How many summers have you looked back on to say to yourself, “Where did it go?” only to quickly answer yourself, “Work.” ? Of course there is always some fun thrown into summer, but too many teachers’ summers are gone before they began because this is the one time of year you can actually easily attend PD, catch up on projects from the previous year, and work on new projects for the upcoming year.

I am glad to announce:  Not this summer!  I started the summer leaving town for four days to visit family, vowing only to work on Tuesday’s, and committed to finishing house projects before school projects.  I know a few of you are already chuckling and wondering, “So how’s that working for you?”

Well upon returning from our trip to the beach (visiting daughter and son-in-law), I decided only Tuesdays wasn’t too realistic with all the existing projects pending due dates.  So I quickly changed this to working the month of May and starting “Tuesday Only” in June. Today, Friday, June 5th I returned home from school after 4:00.  Ok, so that isn’t working for me yet. But surely I’ve finished some home projects.  Well not unless you count bringing home paint swatches and purchasing a chair from a consignment shop.

I guess I should be pretty frustrated at this point seeing as I’m entering my third week of summer without sticking to any of my summer plans.  But I’m not. Why?  I’m a teacher, and teachers can’t just turn work on and off because it’s summertime.  

Sure I love going in late, working from home, and not working full weeks. I love planning for next year to be the best year ever!  I love creating new activities to stretch students’ brains as far as they can possibly stretch.  And I love learning even more through my PLN and PD.  I love being a teacher because it is more than a job; it is one of society’s vital organs!