What Teachers Do During School Holidays

Someone once asked what do teachers do during school holidays. Apparently, they think that teachers run off to some remote island and enjoy a nice drink by the beach. As such, we do not deserve long holidays because why should teachers be given special treatment?

Well, it is actually far more complicated than that. You see, we are called to do a myriad of tasks and our job takes us wherever our country needs us.

We Go Undercover

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You see, teachers are government servants, so we can get called on anytime to serve our queen/king and country. My Boss, Mr 001 (his surname is ooi, but 001 sounds cooler) would call on me on a secret device that only he has access to. I would be summoned with an encrypted message on Whatsapp. In that message would be the time, place and equipment I would have to bring along for the mission.

Normally, the mission lasts several days and we would have to go undercover as students. Ok, maybe I exaggerate a little. Basically, we get called to attend professional development courses during school holidays. We may be teachers by profession, but we become participants or students throughout the course. I say undercover because we do call out our presenter's spelling and grammar error. It doesn't take much to blow our cover, really.

As dangerous as it sounds, you can't get killed from boredom. I do enjoy the networking and certain important skill learnt. That being said, courses are no fun to the things waiting for me at home.

We Make It Rain

So, you're probably thinking of this:

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But, in actual fact, it looks more like it has already rained...

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Exams normally finish before school holidays. As we leave school, we bring home piles of homework or exam papers to grade. I am lucky that most of mine is more like a short rain. My colleagues on the other hand bring home a really bad flood. Some do get a tsunami like workload but despite the mountain of workload, we still have to complete it nonetheless.

The trick is to let the work scatter in an orderly manner. Time spent tidying up is time wasted, so there's not time to lose! Much focus is needed in completing the paperwork, so we have no time but to focus. After the rain or flood of work that we receive, we will probably still have a few days of holiday left.

We Rearm and Resupply

During those final days, it is a great time to rest and, well resupply...

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It's time to resupply on the many jokes that we use in class. A time to resupply on stories that would inspire and motivate the students. You may think that this is trivial but jokes and stories are crucial in controlling a class. I resupply on my jokes through books and great outings with friends. Of course, there's no way to gather inspiring stories but to try out something crazy. You could attempt some form of extreme activity like white water rafting or sky diving.

It is in those experiences that you will find life lessons that you can use to impact your students' lives. After going skydiving, my takeaway is that life is too short to be spent on watching TV and playing computer games. There is a whole world out there for you to experience.

Conclusion

Holidays are generally exclusive to students, we teachers on the other hand get slower office hours or we are allowed to work from home. Now, if you would excuse me, I'm getting another mission from Mr 001. Steem on everyone!

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