Do you actually vacate on vacation? Why or why not? How often do you actually take a break from teaching and everything that goes
along with being a teacher? Do you want to change this? Why or why not?
Do I vacate on vacation? During the school year, when we have a few days off, I find myself doing a partial vacation. I will definitely enjoy the day off by spending time with my family but I most likely will take an hour or so to work on something school related. In the summer, I truly do vacate. Ever since my kids were little, my summers were my time to spend with them. I had the working mom guilt of hauling them to daycare every day. Summers were my chance to catch up with them and just be a mom. As they aged, it was my time to run them to baseball practice and games. Now that they are adults, the summer is spent helping them plan weddings and showers, etc.. It is also time to catch back up with my husband. There are of course always a few training required of me over the summer. I definitely attend those trainings, but for the most part, I recharge my batteries.
I have made it a core priority of mine to leave work at work. The vast majority of days I leave all school work, computer, planning, etc at work and figure out how to get the job done within the contractual hours. While on vacation, I absolutely do not bring ANYTHING that will remotely be considered work, and focus on enjoying vacation and recharging for the work to come.
I actually pride myself in doing this. I don't usually do anything related to school until the Friday BEFORE school starts. I just don't see the point. In the past, every time I try to get ahead, the year starts and I have to change the plan. I know I need a break for my sanity and it DOES make me a better teacher. If we have a scheduled break, I embrace it. Now you might say that is not true because I saved this course for Christmas Break, but that is not true--today is the day BEFORE our break. I am finishing up just in time. I actually had gallbladder surgery, so I have the time to work on it. I will never give up my time off. It makes me a better person, in general.
I try to vacate when I am on vacation. There are some years that this works much better than others. For example, this year, I am teaching brand new curriculum that I simply cannot keep up with during the week, so vacations and breaks are used to catch up. and I am taking a couple classes that are also needed to keep my license current. There is not enough time in my day to work on these either, so they are being completed during breaks. However, in the summer, I do take weeks to go on vacation with my family and do other things that I enjoy that are not school related. I do wish to change and use my breaks to actually vacate and unplug during the weekends. I feel that it makes me a better human being, parent, wife and teacher when I can enjoy my family and recharge.
I think I do a decent job of vacating on summer vacation in a similar way as the author, in more of a hybrid fashion. I don't allow myself to do anything work related the whole month of June - I tell myself after the 4th of July, then I can look at what needs to be done for the upcoming school year. On the weekends, I only allow myself to lose out on one afternoon to be able to recharge. I try and leave work at work on the weekdays. This is harder to do when the end of the grading period approaches. Leaving work at work was definitely a learning curve from the start of my teaching career and is one I am still getting better at. I definitely find that leaving work at work has helped me to destress at home and be more prepared for the next day.
Do you actually vacate on vacation? Why or why not? I do not vacate on vacation. I’m type A person and I like to be prepared for things ahead. During the school year, I’m working on stuff outside of contract hours or I get to school early to get things done. I’m in my third year of teaching and my first two years were rough where I had no balance of personal life vs work life. As I’m in my third year of teaching, it has gotten better, but I would like to get better at not bringing work home and trying to leave work at work.
How often do you actually take a break from teaching and everything that goes along with being a teacher? Do you want to change this? Why or why not? There are some weekends that I will not do anything school related, but then there are weekends that I’m constantly working on school tasks. With that being said, I will give myself a weekend here and there to get things done, but I need to give myself more time. I need to be okay with not being ahead all the time and give myself a rest.
Yes, I do actually vacate on vacation at this point. However, I currently have a 0.6 position and am in more of a support/facilitator role. I don't have grading on top of the teaching I do, and if I'm gone there isn't a sub. As a full-time classroom teacher, I was not able to leave school at school and that was hard on my family and sleep! I'm thankful that now I'm able to vacate on vacation. In the same way, when we have holiday and summer breaks I now am able to take a break from everything that goes with being a teacher, except for summer work days that the school district has in place. I think it's important to be able to unplug and enjoy the breaks, and I wish that it seemed more possible for all teachers to be able to do so.
When I was teaching, I never fully vacated on vacation. I think that I have always had this overwhelming sense of regret that takes place that I should be working even when I am on vacation. I feel almost bad about taking time to relax. I think this is just the way I have been brought up. If there was a free minute, then I should take advantage and learn or check something off my list to better my career. For example, when I was teaching. I would offer to teach summer school. When summer school was completed, I would prepare my classroom for the new year. In a way, this makes me feel prepared for the new school year to come but also, I wish I could enjoy time away and allow myself to just enjoy the time to relax. I wish that I could just relax without a feeling bad about doing just that.
