Four Benefits of Teaching Summer School
We have all seen the Instagram posts or Tik Toks with the various teacher influencers touting how they won’t be teaching summer school or why they would never teach summer school. However, if you’re like us, you know that there are actually pretty solid benefits to teaching during the summer.
Benefit One: Summer Pay
We can shout it from the rooftops, but we all know that every single person who is not a teacher, related to a teacher, or friends with a teacher will think we get paid for just “lounging around” all summer long. However, that stretch from July 1st to September 1st without a paycheck is H-A-R-D. We teachers really know how to stretch a dollar. However, working summer school gives us that added little bump of pay in August to help get us through the month.
Benefit Two: Money Towards Retirement
Each summer that we work, adds to our retirement. Denise and I split summer school each year. I work two weeks, and she works two weeks. We have calculated that we will earn an extra thousand dollars per month just for working two weeks of summer school each year. When we retire and are on a fixed income, that extra thousand a month will go a long way and provide us with a little extra fun money to go to lunch with friends or buy those shoes we have been eyeing.
Benefit Three: We Get to Try Out All Our New Lessons and Practice New Teaching
Methods
Probably the most beneficial part of teaching summer school is finally getting the time to try out all the lessons we have been wanting to teach throughout the busy school year. There are many times when we think about cool lesson ideas…after we have already taught the unit of study. We use summer school classes as a way to try out all those new and fun activities we didn’t get the chance to teach during the regular school year. We can gauge what worked and what didn’t, and we still have time to edit our lessons before we try it out again during the school year.
Summer school is also a great time to practice new teaching methods or hone our teaching skills. There is no better way to improve classroom management than practicing your ability to build authentic relationships with students. Summer school is a low stakes time to practice this. You have a set amount of weeks to learn as much as you can about each student and use that knowledge to build authentic relationships. Another professional skill that you can perfect during summer school is creating and maintaining clear expectations. When students know what is expected of them when it comes to their behavior, their academic achievements, and their learning, they will be better equipped to rise to the occasion. You can practice those skills and so many others during the summer.
Benefit Four: Summer School Helps us Gauge What Our New Students Will Need in Regards to Learning
We all know that each and every school year we have a unique set of students with a unique set of needs. There will always be big ideas and standards that we know each and every class will benefit from year after year. However, each year that we teach summer school, we have a better understanding of what the specific needs of our incoming students may be. Some years we learn that our students will need a lot more explicit instruction on time management, where other years we know that certain classes will benefit from note-taking. When we have a better understanding of what out students’ needs will be, we can plan accordingly and make our year the best it can be.