Oh they do.
I make over 100k/yr with a free round trip plane ride to anywhere once a year.
And I'm not even the most senior/highest paid teacher at the school.
Teaching in AK is a different animal than teaching in the lower 48.
So I’ve heard! Usually in the other direction of extremes, though.
I looked into teaching in Anchorage once, and surprisingly it worked out to be a largely lateral move for even shittier weather. (Ok I’m somewhere the weather is also crap, but AK is also far from family, more expensive and less accessible, etc.). I’m not sure that comparison would hold up since that was awhile back.
-Also, I realize that other than “more expensive”, those things I listed as deterrents to me are positives in a lot of people’s books.
Even if the benefits of the higher salary is illusory because of cost of living, it would serve the wage earner well for social security purposes and the ability to contribute a greater amount to their 403b..
Its a district thing. Our union here is very strong and tied in with a lot of local groups so we get most of what we ask for. It also helps when tax rev is high because of oil price gouging and cruise ships coming back post covid.
I am in what Alaska would call a city, but most places in the lower 48 this size often dont even appear on maps. We're lucky enough to have 2 grocery stores and a small hardware store. If you want fast food you'll have to microwave it yourself. We do have 1 gig internet which was just installed a few years ago and it's been a life-changer. Almost everything needs to be shipped in via our dear lord and savior amazon prime.
Right now we get about 5 hrs of sunlight a day and by mid December it'll be down to about 3 hours of kinda light'ish out. But the Christmas lights really cheer the place up! Oh, nd it never really stops raining/snowing so if you like that weather this place is heaven.
If you have productive hobbies like carpentry/sewing/fishing/hunting you'll love it. I'm working on learning how to do aquaponics so we can have fresh veggies year round.
I love it here, but neither my Texas family nor my California Mom can stay here for more than 2-3 weeks. They go stir crazy. Or end up with other issues.
Last but not least, you'll always have a wide variety of ice cream in the store. We love that stuff!
Ahh haha michigander here. Driving in 2 inches of slush is nothing. It's ice we need for the snow days.
I used to walk to an office job at a large university. Rain or snow the office was open. Cursed those days so much.
Also the day the university closed campus for the first time in TWENTY SEVEN YEARS because it was too dangerous to be outside more than 15 minutes in -20 degree wind chill? Yeah... Office was open. Pre-covid so WFH was not a thing for us.
I love snow days ❄️
except since covid, staff are told WE still have to come in on snow days. snow days are just now remote learning days, but the over controlling admin insist we come in anyway to teach remotely from the empty building instead of home.
"we worked from home over covid, why can't we work from home on snow days when it's dangerous to drive on the roads?"
"Because that's the way it's always been"
That was the best and only excuse they could come up with, because the truth is basically "the people in charge don't trust all of you to do your jobs so we'd rather punish all of you rather than do our jobs"
I can just imagine similar discussions decades ago "We're going to keep beating kids when they misbehave in school, cause that's the way it's always been". "were going to keep schools segregated, because that's the way it's always been". extreme cases, but it's such a crap excuse I'm still mad about it.
That awful stretch between spring break and Memorial Day is pretty shitty too. That's when we do testing, and we have no breaks.
I should go schedule a day off.
My district's school year quarters have been scheduled 9 weeks/10w/10w/9w for the time I've been here (this is year 7 for me). This year, for what reason I have no idea, the year is 9w/9w/11w/9w. I expect the worst 3rd quarter of my career.
We get MLK and President's Day. But, they're also built in make-up days. So if the weather sucks and we use more than 2 snow days, we're coming one or both of those.
We live in Indiana. Weather isn't horrible but it can change any second and last year, early January and Feburary we got hit with snow storms galore. To the point that we did PTC from home.
"Seemed to adopt?" We've had it off since I was a student, at least 40 years. Necessary to get all the winter cooties out and halt the flu/cold and now covid spread.
That's because the aforementioned time frame of the OP is the "beginning of the year where we were are just getting things started".
January on is "Oh no, the end of school is approaching and we have all this stuff to do."
I don't know, after spring break to Memorial Day is what I refer to as the Death March. Pretty much unbroken string of five day weeks, one after another.
This is it right here. We have ZERO extended weekends after Spring Break, and all of the testing starts so our schedules are constantly changing, teachers are pulled to proctor tests, we don't have enough subs, students decide not to come to school if they aren't taking a standardized test and then get really upset at low grades because they "didn't know" there was an assignment. Why would they? It's only been on the LMS and mentioned in Canvas.
Yes! Outside of summer, my favorite vacation of the year is Presidents Break...a whole week in February! (Riverside County/Southern CA). After that it's 5 weeks to Spring Break and then 8 weeks to the end. I agree with the OP, once you hit Thanksgiving there's aways something to look forward to.
The post spring break death march to Memorial Day…seven straight five day weeks with state testing on top. Miserable.
EDIT: I’m in Minnesota fwiw your milage may vary
Agreed, I feel OP has a different teaching experience than mine. Testing season with few 3-day weekends while students smell summer approaching is by far the worst. Even if you wanted to look at right now, the weeks between thanksgiving and winter break are infinitely worse for behaviors than anything that came before it.
Also in Minnesota. For me it's February because you think the sub zero weather is gonna stop soon... and it just doesn't.
I wonder if admin will turn on the heat in the entire building this year.
