Shoulda Had a V8

Anyone want a high five to the forehead? I can tell you a surefire way, other than skipping your daily dose of V8.

Are you ready for this? It’s really easy to do. Say to a teacher, “Must be nice to have your summers off.” Or any variation of that, for that matter. For the sake of this blog, I figured I would tell you how many hours I have (since school has let out) worked on any sort of school stuff- and I’m kind of a slacker.

The first week that school let out, I spent 10 hours packing my classroom, 15 hours working on ed tech schedules, and 4 hours reorganizing my computer files. So, yeah, that was sort of a week off, in teachers’ terms.

The second week, I attended a day and a half training on the iPad. So, let’s see, that was 13 hours. Then I spent 10 hours moving heavy boxes, reorganizing my stuff in my new classroom, and spent 4 hours finishing up IEP’s. Again, pretty good.

I will admit that I took last week off. My bad.

This week, I have been planning curriculum and so far have spent 3 hours on that (and it’s Tuesday). I will continue to do so and figure out how to organize my new and improved (and smaller) classroom and share it with another teacher.

I will likely spend 30 or so hours the rest of the summer getting my new IEP caseload ready for teachers, setting up my calendar so I know which IEP is due when and which students needs triennial testing. I will probably spend 50 hours working on curriculum and preparing to teach new classes that I have never done before. I am guaranteed to spend another 40 or so hours preparing and organizing my classroom. So far, that’s 180 or so hours in 8 weeks. Okay, so it’s a little over 20 hours a week, but, it’s definitely not ‘off’. Luckily this summer, I don’t have any classes to finish for certification or HQ status.

I really have an extensive to do list when the school year ends. If I would do everything on my to do list, it could be 40 hour weeks, but as mentioned before, I’m a slacker.

Since I’ve started ranting and complaining, though, I think if you average all of the ‘extra’ hours over 40 (thank goodness they pay us salary) during the year that is spent working, it would average an extra 20 hours a week. But, that’s why they pay us the big bucks.

So, anytime you want a quick slap to the forehead, tell me I’m lucky that I have my summers off. I will also be arming my fellow teachers with this innate right to do so. I will say we have a summer without seeing students (unless you count the 15 or so emails I’ve gotten so far from students making sure they fill me in on every detail of their time apart from me). That has to be a plus.

We only have to see our own kids. All day. Every day. I idolize all of you stay at home moms, because Lord knows I couldn’t do it, but that’s for another time.

Thank someone for their hard work today!

Claire Pelletier

About Claire Pelletier

I'm 30. Boy am I 30. I have three children: Shelby (almost 8), Harper (3), and Aidan (1). I work full time as an English teacher, full time as a mom, part time as a wife, part time as a cook at a Diner (this is actually a paid position), and a per diem house cleaner. Basically, I do it all. Oh and I like to write (revert back to my full time teaching position). This life is crazy, people are even crazier, and online blogging has given me a voice. Some may think it's a loud and obnoxious voice, but I kind of like it. I do my best to write about things that interest people, mainly about myself. Sometimes I verge into the political land, but that place scares me, so I mostly write about every day things that make me laugh, cry, or scream. Thanks for reading!