As I've gotten further along in my teaching career I have gotten better about vacating on vacation. Recently I've been able to take quite a bit of time away, only spending a few days after school gets out and a few days before starting up again over summer to prepare things and get things ready. On shorter breaks I try to limit my outside work, and generally just return a day, or a few hours early if there are things I feel I need to get done. I try to put things in my schedule that allow me to feel like me and not just a teacher. I have a weekly Bible study with a bunch of non-teachers, so that is an evening I know I won't be thinking about or working on anything teaching-related. I've tried to set better boundaries too, like not having my school email on my phone, so I'm not worrying about school on my personal time. These are good starts, but I definitely could grow in this and find more ways to take a break from teaching and all that goes along with it.
I do vacate during vacations, generally spending a few days in my hometown with family over Christmas and about a week during the summer. I don't like doing more than that as I am definitely a homebody and being home is what recharges me. I teach during the school day and do a great job of unplugging on my drive home. I know how bad burnout can be and do what I can to avoid it. The only time I'm teaching outside of school hours is either a few days before school starts to prepare my classroom or when I have inspiration about something I can do as a teacher and don't want to wait to gameplan it. I do not want to change this as I have found I don't burn out at all and I'm a lot more happy and passionate while I am at school.
I do actually vacate when on vacation. I try to limit the amount of work I do outside of my contract hours to help my mental health and workload. I also try to prioritize the relationships with my coworkers and spending time with them outside of school. I think that it's beneficial for all of us to have people to relate to and to understand each other's struggles. I do wish that I would take a break from school a little more often in terms of taking days off. The difficult part of that is having to plan for a substitute, which is never fun.
Yes, when I am on vacation I actually take the time to relax and enjoy what I am doing and where I am at. Everyone needs a vacation from their everyday life so when they come back they are refreshed and ready to return to their everyday life. I do not take many vacations or take enough time for myself. Even after school I do work, during the summer I do work for school. After reading this book I am learning that we all need to take a break from our work life to enjoy our life outside of the work place. I take less work home now and try not to stay after hours for very long. I have to remember that this is my job it is not my life.
In my early years as a teacher, I brought work home too often. I found it hard to find time and space to grade artwork, so this took over my weekends, often like a dark cloud. Then there was really no mental time away from work and my home life was changed. In recent years I have made more of an effort to NOT check work emails on the weekends and to not take work home with me. I still may do some prepping or ideas for lessons. I do take summers off now but in the past due to money concerns, I also taught art lessons. I never really got a break from being teacher. In these current years, with all the student mental needs and diverse behaviors, it is even more important for teachers to truly vacate work and take meaningful vacations and get the rest we need. You can't pour from an empty cup is very true. Teachers need to create and stick by their boundaries and create a work and home balance.
After 30 years in education, I can honestly say I tried to vacate on vacation—but like most teachers, it wasn’t always easy. While I was teaching full time, I made it a priority to push for at least one real getaway each year, usually to the ocean. That time away mattered. It helped me reset and come back with more patience and energy for my students.
As I got older and my kids were out of the house, my husband and I started taking more trips and spending longer stretches away. That part got easier. Letting go of the teacher mindset, though? Not so much. I’d tell myself I wouldn’t check my phone or bring work along—but more often than not, I did anyway. Teaching has a way of sticking with you, even when you’re supposed to be off the clock.
Now that I’m retired, I’m definitely getting better at actually unplugging. I don’t always succeed, but I’m more aware of how important it is to truly rest. Looking back, I don’t regret making vacations a priority—but I do wish I’d given myself more permission to fully “vacate.” Rest isn’t a luxury in teaching; it’s a necessity, and it’s something I’m still learning to embrace.
When I was a teacher, I tried to vacate on vacation, but I was one that would do schoolwork on breaks. I never wanted to let anyone down and I was very dedicated in making sure everyone succeeded. I feel that this lead to a little bit of a burnout for me. Being a special education teacher, I felt that I constantly had to come up with content/curriculum to teach my caseload as well as the paperwork, meetings, and documentation that went along with it. I found that I took a break from teaching when I was no longer a teacher going back. I would say that I didn’t have to set up my classroom after my first year of teaching which took a lot of time off in my summer, but I already started creating content for my new caseload coming in. I changed my ways of being able to vacate on vacation by choosing a different profession that still fulfills my cup of helping others, just in a different way. I’m taking this course though to keep my teaching certification just in case I have the desire to go back into the classroom in the future.
