Three Reasons...

Many of us became teachers not because of the long summer vacations, but because we have a passion to share or a desire to help kids succeed. We work incredibly hard at it, against many odds, and summers are a little perk. Or, arguably, a much needed break, the only way we can continue teaching with any sanity or skill. 

So when the break finally arrives, when the exhausting string of class after class, day after day nears an end, we dance for joy and are washed in waves of relief, just like we did as kids. Some of us transition beautifully to the warm, slow, stress-less days. Others fly away immediately to a beach, family cabin, retreat, etc. Some struggle to find their pace and place. This blog is for everyone, but especially for the last group.

Here I will share interviews about creative teachers' great summer gigs, whether they be hobbies, projects, other ways of making money, travel, or classes. I will explore the balance between professional development (strong in a group of passionate people), and personal development, and how to set up a bit of structure for oneself. Mostly, here you can find lists of ideas, brainstorms of projects, profiles, job ideas, Venn diagrams, links, videos and images to help lead you on an inspired, renewing adventure.

[before I changed directions with this blog, the following was my "about me" section. I still like the idea and will still post about it sometimes, so I wanted to save the original thoughts.]

This project starts out selfishly, but I think it grows beyond that. As a teacher, I struggle with the transition between working 95 hours a week and working 0. After the first summery week of catching up on sleep, movies and travel, I begin to feel listless and lacking in purpose. I need some kind of structure for my adventures. With my teacher salary, I can't exactly afford to circumnavigate the globe. One summer I committed to a certain number of restaurant reviews. Fun, and expensive. Another summer I got married (oh, that happens to be expensive too). Working is okay, classes could be fun, travel definitely, but not always by myself, and something cool that has nothing to do with kids, please. I wanted to start interviewing cool teachers about how they spent their summers, so I might get some ideas. Then *ding* I realized THAT could be my next summer project. And maybe others could benefit from it too.