We have all heard people say things like: "Must be nice to only work 9 months." "Wow, I wish I had the summer off." "You get paid in the summer, even though you aren't working?"
Let's debunk a few myths here.
Myth #1- Teachers only work 9 months. Wrong. During the summer we participate in a wide variety of professional development activities. Everything from workshops that take a day at a time to summer courses at a university. These are required to keep up our certification. If we aren't in classes, we are typically researching new methods to teach the ever evolving state and national standards. Or, if you have had a change of assignment, you move your classroom and spend the summer packing, unpacking, organizing, sorting, and setting up a brand new classroom.
Myth #2- Summers off. See Myth 1. Add to this the opportunity to teach summer school. Best of all, this is when we get to have all those doctor and dentist appointments we put off all year long. Or home maintenance, or spending time with our own children. Don't get me wrong, we do take time to camp, hike, or do whatever else helps us relax, but we don't get "summers off." Many teachers also take on summer jobs just to make ends meet. I personally do taxes for a business and program/script for a website to make money in the summer months.
Myth #3- Getting paid when we aren't working. See Myths 1 and 2. Teachers are salaried. We used to get paid our salary over only the months that we actively taught students. But this led to many teachers collecting unemployment in the summer months, which costs the state and district money. Also, it created problems of a teacher wasn't wise in saving money for monthly bills in the summer like water, electricity, etc. So, to prevent this, our salary is spread out over 12 months. We aren't paid any more that we would have been. The money is just allotted differently.
"Must be nice to be a teacher and have summers off." Yeah, must be nice........
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