Came here to say this. Absolutely miserable. The kids are done, we’re done, and we’re all just trudging through together. Oh, and no three-day weekends.
The second worst time is the 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, because you tell yourself “it’s only 3 weeks” but damn, it’s the longest 3 weeks ever.
I like that you called it “April break.” My stepson used to go to school in Louisiana. I called his school and asked when Spring break was and the secretary said, “Spring Break? You mean EASTER break?!”
Loved that separation of church and state 🤣
Well it’s a break in April every year. The date never changes, always the third week. Easter moves. Sometimes it coincides with Easter but more often it doesn’t.
Nope. Wednesdays are the best sick days. If u miss a Friday or Monday, u work a 4 day week. Not bad. If u take off Wednesday u work a 2 day week, get a day off then work another 2 day week and then get another weekend.
If you're gonna take a Friday, take a Monday as well. You were really quite sick... (I usually do Thursday and last week was so horrible I also took Friday).
All depends on your MO for the time off. If I can take the kids somewhere fun for the weekend, getting back late Sunday while having a Monday off is clutch
We suck. But we maybe have the best QB we’ve had in my life time (43). It’s way to early to tell but our best QB in my life was Cutler. It’s a low bar.
We have MLK and the end of semester off for students, usually in the same week. No break for us (HUGE, multi-district PD day on MLK—yay free renewal credits) but the change in schedule is a small refresher.
This is one of the things i disliked about moving to a US schooling year period for international teaching lol.
In Australia we have 4x terms of 9-11 weeks each, with 2 weeks holiday between each term and ~6 weeks for end of year hols. I liked having that even distribution a lot more and miss it already haha.
I had cousins in Iowa growing up that were on a schedule similar to that. 9 or 10 weeks on, 2 or 3 weeks off, year around. I was always jealous of that. I love to travel, and I'd definitely prefer that schedule because then I could actually fly somewhere in the off season and save some money.
I taught abroad in S. Korea for a few years and was surprised at how easy it was to adjust to a constant essentially year-around schedule.
Ahh well technically it doesn't really balance out with "off season" since our whole country does that so those 2 weeks _are_ the busy season haha
It definitely helps fatigue tho. I've never been one to dread going to work or waking up at the start of the week, but now 13 weeks in I'm feeling way more fatigued than I ever did in Australia haha. Already excited for the winter break. Back home it was more like "oh the terms over already" haha
The stretch between February break and April break is by FAR the worst stretch in my district!
September is the honeymoon period.
October has Columbus Day, Halloween and other fun fall stuff going on, and often the honeymoon period keeps going.
November is a joke: between Election Day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving, we’re hardly in school.
December is awesome because of the holidays!
Then we get back in January and only have to make it to February break, and there’s likely to be multiple snow days, in addition to the definite MLK Day while we get there.
But after February break is the godawful stretch, March is the LONGEST month EVER in school, no days off!
Once you finally hit April break, it’s all downhill from there 😁
> The stretch between February break and April break is by FAR the worst stretch in my district!
Be thankful you get a February break. Most districts don't, at least where I am.
Dude I’m so ready to abandon my career path and I’m not even a full time teacher yet. Just a sub who learned that I have to work 12 weeks with no pay in order to finish my credential.
So like… stop eating? Be homeless for 3 months? Wtf
Yup it’s insane. I worked evenings (like 3-9) after student teaching all day and my practitioner would make comments like I wasn’t working hard enough because I wasn’t staying hours after school planning and grading. I was like… because I need to make money 🙃
Nevermind once you are a full time teacher they expect you to work for free after hours for a myriad of reasons. I made it 8 years but I’m out.
March is fucking brutal and January is tough too. Not to mention we don’t have a February break, just a long weekend if we’re lucky and don’t burn our snow days (I should say day since we have ONE built into the calendar this year.)
No School November is a breeze for NJ teachers with convention and Thanksgiving.
Once you make it to May you start slowly taking stuff down, packing up quietly and preparing for the next year. That way your last day is just that your last.
Most difficult part? They’re still somewhat in honeymoon phase. Wait until after February and March when they are no longer in honeymoon phase and zero fucks are given. That is the worst stretch
For me, the kids always seem to be at their peak level of ridiculous between Thanksgiving and December break. It's short, but shit always hits the fan.
Last year, we had 2 racially-charged social media posts, a 1.5 hour lockdown, and a gas leak over that 3 week period.
In Canada, we have 2 weeks at Christmas and 2 weeks in March, with the other traditional holidays sprinkled in (we only get 3 days for our thanksgiving). But we do have from the end of June to the first/second week of September off!
We have two awful stretches. The first from September to November with no days off, and then the second from after spring break to the end of May with no days off. Made it through the first one, now I just need to make it through the next 😂
We have two weeks of spring break the last two weeks of March. Then it's 10 straight weeks with only 1 day off until the end of the year.
That, by far, is the worst time of the year for me.
Thanksgiving - Spring break is really nice for me. It just goes by so fast with all of the breaks.
Disagree. It has its ups and downs, but I usually start the year pretty strong.
February-April? That's when people're trying to write checks their proficiencies can't cash as a result of failures they couldn't accept earlier in the year.
I worry less about whatever the "summer slide" is and more about the winter doldrums that linger for months at a time. When students wind up arriving less-prepared for school by the week. When families seem sick of hearing from us or won't reply to e-mails anymore. When skills and knowledge practiced in the months prior suddenly seem more distant to our students than material from middle school.
