One of the most difficult transitions for me, coming from a background as a traditional, brick and mortar high school teacher, to an online college instructor, has been readjusting my expectations regarding holidays and vacations.
As a traditional, brick and mortar teacher, I worked 180 days a year – a traditional school calendar with Federal Holidays, a Fall break, Winter break, and Spring break. And summer was three months long. Looking back, it was quite lovely! While I never felt like I was totally off (any type of teacher seems to be constantly working) and I was going back to school to finish my Masters and teaching driver education in the summers, I still had a great deal more time off then I do currently.
As an adjunct online college instructor, I was lucky if I had 5 days off a year. Usually, these were right around Christmas. Otherwise, I was working every day – weekends, holidays, vacations, etc. 360 days a year. Sometimes I only had to work for an hour or two, but I still worked all 360 days. I’ll admit that working every day wears thin very quickly – and I think it is one of the many reasons online instructors burn out easily.
Now that I’m a full-time online instructor, I have paid Federal Holidays, 10 paid vacation days, 5 paid sick days, and they are giving us an extra day at Christmas this year. It still isn’t the glory that traditional teaching held and my schedule is more like one of someone who works for a corporation than that of a teacher. That said, it does provide more flexibility during the day and one of the many reasons I’ve chosen this path.
As the Holiday season is quickly approaching, let me give you an example of what Thanksgiving and Christmas look like for me. Over Thanksgiving, students were given an extension on assignments and nothing was required to be turned in on Thanksgiving Day (this doesn’t apply to other holidays – if something is due on the 4th of July it is not changed). I logged in early in the morning to check questions and do a bit of grading but otherwise I had the day off.
Over Christmas, I will have two weeks without courses and students will not have courses for the two-week winter break as well. This is the only time during the year when courses are not starting each week. Due to my full-time position, I’ll have 5 days off, including a weekend, where I do not have to login or check questions. I’m really looking forward to those 5 days!
So while the holiday schedule and vacation time isn’t as wonderful as it was being a traditional teacher, my income is higher – and my kids can be home with me while I’m working (granted, that presents it’s own challenges, but it’s doable). Holidays and vacation time are definitely something to consider before deciding to become an online instructor.
About the Author
Jamie Weitl is a WAHM teaching for several online universities and raising three precocious little ones. In her spare time she enjoys writing, baking, and running. For more info, see my Google Plus Profile.