When I vacate, I do vacate. I do not worry about school at all as that is my time to recharge. I am lucky enough to have a great core team and a great job alike that I always send my subs to if they have questions or need assistance. When I first started teaching, I never took a break and felt like I was always working....it wore me out. I am to the point that when I am away from school, I do not work on school work. That is my time with my family and I need to recharge myself. Since I don't want to work outside of school, I have stopped giving homework so they don't have to work outside of school for me either. This helps lower the amount of work I have. I am happy with the way I balance my work and home life because I have learned the balance of having kids help monitor their own work and prioritizing what is important to do and what can wait.
I do not take to to vacate. It doesn't matter what time of the year it is there is always emails and issues that need to be addressed. I do vacate from my teaching roll in the summer months, I try not to think about planning any lesson or doing paper work. I would like to step away but that will probably only happen during retirement. I will also try and vacate a little more during school scheduled time off.
I do truly vacate when I’m on vacation. I do not have my work email on my personal devices, and I rarely bring work home. Setting those boundaries helps me disconnect and fully recharge. When I take breaks from teaching, I focus on spending time outdoors, investing in my family, and enjoying my hobbies. Those activities help me reset and come back to work feeling refreshed. Right now, I feel good about my work/life balance and don’t feel the need to change it. Taking intentional breaks allows me to be more present both in my personal life and in my classroom.
I do vacate when on vacation. I realize that I don't need to be thinking about school all the time. It is important to take time to get away and refresh yourself before you start another year of school. I would say that on the weekends, I really do try to take a break and try not to think about school until Sunday afternoon. By giving myself a break from teaching, I am able to reset myself and it also helps me to not burnout from the high demands of teaching. I am able to come back to school with a better mindset.
Yes, for the most part I vacate on vacation. It took be about 17 years to figure this out, the author is right, taking time for yourself is so important. I have friends not in education that when they go on vacation, the leave all of their work at work and enjoy time with family, friends, and their own down time not worrying about work. I used to always bring my computer home and was constantly checking my e-mail on my phone, and just recently realized that if it is important, they will call otherwise I can take care of it when I get to school the next day, besides we all know that the things that are most likely to cause us anxiety and stress are the things we cannot see and randomly hit us on a Tuesday afternoon. I take a break from teaching for sure in the summer for two months and I take a break during spring breaks and Easter. I coach football and basketball so I do not get much in terms of not being involved in some fashion on the other holidays. I really enjoy what I am doing, so right now it does not seem to weigh on me too much, but I am beginning to understand how fast all of that can change.
I do vacate on vacation. I use the summer to recoup from the school year. It's important for my mental health to have that break. I enjoy time with my family, time by myself, and time to do projects around the house. I don't go into my classroom again until the first of August.
When I am truly on a vacation away from home for a few days, yes, but otherwise I would say no, I don't vacate very well. I am the Director of our Cyber School, so that means I take phone calls, email, texts which can really happen anytime of the day. I work on a n 11 month contract. It seems that a lot of time my thought process goes back things that need to be address with staff, curricula, testing, students, leaders, etc. I do travel out to the colonies on occasion so that helps by getting out of the office.
How often do you actually take a break from teaching and everything that goes along with being a teacher?
In the summer I have one month where I can pretty much get away from work unless I am contacted with concerns, questions, etc. It is really a special time as our 3 grandchildren and parents are home for a couple weeks. I try to get away from work during the scheduled breaks during the school year as much as possible. Summer work is different, for one there is no staff around, (they are vacationing) and it is just a different type of work preparing for the upcoming school year, it requires a certain amount of time, but that time can be adjusted which is nice.
Do you want to change this? Why or why not?
Yes, I want to change this. In fact I just had a conversation with my boss about the possibility of moving to a 10 month contract moving forward after this summer. I feel it is time to get someone else started in my position so I can start to vacate/vacation more and not have quite the responsibilities that I have now, and just to have more time to enjoy my last years in education.
Yes, I actually vacate on vacation. As a mom of four young children, and I use time away from school to enjoy it with my family. Occasionally, I will do some learning, whether it is reading a book or a class to continue my own learning, but overall, when I am on vacation I am enjoying my time away from school and giving myself a much needed break.
Yes- I do vacate on vacation. I have three boys, and I am a teacher at their school so it's important for me, and for them to have "mom" around and not "teacher-mom". I have to be determined, and conscious to make that happen and to know which hat to where when. I am always learning, reading, but not "planning", or thinking of the latest this, or that. I find when I give myself a break, I am more productive in a short time span.
Interesting question! On a short vacation, usually it is easy to put work aside, but sometimes it is hard to put things aside, whether they are a positive or a negative. However, I insist on putting all work aside on a summer vacation and fill my calendar with relaxing, entertaining, or fun events. (Personally I find that fishing fullfills all of those criteria.) I love VACATION and I am a pro at doing nothing all day!
