05/26/2019
May ends, and the school year is completed (or almost). Of course, every teacher knows that summer “vacation” is a myth. Yes, we may take a couple of weeks to breathe deeply, sleep late, and stay in pajamas until noon. BUT we know that summer is not the mythological three months of freedom some would say.
At end of a school year, as a nonparent, I’d take a three-day get-away at a local state park (with lodge and pool) to inhale nature, read something poolside not related to education, and exhale academia. That done, I returned to clean out closets, mow grass, and luxuriate in sleeping past 6:00 a.m. And then, after a few weeks, it was time to begin thinking about the next school year. When I assumed parental responsibilities, I’d forgo the state park trips for multiple trips to city parks until summer camps kicked in, clean out closets, mow grass (the kids were at camp), and forget about academia. And then, after a few weeks, it was time to begin thinking about the next school year.
As the summer begins, I encourage you to reflect on your successes this past year. For more than nine months you’ve sown seeds into students’ minds and character development. You’ll likely never see the crop that results, but you have sown the seeds, and with that, the possibility of great growth. I suggest that you can “sow a better garden” next year if you start preparing your seed bed now.
Before you begin your next school year, I encourage you to plan now for that all-important first week of school. What you do in that first week of school sets the trajectory for the whole year – and makes a huge difference in student behavior and academic achievement. How to make this good beginning? The best way I know is with the Getting Off to a Good Start Program that is research-based, teacher-tested, and includes key evidence-based practices for successful teaching. The program pulls together everything I know after a half century in education – from teaching, researching, and talking with over 2,000 teachers across the U.S. – and presents it in a book and eight videos that can make a major positive difference in your life and your students’ lives in the coming year.
I encourage you to check out the readytoteach website at https://readytoteach.com/. You’ll find the book plus video at https://readytoteach.com/product/getting-off-to-a-good-start-the-first-three-days-of-school-with-video-access/.
Please check it out. You can do the whole program over the course of a week – it takes on average a total of 7 to 10 hours of time. Oh, how I wish I’d had access to these resources when I was a teacher!
