10 School Days

I have 10 school days left of this school year.  Nine of those days will be with students.  Each year it all comes to a culmination at the end, with extra long work days (including weekends), sleepless nights, and sad good-byes to the families I've bonded with over the year.  Still, as sad as I am to say good-bye to the school year, I treasure the summer break.  It always annoys me when someone comments to me, "must be nice to only work 9 months of the year" or "wish I had an 8 - 3 work day."  Thankfully, most of my friends are either teachers and understand the realities of the profession or know that I truly earn my summer break.  Lately, people have asked me what I'll be doing this summer.  Some of my plans include:

• trip to China with Herman and Traci in July
• polishing up the resume and build a teaching portfolio
• getting back in shape and participating in yoga and spin classes at the gym
• teaching my dogs a new trick or two
• reading, reading, reading, reading.....
• a short trip to the US

I was reading an article* today by an English teacher named Denise P. Fournier from Bow, New Hampshire (no, I don't know her and where did I find the time to read a journal article??).  She was talking about summer break and how she rejuvenates for the following school year.  Her article spoke of my sentiments exactly, so I had to share.  She begins the article by describing how she gets up on those first days of summer break, starts to prepare for school and then realizes it's summer break.  She then purposefully slows down and takes in all that's around her: the damp deck, her morning cup of coffee....here's more....

"In the weeks that follow, I indulge in these sensations; my life becomes a perpetual lesson in imagery.  What goes unnoticed during the rush of school mornings and the near-dark returns to home is sharp and easily discernible: The way the sun hits the flower vase on the kitchen table and shoots a hundred slivers of light onto the ceiling; the buzz and whine of the neighbor's lawn crew as they labor in the afternoon heat....I rediscover the gentle simplicity that exists around me."

I love this.  It's what I look forward to around this time of year.  I am alloted time to step back and take in the surroundings of my life.  I have permission to smell the salty ocean air, watch the sunbeams fall across Sadie's gray-peppered back, and listen to long-lost music I've missed during the busy school year.  

Only 10 school days left. 

*What Do You Do during Summer Vacation to Help You Reenter the Classroom Refreshed in the Fall? from the Teacher to Teacher section in the English Journal, 2001