There are 2 times during the year when I actually vacate on vacation - Christmas break and summer break. Our first semester ends right before Christmas break, which is very nice. It has not always been this way - for many years we would come back after Christmas break and have one week of class, then semester tests. During that time, I had to prepare for semester exams during Christmas break. Now, however, I ensure my semester one grades are posted and that I am ready for the first day back after break before I leave my classroom. This allows me to have the much-needed rest and recovery time that help me to be a better teacher for second semester. Every June, we go camping for most of the month. During these trips, I do not take school with me. I usually have my computer along, but the campground does not have internet, so I only use it at the local town when we travel in for groceries, and only if that is absolutely necessary. During July and August, I work periodically on renewal credits, workshops, and ideas for the fall. For several years, I waited until the week right before school started to get back in my classroom, which usually left me feeling behind. The past couple years, I have made it a point to be in my classroom two weeks before school starts and have gotten off to a much better start.
During the school year, I rarely take a real break from teaching and everything that goes along with being a teacher. It seems that the work is never done. There are always papers to grades, grades to post, lessons to plan, and better strategies to implement. Two years ago, we did take a week-long vacation during the school year, where I completely left school behind, and it was wonderful, but I still felt guilty for being gone and was concerned for my state test scores. Even on long/holiday weekends, it seems I struggle to get caught up. However, on occasion, I will set my work aside to gather with friends or family for a meal or a game of cards. I would like to change this. It would be nice to be able to "leave work at work." There are days when I am able to leave school earlier than others, but I always carry my "school bag" with me, because even if my lesson planning and grading is current, there is always something I can be doing to improve.
When I first started teaching, I did not ever vacate on vacation. I was single and had no children at that time and thought I needed to be constantly learning and improving. If I had any downtime, it was spent on school. These days, I find that during vacation, especially longer chunks of time, such as Christmas break and Summer break, it is important for me to vacate while on vacation. It gives me time to truly rejuvenate and be present in the now, both for my own mental health and for my family. Of course there are usually workshops or classes sprinkled across the Summer or early Fall that I take for continuing education but I am able to still take time to set work aside. For weekends, I have found that I need to schedule my "work time" and then set it aside for the rest of the weekend. Otherwise I am constantly in work mode and can't shut it off. I hit burnout and exhaustion a lot faster that way.
When I was teaching, I definitely vacated on vacation. During summer break, I didn't worry about school stuff until August. During the school year, I really struggled to turn off work when I got home. With teaching language arts, I spent a lot of time after work grading essays, vocab assignments, etc. It was difficult to find a good balance. I'm currently staying at home with my three children, but when I was teaching, I definitely wanted to change how much I brought home. I wanted to change this so I could feel less stressed at night and be more present with my family.
I try to protect my summers and designated holiday breaks as much as possible. This is important to me because I need to reset myself so that I can pour more of my time and energy into my students. In the last few years, I have started actually taking my personal days when I feel like I am getting overwhelmed with trying to balance both my professional life with my personal life. I have seen teachers get burnt out and I don’t want that to happen to me. I also need to make sure that I have the energy to pour into my own children at home.
I do vacate on vacation. I spend time with my husband and family and on hobbies that I enjoy during the summer. I do not bring work with me on our summer adventures and feel like I am able to get recharged. I do take a class or attend a conference every so often for recertification, which I enjoy. Toward the end of summer I do go into my classroom to organize things and get prepared for the upcoming school year, but ultimately that helps me feel ready and not stressed and often times I will meet with a colleague for lunch and collaboration. One thing I'm working on is not bringing things home every night during the week during the school year. It's a habit for me to bring my computer and planning book home with me daily, afterschool, and papers that need to be corrected that I didn't get to during the day. There are many times, once I'm home I'm ready to unwind and do not get to anything. I'm just bringing all the things back and forth for no reason. I've left things at school more in the last few years that I have before, so I'm making progress with this. It is difficult because during the school day there is not much time to complete everything that is put on our plates as teachers. I'm trying to relax my thought of getting everything done every day when I can get to things at another time. Prioritizing is key.
When I was teaching full time I would use mostly all of June and July to vacate from teaching! I didn't check email or do anything school related until August. I like that I have this in common with the Finnish. Teachers work so hard all year that I think this is so important for mental health and to recharge so you are ready for the next year. When I go back to the classroom I plan to keep doing this. I also want to make sure and protect my home/work balance and will leave work at work.
