K is for Kisses. My son has the best cheeks for kissing! He turns 7 weeks old today. So many teaching obligations have made this summer busy and exciting. But, I still have been able to spend a lot of time with the Little Man. He has been the best thing about the entire summer.
L is for Leadership. I attended the Principal’s Leadership Academy of Arizona one Saturday a month during the past year. The course concluded with a week of meetings in June. It was a tremendous learning opportunity!
M is for Marketing. I had he chance to visit local businesses this summer with the goal of establishing meaningful connections. Managers and owners could not believe it when they realized I wasn’t asking for anything. In fact, I didn’t even know what “meaningful connections” could actually mean. All I knew is that I wanted our school to take a role in supporting the community. Now, we have coupons to the local businesses in our office, oil change deals for families at our school, sponsors for fund raisers, and a free car wash for the neighboring apartment residents in the works.
N is for Nose Picking. I tend to be a little more relaxed at home. Every time I go for a serious pick my wife notices and calls me out, rightfully so. She makes sure I realize that there’s a Kleenex box near me. Sometimes she just points. Good thing the summer’s only 7 weeks long.
O is for Organizing. I am pretty sure that most teachers spend 2 weeks organizing after the school year is over. Even teachers who claim to thrive with “organized chaos” utilize tubs, cases, and cabinets to sort master copies by subject and theme during the month of June. When you have 16 filing cases from Target full of resources, this is a good way to review what you have in there.
P is for Post It Notes. P is always for Post It Notes – even more effective then my Phone Calendar at reminding me of things I need to do.
Q is for Quality Time. As busy as the summer can be, it’s less hectic than the school year. I worked about 30 hours a week instead of 65. I spent time with my wife, my new baby, family, friends, and even just with myself. Sharpening the Saw!
R is for Roald Dahl. I purchased several titles this summer (see letter B). I love reading specific authors because students love to get to know the authors. Roald Dahl’s writing is perfect for 3rd Graders. It’s entertaining, creative, and he even pushes “it” a little bit. As always, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is the perfect back to school read aloud. Next year, we’ll be using The BFG to practice deciphering unknown words using context clues, and Fantastic Mr. Fox to analyze characters.
S is for Summer School. I taught 2 -3 grade math for 2 weeks. Our course covered place value, graphing, and problem solving. Students created their own theme park by operating within a budget. They also had a significant amount of time to practice operations.
T is for Thematic Units. After organizing standards, last year’s lessons, vocabulary to be taught, and assessment plans on each subject’s curriculum map (see letter C), I developed units that combine lessons from different subjects. A World of Adventure, Family and Folk Tales, and Mr.Mikula Goes to Washington have been created to connect reading to math, science, and social studies.
U is for University. I finally started to work towards a masters degree by applying. It sounds minute, but the application process is something that I definitely don’t see myself finding time for during the school year. Somehow, I’ll have to find a way to complete the course work during the school year, however.
V is for Vacuuming the Pool. Before you wonder what a charter school teacher is doing with a pool in his yard, let me tell you that it is a modest above ground pool that I purchased at Wal-Mart. The padded flooring that I put under it cost more than the pool itself. But, with all of the massive dust storms we had this summer, I’m glad I invested $40 in a 30 foot hose that connects to the filter.
W is for the Weekend. The weekend during the school year never really seems like a break. One of the days is usually spent doing all of the things that you can’t get to when you are busy teaching during the week. Grading, planning, midterm reports, and creating things to go along with lessons can easily take an entire day. But, during the summer, Saturday and Sunday are truly relaxing.
X is for Exams and Expectations. Standardized testing is changing, and by 2015 most states, including Arizona, will be responsible for teaching the Common Core Standards. The idea is that the tests administered at the end of each year will be uniform among states and electronic. Some educators are panicking already. But, I feel that expectations need to be high. I believe our students will stack up well when Arizona students are compared to their peers from other states. The Common Core Standards are out now. Start adding them to your curriculum maps. Start looking for ways to improve what you have already been doing in the classroom using Common Core as a guide. And, for goodness sake, start avoiding thoughts such as this one in today’s Arizona Republic: “Arizona students won't look like they're doing very well when we get our first batch of results.”
Y is for Y Axis. We covered graphing and problem solving on a coordinate grid during summer school. There is a lot of vocabulary crossover between these two separate concepts. That’s one reason why the students (most of whom were entering 2nd Grade) experienced so much success from the pre- to the post- test that was comprised of questions from the 3rd Grade Galileo Benchmark Assessment.
Z is for ZZZ’s. In The ABCs of 1st Grade (a book published by my class several years ago) one of my students wrote that after a long day of school, he needs to go home and get some ZZZ’s. I had to borrow that. Thanks, T!
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