Here I am, about halfway through my summer vacation, the upcoming school year finally trying to sneak back into my mind. I’ve perused a few sites, bought a few things, made a few projects, all equaling the value of time that is but a drop in the bucket of my summertime.

Yet according to The Great Interweb, I should be spending my summertime devoted to nothing but the upcoming school year. That is, if I’m a good teacher. Not like one of those lazy teachers who have other priorities in life besides proving to the world what wonderful special martyr teachers they are, wearing their summertime slavery like a gold star sticker.

I know these teachers are out there. I’ve browsed the internet. I’ve clicked on the little articles and Buzzfeed bits on Facebook about teacher summertime. If that article or bit isn’t about how much teachers work during the summer, I guarantee The Comment Section (beloved of all interweb thingies) has teachers bragging about how they get up at 4 A.M. and tell their spouses and offspring how much they hate them before spending the day in the classroom or on the computer or at some mystical summertime PD and how any teacher who does less is pretty much the worse teacher ever and hates small children.

I have come to the conclusion these teachers are but a small and very vocal minority. Those same comment sections have teachers giving much more mortal summertime work schedules… including absolutely no school-related work whatsoever. I give you the thread from at0zteacher stuff, a discussion of teachers sharing what they do over the summer and for many it’s not much.

Yes, there are teachers out there who apparently live the myth of teachers having carefree summers. Which means it’s not a myth.

And if I hadn’t bought over 200$ worth of fabric for $5 from a closing fabric store for my bulletin boards and made those worksheets I would have been one of them!

Why do some teachers insist on doing so much work over the summer? Is it some desire to prove teachers are valuable? To single-handedly prove wrong every mean comment made about teachers? Is it pride they then expect to be shared by every other member of the profession? Are they in a crappy district that doesn’t provide such time the rest of the year? Do they have no lives outside of teaching?

I don’t have any mandatory summer PDs. My principal is having an amazing summer if Instagram has any evidence.

And I’m going to be proud of my lazy, off-contract, no-pay summer.