Do I vacate on vacation? During the school year, when we have a few days off, I find myself doing a partial vacation. I will definitely enjoy the day off by spending time with my family but I most likely will take an hour or so to work on something school related. In the summer, I truly do vacate. Ever since my kids were little, my summers were my time to spend with them. I had the working mom guilt of hauling them to daycare every day. Summers were my chance to catch up with them and just be a mom. As they aged, it was my time to run them to baseball practice and games. Now that they are adults, the summer is spent helping them plan weddings and showers, etc.. It is also time to catch back up with my husband. There are of course always a few training required of me over the summer. I definitely attend those trainings, but for the most part, I recharge my batteries.
ReplyDeleteI have made it a core priority of mine to leave work at work. The vast majority of days I leave all school work, computer, planning, etc at work and figure out how to get the job done within the contractual hours. While on vacation, I absolutely do not bring ANYTHING that will remotely be considered work, and focus on enjoying vacation and recharging for the work to come.
ReplyDeleteI actually pride myself in doing this. I don't usually do anything related to school until the Friday BEFORE school starts. I just don't see the point. In the past, every time I try to get ahead, the year starts and I have to change the plan. I know I need a break for my sanity and it DOES make me a better teacher. If we have a scheduled break, I embrace it. Now you might say that is not true because I saved this course for Christmas Break, but that is not true--today is the day BEFORE our break. I am finishing up just in time. I actually had gallbladder surgery, so I have the time to work on it. I will never give up my time off. It makes me a better person, in general.
ReplyDeleteI try to vacate when I am on vacation. There are some years that this works much better than others. For example, this year, I am teaching brand new curriculum that I simply cannot keep up with during the week, so vacations and breaks are used to catch up. and I am taking a couple classes that are also needed to keep my license current. There is not enough time in my day to work on these either, so they are being completed during breaks. However, in the summer, I do take weeks to go on vacation with my family and do other things that I enjoy that are not school related.
ReplyDeleteI do wish to change and use my breaks to actually vacate and unplug during the weekends. I feel that it makes me a better human being, parent, wife and teacher when I can enjoy my family and recharge.
I think I do a decent job of vacating on summer vacation in a similar way as the author, in more of a hybrid fashion. I don't allow myself to do anything work related the whole month of June - I tell myself after the 4th of July, then I can look at what needs to be done for the upcoming school year. On the weekends, I only allow myself to lose out on one afternoon to be able to recharge. I try and leave work at work on the weekdays. This is harder to do when the end of the grading period approaches. Leaving work at work was definitely a learning curve from the start of my teaching career and is one I am still getting better at. I definitely find that leaving work at work has helped me to destress at home and be more prepared for the next day.
ReplyDeleteDo you actually vacate on vacation? Why or why not?
ReplyDeleteI do not vacate on vacation. I’m type A person and I like to be prepared for things ahead. During the school year, I’m working on stuff outside of contract hours or I get to school early to get things done. I’m in my third year of teaching and my first two years were rough where I had no balance of personal life vs work life. As I’m in my third year of teaching, it has gotten better, but I would like to get better at not bringing work home and trying to leave work at work.
How often do you actually take a break from teaching and everything that goes along with being a teacher? Do you want to change this? Why or why not?
There are some weekends that I will not do anything school related, but then there are weekends that I’m constantly working on school tasks. With that being said, I will give myself a weekend here and there to get things done, but I need to give myself more time. I need to be okay with not being ahead all the time and give myself a rest.
Yes, I do actually vacate on vacation at this point. However, I currently have a 0.6 position and am in more of a support/facilitator role. I don't have grading on top of the teaching I do, and if I'm gone there isn't a sub. As a full-time classroom teacher, I was not able to leave school at school and that was hard on my family and sleep! I'm thankful that now I'm able to vacate on vacation.
ReplyDeleteIn the same way, when we have holiday and summer breaks I now am able to take a break from everything that goes with being a teacher, except for summer work days that the school district has in place. I think it's important to be able to unplug and enjoy the breaks, and I wish that it seemed more possible for all teachers to be able to do so.
When I was teaching, I never fully vacated on vacation. I think that I have always had this overwhelming sense of regret that takes place that I should be working even when I am on vacation. I feel almost bad about taking time to relax. I think this is just the way I have been brought up. If there was a free minute, then I should take advantage and learn or check something off my list to better my career. For example, when I was teaching. I would offer to teach summer school. When summer school was completed, I would prepare my classroom for the new year. In a way, this makes me feel prepared for the new school year to come but also, I wish I could enjoy time away and allow myself to just enjoy the time to relax. I wish that I could just relax without a feeling bad about doing just that.
ReplyDeleteAs I've gotten further along in my teaching career I have gotten better about vacating on vacation. Recently I've been able to take quite a bit of time away, only spending a few days after school gets out and a few days before starting up again over summer to prepare things and get things ready. On shorter breaks I try to limit my outside work, and generally just return a day, or a few hours early if there are things I feel I need to get done.