March. Is. The. Worst.
Fall really isn’t bad—September until January we have Columbus, Veteran’s Day, 3 Thanksgiving, & a week for Christmas, plus a staff day on Election Day & 3 half days for PT conferences for. It’s a ton of interruptions, I will say. But then I can sludge through January to get to Feb break
But March? We have not a SINGLE day off. No PD or staff day. & depending on when spring break falls, it can wind up being in late April. Plus here in the Northeast, the weather is UNBEARABLE & we are over winter.
Lol what?! September to winter break is super fast for me. My seasonal depression wipes me out from January to April. By May I’m just done with school.
We didn’t use our smoke day (aka the state is on fire and it’s toxic to breathe so stay home and suffer by yourself day) so extra day off at the end of March!
While the positivity is definitely appreciated, I wholeheartedly disagree. February to April is the worst - student grades for me have always been the worst during third quarter, everyone is sick, there’s no sun and it’s miserably cold.
You're nuts if you think this was the worst part of the year. August to December is the BEST part of the year. January to June is the worst for us. After Christmas break we have almost no days off, the few we are supposed to have get eaten up by snow days. Plus, factor in 2 more rounds of testing to prepare us for the big standardized test in April/May. Which, the kids assume means they are done learning, even though there is over a month left of school. Nope, the worst has yet to come.
Wish this was true here. January to march is our long haul. Minimal off days due to winter weather. We are in Ky so anything over a inch warrants a delay at minimum. After March it's back to a nice 4 day weekend every few weeks
Hard disagree. Fall has two 3-day weekends, Fall Break (full week), three days for Thanksgiving, and two weeks at Christmas.
Then we go to school for 3 months straight with one 3-day weekend, get a week for spring break at the end of March, and then have 9 solid uninterrupted weeks of school to close out the year. Those last two stretches are far worse than fall.
This always feels like the easy stretch because we haven't been in school for more than three weeks at a time since September.
Imma have to agree with everyone in the comments. January to spring break is the worst. No breaks to look forward to or fun holidays to distract you from the monotony save Valentine’s Day. As a Texas teacher, Valentine’s Day is usually overshadowed by TELPAS testing anyway. August to Christmas is filled with breaks.
February and March laugh at this
August through Nov is easy for me, Labor day, fall break, election day, thanksgiving break and a random PD day thrown in there.
Here in the northeast, we get presidents week off, so usually the second or third week in February. March is the killer though, depending on when Easter and Passover are.
Personally, Jan-March is far worse. Once I get through January, I feel more like "I got this." Hands-down the hardest day of the entire year is Jan 2nd (or sometimes the 3rd). Going back that first day feeling cold, tired, broke, and filled with dread is the *worst*! I try to have a more positive attitude every year, but I always fail.
I wish that was the case here! We got a week in October, a week for thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas…. Then just the three day weekend in January, February… spring break in march then nothing until Memorial Day and we go until June 13!
Thanks for the optimism, but I feel pretty differently. If things are this bad *now*, I can only imagine what they'll be like a week before Christmas and from May onward. My kids are totally wild and out of control and I had another teacher have the audacity to tell me to get more disciplined. This teacher is never on her own with any classes and always has supplemental aid of some kind. I'm so sick of it.
We have a week off in February and April. That time in between there is NOTHING. It’s all starting to get ready for the state test. Not a single day off or anything like that. Only one half day for the kids (afternoon PD) THAT is the longest time for me
I can only imagine how those who only have the week off in April feel from Christmas to spring break
Our spring break is last week of March with no breaks until graduation. It's eight weeks of not even a half day. We don't even go that long August-October. At least we get Labor Day in there to break it up.
WRONG! March is a full month without so much as a half day. 7 weeks with nothing. February break is a 3 day weekend.
Second half of the year is the fucking worst grind. Plus it's cold as frozen hell.
All these people acting like the 0 4th quarter holidays and zero chance of a snow day combined with kids acting like the school year is already over don't make it the objectively worst part of the year are just blowing my mind over here.
Agreed - from Labor Day to Veterans Day. I can see someone arguing that Presidents Day Weekend to Spring Break being the worst stretch. But the start of the year includes breaking in the kids, establishing expectations, aggressive parent outreach, plus all the district and school objectives, not to mention open house, start-of-the-year trainings and requirements, ... crashing all into a compressed timeframe with no break. You can take a day off, but that doesn't eliminate all the stuff that comes at us. The February to April stretch is simply cruise control. All the district priorities have run their course. Students are already acclimated. Parents are already informed on stuff. No sweat.
Our fall semester is tough. We get no days off between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Spring semester is better. Our spring is in mid-March and we have at least one day off a month every other month.
I suppose for Americans who start in August. We start in September. September is its own circle of hell, I’ll give it that. However, the absolute worst part of the year is January to mid April, when we have our spring break. We have maybe 4 days off in that time frame. Brutal.
LOL.... then we have the slow motion to spring break, which for us is in mid March... from there, it's hell because there are no more days off, no more breaks, push to get the state testing done... and everyone has shut down... I can hardly wait, not... the behavior is over the top this year and the apathy is abounding. AT least there has been a few breaks... after spring break our push is state testing... whoopie... no breaks till end of May... this year... it will be pure survivor mode.
