Ah, it’s finally here. The school year has wrapped up. Marks are done. The final “i’s” and “t’s” have been dotted and crossed. The necessary plans for next year have been put in place.

Yes, it’s summer vacation. As a teacher, I look forward to the few weeks when I can shift away from thinking about school and focus on family and other things – fixing the house, working in the yard, tending the garden, and getting caught up on the little things that I’d postponed for lack of time.

For many years, that was the pattern. Meeting with friends. Spending time at the lake. Late nights around the fire with my kids and friends.

But then things slowly began to change. It happened very subtly. There was a shift in expectations of what a teacher should be doing during the summer. With all this time, it was reasoned that teachers should use some of this time for self-improvement.

It started with summer conferences. Just a few days each summer. What could it hurt? As a professional, wasn’t it okay to give up your time to improve? Then summer courses. The shift was slow. Just a few days here and a few days there.

But it soon grew to become the expectation that teachers would use their summer to do PD – to take university courses, take online courses, take PD provided by their district/division. It grew to included more and more. More planning for the upcoming year. More initiatives to implement. More strategies to try. Differentiation meant the need for more time preparing for the upcoming year – despite claims otherwise.

The Gurus

It started with just a few. Someone talking about how classsrooms needed to change. The need to change strategies. Then came the tech-focus and how it should be used. How students needs weren’t being met.

Like a slow drip.

Drip

Drip

Drip

A book here. A conference there. Teachers had all this time in the summer. Why weren’t they using it to learn? Students needed teachers who could do more.

It grew

Drip, drip

drip drip

drip drip drip

More conferences. Books. Videos. Online Courses.

Soon, what started out as a slow drip became a continuous stream of educational gurus, telling teachers what they needed to do, why it was important, and how to do it. They grew, showing up more and more in social media feeds. Twitter. Facebook. Instagram. TikTok. Headlining conferences. Teachers were urged to attend. They were everywhere. Selling their wares and telling teachers that they needed to do more and more. Learn this. Learn that. Include this. Exclude that.

At the same time, edtech charged forward. What started out as the Oregon Trail became a billion dollar industry, selling the next and best. Teachers who were real teachers were using technology. If they weren’t, were they really meeting the needs of students?

And when were teachers to take all this in? That’s right.

Summer Vacation.

The gurus began to sell the “hustle”. Teachers needed to hustle to stay up on all that was new and necessary. It didn’t matter what it was – new strategies, new tech, revamped strategies, renamed strategies – they all needed teachers to hustle to stay in the “know”. And they are everywhere – telling everyone that if teachers just did this or that, they could do it.

Hustle Doesn’t Mean Better

I’ve noticed a trend. When someone who was a teacher moves on to do something related to teaching but not teaching, a gap in their classroom knowledge understanding begins. They know about teaching and what it entails but lack the immediacy of being in the moment. Once removed from the daily act of teaching, the gap begins to grow. It’s not the knowing but the doing.

As someone who returned to the classroom 5 years ago after finishing a PhD, it became immediately apparent things are not the same there as they were. I had been away for a mere 7 years but it wasn’t the same. Despite having way more knowledge, I was lacking the “doing” part. I lacked the immediacy of teaching. Unless you have that immediacy, that “in the moment” understanding of the classroom, there is a gap. Someone may know what teaching is about but, without that immediacy, there is a knowing/doing gap. And this gap, I believe, is why education has reached a tipping point. Teachers are overwhelmed with all the “doing” they need to do.

The hustle doesn’t end. Ever.

Someone always has something for you to do. A way to evaluate. A way to plan. A way to teach. A way to meet all students needs. The story that is told is if you just hustle, you can do it.

But it doesn’t end. Ever.

The hustle of the sales – conferences, tech, strategies – it will always be about sales and product. It’s how these people make a living.

Should teachers be doing PD? Absolutely yes.

But not during holidays. Not when they should be refilling, refuelling, rejuvenating, replenishing.

If all this PD and learning is necessary and important, maybe it’s time to rethink the school year and how teachers are compensated for doing their work. It’s time to rethink the classroom and what teachers are expected to know and do without adequate support and development during their work time. There are very few professions where people are expected to use their holidays to do PD. And if they do, they are compensated very well.

Summer Vacation

Teachers are provided this time because of how the school year is created. It is not supposed to be time for more work. As I watch my feeds on social media, I see all sorts of people posting about how they are in this district or that district leading PD. How they are so happy teachers are giving up their summer holidays to learn. How teachers are growing and planning for the upcoming year with new strategies and plans. That’s great except when will these teachers have time to refresh, renew, refuel?

Summer vacation should be that – a vacation. Not extra time for teachers to do more.