I love the rhythm of teaching. It's actually one of my favorite things about school. It has a motion and movement like a well composed song. There's a natural give and take that I know I wouldn't find in other professions.
My school district is very traditional with its schedule. We begin in late August and finish in early June. We're off on all the usual holidays. We get a week off in the fall around Thanksgiving and two weeks off for Christm-, I mean, winter break. Then there's the spring holidays to make a few three-day weekends. The ebb and flow is lovely.
Then, of course, the controversial summer break. I know it's archaic and based off an agricultural planning calendar that isn't nearly as relevant. But, it's all I know. My entire life as a student and teacher has been with a summer break. I look forward to it as much as the kids do. And, I'm a better teacher for it.
There's a rejuvenation and a renewal that comes with that kind of break. I wish the summer slump didn't happen. I wish so bad it didn't. In a better world, all the kids would keep reading, keep writing, and keep learning. I know there's a drop off because of the summer, and that's a shame, because no two week break can really compare to the magic that happens over two months away.
My favorite thing is all the stuff I forget. I forget how hard and challenging teaching is. I forget how exhausted I am at the end of a week. I forget about difficult kids and challenging parents. I forget about all the bogus paperwork and secretarial minutiae that I have to shovel out of my way. I forget about everything I dislike about being a teacher. I forget about it just long enough to remember how much I love it. I come back in August with a perspective that I couldn't get otherwise. I have a feeling most students do to.
The rhythm of teaching is a beautiful thing. It's about to crescendo in a few short weeks. Can you hear it?
I totally agree with you about the rhythm. However, I saw a different perspective this year on Christmas (and yes it's Christmas break) and summer break.
ReplyDeleteI work in a rural school in Michigan. We have a very high rate of poverty in my district and the entire county. Before school even began this year, my district had an in-service on strategies that are effective with poverty. I was pleasantly surprised at how informative and helpful this was. The speaker was a teacher who came from extreme poverty in the south. One of the things she said was not to make a big deal about Christmas and summer break, because some of these kids are going to homes that are not great places to be. They feel hurt when we, as teachers, can't wait for our break.
This really hit home to me just before Christmas break. I had a young man in the hallway who was having a great year until just before break. I was trying to encourage him to hang in there because break was coming soon. After I said this, tears came to his eyes. Knowing his home life, I knew that he wasn't looking forward to it.