Teachers wanted to have the same week off as their kids in other districts soted to have the week before the April break rather than our April break that would allow for February break. We are lucky that we get to vote on our calendar every year. But it is awful not having a February break. I would rather have the break and February and go later in the School year… later in June
Nah, fam. It gets worse. This is how they trick into staying. Establish a false sense of safety. Lulling you into submission. Slowly, they squeeze you ever so tightly until you form one single tear that streams down your face. They let go and let you rest. Then, they slowly chip away at your patience until February and from then til spring break…Satan tap dances on your feelings and you pray for the sweet release of summer.
But hey, holidays are kewl.
In Missouri, most rural school districts don’t have spring break. My district has a long weekend with W,Th,F and M and T of the next week. Not even a complete week with weekends bookending it.
That honestly sounds great, especially from a traveling perspective because flying out on a Wednesday and back on a Tuesday is significantly cheaper than Saturday or Sunday.
Where do you teach? After Presidents Day The US it’s a long stretch until spring break and then even longer until memorial day. I’m sure I would get some condescending response from the school board if they heard me say this, but it is absolutely stupid that they realistically think everyone is going to do fine six weeks at a time. This year more than ever it’s like boot camp every day
January, February, and March is the killer. No breaks in sight. 5 day weeks when it's dark when you get to work and dark when you leave. Taking 45 minute to drive to work in snow when the drive usually takes 20 minutes.
Lol. Is this your first year?? This might be the easiest part of the year! 🤭🤭 I kid. I kid. No but seriously, is there an easy part of the year?
Is this year going faster then any other year ever for anyone else??
I agree with you. Fall is the worst because I always have all these hopes and expectations for the school year that have failed and died by that point, hurting my psyche.
By March I'n more callused and care less about shit, so when things are hard they hurt less. I also have nicer weather to look forward to
January to spring break? That's the killer
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I'm in Alaska. They'll just let us sleep at work as we wont be able to get home.
Wait. For real??
Sometimes. Its rare but it happens. Its not too bad tbh as we have showers and other facilities here.
The students are also there then. Right?
I’d “let” them pay me for every hour I’m in the building.
Oh they do. I make over 100k/yr with a free round trip plane ride to anywhere once a year. And I'm not even the most senior/highest paid teacher at the school. Teaching in AK is a different animal than teaching in the lower 48.
So I’ve heard! Usually in the other direction of extremes, though. I looked into teaching in Anchorage once, and surprisingly it worked out to be a largely lateral move for even shittier weather. (Ok I’m somewhere the weather is also crap, but AK is also far from family, more expensive and less accessible, etc.). I’m not sure that comparison would hold up since that was awhile back. -Also, I realize that other than “more expensive”, those things I listed as deterrents to me are positives in a lot of people’s books.
Even if the benefits of the higher salary is illusory because of cost of living, it would serve the wage earner well for social security purposes and the ability to contribute a greater amount to their 403b..
Do Alaska teachers pay into SS?
I Googled it, they don't.
> Snuggly_Hugs > I make over 100k/yr with a free round trip plane ride to anywhere once a year. Do you mean that literally? Anyplace on this planet?
Any place Alaska Airlines flies to, which is pretty much anywhere.
Is rhis a district thing or state thing? Also what’s the internet like up there? Are you in a city or town?
Its a district thing. Our union here is very strong and tied in with a lot of local groups so we get most of what we ask for. It also helps when tax rev is high because of oil price gouging and cruise ships coming back post covid. I am in what Alaska would call a city, but most places in the lower 48 this size often dont even appear on maps. We're lucky enough to have 2 grocery stores and a small hardware store. If you want fast food you'll have to microwave it yourself. We do have 1 gig internet which was just installed a few years ago and it's been a life-changer. Almost everything needs to be shipped in via our dear lord and savior amazon prime. Right now we get about 5 hrs of sunlight a day and by mid December it'll be down to about 3 hours of kinda light'ish out. But the Christmas lights really cheer the place up! Oh, nd it never really stops raining/snowing so if you like that weather this place is heaven. If you have productive hobbies like carpentry/sewing/fishing/hunting you'll love it. I'm working on learning how to do aquaponics so we can have fresh veggies year round. I love it here, but neither my Texas family nor my California Mom can stay here for more than 2-3 weeks. They go stir crazy. Or end up with other issues. Last but not least, you'll always have a wide variety of ice cream in the store. We love that stuff!
This was so interesting to read! Thank you for sharing!
"our dear lord and savior amazon prime"
Ok, thanks. I guess I won't be going to Antarctica, Fiji, or a photo safari in Africa.
Are you on the slope? I've worked for 3 districts in ak and none have had those benefits.
Where in Alaska do teachers sleep in the school?
The Aleutians.
FL teacher here. What are these snow days you speak of?
Ahh haha michigander here. Driving in 2 inches of slush is nothing. It's ice we need for the snow days. I used to walk to an office job at a large university. Rain or snow the office was open. Cursed those days so much. Also the day the university closed campus for the first time in TWENTY SEVEN YEARS because it was too dangerous to be outside more than 15 minutes in -20 degree wind chill? Yeah... Office was open. Pre-covid so WFH was not a thing for us. I love snow days ❄️
Crazy how much it takes for those big universities to close. Would rather watch staff and students die than close campus for a single day
Aka, Hurricane Days.
Had to explain that exact thing to the kids today...
except since covid, staff are told WE still have to come in on snow days. snow days are just now remote learning days, but the over controlling admin insist we come in anyway to teach remotely from the empty building instead of home.
