Everywhere I go (work, home, work, home, work, home… rinse, lather, repeat), people ask me if I’m ready for school to start.
Turns out there is such a thing as a stupid question.
No, I’m not ready.
What I’m ready for is summer to last forever.
Forever. Which I understand is a very long time.
Who doesn’t love summer? Especially if you work at a school.
The warm weather, time to golf, vacations, wearing shorts to “work”, mowing (okay, bad example… at least after the first mow), and best of all… a monthly paycheck.
If you didn’t get this, let me say it (or type it) again.
They pay me… and I’m NOT working with the teachers or students.
Let’s all take a moment to comprehend this little nugget.
Pay, but no work (not “regular” work… still plenty to do).
Basically it’s stealing. Actually there is no basically about it.
It’s stealing.
Not with a gun, but with a Master’s Degree.
If you know teenagers who are undecided about what they want to do with their lives, I have a suggestion for them.
They want to be…
… ME.
My work consists of being around kids (better than adults), going to games (better than a real job), and working shorter hours in the summer (it’s like I stopped aging at 12).
I’m living the dream.
This doesn’t mean everything about my job is perfect. Trust me, it isn’t.
But I do get to wear shorts in the summer (did I mention students and teachers are not around), so that makes up for a lot of the troubles during the school year.
I think as educators we do a terrible job at expressing what great jobs we have.
It’s easy for us to fall into complaint mode and point out the negatives of our profession.
The worst thing is we do this in front of our students.
We complain and complain until we have convinced the very best and brightest students that working in education is not something they should pursue.
Instead of promoting careers in teaching, we discourage them.
I am here to break the cycle.
Education is the best job ever. And I mean ever.
So this year, I think everyone should follow this rule: if you can’t say anything nice about education, don’t say anything at all (I just made that up).
To review… people ask me if I’m ready for the regular routine of school after 2 ½ months of working alone.
Answer. No.
Reason. I love summer.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t love my job during the school year.
It just means I love getting paid while wearing shorts a little better.
Lisa Parisi
on Aug 8th, 2009
@ 9:05 am:
I’m with you. I love my job but really love summer. Even if I spend some of summer time reading educational (or not so educational) blogs like yours.
I do believe summer might be the best part of the job.
Maryann Molishus
on Aug 8th, 2009
@ 9:16 am:
I love the summer parts of summer. But I also love the teachery things (I just made that up) I do in the summer that I can’t get to as much as I want during the school year, like reading, reflecting, planning and changing my plans, browsing through projects and Web sites that I want to include, attending professional events, conducting professional development events, etc. Hey, wait a minute–was I “off this summer”???
Deven Black
on Aug 8th, 2009
@ 9:34 am:
I’m with you, too, even though I spend a lot of time finding resources, learning new curricula, planning units, reflecting on the prior year and discussing teaching with my PLN colleagues on Twitter.
All of that, perhaps with the exception of the Twitter/PLN thing, is part of my job, the part there isn’t enough time to do as competently during the school year, so I don’t feel the slightest bit of guilt that I do this work in shorts and sandals and, when working at home, outside on my front porch, sometimes at night because I’ve spent the day having other kinds of fun.
I tell my students that being a teacher is a fantastic job and that — unlike some of my colleagues — I’ve done lots of other challenging job and have a frame of reference.
Enjoy the rest of your summer; I’m surely enjoying mine.
Asst. Principal
on Aug 8th, 2009
@ 11:44 pm:
Good work.
This should help new principals – and they need all the help they can get.
Joseph Levno
on Aug 12th, 2009
@ 5:25 am:
Love your sense of humor! You’re on my blogroll… it’s hard to imagine anyone with an ounce of common sense (and another ounce of good humor) who wouldn’t enjoy your blog posts. Amen to this (meaning school administratorship) being the best job in the world. Teaching comes pretty close. I would add that being an INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR is even better… amazing fringe benefits, huge savings potential in many places (due to low costs of living in underdeveloped countries), new cultures to interact with, service projects for some of the most needy in the world, amazing golf courses, longer Christmas holidays, SUMMER VACATIONS close to some of the most beautiful areas of the world… the list goes on!
Lyn
on Aug 12th, 2009
@ 5:09 pm:
I was just considering how amazing it is that we get paid to show up in the summer and live the dream of wandering the newly-waxed floors without the scuffs of childrens’ shoes or the gripes of a faculty member coming from around the corner, actually crossing off things on those to-do lists, and 3:00 golf outings with colleagues.
I agree we need to celebrate the beauty of this profession! (And not just for the reasons I listed above or because you get to wear shorts).
This job is brilliant!