6 Things Teachers Really Do Over Summer Vacation

Diana Eastman

Nobody gets more excited about summer vacation than teachers. After spending over 150 days lesson planning, managing a classroom, grading papers, and molding the minds of our future generation, teachers look forward to one of the biggest perks of being a teacher, summer break! So what do teachers do when they aren’t being teachers? They slowly integrate back into normal life and do the things they couldn’t do while they were creating math tests, studying standards, attending conferences and hosting parent-teacher meetings.

They Travel

Students and parents aren’t the only ones who look forward to a summer getaway once the school year is over. They finally start to plan cruises and road trips (because they had no time to plan during the school year) and pack their bags. They head out of town to bar hop, sunbathe and run to the store in their pajamas without the fear of seeing a student. They love their students, but they also love the opportunity to act like an adult without worrying about being spotte. However, even when they travel, they never really turn off their “teacher brain”. They are always taking the new things they experience and figuring out how they can make an epic lesson out of it for those students they’re trying so hard to avoid.

They Work

It’s no secret that teaching is not on the list of highest paid professions, and many teachers use the summer to make a little side money while they’re off. Some choose to tutor, work as a camp counselor, coach sports or sign up to teach summer school, while others pick summer jobs that are much different than teaching, such as seasonal retail jobs or starting their own small business.

They Read

Summer offers teachers an opportunity to get lost in a good book, and if they’re really lucky, they can sit on the beach or poolside and dive into a book that is not on the reading level of their students. They can actually immerse themselves in the plot and characters of their favorite novel without stopping to create test questions or find examples of metaphors or alliteration in the text. Some teachers use the summer to read up on the latest self –help books for teachers to get them mentally prepared for the vigorous school year ahead. Spending time reading personal development books is a popular way for teachers to come back to the school year a better teacher than they were the year before.

They Go To School

Some teachers feel so at home in the educational setting that they go to school in the summer, but this time as the student. Many teachers spend their summer break working towards a Masters or Doctorate degree. What better time to study and read (on the beach even?!) than summer break? Some people take classes on weekends and during the evenings to earn their degree, but since teachers spend that time lesson planning, buying supplies, and grading homework, the summer is the best time for higher education.

They Sleep

Without a classroom full of eager minds waiting on them each morning, teachers hit the snooze button and enjoy a few extra hours of sleep during the summer. They nap in the middle of the day, they stay up late enjoying time with their friends, and they give themselves the gift of sleeping in every once in a while. With all the work teachers put in during the school year, it only makes sense that they rest and recharge.

They Go To The Bathroom

Yep. You read that right. Free of the restricting time restraints that limit bathroom access for teachers, summer is a time when teachers experience what most other professionals take for granted; the ability to go to the bathroom whenever they want. 10:05 on a Tuesday might normally be their reading block which means they can’t leave their classroom unattended to answer nature’s call, but during the summer, teachers go when they need to go and are excited about it.

Summer is a time for teachers to take a deep breath, reconnect with friends and family they didn’t see much of during the school year, and take a mental break. And even if they’re relaxing on the beach, sleeping in or traveling the country, a little piece of them is always thinking about and planning how they can make the next 180 school days a success.