ReplyDeleteI try to put things in my schedule that allow me to feel like me and not just a teacher. I have a weekly Bible study with a bunch of non-teachers, so that is an evening I know I won't be thinking about or working on anything teaching-related. I've tried to set better boundaries too, like not having my school email on my phone, so I'm not worrying about school on my personal time. These are good starts, but I definitely could grow in this and find more ways to take a break from teaching and all that goes along with it.
I do vacate during vacations, generally spending a few days in my hometown with family over Christmas and about a week during the summer. I don't like doing more than that as I am definitely a homebody and being home is what recharges me. I teach during the school day and do a great job of unplugging on my drive home. I know how bad burnout can be and do what I can to avoid it. The only time I'm teaching outside of school hours is either a few days before school starts to prepare my classroom or when I have inspiration about something I can do as a teacher and don't want to wait to gameplan it. I do not want to change this as I have found I don't burn out at all and I'm a lot more happy and passionate while I am at school.
ReplyDeleteI do actually vacate when on vacation. I try to limit the amount of work I do outside of my contract hours to help my mental health and workload. I also try to prioritize the relationships with my coworkers and spending time with them outside of school. I think that it's beneficial for all of us to have people to relate to and to understand each other's struggles. I do wish that I would take a break from school a little more often in terms of taking days off. The difficult part of that is having to plan for a substitute, which is never fun.
ReplyDeleteYes, when I am on vacation I actually take the time to relax and enjoy what I am doing and where I am at. Everyone needs a vacation from their everyday life so when they come back they are refreshed and ready to return to their everyday life. I do not take many vacations or take enough time for myself. Even after school I do work, during the summer I do work for school. After reading this book I am learning that we all need to take a break from our work life to enjoy our life outside of the work place. I take less work home now and try not to stay after hours for very long. I have to remember that this is my job it is not my life.
ReplyDeleteIn my early years as a teacher, I brought work home too often. I found it hard to find time and space to grade artwork, so this took over my weekends, often like a dark cloud. Then there was really no mental time away from work and my home life was changed. In recent years I have made more of an effort to NOT check work emails on the weekends and to not take work home with me. I still may do some prepping or ideas for lessons. I do take summers off now but in the past due to money concerns, I also taught art lessons. I never really got a break from being teacher. In these current years, with all the student mental needs and diverse behaviors, it is even more important for teachers to truly vacate work and take meaningful vacations and get the rest we need. You can't pour from an empty cup is very true. Teachers need to create and stick by their boundaries and create a work and home balance.
ReplyDeleteAfter 30 years in education, I can honestly say I tried to vacate on vacation—but like most teachers, it wasn’t always easy. While I was teaching full time, I made it a priority to push for at least one real getaway each year, usually to the ocean. That time away mattered. It helped me reset and come back with more patience and energy for my students.
ReplyDeleteAs I got older and my kids were out of the house, my husband and I started taking more trips and spending longer stretches away. That part got easier. Letting go of the teacher mindset, though? Not so much. I’d tell myself I wouldn’t check my phone or bring work along—but more often than not, I did anyway. Teaching has a way of sticking with you, even when you’re supposed to be off the clock.
Now that I’m retired, I’m definitely getting better at actually unplugging. I don’t always succeed, but I’m more aware of how important it is to truly rest. Looking back, I don’t regret making vacations a priority—but I do wish I’d given myself more permission to fully “vacate.” Rest isn’t a luxury in teaching; it’s a necessity, and it’s something I’m still learning to embrace.
When I was a teacher, I tried to vacate on vacation, but I was one that would do schoolwork on breaks. I never wanted to let anyone down and I was very dedicated in making sure everyone succeeded. I feel that this lead to a little bit of a burnout for me. Being a special education teacher, I felt that I constantly had to come up with content/curriculum to teach my caseload as well as the paperwork, meetings, and documentation that went along with it. I found that I took a break from teaching when I was no longer a teacher going back. I would say that I didn’t have to set up my classroom after my first year of teaching which took a lot of time off in my summer, but I already started creating content for my new caseload coming in. I changed my ways of being able to vacate on vacation by choosing a different profession that still fulfills my cup of helping others, just in a different way. I’m taking this course though to keep my teaching certification just in case I have the desire to go back into the classroom in the future.
