Sub Vision: Until the Next Summer Vacation…

Summer vacation has this unique quality of passing bye without notice. It was the case when I was a student, of course, but as a teacher, I hoped for some significant pause that would feel joyous, and last for a long time.

Every year, since I became a teacher, I reach the last day of summer vacation with an absolute amazement – is that all? Is it up already? Did I waist again two whole months without knowing it?

This summer was no different. Last day of school in June felt a long, blissful, way from August, and I intended to enjoy every moment of it. We had only short trips and few events planned, so my goal was to enjoy quiet days doing some projects, acquiring new skills, relearning how to operate the sewing machine, visiting bookstores and enjoying leisure time with friends…

I was quite disciplined about waking up at a descent time and talking my morning walks (a bit later than I planned…). The hard part was going to bed early enough so that the mornings would be easier to embrace, but watching a movie, or the news, or reading a book, were too tempting… after all I am on vacation…

I did manage to organize some drawers and shelves, and go through my wardrobe, yet, the more I did, I realized how much more there is to be done… My plans to do art projects, learn music, dive into a computer language, lose weight or mend my dresses were postponed to the next year. Even my plans to get together with friends for a long brunch, or fulfill promised visits were not executed…

I found myself happy enough doing small house chores; vacuuming and dusting, laundering and ironing and occasionally doing small scale house organization. Following the news consumed my early evening hours, and meal times were joyfully stretched and relaxed. I discovered how much I like being home and not having to follow any set schedule, ‘to do’ list, or answer to any demands on my time...

It will be good to go back to a more structured schedule, to see people, to have the thoughts occupied by school events, and to study new subjects with my students, still, it means going to bed on time, and worse – getting up on time…

Sub Vision: Get a Job… or better yet – a Career!

When a sales person calls and manages to bypass my answering machine to get to me, I get furious about a system that allows anybody to intrude my privacy at my special time. If a stranger breaks into someone’s home, he is a violator, and faces fierce consequences, so why invading someone’s space is not a violation?

The point that I want to make, however, is not about my frustration; it is about the people who are behind these calls. I want to tell them ‘young people, is this the best you can do with your life? Is calling people at home, trying to sell them something they don’t need, something you probably won’t buy - Is this the best way you can do to make a living? Aren’t you wasting your life?’

As I grow older, my attitude toward all young people is a mixture of parental and educational approach. I want to tell them not to waste time and energy on unimportant matters, to approach money as a mean, not as a goal, and a job as a career of the type that (as I heard once) they would do even if not paid to do it.

I am aware of a ready criticism toward someone who grew up, and raised kids, in a normal family situation, with values, education, and financial stability. And of course, any honest job is better than no job. We all had temporary situations when any honest job was OK; cleaning houses, babysitting or telemarketing. For a student with young family, or a person who supports an elderly parent, every job is respectable! But once situation is stabilizing, one must try to move to a better position, or at least try to find aspects of the job that he/she likes and expend on them…

Another reproof I may face might arise from the type of the job I do; it is not exactly a high profile career, one may claim. Unlike full time teachers, I am not that much of an educator… I don’t have their grueling responsibility of seeing 200 students under their care learning and maturing. Mine is more of a job than a career as it does not develop into a whole process with a start and with end results. I don’t take students on a long path that brings them from ignorance to enlightenment …

Yet, I am a teacher, and as such, I am true to my career indicator - I will do it even if I am not paid to do it…

True, as a substitute teacher I don’t have the satisfaction of seeing the whole progression, but never the less I am still a teacher and an educator. I don’t envision my job as just a warm body in a classroom. I am an instructor whenever I have the opportunity to discuss an academic subject - literature, historical event, or a math problem, and I am a mentor when the occasion arises to discussing social issues, relationships, values or current events, thus making them teachable moments…

There is nothing more gratifying for a teacher than seeing the result of a teachable moment… Not very often, but occasionally, students that I had before, at the same school or even another, would remind me that they learned something from me that affected them. Those are what Mr. Sima, my teaching credentials professor, would call ‘psychological dollars’, worth, infinitely, much more than green dollars…