Because I'm an Educator

It's Mid-July, Sunday am, I've been up for several hours, and what have I been doing? Listening to Friends on TV and doing school work.  It's summer, I'm suppose to be taking a "break" and getting rejuvenated for the next school year, right?  What does that say about me?  It says I'm an educator.

Nothing irks me more than when people make comments about teachers having their "summers off", my own brother is one of the worst. As much as I love him, when he gets his little "dig" in I want to climb through the phone and slap him!  I know very few teachers that leave school in the spring and literally do nothing school related until the first workshop day in August. Why is that? How many professions put in the hours outside of the workday that teachers do. We do it all school year, nights spent grading and planning, weekends learning new content or technologies, breaks catching up on tasks put aside for another day, to the point (at least at my house) that our families need our picture just to remember what we look like away from a desk, computer, pile of papers or textbooks.

So why on this particular Sunday am I spending the first several hours of my day doing work? Because I'm Educator.  I where this badge with pride. I take pride in my classroom, in my students, in my district.  I want to bring new ideas and activities to my room next year, I want to learn new technologies to share with staff in August, I want to inspire, even one person, to go out and try something new and share with someone else. Educators are lifelong learners, and because I'm an Educator, I'm taking this time today to learn something new.

Happy July!