Actually, I do better with a deadline. That's why I taught summer school this summer. Well, that and the excellent money which P and I have already spent on plane tickets to Zihuatanejo. But really, it was because I need a schedule to be a productive person. If I know someone else is counting on me to do something (or, you know, some kids need some edumacating), I'll get right off my hiney and get to work. Otherwise, it's frozen pizza and bagged salad for dinner again and yes I did walk the dog in my pajamas for the third day in a row, what's it to you? You see, I can't count on P to motivate me because we're married and he's too smart to tell me to do something over summer break. Also, he's overly helpful, which in turn, makes me feel guilty about my 7 daily hours on the couch, but allows me to stay put.
So summer school forced me to get dressed, exercise (I had to/got to bike to school everyday since P worked at a school farther away), and get out into the world on a daily basis for 6 weeks. It's a sickness that might be unique to United Statesians to not be able to relax and enjoy down time and I definitely have it. And, I realize that this next statement is weird, as well, but I acutally like my job quite a bit, so those two factors combined to make me the perfect summer school teacher applicant. I worked at another North Minneapolis school as an ESL teacher, co-teaching a science unit on Chemical Reactions to exiting 5th graders. We got to explode stuff and it was great.
Studies say (and to which studies am I referring? No idea, but I've heard people say it and I'm repeating it - academic, I know) that kids start to make the decision to drop out of school in the 4th grade. That's 9 and 10 years old, people. Not OK. Summer school in Minneapolis is about getting students re-energized about school. Our main goal was to show our kiddos that it is possible to have fun and learn about science at the same time and if I do say so myself, I think we were largely successful. We hypothesized, we made posters, we danced, we did aerobics, we exploded stuff, we went orienteering and canoeing. We had a really good time and learned a bunch along the way. You know, kind of like school is supposed to go. Now, I'm not meaning to toot my own horn here too much, I had an amazing, inspiring co-teacher whose energy I hope to channel all year long in my regular classes and we had good curriculum/materials and GREAT KIDS.
Other stuff happened this summer - we went up to a cabin in Northern Wisconsin with my Mom's side of the familia and it was 50 degrees and raining. In July. Possibly the worst weekend of weather all summer. But we trucked on and I caught two keepers (bass) and P caught two tiny fish (tee hee) and we enjoyed ourselves just the same. P discovered that he enjoys gringo fishing (sitting in a boat and casting a reel), though he finds it ridiculously low energy. He's used to climbing out on to craggy rocks and throwing a weighted line that has been wrapped ingeniously around a Coke bottle or battling the waves to throw out nets. We did buy winter hats and mittens at a tent sale, so there's that.
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| What it's supposed to look like! |
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| What it did look like. |
We've also been going to obedience class with our puppy, Osa. I can't remember if I've told all 5.5 of you about her, but she's our 6 month old black lab mix of who knows what and she's lovely. She's the best puppy! She was crate trained within 3 days at 3 months and if you've ever had a puppy, you know that's saying something. She passed out of level 1 in two classes and we were such proud puppy parents and now we've been in level 2 for about 5 weeks and we're starting to be slightly antsy to move up, but there are so many puppies to play with at class and concentrating is hard. Much like middle school. We've also discovered dog parks, which is a whole new world to Osa and to us. There are dog park norms and a whole society of dog park people that we didn't know about. We've paid our dues (literally) and I think we're getting the hang of it - in fact, we're heading there as soon as I publish this puppy! (Pun intended, ahem.)
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| Brand-spanking new - Day one as our fur-baby! |
That brings us up to the impending doom also known as the beginning of the school year. Just two days from now, students will file off those blasted yellow school buses and into my head and heart. I'm not ready, but I will be. I'm both excited and terrified, but I know this feeling well by now and am used to it. My good friend and co-worker had a baby, so I'm taking on the role of lead ESL teacher this year which means I need to be very organized and on my game. I bought a large calendar and hope that helps. School supplies always help. Always. Also, I'll be co-teaching with a new English Language Arts teacher this year and pushing in to Math classes as well. Ohhhh boy. I did not inherit my mother's math sense, I got my dad's... which means I might be uniquely poised to be confused right along with all of my students. It could be a benefit, it could be a deficit, only time will tell.
I just re-read that last paragraph and it made it sound like I don't want the kids to come. That's not entirely true. Mostly I don't want them to come yet. I could do with one more week. I want to go to the Fair on a Tuesday or any other day that is not a Saturday or Sunday. I want to have a couple more days in my classroom to unpack and organize. I want a couple more days to collaborate with my colleagues to make sure that we're all on the same page and to link our lessons so that our students make the connections that they'll need to incorporate all this new learning into their existing schema (see, I got the lingo down). But, when do teachers have enough time? Never (that's the answer, in case you were wondering). But you know what? I feel o.k. because, as it turns out, I do better with a deadline.
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