ReplyDeleteWhen I vacate, I do vacate. I do not worry about school at all as that is my time to recharge. I am lucky enough to have a great core team and a great job alike that I always send my subs to if they have questions or need assistance. When I first started teaching, I never took a break and felt like I was always working....it wore me out. I am to the point that when I am away from school, I do not work on school work. That is my time with my family and I need to recharge myself. Since I don't want to work outside of school, I have stopped giving homework so they don't have to work outside of school for me either. This helps lower the amount of work I have. I am happy with the way I balance my work and home life because I have learned the balance of having kids help monitor their own work and prioritizing what is important to do and what can wait.
ReplyDeleteI do not take to to vacate. It doesn't matter what time of the year it is there is always emails and issues that need to be addressed. I do vacate from my teaching roll in the summer months, I try not to think about planning any lesson or doing paper work. I would like to step away but that will probably only happen during retirement. I will also try and vacate a little more during school scheduled time off.
ReplyDeleteI do truly vacate when I’m on vacation. I do not have my work email on my personal devices, and I rarely bring work home. Setting those boundaries helps me disconnect and fully recharge. When I take breaks from teaching, I focus on spending time outdoors, investing in my family, and enjoying my hobbies. Those activities help me reset and come back to work feeling refreshed. Right now, I feel good about my work/life balance and don’t feel the need to change it. Taking intentional breaks allows me to be more present both in my personal life and in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteI do vacate when on vacation. I realize that I don't need to be thinking about school all the time. It is important to take time to get away and refresh yourself before you start another year of school. I would say that on the weekends, I really do try to take a break and try not to think about school until Sunday afternoon. By giving myself a break from teaching, I am able to reset myself and it also helps me to not burnout from the high demands of teaching. I am able to come back to school with a better mindset.
ReplyDeleteYes, for the most part I vacate on vacation. It took be about 17 years to figure this out, the author is right, taking time for yourself is so important. I have friends not in education that when they go on vacation, the leave all of their work at work and enjoy time with family, friends, and their own down time not worrying about work. I used to always bring my computer home and was constantly checking my e-mail on my phone, and just recently realized that if it is important, they will call otherwise I can take care of it when I get to school the next day, besides we all know that the things that are most likely to cause us anxiety and stress are the things we cannot see and randomly hit us on a Tuesday afternoon. I take a break from teaching for sure in the summer for two months and I take a break during spring breaks and Easter. I coach football and basketball so I do not get much in terms of not being involved in some fashion on the other holidays. I really enjoy what I am doing, so right now it does not seem to weigh on me too much, but I am beginning to understand how fast all of that can change.
ReplyDeleteI do vacate on vacation. I use the summer to recoup from the school year. It's important for my mental health to have that break. I enjoy time with my family, time by myself, and time to do projects around the house. I don't go into my classroom again until the first of August.
ReplyDeleteDo you actually vacate on vacation?
ReplyDeleteWhen I am truly on a vacation away from home for a few days, yes, but otherwise I would say no, I don't vacate very well. I am the Director of our Cyber School, so that means I take phone calls, email, texts which can really happen anytime of the day. I work on a n 11 month contract. It seems that a lot of time my thought process goes back things that need to be address with staff, curricula, testing, students, leaders, etc. I do travel out to the colonies on occasion so that helps by getting out of the office.
How often do you actually take a break from teaching and everything that goes along with being a teacher?
In the summer I have one month where I can pretty much get away from work unless I am contacted with concerns, questions, etc. It is really a special time as our 3 grandchildren and parents are home for a couple weeks. I try to get away from work during the scheduled breaks during the school year as much as possible. Summer work is different, for one there is no staff around, (they are vacationing) and it is just a different type of work preparing for the upcoming school year, it requires a certain amount of time, but that time can be adjusted which is nice.
Do you want to change this? Why or why not?
Yes, I want to change this. In fact I just had a conversation with my boss about the possibility of moving to a 10 month contract moving forward after this summer. I feel it is time to get someone else started in my position so I can start to vacate/vacation more and not have quite the responsibilities that I have now, and just to have more time to enjoy my last years in education.
Yes, I actually vacate on vacation. As a mom of four young children, and I use time away from school to enjoy it with my family. Occasionally, I will do some learning, whether it is reading a book or a class to continue my own learning, but overall, when I am on vacation I am enjoying my time away from school and giving myself a much needed break.
ReplyDeleteYes- I do vacate on vacation. I have three boys, and I am a teacher at their school so it's important for me, and for them to have "mom" around and not "teacher-mom". I have to be determined, and conscious to make that happen and to know which hat to where when. I am always learning, reading, but not "planning", or thinking of the latest this, or that. I find when I give myself a break, I am more productive in a short time span.
ReplyDeleteInteresting question! On a short vacation, usually it is easy to put work aside, but sometimes it is hard to put things aside, whether they are a positive or a negative. However, I insist on putting all work aside on a summer vacation and fill my calendar with relaxing, entertaining, or fun events. (Personally I find that fishing fullfills all of those criteria.) I love VACATION and I am a pro at doing nothing all day!
