Thursday, June 24, 2010

The Freshness of Summer

I hear many people around school counting down until summer.  It's been hard to resist this urge myself, but I finally caved in this year.  I began the countdown around June 1st -- it helped (or hurt) that I had students coming in every day asking to write the number of days left on the board.  It's hard to argue with that level of energy!

At the same time, I get it.  I understand that there's a "freshness" to summer that is whetted by a desire for change.  We've done the "school" thing for nine months and it's time for something new and different.  For students, it's obvious -- sleeping in, video games, eating whatever's in the fridge (OK, maybe that was just me as a middle schooler).  For me -- and I suspect other teachers and staff -- it's truly a time to reflect on the year gone by and to look forward with hope to the next year.

I will be teaching three classes next year -- math, science, and technology.  I'm fired up about my schedule, and the most refreshing thing to me this summer (other than spending loads of time with my daughter) is that I get 10 weeks to dream.  To think about next year's students and who they'll become, to ponder how to make these subjects engaging, to evaluate my practice and change what's needed....  It's a time to connect with other professionals through blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, and to catch up on reading that's been stacking up.  It's a time to perfect some lessons from previous years, re-organize the chaos that is my classroom, and try to (again) prepare for the marathon that is next school year.

Now, I'm not about working the summer away, but with these things idly simmering on the burners of my brain, I'm free to look for ways to connect my daily life in the summer to new activities for the school year.  This is the magic of being a teacher -- everything we do can (and should!) become relevant to our classroom if we weave it in correctly.  What are your goals for the summer?  How do you envision spending your time during these 10 weeks preparing for the next set of students?

Oh, and by the way, there are 75 days left till school starts!
Photo credit: Stockbyte / Getty Images

No comments:

Post a Comment