Reflecting at the start of the summer

A couple weeks ago one of my family members was talking about how great it must be to have summers off. I initially went straight to defense mode… but the truth is I knew I would never change his mind. I can’t convince a guy who created a fake company to write off loot for his taxes that this summer I have a ton to do. He just writes my explanations off; in the same way he finds loopholes to save himself thousands of dollars. Why waste the energy?

Instead I will reread Romeo and Juliet and create some writing prompts as activators to transition students into the classroom. I will do what many teachers are forced to do over summer break, work and ignore the people who have no idea how difficult and important it is to be a teacher. I can’t explain to relatives how important it is to have time to reflect on my year and make a plan for adjusting my practice.

I think two of the most productive meetings I had this year were the meetings with my administrator and my co-teacher, where we reflected on the year (what worked, what didn’t work, what do we need to do better) and discussed changes to our practice for next year. This reflection led me to realize that we need to write some activator prompts that connect directly to the texts we are reading.

Romeo and Juliet offer the opportunity to connect the students with the characters in several ways. Initially, the characters and my students are around the same age (though the character age varies in all of the movies, freshmen can still see the awkwardness of the norms in Shakespeare’s time). Secondly, the idea of love and lust and romance creates a hotbed of discussion. Another connection to the age group is the fighting and feuding, especially in the age of social media where students often see the trials and tribulations of their peers unfolding in real time.

Summer is just beginning, I am still waking up early and now, instead of filling a travel container with coffee, I am sitting at my computer with a steaming mug and working on making my practice better next year. Even if people I know don’t understand what teachers do. I know that this summer I have a lot to do.