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ReplyDeleteThere are 2 times during the year when I actually vacate on vacation - Christmas break and summer break. Our first semester ends right before Christmas break, which is very nice. It has not always been this way - for many years we would come back after Christmas break and have one week of class, then semester tests. During that time, I had to prepare for semester exams during Christmas break. Now, however, I ensure my semester one grades are posted and that I am ready for the first day back after break before I leave my classroom. This allows me to have the much-needed rest and recovery time that help me to be a better teacher for second semester.
ReplyDeleteEvery June, we go camping for most of the month. During these trips, I do not take school with me. I usually have my computer along, but the campground does not have internet, so I only use it at the local town when we travel in for groceries, and only if that is absolutely necessary. During July and August, I work periodically on renewal credits, workshops, and ideas for the fall. For several years, I waited until the week right before school started to get back in my classroom, which usually left me feeling behind. The past couple years, I have made it a point to be in my classroom two weeks before school starts and have gotten off to a much better start.
During the school year, I rarely take a real break from teaching and everything that goes along with being a teacher. It seems that the work is never done. There are always papers to grades, grades to post, lessons to plan, and better strategies to implement. Two years ago, we did take a week-long vacation during the school year, where I completely left school behind, and it was wonderful, but I still felt guilty for being gone and was concerned for my state test scores.
Even on long/holiday weekends, it seems I struggle to get caught up. However, on occasion, I will set my work aside to gather with friends or family for a meal or a game of cards.
I would like to change this. It would be nice to be able to "leave work at work." There are days when I am able to leave school earlier than others, but I always carry my "school bag" with me, because even if my lesson planning and grading is current, there is always something I can be doing to improve.
When I first started teaching, I did not ever vacate on vacation. I was single and had no children at that time and thought I needed to be constantly learning and improving. If I had any downtime, it was spent on school.
ReplyDeleteThese days, I find that during vacation, especially longer chunks of time, such as Christmas break and Summer break, it is important for me to vacate while on vacation. It gives me time to truly rejuvenate and be present in the now, both for my own mental health and for my family. Of course there are usually workshops or classes sprinkled across the Summer or early Fall that I take for continuing education but I am able to still take time to set work aside.
For weekends, I have found that I need to schedule my "work time" and then set it aside for the rest of the weekend. Otherwise I am constantly in work mode and can't shut it off. I hit burnout and exhaustion a lot faster that way.
When I was teaching, I definitely vacated on vacation. During summer break, I didn't worry about school stuff until August. During the school year, I really struggled to turn off work when I got home. With teaching language arts, I spent a lot of time after work grading essays, vocab assignments, etc. It was difficult to find a good balance. I'm currently staying at home with my three children, but when I was teaching, I definitely wanted to change how much I brought home. I wanted to change this so I could feel less stressed at night and be more present with my family.
ReplyDeleteI try to protect my summers and designated holiday breaks as much as possible. This is important to me because I need to reset myself so that I can pour more of my time and energy into my students. In the last few years, I have started actually taking my personal days when I feel like I am getting overwhelmed with trying to balance both my professional life with my personal life. I have seen teachers get burnt out and I don’t want that to happen to me. I also need to make sure that I have the energy to pour into my own children at home.
ReplyDeleteI do vacate on vacation. I spend time with my husband and family and on hobbies that I enjoy during the summer. I do not bring work with me on our summer adventures and feel like I am able to get recharged. I do take a class or attend a conference every so often for recertification, which I enjoy. Toward the end of summer I do go into my classroom to organize things and get prepared for the upcoming school year, but ultimately that helps me feel ready and not stressed and often times I will meet with a colleague for lunch and collaboration. One thing I'm working on is not bringing things home every night during the week during the school year. It's a habit for me to bring my computer and planning book home with me daily, afterschool, and papers that need to be corrected that I didn't get to during the day. There are many times, once I'm home I'm ready to unwind and do not get to anything. I'm just bringing all the things back and forth for no reason. I've left things at school more in the last few years that I have before, so I'm making progress with this. It is difficult because during the school day there is not much time to complete everything that is put on our plates as teachers. I'm trying to relax my thought of getting everything done every day when I can get to things at another time. Prioritizing is key.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was teaching full time I would use mostly all of June and July to vacate from teaching! I didn't check email or do anything school related until August. I like that I have this in common with the Finnish. Teachers work so hard all year that I think this is so important for mental health and to recharge so you are ready for the next year. When I go back to the classroom I plan to keep doing this. I also want to make sure and protect my home/work balance and will leave work at work.
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