What to do…..what to do…..
I know there are loads of ideas out there to help teachers map out their year, but this is my process with a few options for different different policies or teachers who need more flexibility.
1. Determine School Schedule
I use the school schedule as just a loose guide. Teachers are not obligated to teach every week that school is in session. When you have a studio of homeschoolers, private schoolers, and public schoolers in different districts, their calendars WILL NOT MATCH.
We have a local school district that is starting a week early and adding a fall break. I need to make a decision about that. Will I add a week off there?
2. Which schedule affects you?
If you teach in a brick and mortar school during the day or have school aged children, you will obviously want to give that priority. My daughter will be graduating from college in a month, so this will no longer apply to me.
3. Lost Cause Weeks
Think back to this past year and think about which weeks were absolutely torture to teach. For me it’s the last week of school and the first week of school. Those kids are not ready to learn on those weeks.
4. Consider Partial Weeks
For some reason schools love to break on a Wednesday or Thursday. For me personally, I’m going to work a full week or be off a full week. There’s no in between. But that might be right up your alley.
5. Monday holidays
If you have a spouse or school aged children who are off on Monday holidays, you may want to consider scheduling those off. For me the choices of how to bill for those Monday losses or adjusting the rest of my schedule to accommodate that deters me.
6. Your personal needs
Do you need an extended Christmas or Thanksgiving to visit family? Do you like a fall break to camp or hike? This is your actual vacation time.
After these considerations you can schedule based on how many weeks of instruction per year you plan to give. For me, I have 10 weeks scheduled off to play around with.
Before we go, let’s talk flex weeks. I find it helpful in my policies to define the number of lessons that I will schedule for the year with the caveat that I can make one of those weeks flexible. For me, I would just cancel one of my summer vacation or Christmas vacation weeks and teach then. They are in school for 2 of those weeks, so it would still be convenient for them to attend lessons.