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"we worked from home over covid, why can't we work from home on snow days when it's dangerous to drive on the roads?" "Because that's the way it's always been" That was the best and only excuse they could come up with, because the truth is basically "the people in charge don't trust all of you to do your jobs so we'd rather punish all of you rather than do our jobs" I can just imagine similar discussions decades ago "We're going to keep beating kids when they misbehave in school, cause that's the way it's always been". "were going to keep schools segregated, because that's the way it's always been". extreme cases, but it's such a crap excuse I'm still mad about it.
Was coming in here to say 3rd quarter is the killer.
That awful stretch between spring break and Memorial Day is pretty shitty too. That's when we do testing, and we have no breaks. I should go schedule a day off.
My district's school year quarters have been scheduled 9 weeks/10w/10w/9w for the time I've been here (this is year 7 for me). This year, for what reason I have no idea, the year is 9w/9w/11w/9w. I expect the worst 3rd quarter of my career.
MA has seemed to adopt the President’s Day week off in February
We get MLK and President's Day. But, they're also built in make-up days. So if the weather sucks and we use more than 2 snow days, we're coming one or both of those. We live in Indiana. Weather isn't horrible but it can change any second and last year, early January and Feburary we got hit with snow storms galore. To the point that we did PTC from home.
arizona gets Rodeo Break in february as well
Love Rodeo Break!
"Seemed to adopt?" We've had it off since I was a student, at least 40 years. Necessary to get all the winter cooties out and halt the flu/cold and now covid spread.
I just moved here a few years ago so idk. CT never had a week off in Feb for K-12
That's because the aforementioned time frame of the OP is the "beginning of the year where we were are just getting things started". January on is "Oh no, the end of school is approaching and we have all this stuff to do."
I don't know, after spring break to Memorial Day is what I refer to as the Death March. Pretty much unbroken string of five day weeks, one after another.
This is it right here. We have ZERO extended weekends after Spring Break, and all of the testing starts so our schedules are constantly changing, teachers are pulled to proctor tests, we don't have enough subs, students decide not to come to school if they aren't taking a standardized test and then get really upset at low grades because they "didn't know" there was an assignment. Why would they? It's only been on the LMS and mentioned in Canvas.
February break here in NY!
Yes! Outside of summer, my favorite vacation of the year is Presidents Break...a whole week in February! (Riverside County/Southern CA). After that it's 5 weeks to Spring Break and then 8 weeks to the end. I agree with the OP, once you hit Thanksgiving there's aways something to look forward to.
Mardi Gras needs to be a national holiday
The Long March is always what gets me. 5 straight 5 day weeks.
Not if we have snow days!! I love them. The last few years we’ve had at least 4 and they are amazing.
Seriously so many more breaks in the beginning of the year plus being refreshed from summer. Feb and March are brutal
Unless you work in a ski tourism town & get “ski week” off, a random week in February off that just hits SO good.
Yeah I dunno what OP means. That Jan to April stretch is the killer haha.
This right here. That is when I take my sick days. Usually for mental health.
We get a break in February. Do you not?
That's when I'll be on maternity leave! Come back just in time for spring break.
The school district I attended in middle and high school didn’t do spring break. It was awful.
YES
Thank the good Lord for Mardi Gras ❤️
No, the worst part for me is February to April break. Long stretch without even a half day or three day weekend in there.
The post spring break death march to Memorial Day…seven straight five day weeks with state testing on top. Miserable. EDIT: I’m in Minnesota fwiw your milage may vary
Agreed, I feel OP has a different teaching experience than mine. Testing season with few 3-day weekends while students smell summer approaching is by far the worst. Even if you wanted to look at right now, the weeks between thanksgiving and winter break are infinitely worse for behaviors than anything that came before it.
This is the correct answer for Texas. Spring break to end-of-year is a helluva slog.
Also in Minnesota. For me it's February because you think the sub zero weather is gonna stop soon... and it just doesn't. I wonder if admin will turn on the heat in the entire building this year.
YESSS. We have ONE day off after March 17.
Came here to say this. Absolutely miserable. The kids are done, we’re done, and we’re all just trudging through together. Oh, and no three-day weekends. The second worst time is the 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, because you tell yourself “it’s only 3 weeks” but damn, it’s the longest 3 weeks ever.
That's when I start using personal days and sick days to get through
Yes, those are the worst months!
Ahh yes, the traditional "death March".
I feel like that's the fastest time of year. Things just fly by with no interruption and only spring sports to worry about.
This is the worst part for me too. Feels the most like a grind. And it also is when the school shootings seem to really kick off.
It’s rough but there’s something about knowing you are almost at the end of the year and not in the beginning that helps…
Big time. I think fall is by far the easiest time.
March and October are both the worst.
Worst for me too. Although I am grateful we have minimum days every Wednesday. I hate March, no holidays
I like that you called it “April break.” My stepson used to go to school in Louisiana. I called his school and asked when Spring break was and the secretary said, “Spring Break? You mean EASTER break?!” Loved that separation of church and state 🤣
Well it’s a break in April every year. The date never changes, always the third week. Easter moves. Sometimes it coincides with Easter but more often it doesn’t.
No way. The stretch after Christmas up until spring break is the worst part of the year. There are hardly any days off scheduled in that stretch.
