Today is the last day of the 2006-07 school year. In just over three hours, the final bell will ring and the busses will come to take the students home for the last time this year. The staff will meet at a local church camp for the annual retirement dinner, and at 3:00 PM, we'll all go our separate ways for the summer.

Summer . . . . Often cited as one of the best reasons to be a teacher, the two and a half months of "vacation" are usually loaded with tasks and projects, and by the time August rolls around, we'll be ready to get back in the groove just so we can relax.

Relax . . . . For the past few months, I've been building my summer calendar, trying to allow plenty of time for family and relaxation, but also trying to cram in seven more hours of classes and leave time to finish up my internship. I'm passing on summer school because we only had ten students enroll for our yearbook program. Instead, I will use a few of those days to help out for career ladder hours and try to finish some of my internship projects.

Projects . . . . Almost a year ago, I started an addition on our house, creating a spare bedroom and an office. The entire project should have taken about a month, but with some unscheduled life events, I often had to put it on the back burner. So now, eleven months later, I still have carpet and trim to finish. That's one of the things at the top of my to-do list for this summer . . . and it had better get checked off.

Off . . . . That's what people think about teachers when they hear that summer is approaching. Most people think that teachers have three months (but it's really just two and a half) off with nothing to do . . . free vacation . . . and we're getting paid for it. Actually, our salaries are divided over twelve months for convenience, and for most teachers, summer is anything but vacation. Professional development, summer school, college courses, and curriculum meetings are ongoing and take up much of that time. And on August 13, we'll all look back and wonder where the time went.