School holidays are really good for renewing your focus and energy. I have done a whole lot of nothing over these holidays - or nothing life-changing anyway and it is very nice to have the time to do nothing. So far I have: caught up with my mum on several occasions and spent time with her little family-day-care charges (very small and loving and cute); caught up with one of my university lecturers and a girl I went to uni with; purchased some beads for my jewellery making; corrected 26 SACs; written pages of ideas for the new Year 7 program; read half of Oscar & Lucinda by Peter Carey; met with the two friends I made at the Leadership course to discuss the work we have been doing as part of the course; been to the movies; done some baking (and more to come - the more I can get into the freezer before term starts again the better off I will be - so far I am at 4 meals and counting).
These are the things that I am yet to do but that need to be done: My year 9 BYTES website (my brother and I built it before the start of the year but it still has not had the finishing touches put on it and therefore still sits patiently waiting for its debut on my laptop); Read my Year 11 information and plan classes for them for Term 3; Read Richard III in preparation for the Year 12s and plan activities. If I can finish off all of these things I will feel quite pleased with the use of my time these holidays. I also need to write my leadership philosophy and some inspirational teaching story for this leadership course I am doing. I think I should probably work on that these holidays because otherwise it might get lost in the mire of term and all the things that need to be done.
One thing that plays on my mind. Sentences that begin like this: Oh, it must be so great to have a job where you get all these holidays... Anyone who is a teacher or who lives with a teacher would cringe at these words. I managed to bite my tongue before I answered (especially considering that the comment came from my housemate who does shift work, has 3 days off every week, six days off in a row every fourth week and about 6 weeks of holidays every year). The response I wish I had given is that I would greatly prefer to be in a job like his and get 18 days off every month but I'm never quick enough to be bitchy on the spot. So I just mumbled something and kept on cleaning the house before going back into the spare room to correct Year 12 SACS. Teaching is one of those jobs that is misunderstood and that everyone thinks they can have an opinion on. Unfortunately everyone has been to school at some time in their life and therefore everyone seems to think that they can have an opinion on how easy teachers get it. What upsets me about this is that I don't deign to judge other people's careers, wages, working hours and their holidays and yet it seems that everyone thinks they have the right to judge how hard teachers work. I don't go round saying "oh lawyers, they get paid so much and do nothing" or "people in retail have really got it easy - no responsibility, no one counting on them if they don't turn up to work." Think about the comments made about teachers though. Luckily my partner is great. When we're out and someone asks me what I do and then proceeds with "oh it must be so great to have all those holidays" it is James who comes to my defense, explaining the hours I work during term time, the amount of work that I bring home with me, the weekends lost to correction because there is no other time in the day to do it. At least I don't have to sound like a whinger because that is what everyone thinks that teachers are. If teachers are just whingers and they actually have it good then why is it that the retention rate for teaching is lower than in any other profession? Why is it that someone like me who is in their fifth year of teaching is a statistical anomally (generally graduates leave before they have taught 5 years).
I don't even know why I am writing about this. I guess I just hate being judged. I love my job and I hate having to defend myself to people. I guess there are teachers who are slack and who come to school at 8.45 and leave at 3.30 and who do the bare minimum. Just like there are people like this in every other walk of life. Then there are the rest of us who love what we do, work hard at it, are often at school from 7.30am to 5pm or even 7 when the school is shut by the cleaners. There are those of us who don't just do the bare minimum but who want to make a difference and what to improve outcomes for the students in their care and who join every committee they possibly can, who co-ordinate teams of staff, taking on extra responsibility, often with little financial gain. Teaching is a job that you cannot do for the love of money. There are many people I work with who are extremely talented and could get jobs out in industry that would pay them at least 20grand more than what they are getting paid teaching but they would rather have a job that they believe in that is making a difference than a job that pays well. If only there were more people who felt that way.
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