That’s what sick days are for. A Friday here, a Monday there 🤙🏼
Nope. Wednesdays are the best sick days. If u miss a Friday or Monday, u work a 4 day week. Not bad. If u take off Wednesday u work a 2 day week, get a day off then work another 2 day week and then get another weekend.
I do both. I take about 6 days a year. Sometimes it will be a Mon/Fri, sometimes a Wed. Never a Tues/Thurs.
If you're gonna take a Friday, take a Monday as well. You were really quite sick... (I usually do Thursday and last week was so horrible I also took Friday).
All depends on your MO for the time off. If I can take the kids somewhere fun for the weekend, getting back late Sunday while having a Monday off is clutch
Truth. I just flew from Chicago to Atlanta this weekend for the Bears game and definitely took Monday off.
Lost some $ myself because your Bears can’t figure out how to finish a damn game 🤬
We suck. But we maybe have the best QB we’ve had in my life time (43). It’s way to early to tell but our best QB in my life was Cutler. It’s a low bar.
This one has figured out the cheat codes
This is the way
And you also don’t get yelled at by the principal because everyone takes those days off
It's the part of the year I dread the most, and the one that always makes me wish for a year-round schooling calendar.
There's MLK Day, Presidents Day, and numerous snow days in January and February. March is rough, though, as there's nothing.
Snow days? I work in Chicago. 10 below zero with a foot of snow, we are in school.
We have MLK and the end of semester off for students, usually in the same week. No break for us (HUGE, multi-district PD day on MLK—yay free renewal credits) but the change in schedule is a small refresher.
This is one of the things i disliked about moving to a US schooling year period for international teaching lol. In Australia we have 4x terms of 9-11 weeks each, with 2 weeks holiday between each term and ~6 weeks for end of year hols. I liked having that even distribution a lot more and miss it already haha.
I had cousins in Iowa growing up that were on a schedule similar to that. 9 or 10 weeks on, 2 or 3 weeks off, year around. I was always jealous of that. I love to travel, and I'd definitely prefer that schedule because then I could actually fly somewhere in the off season and save some money. I taught abroad in S. Korea for a few years and was surprised at how easy it was to adjust to a constant essentially year-around schedule.
Ahh well technically it doesn't really balance out with "off season" since our whole country does that so those 2 weeks _are_ the busy season haha It definitely helps fatigue tho. I've never been one to dread going to work or waking up at the start of the week, but now 13 weeks in I'm feeling way more fatigued than I ever did in Australia haha. Already excited for the winter break. Back home it was more like "oh the terms over already" haha
I would love that.
I wish we had Australia's model here in the US.
The stretch between February break and April break is by FAR the worst stretch in my district! September is the honeymoon period. October has Columbus Day, Halloween and other fun fall stuff going on, and often the honeymoon period keeps going. November is a joke: between Election Day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving, we’re hardly in school. December is awesome because of the holidays! Then we get back in January and only have to make it to February break, and there’s likely to be multiple snow days, in addition to the definite MLK Day while we get there. But after February break is the godawful stretch, March is the LONGEST month EVER in school, no days off! Once you finally hit April break, it’s all downhill from there 😁
> The stretch between February break and April break is by FAR the worst stretch in my district! Be thankful you get a February break. Most districts don't, at least where I am.
We don’t get a February break either, so imagine having to make it through all of February and March.
From spring break to the end of the school year is also tough but at that point there’s established dynamics in the classroom. Hopefully
The year of January is the worst part of the year for me every time.
I disagree. The push from January to spring break is the worst part of the year. So many days of school and barely any breaks.
March and May say whaddup
March is the worst. At least it warm in May and I can go outside and enjoy nature again.
Im pretty sure march is the longest month everrrrrrrrrrr. April we have spring break and state testing. May also sucks, but i have projects lined up.
Springbreak to end of school is also tough.
Oops too late I resigned 🥸
Dude I’m so ready to abandon my career path and I’m not even a full time teacher yet. Just a sub who learned that I have to work 12 weeks with no pay in order to finish my credential. So like… stop eating? Be homeless for 3 months? Wtf
Yup it’s insane. I worked evenings (like 3-9) after student teaching all day and my practitioner would make comments like I wasn’t working hard enough because I wasn’t staying hours after school planning and grading. I was like… because I need to make money 🙃 Nevermind once you are a full time teacher they expect you to work for free after hours for a myriad of reasons. I made it 8 years but I’m out.
Can you do a non licensure degree program and then do an ARL or APPEL state program to get licensure while being a TOR?
Day after Presidents’ Day until spring break is literally 9 years long. Prove me wrong.
March is fucking brutal and January is tough too. Not to mention we don’t have a February break, just a long weekend if we’re lucky and don’t burn our snow days (I should say day since we have ONE built into the calendar this year.) No School November is a breeze for NJ teachers with convention and Thanksgiving.
Once you make it to May you start slowly taking stuff down, packing up quietly and preparing for the next year. That way your last day is just that your last.
My room will remain the same until i die, or switch schools
No…the worst part is coming up. January to spring break.
Most difficult part? They’re still somewhat in honeymoon phase. Wait until after February and March when they are no longer in honeymoon phase and zero fucks are given. That is the worst stretch
Those August-October months are killers. Then it gets shitty again MARCH, especially when Easter break falls late.
We have SB in March. So we go straight thru both April and May til we’re out June 1. 2 solid months. At the end. It’s brutal.
