"At least you get the summer off"

So the school year is over and my busy summer underway. It's not quite as busy as I feared but, as always, I'm keeping busy with something on my plate pretty much every day. This doesn't include rest, planning for next year, or catching up on things like doctor and veterinary appointments. I guess most people can take a day off their jobs to do those things, but that's a real pain for a teacher because it requires sub plans.

I spent the last week of school very busy working on projects for school, wrapping up grades, moving books around at school (still have more of that to do) and moving into our new apartment. We're now in the new place and the school year has been over for about a week and a half. I love summer, btw, and never want to go back to work when it's over. Working is for suckers.

For those of you stalking me, here is what we are and aren't doing this summer:

• Moving - The new apartment is pretty good. We have a TON of stuff we're hoping to sell, donate or trash, including a large number of boxes, bags, and assorted items from both of our mothers. I am very unhappy about the situation, especially since Andrew offered to take these things off our mothers' hands (at their requests) literally a week or two before our scheduled move. We wound up bringing a good carload from each parents' house to our old place just as we were packing up. Arg! Anyway he makes a good point that it will make our ultimate move to grad school easier if we've already gotten rid of these things. Our new apartment is brand new, but not as nice as some of the previous ones and smaller. Since we're going to start getting rid of a lot of things, the size should not be an issue for long. Right now the second bedroom is a vast storage area for boxes - packed and unpacked.
• Travel - Andrew is currently in Nebraska grading AP history exams. It sucks. I hate it when we're apart for any length of time. Sometimes I even miss him when he goes to the store or we're at work, so being in another state for 8 days is lousy. We'll also be travelling (together) to England this July. We'll be accompanying two students - one from his school and one who just graduated from mine. The one from his school is seriously considering studying at Oxford so we offered to show her around. We're all excited for the trip.
• Classes - Originally I thought I would be taking two graduate-level English classes, plus one or two classes for the school district, plus a week-long AP English seminar this summer. I decided to forgo the school district ones because of my busy schedule, and then couldn't get into the first summer term at the local university. I am still hoping to take one graduate-level English class that starts in July, but there are several possible problems. First, the registration error that prevented me from getting into the earlier class has yet to be resolved. Second, the later class is still full and, as a non-degree seeking student, I can't get a permit to enter. Third, the class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30 to 4 and would conflict with our trip to England, pre-planning days and the first week and a half of school (including the students' first day). While I could probably work out enough of these conflicts to take the class, it's a lot to work out, and I still can't even get in the class to begin with. Finally, I will still be taking the AP seminar in Orlando, and so will Andrew. Unfortunately, we will have to go back and forth for most of the week-long seminars becuase I'm working on our summer show (see below)
• Theatre - Every summer I assistant direct a show for a local youth theater program. This summer it's Cinderella. It's kind of a silly show but the cast is good and they re-did the schedule this year so we get a lot more time off before school starts. The show is at the end of June/very beginning of July. Only problem is that my AP seminar is the week of the show, so I have to be in Orlando from 8 to 4 every day, then drive back an hour or so to rehearsal at least the last several days of that week. I have gotten to work with some wonderful students this summer, including a beautiful and very talented girl who is playing the wicked stepmother, and David, a student I'm close to from my school.
• Testing - Thursday I finally complete the final hurdle in my quest to be a nationally board certified teacher. I have a 4-hour test wherein I will write six essays about various aspects of teaching English. I'm not too worried about it and will be relieved to have it done. I am usually a good tester and it's computerized, which works to my advantage since I'm computer savvy and a fast typist. I won't find out the results until November when I find out whether I got the certification and, if not, which parts I have to re-do.
• Summer reading - I'm still in charge of my school's summer reading program, too. Although most of the summer duties such as checking voice mail and responding to student email have been delegated to my colleagues, I still have to send out notification letters to students who are new to our school and not coming from our two main feeder middle schools. I tried to work this all out before the school year ended, but couldn't. Tomorrow I'm meeting with the principal to figure it out and I'm hoping it works!
• Camp - Just after our trip to England in July I'll be working a four-day camp at my school for incoming freshmen. I really don't like doing it, but it's like $500 for four half-days of work wherein I really only have to plan one 45-minute lesson. It's easy and pays well so I do it. I don't like it becuase it involves incoming freshmen who annoy me. Oh well.
• Planning - Finally, I have to spend my summer (as always) planning for next year. I'll be teaching American Studies, which I've taught before and just need to make some adjustments to, and that leads into AP, which I'll plan at the AP seminar. I'll also be sponsoring the newspaper class, so I hope to meet with my two editors and make some plans that way. While this should be a fairly laid back summer for planning (and I enjoy planning), it will take some time. I also have to update my teaching web site with the new class information.

Sometimes people will talk to me about teachers and say that yes, we work hard, but at least we get the summer off. I always kind of laugh. While I do choose to do most of these things, it's not like I am sitting on a beach eating bonbons. :-)