Erasing the Myth of "Not Working"
As I continue to make my way through the summer, I've noticed there is a phrase I'm hearing frequently: "How's your summer going?" Of course the natural, instinctive answer is to say "great, or it's going well, thank you." When the follow-up question is, "what are you up to?" I picture the main character in a movie or tv show freeze and look out at the audience while raising one eyebrow... as a teacher I'm always up to something! The truth for us as educators is that we are always working for our students, families, classrooms, careers, etc., even if it doesn't feel like work. At times, we might even feel guilty we are enjoying what we are doing, because it doesn't fall under a traditional work label. Are we working when we are relaxing at the beach with a book in our hands? Absolutely! We often have self-doubt that what we do isn't considered work because we are not in the classroom, working with a student directly, or re...