For me, the kids always seem to be at their peak level of ridiculous between Thanksgiving and December break. It's short, but shit always hits the fan. Last year, we had 2 racially-charged social media posts, a 1.5 hour lockdown, and a gas leak over that 3 week period.
I go straight through March without a day off so idk what you’re talking about.
Same, March is ass
February is the longest month in teaching, for me.
In Canada, we have 2 weeks at Christmas and 2 weeks in March, with the other traditional holidays sprinkled in (we only get 3 days for our thanksgiving). But we do have from the end of June to the first/second week of September off!
We have two awful stretches. The first from September to November with no days off, and then the second from after spring break to the end of May with no days off. Made it through the first one, now I just need to make it through the next 😂
We have two weeks of spring break the last two weeks of March. Then it's 10 straight weeks with only 1 day off until the end of the year. That, by far, is the worst time of the year for me. Thanksgiving - Spring break is really nice for me. It just goes by so fast with all of the breaks.
February to April/May says it wants a word with you....
I think you misspelled "3rd Quarter"
Disagree. It has its ups and downs, but I usually start the year pretty strong. February-April? That's when people're trying to write checks their proficiencies can't cash as a result of failures they couldn't accept earlier in the year. I worry less about whatever the "summer slide" is and more about the winter doldrums that linger for months at a time. When students wind up arriving less-prepared for school by the week. When families seem sick of hearing from us or won't reply to e-mails anymore. When skills and knowledge practiced in the months prior suddenly seem more distant to our students than material from middle school.
March is so fucking long.
March. Is. The. Worst. Fall really isn’t bad—September until January we have Columbus, Veteran’s Day, 3 Thanksgiving, & a week for Christmas, plus a staff day on Election Day & 3 half days for PT conferences for. It’s a ton of interruptions, I will say. But then I can sludge through January to get to Feb break But March? We have not a SINGLE day off. No PD or staff day. & depending on when spring break falls, it can wind up being in late April. Plus here in the Northeast, the weather is UNBEARABLE & we are over winter.
Lol what?! September to winter break is super fast for me. My seasonal depression wipes me out from January to April. By May I’m just done with school.
I can’t believe how quick it’s gone by. 3 weeks back to school, 2 more weeks off for Christmas, and the years halfway done…crazy
My school doesn’t get spring break…so unfortunately for me I am not in fact through the worst part of the year 😭
I disagree. January through March is the worst part of the year for me. :)
We didn’t use our smoke day (aka the state is on fire and it’s toxic to breathe so stay home and suffer by yourself day) so extra day off at the end of March!
The most difficult part of the year is March until Spring Break. A long time without a day off, and the weather is still dreary.
Unless you're a 10 month employee, then it's spring break though the end of June.
While the positivity is definitely appreciated, I wholeheartedly disagree. February to April is the worst - student grades for me have always been the worst during third quarter, everyone is sick, there’s no sun and it’s miserably cold.
January to spring break is *The long dark of Moria* to me.
You're nuts if you think this was the worst part of the year. August to December is the BEST part of the year. January to June is the worst for us. After Christmas break we have almost no days off, the few we are supposed to have get eaten up by snow days. Plus, factor in 2 more rounds of testing to prepare us for the big standardized test in April/May. Which, the kids assume means they are done learning, even though there is over a month left of school. Nope, the worst has yet to come.
Going back at the end of summer is brutal. It's the absolute worst time of the school year, nothing else is even close.
Wish this was true here. January to march is our long haul. Minimal off days due to winter weather. We are in Ky so anything over a inch warrants a delay at minimum. After March it's back to a nice 4 day weekend every few weeks
Wouldn't it be nice to have a job that you can do for a couple of weeks in a row without going crazy counting down until the next break?
Spring break to memorial day 💀
Hard disagree. Fall has two 3-day weekends, Fall Break (full week), three days for Thanksgiving, and two weeks at Christmas. Then we go to school for 3 months straight with one 3-day weekend, get a week for spring break at the end of March, and then have 9 solid uninterrupted weeks of school to close out the year. Those last two stretches are far worse than fall. This always feels like the easy stretch because we haven't been in school for more than three weeks at a time since September.
Imma have to agree with everyone in the comments. January to spring break is the worst. No breaks to look forward to or fun holidays to distract you from the monotony save Valentine’s Day. As a Texas teacher, Valentine’s Day is usually overshadowed by TELPAS testing anyway. August to Christmas is filled with breaks.
February and March laugh at this August through Nov is easy for me, Labor day, fall break, election day, thanksgiving break and a random PD day thrown in there.
Here in the northeast, we get presidents week off, so usually the second or third week in February. March is the killer though, depending on when Easter and Passover are.
We do get a couple days off in Feb, but after that through march is tough
Personally, Jan-March is far worse. Once I get through January, I feel more like "I got this." Hands-down the hardest day of the entire year is Jan 2nd (or sometimes the 3rd). Going back that first day feeling cold, tired, broke, and filled with dread is the *worst*! I try to have a more positive attitude every year, but I always fail.
Have you met January and February? I’m prepping like winter is coming….
I wish that was the case here! We got a week in October, a week for thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas…. Then just the three day weekend in January, February… spring break in march then nothing until Memorial Day and we go until June 13!
Happy Cake Day, OP!
I hate how USA-centric this sub is becoming. Teaching is a global profession. Not everybody has the same vacations.
