The common notion about teachers at the end of the school year is that they run out of the building screaming like banshees and then retreat to the comfort and ease of lounging beside the pool all summer to recover. Frequently during the last week of school, parents will ask teachers what they plan to do all summer. I remember one parent who stopped by the school a couple of weeks into summer and was truly dumbfounded to find the parking lot full, the office well-staffed, and all the teachers hard at work. “Don’t y’all know it’s summer?” he stammered. Yes, we do.
Contrary to popular myth, good teachers work all summer. Granted, the pace is slower—leisurely even—but good teachers work during the summer to hone their craft by reading and then responding to what they have read by writing essays and reviews; by attending conferences and workshops and classes and then responding to them by writing essays and reviews; by brainstorming fresh ideas with their colleagues. Teachers also use the summer to plan for the next year by meeting with colleagues and administrators to hammer out changes to curricula and methods that make up for perceived shortcomings—call it a model for continuous improvement. They also plan out the next school year, adding creative twists to lessons, coming up with more effective assignments, and pulling together the materials they need.
Next week is the first week of summer and I truly hope our students and parents enjoy the start of the summer break, but it will also be a productive week at Trinitas. Our teachers will work hard to bring the academic year to a close, but even more, they will begin to plan and implement changes for next year—exciting changes. They will work hard, even doing the manual labor of thoroughly cleaning classrooms and storage areas. And they are happy to do it, working together, relishing the camaraderie, commiserating about mistakes from last year, and planning excitedly for next year. These are not people who treat their calling as just a job; they are people who have embraced the call to teach that God has placed in their lives and who live that calling every day, even during the summer.
In the first part of Ecclesiastes 7:8, Solomon tells us that the end of a thing is better than its beginning. As hard as it may be to imagine, the school year at Trinitas can end even better than it began. I anticipate a sweet end to the school year, and, Lord-willing, that sweetness will spill over into the summer for the teachers. By ending the school year well, parents, students, and teachers can enter the summer full of energy and excitement for the future. I am so thankful to work with this community of professionals and cannot wait to see how they begin the school year in the fall!
