Most people – family, friends, other teachers – think I’m crazy for teaching summer school every year. Especially when I tell them that I get paid on a 12-month schedule (some teachers only get their pay over 10 months and have to be disciplined and save throughout the year for the summer months).
So, in other words, I could take two months off (mid-June through mid-August) every year and still get paid every other Friday as if I was going to work every day. But I don’t. Every summer, I choose to work.
My reasons for this choice are understandable enough…at least in my opinion. First of all, I don’t have children to take care of. I don’t have a house that needs renovating. I don’t have the funds to travel extensively. In other words, I don’t have a really good way to use that kind of time at this stage in my life. So why not make some extra cash?
Second, summer school pays a really, really good rate – $33.25 per hour to be exact. We’re not talking chump change here. It would be very hard for me to pass that kind of money up, even if I did have another legitimate use of my time during the summer months.
But my third major reason for choosing to teach summer school every year is a little more complicated – the best way I can explain it is that I feel weird not working. A week off at Christmas and spring break is one thing, but two months without having a job to go to? The thought of it is just…unpleasant, I guess. It sort of worries me that I feel this way, that I define myself too much by the job that I do. But since this attitude about summer work is benefitting me financially, I’m willing to let it ride!
What about you? Would you work if you didn’t have to? If you had a summer off, how would you spend it?
