I Deserve My Summer Vacation

I was pretty mad yesterday. Like, angry mad, not crazy mad. Not a lot of things actually make me angry, you know. I can see some of you rolling your eyes, but it’s true. I just look like I’m angry. I can’t help it, it’s just my resting face.

Jeremy Renner has an A+ resting face. Also, he's adorable.

But anyways, here’s what happened:

A comment was made on a friend's Facebook status about having to work the day after Halloween and it went like this: “You get summers off and all that vacation time!”

Pardon me while I slap you via the internet.

First off, the complaint was not that she had to work, but that she had to work the day after Halloween.

Okay, do you have kids? Were they up late? Did you feed them candy for breakfast and then ship them off to school? (If that was you, I will find you.) But really, kids are crazy enough as it is…kids the day after Halloween? Goodbye everything you had planned.

So, here’s what makes me mad: YOU GET SUMMERS OFF AND ALL THAT VACATION TIME.

I get that a lot of people work 365, 24/7, blahblahblah, okay? I’m not knocking anyone else’s profession here, so don’t look at me that way. What really gets my goat is that people think that teachers just play around for ten months, get two off plus weekends and holidays and our lives are sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns.

In reality, I’m pretty sure there are more tears and wine than sunshine and rainbows, if you catch my drift.

Teaching is hard. Again, not knocking anyone else’s career choice. I admire almost every other job and know that people have it rough, okay? I need to get that out there so you all don't think I'm a jerk. I just don’t think that a lot of people actually know how hard teaching is.

Sure, I make lesson plans and get to do fun stuff and get a lot of hugs, but do you think it ends there?

I win "Last Teacher Standing" this week, okay? I mean, IT'S DARK.

There are meetings, meltdowns, grading, meetings, colleagues, parents, grading, and oh, did I mention meetings? Phone calls, paperwork, assemblies, clubs, tutoring, reteaching, reassessing, reevaluating, rebooting (coffee break!) and all within the twenty minutes you call your lunch break.

Then! Then I take stuff home. I mean, mostly my cat just lays on things when I take it home, but sometimes it gets graded, okay?

This is what my weekend looks like. Clearly I'm on top of things.

Honestly, though…the stuff I (re: teachers) take home is more mental than physical. It’s emotional. It’s the kids you can’t reach or the ones who don’t care. The kids who have a horrible home life and you’re the only bit of hope they have. The ones who eat their only meal at school and wear dirty clothes.

Teaching is hard. It’s not all fun and games. There are those things, but mostly it’s just about trying to succeed in world where people criticize you, question everything you do, and don’t think about what’s important: kids. They are what matter and if I put my heart and soul into them for ten months out of the year, I, and every other teacher, deserve a break every now and then.

So, yeah. I get summers off. I’m sorry you don’t.

But I’m not sorry, so there.

It’s not my fault you didn’t choose a career where you get summer vacations, now is it?