Summer is HERE!  Rejoice, Reflect, and Rest

By: Sandra Burgess

At the end of the school year, I always find myself rejoicing about making it through another year!  I allow myself to rejoice for a day or two, and inevitably, I then begin reflecting on the year that is newly in the rearview mirror.

I am blessed (and maybe almost cursed?) to work at a school that allows teachers to come up and work during the summer if they so choose.  I SO CHOOSE!  I love to be in my classroom alone and with limited distractions…obviously there will be music…for the purpose of reflecting.  As I look around my room, I always see the same things that need to be done. Here are some of my usual suspects:

  • Declutter!  You and I both know there are things that have been ‘placed’ in an improper location during a school year.  I dare say that there are items that should have been placed in the trash can but were handily filed away.  In an effort to start the coming school year with a clean mind and space, I throw all the things away.  I go through all my supplies and toss the ones that have no life left in them.  I also think of ways to reuse things that are appropriate.  For example, the art teacher at my school always gladly takes all of the broken crayons.  He uses them for projects.  
  • Organize materials.  After all of the unnecessary items have been disposed of, I get to organizing.  Closets, shelves, bookcases…. they all could use some freshening up!  I even clean out my desk!  Outrageous, I know!
  • Clean out and refresh my “Sub Tub”.  If you don’t have a Sub Tub, take my advice and get one!  Mine is a Rubbermaid container with a lid, and it is well labeled so that it can be located in the event that I have to be out unexpectedly.  I keep in it copies of work that could be done without a long lesson in advance.  Review papers, reading passages, etc.  Whatever works for your grade and subject.  Fun fact:  The summer is the best time to make copies, because it is a ghost town!  I make copies of work for the Sub Tub now!  Once the year starts, I will add class lists and schedules for each day so that a sub can come in and easily do what needs to be done.  When you wake up to a feverish child, there is nothing like calling in and saying, “My Sub Tub is in my closet!”  and peacefully staying home with your baby. No need to rush around in a panic to get work together!  DO THIS!  😊
  • Reflect on your curriculum.  I teach English for 5th and 6th grades.  My school has a canon of novels for each grade level that are set in stone.  I do not control the canon; however, I do get to choose which four books from the canon I use as my class novels for each grade each year.  A few years ago, I decided that it would be nice to give a student survey each May in which I could ask their opinions of the novels we read.  This turned out to be a great idea!  I use this information to make decisions for the following year.  For example, two years ago, I put “Call of the Wild” on my sixth-grade list for class novels.  We read it. I hated it.  HATED it!  It’s a great book, but I just can’t take all the death!  When John Thornton died, I cried my eyes out!  And, trust me, that is not a good look in front of your sixth graders!  I was determined that I would never read that book again!  But, on the survey 80% of the sixth graders chose that book as their favorite.  As upsetting as that was, I knew what I had to do.  I had to keep reading it each year.  And I had to keep crying.  And everything is fine.

On the other hand, in fifth grade, I learned one year from the survey that most of my students did not enjoy Sign of the Beaver, so I replaced it with Hatchet.  

Now, there are parts of my curriculum that I do not control.  When I reflect on those, I think more about my teaching strategies and how I can improve my own teaching while still using these materials.  At any rate, I feel excited each year to make some positive changes in my teaching.

I also spend a good bit of time reflecting on things I WILL NOT DO next school year!  Here are things I am “Breaking Up With” this school year…

  • Overcomplicating things
  • Giving Dojo points to everyone because I feel sorry for them
  • Taking home piles of papers every weekend and then bringing them back ungraded every Monday 
  • Copying tests at the last minute and then blaming the teacher in front of me who is copying things for the next 17 weeks while I wait for my 20 little papers to pop out.  (Let’s be honest…SHE is the smart one!)
  • Spending 3 hours making something cute that students don’t even care about
  • Spending my own money before asking my administration to buy it for me.  They might say, “Yes!”
  • Trying to be perfect, all the while giving up any sense of peace I have ever had!
  • And finally….in the spirit of how I began this blog…. I am breaking up with spending my entire summer prepping for the next school year!  An hour or two here or there will make a huge difference, but also…

Relax this summer! 

Do something fun.

Spend time outside.

Read books for fun!

Enjoy ordinary moments.

Focus on your family.

And, you know how the rest of the world tries to tell us how lucky we are to have summers off?  Well… A) That’s true; and B) It seems to me that there is a lesson there: REST like it is a part of your job, because it literally is!