I love my students. They’re the best part of my job.
Inspirational
I Need a Vacation from Teaching
I love my students. They’re the best part of my job.
But as a career teacher in America’s woefully underfunded public school system, I can tell you – I need a vacation from teaching!
Gearing up for this school year, I am reminded of everything I put into making my classroom a special place for students to learn and thrive. From buying classroom decorations with my own money to giving up afternoons and weekends to plan classes, create assignments, and grade essays, teaching requires many of you. While my non-teacher friends bemoan working late at their desks and their 8-5 schedules (“I wish I got to head home at 3!”), other teachers know it’s not that simple.
Education resources
Who teachers are
Sure, we’re not necessarily stuck at our desks after the end of the school day – although that doesn’t necessarily mean we get to go home because I, like many of my colleagues, have an advisory role for a student club. Others lead rehearsals for the school play; others coach our sports teams. Plus, it sometimes makes sense to stay at school and work on grading or lesson prep since I don’t need to wait until tomorrow to make photocopies. Sometimes a student will drop by at the end of the day and need to chat.
Teachers today are much more than figures standing at the front of the classroom, droning on about polynomials and fractions. We are:
- Role models
- Guidance counselors
- Leaders
- Friends
If we do our job right, our students trust us, which sometimes means they come to us with sticky situations that they can’t take to any other adult. We serve as the link between our students and outside resources; we become trusted guides for them.
And that’s why I need a break from teaching. I don’t want to give up my career wholesale, mind you, but teachers suffer from burnout at an extremely high rate. Nearly 20 percent of teachers leave the profession within their first five years – which is considered good, much lower than previously thought. Even still, 20 percent is extremely high. It’s one of the highest burnout rates among healthcare workers and law enforcement officers.
Teacher burnout
The cure for teacher burnout isn’t necessarily quitting a job or changing a career; it can often be solved by a significant amount of time off. Unfortunately, I cannot take time off during the semester, and I spend enough time planning for my classes over the summer that it doesn’t always feel like time off. I think, “If I could only have a semester off… take a sabbatical like a college professor….”
And then, I pack up my textbook, computer, colored pens, and sticky page flags and prepare for another school year. Because you know what?
No matter how tired I get, how frustrated I am with budget cuts or new responsibilities, no matter what the post-school workload is… I can’t imagine another career as fulfilling as this one. I can’t imagine finding the same joy as a marketer, engineer, or baker. There’s nothing like working with a student over weeks, watching them struggle with a concept until they finally get it just like that. Sure, I buy pencils and tape, and glue for the classroom out of my budget. In an ideal world, this wouldn’t happen. But in this world?
Students are our future, and I’m proud to be their guide. (But maybe next summer, I won’t start planning classes until August.)
