to revamp my lessons, and doggoneit, every single year I DO reinvent myself so that I can stay on the “cutting edge” of language acquisition theory.
I’m really certain “dude” didn’t mean to set me off, and I didn’t say anything to him, just sorta blinked and walked away, but I’m so sick of listening to people bash teachers, without any background knowledge, and then accuse them of being in it for the “vacation” time and the money. Yea, like I’m rolling in the dough over here.
