Earlier this summer, while I was watching the news on TV, I felt myself chuckle when a commercial ran that showed a young teacher struggling with engaging a class of kindergarten students as she and the students were dreaming about the upcoming summer vacation. The ad promoted a travel company that promised to take the teacher away from all of her troubles. My smile faded very quickly when I started thinking about how this company was portraying my profession and the way some tend to stereotype teachers. Education is a profession that demands a considerable amount of classwork and training, especially over the summer.
When I first went into teaching, I remember how I was always asked rhetorically, “Boy, it must be really nice to have the summers off?!” Forty plus years later, I am still waiting for that summer off. For most teachers, the summer is a time to take classes, attend workshops, take part in webinars, and to work to supplement their teaching salaries.
This summer, Brimmer’s Lower School teachers were involved in a variety of education-related activities, which included the following and more:
- Leading four specialty programs at our Summer Camp, all of which had a decidedly science and nature theme
- Providing summer academic reinforcement for students through tutoring
- Attending classes/workshops covering a breadth of topics, including writing, engineering, learning how to take advantage of a maker space when teaching a world language, “Lego® Mindstorms®, and an online course on “Playwork,” which emphasized how play influences child development
Changes in the way we teach occur much more frequently than ever—technology has brought exponential growth to what our students will need to be successful. As a result, teachers need to use the summer to stay on top of their practice. Education is truly a year-round profession…no matter what the commercials show.
Thomas Fuller 