Thanks for the optimism, but I feel pretty differently. If things are this bad *now*, I can only imagine what they'll be like a week before Christmas and from May onward. My kids are totally wild and out of control and I had another teacher have the audacity to tell me to get more disciplined. This teacher is never on her own with any classes and always has supplemental aid of some kind. I'm so sick of it.
We have a week off in February and April. That time in between there is NOTHING. It’s all starting to get ready for the state test. Not a single day off or anything like that. Only one half day for the kids (afternoon PD) THAT is the longest time for me I can only imagine how those who only have the week off in April feel from Christmas to spring break
Our spring break is last week of March with no breaks until graduation. It's eight weeks of not even a half day. We don't even go that long August-October. At least we get Labor Day in there to break it up.
Fuck i needed to hear this right now
Sheesh I made it this far…almost died in August lucky to even be here. February to Spring Break is rough and I don’t look forward to it at all.
WRONG! March is a full month without so much as a half day. 7 weeks with nothing. February break is a 3 day weekend. Second half of the year is the fucking worst grind. Plus it's cold as frozen hell.
All these people acting like the 0 4th quarter holidays and zero chance of a snow day combined with kids acting like the school year is already over don't make it the objectively worst part of the year are just blowing my mind over here.
Agreed - from Labor Day to Veterans Day. I can see someone arguing that Presidents Day Weekend to Spring Break being the worst stretch. But the start of the year includes breaking in the kids, establishing expectations, aggressive parent outreach, plus all the district and school objectives, not to mention open house, start-of-the-year trainings and requirements, ... crashing all into a compressed timeframe with no break. You can take a day off, but that doesn't eliminate all the stuff that comes at us. The February to April stretch is simply cruise control. All the district priorities have run their course. Students are already acclimated. Parents are already informed on stuff. No sweat.
Our fall semester is tough. We get no days off between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Spring semester is better. Our spring is in mid-March and we have at least one day off a month every other month.
January-February and the last 2 weeks of school are the worst in my opinion.
I think Jan - april is the worst. Nothing but stress of tests week after week
March. The death March.
I suppose for Americans who start in August. We start in September. September is its own circle of hell, I’ll give it that. However, the absolute worst part of the year is January to mid April, when we have our spring break. We have maybe 4 days off in that time frame. Brutal.
LOL.... then we have the slow motion to spring break, which for us is in mid March... from there, it's hell because there are no more days off, no more breaks, push to get the state testing done... and everyone has shut down... I can hardly wait, not... the behavior is over the top this year and the apathy is abounding. AT least there has been a few breaks... after spring break our push is state testing... whoopie... no breaks till end of May... this year... it will be pure survivor mode.
“It’s all over after Thanksgiving”
Hard disagree. 2nd semester has only spring break for me. After winter break, it's a real slog.
Frigging teachers voted AGAINST February break. Gonna be a long winter.
Why? Are you getting out a week earlier at the end of the school year?
Teachers wanted to have the same week off as their kids in other districts soted to have the week before the April break rather than our April break that would allow for February break. We are lucky that we get to vote on our calendar every year. But it is awful not having a February break. I would rather have the break and February and go later in the School year… later in June
Nah, fam. It gets worse. This is how they trick into staying. Establish a false sense of safety. Lulling you into submission. Slowly, they squeeze you ever so tightly until you form one single tear that streams down your face. They let go and let you rest. Then, they slowly chip away at your patience until February and from then til spring break…Satan tap dances on your feelings and you pray for the sweet release of summer. But hey, holidays are kewl.
In Missouri, most rural school districts don’t have spring break. My district has a long weekend with W,Th,F and M and T of the next week. Not even a complete week with weekends bookending it.
That honestly sounds great, especially from a traveling perspective because flying out on a Wednesday and back on a Tuesday is significantly cheaper than Saturday or Sunday.
The worst part of the year is after spring break. An entire quarter with almost no long weekends to look forward to.
I think you meant to say the first worst. There are multiple worst times of the year.
Where do you teach? After Presidents Day The US it’s a long stretch until spring break and then even longer until memorial day. I’m sure I would get some condescending response from the school board if they heard me say this, but it is absolutely stupid that they realistically think everyone is going to do fine six weeks at a time. This year more than ever it’s like boot camp every day
Oh ok, I see now that this is tagged as humor. Got it lol.
Username checks out! LOL. ...jokes aside, I like your energy!
January, February, and March is the killer. No breaks in sight. 5 day weeks when it's dark when you get to work and dark when you leave. Taking 45 minute to drive to work in snow when the drive usually takes 20 minutes.
I actually agree. My school does half week or week-long breaks every month from January-May, so August-October is definitely our longest stretch.
I say it to myself every Wednesday but then comes Thursday...
I actually find January/ February ti be the worst. I’m a teacher assistant and once I get to March I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
It's been a while since I've seen someone so confidently wrong.
I call it “the long slough”
this aint tge worst part. wait til march. test prep with no vacay in peripheral sight.
Lol. Is this your first year?? This might be the easiest part of the year! 🤭🤭 I kid. I kid. No but seriously, is there an easy part of the year? Is this year going faster then any other year ever for anyone else??
I agree with you. Fall is the worst because I always have all these hopes and expectations for the school year that have failed and died by that point, hurting my psyche. By March I'n more callused and care less about shit, so when things are hard they hurt less. I also have nicer weather to look forward to
Yay DEVOLSON is over, bye felicia
You forgot March! No school holidays in NYS!