The thermometer in my classroom read 36 degrees at one point today... but we kept slogging away. Our classrooms upstairs are being painted over the summer, and the asbestos floors removed and replaced. So everyone was asked to pitch in. In addition to the usual end-of-year clean up, we had to pack EVERYTHING in our rooms and haul it all out into the halls, along with chairs, student desks and any furniture that was deemed moveable.
To make matters worse, in my board we no longer have our end-of-year PD day, so all this (in addition to signing off OSRs and the rest of the year-end stuff that teachers do) had to be done on the last day of school with students present!!!
To make matters even worse, it's been over 30 celsius several days over the past few weeks. Our classrooms are like bake ovens.
You can imagine the stellar programming that has been happening!
The teachers and support staff at my school are pretty awesome though, and everyone really pitched and helped each other out, AND maintained a positive attitude throughout most of it, miraculously.
Once all the writing implements and paper had been packed, and my students had moved all their chairs and most of their desks out of the classroom and into the halls, there really wasn’t much left to do, instructionally, especially given the heat. A few of us got together and showed a movie in the gym. Some folks also took their classes to the playground. I had wisely pre-booked the computer lab for part of the afternoon, so I had my students play math and strategy games in the lab, which was only 31 degrees, slightly cooler than my classroom, since it was on the other side of the building.
To make matters worse, in my board we no longer have our end-of-year PD day, so all this (in addition to signing off OSRs and the rest of the year-end stuff that teachers do) had to be done on the last day of school with students present!!!
To make matters even worse, it's been over 30 celsius several days over the past few weeks. Our classrooms are like bake ovens.
You can imagine the stellar programming that has been happening!
The teachers and support staff at my school are pretty awesome though, and everyone really pitched and helped each other out, AND maintained a positive attitude throughout most of it, miraculously.
Once all the writing implements and paper had been packed, and my students had moved all their chairs and most of their desks out of the classroom and into the halls, there really wasn’t much left to do, instructionally, especially given the heat. A few of us got together and showed a movie in the gym. Some folks also took their classes to the playground. I had wisely pre-booked the computer lab for part of the afternoon, so I had my students play math and strategy games in the lab, which was only 31 degrees, slightly cooler than my classroom, since it was on the other side of the building.
As I stood staring at my empty classroom at the end of the day, hoping the painters would notice my clear instructional signs indicating that they should NOT paint over the bulletin boards which I and several helpers had spent several days painting last summer with premium paint purchased out of my own pocket, I pondered the summer ahead. This will be the first year that I am not taking or teaching courses over the summer months! And although I have planned to do some major studying for my PPL these next two weeks (I hope to write the exam by mid July, then return to the flight portion of my training in the fall), I will be spending the majority of my summer -- over a month -- in Prince Edward Island.
I must honestly say, I can hardly wait!
After 17 years, it is high time I took advantage of the long summers off we teachers are accused of. Besides, finally spending some longer stretches of family time with Alex and Simon, who are suddenly 8 years old (how did THAT happen??!!), taking a summer off allows me the opportunity to do some professional reading and thinking/reflecting, which I find I rarely have time to really do properly in the day-to-day grind of the job.
On my list are two monographs, one about integrated curriculum, the other about rich questioning. And I'm sure more will arise from there. Also on my list of "must reads this summer" are various volumes of the Guide to Effective Instruction in Math, The Literacy Cafe (follow up to Daily Five book), and a book on learning, the brain, and implications for schooling, which a colleague lent me.
But first, sleep, sleep, glorious SLEEEEEPPPP!!!! And Pride weekend.
And then, the weeks of summer will stretch out before me to walk along the beaches of PEI, and to pray, reflect, read and think in peace... at least while the boys are occupied now and then. :)
I must honestly say, I can hardly wait!
After 17 years, it is high time I took advantage of the long summers off we teachers are accused of. Besides, finally spending some longer stretches of family time with Alex and Simon, who are suddenly 8 years old (how did THAT happen??!!), taking a summer off allows me the opportunity to do some professional reading and thinking/reflecting, which I find I rarely have time to really do properly in the day-to-day grind of the job.
On my list are two monographs, one about integrated curriculum, the other about rich questioning. And I'm sure more will arise from there. Also on my list of "must reads this summer" are various volumes of the Guide to Effective Instruction in Math, The Literacy Cafe (follow up to Daily Five book), and a book on learning, the brain, and implications for schooling, which a colleague lent me.
But first, sleep, sleep, glorious SLEEEEEPPPP!!!! And Pride weekend.
And then, the weeks of summer will stretch out before me to walk along the beaches of PEI, and to pray, reflect, read and think in peace... at least while the boys are occupied now and then. :)
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