A new start
Summer is officially over. Completely over. Tomorrow is a mandatory in-service day, as is Wednesday, and then Thursday it's back to school. I will be a teacher again.
This summer I did a lot of nothing-- I was not nearly as productive as I had hoped to be, but I think that this is a reoccurring theme in my life, so I am not all that shocked at the fact that I didn't do all of the amazing things I had planned. I did do a few of them, so that's a start.
I did go to a science workshop for a week. That was good. And then, for 3 weeks I worked at a YMCA summer camp as a "science specialist", which meant that I taught science lessons and experiments to 4th-6th graders in the morning and afternoons at "science camp". This was MUCH different from school, mostly because it was at a camp, but the other differences were still plentiful. Basically, the kids at science camp like science, and that is why their parents were being charged exorbinant amounts of money to send their children to this hoity-toity camp, whereas school is not only requred by law, but also free and a source of nourishment for inner-city kids.
(One of my students from North Philly (when I taught summer school last summer) was at the camp-- apparantly he had been sent to live with his Aunt for the summer, so she sent him to science camp... weird coinsidence.)
I created a mural this summer- something my friend Kelli calls an "installation piece". I did a sea-scape on the garage beside the pool of a co-worker, so when I take my students on field trips to the pool they get to see my art- that is always a good glimpse into my life for them because in the mind of a child, a teacher is not human at all. Any chance I get to make my students see me as a person, I take advantage of it.
I traveled a little this summer- I found myself in New Jersey (of course), Michigan, Upstate New York, Tennessee, Indiana, and Florida.
Besides that I took 2 field trips with students this summer, moved to a new apartment, and read a few good books this summer. That's it... that's my summer in a few hundred words. It all comes down to those few things, and that was my whole break.
This summer I did a lot of nothing-- I was not nearly as productive as I had hoped to be, but I think that this is a reoccurring theme in my life, so I am not all that shocked at the fact that I didn't do all of the amazing things I had planned. I did do a few of them, so that's a start.
I did go to a science workshop for a week. That was good. And then, for 3 weeks I worked at a YMCA summer camp as a "science specialist", which meant that I taught science lessons and experiments to 4th-6th graders in the morning and afternoons at "science camp". This was MUCH different from school, mostly because it was at a camp, but the other differences were still plentiful. Basically, the kids at science camp like science, and that is why their parents were being charged exorbinant amounts of money to send their children to this hoity-toity camp, whereas school is not only requred by law, but also free and a source of nourishment for inner-city kids.
(One of my students from North Philly (when I taught summer school last summer) was at the camp-- apparantly he had been sent to live with his Aunt for the summer, so she sent him to science camp... weird coinsidence.)
I created a mural this summer- something my friend Kelli calls an "installation piece". I did a sea-scape on the garage beside the pool of a co-worker, so when I take my students on field trips to the pool they get to see my art- that is always a good glimpse into my life for them because in the mind of a child, a teacher is not human at all. Any chance I get to make my students see me as a person, I take advantage of it.
I traveled a little this summer- I found myself in New Jersey (of course), Michigan, Upstate New York, Tennessee, Indiana, and Florida.
Besides that I took 2 field trips with students this summer, moved to a new apartment, and read a few good books this summer. That's it... that's my summer in a few hundred words. It all comes down to those few things, and that was my whole break.
Labels: Teaching
posted by liquidwafflegirl at 9/04/2006 08:28:00 PM
1 Comments:
So, if you took the field trips with the students over the summer, that must mean that they completed their homework packs. Hooray for them!
I hope you year goes well.
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