Dear Journal,
Tomorrow is the start of summer school for this year, and even though I’ve taught it for three years in a row this year is going to be its own particular challenge. For starters there are only two teachers for 8th grade instead of the traditional four, and instead of having all major subject areas represented there will only be two — math and English. Since I teach English that’s good for me because it means I still have a summer job, but I have a bad feeling most of the kids who need summer school aren’t going to be there because they failed English. At least, that’s been my experience the past three years. But I’m going to be all about literacy, so even if they didn’t fail English, everyone has something to learn about being more literate.
Even more than that, though, is that fact that I’m the only returner from the 8th grade crew we had last year, and my new partner just got hired three days ago, so we have a lot of work to do to get those units going, and to find the connections between math and English that are oh-so-hard, but we need to do it because it will make our lives easier being able to team teach on occasion throughout the summer. Oh, and the kids aren’t being bused to school so it will be up to the parents to make sure they get to school on time, something that scares me because the school isn’t right in the center of town. It’s a bit of a haul to get there, and school starts at 8 every morning. I wonder how many we will consistently have there.
I wish I could wear dress shorts just one day. I do own a pair of dress shorts, and I heard somewhere lately that they’re in style for summer weddings, so why not for summer school? I wore them once when I was taking a summer writing course at university, and I paired them with a lovely polka dot bow tie. Someone took a photo, I’m sure, but I can’t seem to find anyone who admits to having seen it. But I know I looked good.
Last year I met the local meteorologist, and I was totally starstruck even though she’s just local, because celebrity is celebrity, even if it’s of a sort. I got my picture taken with her, and I’m working on getting her to come back and talk to our students this year, but we’ll see. That’s the other difference, or at least it brings the difference to mind for me, that we have been able to go on field trips in years past, but that won’t be an option this year. So I’m hoping to lure more guest speakers to come in and talk to the students about interesting topic, and about the future. I think they learn more when exposed to more things.
Time to dust off my ties, too (and not just the bow tie either). It’s one of the best aspects of summer school for me, because while I am not a fan of suits in general, I do love me some ties. I have probably upwards of 30 ties hanging on the tie rack in my bedroom, and for the other parts of the year they just sit there. So, when I have a chance to wear them, and on a regular basis too, it practically makes me giddy. I like matching ties with shirts, and matching those with pants that all complement each other (hi, how are you?) and me.
So, now I’m off to pick out a lovely shirt/tie combination for tomorrow, and to start lobbying to wear dress shorts just once this summer.
Sam
Sam's Online Journal 