I did a bit of shopping on my first day of summer vacation yesterday, and while chatting with the salesgirl, I mentioned that I was a teacher. She asked if I was on summer vacation, and I said that I was. She laughed, saying, "My mom always told me I should be a teacher so I'd get my summers off. I couldn't handle the kids, though, no way.""If you go into teaching only to get your summers off," I said, "it's not worth it."
And while that's true, as I've said in the past, you'll pry my summer vacation from my cold, dead hands. Having perfected the art of staycationing during my first few summer vacations (you know, while I was a new teacher and therefore broke), I managed to get away last summer and I'm getting away even more this summer, upstate and to the islands. So if you hear a bit less from me in this space over the coming weeks, that's why, not because NYC Educator decided we needed to cut back on our overwhelming staffing costs or anything.
Summer school starts for most schools next Tuesday, I guess, so if you're teaching summer school...well, there's not much to say about summer school, except to enjoy the paycheck, which I'm told is quite nice. A lot of kids at my school are going to be in summer school as we push for 75+ on the Regents exams to avoid remediation for the kids at the CUNY/SUNY schools, so some of my colleagues will have their hands full.
And if you are staycationing, NYC is a pretty good place to do it. Don't forget about the many beaches, parks, museums, street fairs, stores, restaurants, and more that you can try out over the next two months. I never really minded my staycations precisely because I got out in the city so much, and even this summer I have a list of NYC attractions I still haven't gotten to yet. Put your best staycation tips in the comments!
Finally, try not to do schoolwork all summer. I'm going to attempt to take most of July completely off. Enjoy your friends, your family, the weather, everything you don't get to do much while school is in. Try not to think about the contract negotiations (or lack thereof). Read some good books.
Happy summer!
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