Usually those words are followed by "to be a teacher. You get summers off, you work a regular work week, and you get all those vacations." That couldn't be further from the truth.
Summer vacation? Oh, you mean that time when we are attending workshops and classes to improve our practice and keep up with the latest research, or take college classes to advance our certification.
Vacations? Oh, that would be when we have all of our doctor appointments, meetings, and other personal chores that we put off the rest of the year so that we don't have substitute in the classroom.
Regular hours? Sure, if by regular hours you mean a 10 hour work day. I arrive over an hour early in the morning so that I can get to the copier and work on prepping for the day. Sometimes that time is used for teaching intervention classes to help students who are on the border of failure on state assessment tests. After school, I stay for meetings, lesson planning, and correcting. If, by some chance, I leave before 10 hours is up, I take work home with me.
Sure, it's great to be a teacher, but it has nothing to do with "time off". It has everything to do with making the difference in the life of a child.
WOW . you hit the nail on the head with the last statement ... "making the differences in the life of a child".
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