There's a stigma around teachers taking time off
People still tell me on a regular basis how lucky I am to have summers off. When I recently told someone that I don't generally take the full summer off — last summer I spent two full weeks away taking courses, another few weeks lesson planning, and yet more time preparing for the coming year — they said they didn't think that was the norm.
The data tells a different story: About one in six teachers work second (or third) jobs during the summers, since teachers are still woefully underpaid compared to other degree-requiring fields , and even more spend at least part of the summer planning lessons and taking professional development courses.
Taking a day off doesn't only have repercussions for us — it also affects our students. In a time when teachers are quitting in record numbers , many students are without a certified teacher or learning in overfilled classrooms. This is a burden both on students who aren't receiving the quality education they deserve and colleagues who need to take on the extra work. When the system already seems so fraught, many teachers want to do what they can to feel like they aren't contributing to these problems.
Taking a day off requires me to leave my students with someone who doesn't have the content knowledge that I do — and necessitates taking extra time to write extremely detailed lesson plans — and I feel like I'm letting my students down when I do so.
To read more of Taryn Williams' article, please click here.
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