Summer reading

To many, summer time means sunshine, swimming, vacations, and sunburns. To an English dork, er, teacher like myself, summer is a chance to read the books that have been piling up on my nightstand for the past few months. I haven't read quite as much as I would have liked so far (my wife has a long honey-do list), but there is still time. Here's a quick list of my reading conquests:



1. Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin--tells the story of Greg Mortenson and his quest to build schools in the Himalayan region. Highlights the difference one person can make in the world.

2. Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich--On the other side of the selfless/selfish spectrum, this pageturner is about a young man who gets involved in a complicated card counting scheme that works almost too well. Not highbrow reading, but perfect for an airplane or a day at the beach.

3. No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander Mccall Smith--I read a couple of books in the series; I am a sucker for a good mystery. Set in Africa, the detective is a lady (duh) who uses her wits to solve a variety of cases. It kind of strikes me as an adult version of the Encyclopedia Brown series that I enjoyed as a kid--short mysteries solved with brains and not brawn.

4. Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely--This is basically an economics book that examines human behavior, as the author attempts to explain why we make so many "irrational" decisions in our lives. The author provides evidence for his assertions in the form of experiments that he and his colleagues perform on unsuspecting M.I.T. students (don't worry, they're economists, not chemists). A really interesting book that forces readers to think about the many small decisions that go into our everyday lives.

That's it so far; I'll update the list later summer comes to a close. :(

Teacher Burnout

I admit it: at the end of the last school year, I was as grouchy as a clown missing his over-sized shoes. The problem wasn’t just that I grumbled and made more than my fair share of sarcastic comments ; I consider that part of my everyday charm. The problem was that my attitude toward teaching became negative. Some days, I actually dreaded being at school. There was a time when I really loved teaching, and I want to find a way to get back to that place.

I write this with the understanding that I really shouldn’t be complaining. Teaching has a lot of perks—the time off, working with kids, and knowing your job is benefiting society. I know that in this time of economic distress, I should feel grateful to have a job. But, nonetheless, at the end of the last school year, summer couldn’t arrive soon enough.

If you do anything for a given amount of time, the patterns soon become evident. I have been teaching at the same grade level for five years now, and the years have started to blend together. The conversations with concerned (and not-so-concerned) parents have become very similar. The curriculum isn’t fresh to me anymore. All of these things added dreariness to my day in a profession where many people count on you to be their enthusiastic leader.

So this summer break (vacation—one of the keys to avoiding job burnout) I will make a plan to mix things up. I might start by reorganizing my classroom, getting some new posters, and maybe a nice, comfortable chair for my desk. I’m also going to revisit the curriculum pick out some choice projects and novels that I truly enjoy doing. Hopefully, this will be all that I need to get reinvigorated for the new school year, thirty-four short days from now. But who’s counting?

The Summer Brain Drain

Like many teachers, I have a love/hate relationship with summer; I love the time off, but I hate the progress that’s lost during the ten- week lull. I relish vacation and relaxation as much as anyone, but I know each day off means more effort that I’ll have to put in when they new school year starts. There’s a reason that so much of the beginning of a new school year begins with review of last year’s concepts. During the ten-week stretch of trips, camps, and hanging out, everything teachers have painstakingly crammed into their students’ brains during the previous nine months is slowly wafting out of the students’ ears.

Now, this isn’t always the case—some parents use the break to impose their own learning curriculum. More often than not though, parents take the meaning of summer break literally, as a break from school and learning. Taking too much of a break can may mean that your child falls behind when the rigors of school begin again. Fortunately, it’s not hard to keep your child intellectually stimulated during the long, hot summer.

Here are a few ideas to keep summer from being a brain-free time for your child.

• Schedule reading time each day—the amount of time dependent on the age of the child. Your child doesn’t have to read War and Peace, but make sure it involves a little more looking at pictures.
• Summer is a great time to work on any skills that need more practice. Let’s face it: if your child struggles in math, not practicing math all summer certainly won’t prepare him for next school year. Consider having your child work on their skills for a few minutes each day. You won’t be sorry the when the next school year rolls around.
  
• Consider intellectually stimulating field trips. Water parks are fun, but don’t involve using much gray matter. Mix in a trip to the zoo (you’d be surprised what you can learn at the zoo!), take a nature hike, or visit a museum.
• Have your child write. Letters to grandma, postcards from vacation, and emails to friends all help a child practice their critical writing skills. Take it from an English teacher—most students need all the practice that they can get.
  
  There are many ways to keep a break intellectually stimulating. How you choose to do it will depend on your child’s interests and needs.