Not a teacher alive has successfully declared their plans to become a teacher, or completed their teacher prep program, without a friend, loved one, or stranger making the joke that “teachers only work 9 months out of the year”. As I mourn the last day of my summer, I look back on how I spent the last 41 days.

Yes, my summer was only 41 days long. No, I don’t teach in a year-round school, and I did not teach summer school. Summers that lasted 3 months long predates my lifetime. No longer do students get out before Memorial Day and return to school after Labor day. Hence, summer (not including weekends, because we don’t count weekends during the school year) is only 41 days long.

During my summer I spent no less than 16 days inside my physical classroom, cleaning out, reorganizing and planning for the next year. These days do not include the time spent at home planning, printing, laminating, then cutting again. Oh, and let’s not forget answering emails. I teach special education, so I am lucky enough to get most of my students for many years, and with that colleagues and parents alike assume I am available to answer emails year round.

Through the next 185 days, the length of my teaching contract year, I hope to illustrate an accurate account of each teaching day. It neither starts when the morning bell rings, nor ends with the dismissal bell rings. Teaching requires long hours, many spent long after the final bell rings, weekends and vacations. Dealing with students is the easy part; the parents, and administrators is where most of the stress lies.

Tomorrow marks day one….let the fun begin!