What Your Child's Teacher Is Doing This Summer
Small talk is hard. I get it. Having a few well used prompts in your back pocket is a useful tool; in fact, one of the reasons I particularly struggle with small talk is that I overthink the really useful conversation openers and reject them as unoriginal and then I’ve got. . .yeah, I’ve got nothing. So it doesn’t pay to be picky.
“So what are you doing over the summer?” is a perfectly legit opening gambit. I’ve used it myself from time to time, even with people who aren’t in education. Since I am a teacher, I get it a lot, and you’d think I’d have a practiced answer, but, just like I can’t seem to settle on an elevator pitch for my novel, I can’t seem to answer this one without stuttering, either.
First, there’s a lot to decode, isn’t there? I mull the question over in my mind; was it “so what are YOU doing over the summer?” or “so what are you DOING over the summer” or “so what are you doing over the SUMMER?” They all call for a different answer, see? (Another reason I’m not good at small talk. Just say something, for heaven’s sake.) Are they implying that I have nothing to do during the summer, a misimpression I’ll reinforce if I tell them about fun stuff? Are they wanting to know what fun stuff I’m doing because they’re looking for ideas; will an account of my actual work leave them yawning or seem too much like I’ve got something to prove? Life ain’t easy for us overthinkers.
Now, obviously, I don’t know what your child’s teacher is doing this summer, but generally speaking, the two main things are working and working, hopefully with a beach day now and then.
As to working, my summer starts and ends with work shop days. There will probably be an in-person meeting about high school in late July or early August. I spent all of yesterday making a curriculum order, and no, that’s not because I procrastinated, it’s because I put in in hours of research and in the end added it up only to find I needed to get a lot more creative to fit my budget. (In some schools, curriculum ordering probably doesn’t work this way, and I’m glad that in mine it does—it’s fun! But it’s work.) I’ve spent another chunk of time researching screening tools for incoming students, an unexpected assignment. Beyond that, there are goals that I can never plumb the depths of as far as preparation for next year. I am required to write a welcome letter and supply list (required doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it!) I hope this year to actually have syllabi for my classes, a useful tool for me and students and parents alike, but one that requires a lot of work at the front. We are cleaning up the academic standards for each grade, and I have work to do on that. I have a supply closet at school that I need to organize and a classroom to freshen up. On the daily schedule that I have made for the summer to post by my office door, I work on school at least two hours a day, not counting reading, which I try to get a jump on over the summer.
So that’s working. Now, as far as working. . .some teachers paint houses, some cook for tourists, some mow lawns, some clean houses. A supplementary income is often necessary and always helpful. As for me, I’m finishing a novel. The day after my teacher workshop, I left for five days of writing at Baxter State Park. It was excellent. I finished my novel and thought, “There. I can never show that to anyone.” Then I had a mid-life crisis about how I’d just wasted 8 years of my life. I desperately hope that I’m wrong and that I actually can go forward as planned. . .but that’s another post. I didn’t really finish it, of course. There’s more revision still to be done, and that’s my summer right there, that and short stories for Substack and photos for the serialization/zines to find a photographer for and stage a shoot, an editor to find, alpha reader feedback to implement. But I always hesitate to say that I’m writing a novel because to some people, that is the same as saying, “I’m wandering aimlessly through life with time to burn” and that kind of response breaks my heart, you know?
I am so, so thankful that I get to be a teacher. It is work that I love, and having a flexible schedule in the summer is amazing. I’m a bit spoiled; I know it and other people do, too. I mostly work, and other teachers do, too, but don’t worry, there’s time for fun in there! In two minutes, I’m taking my son to Boston for his birthday. Next week, I’m going camping. There will be swimming and sleeping in as well as catching up on the appointments that are so hard to schedule during the school year (five so far!)
And if you ask what I’m doing over the summer, the answer I think I’ve landed on is, “Driving my kids around.” That seems to satisfy everyone.
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