Thinking of summer while fighting with a still undefrosted turkey

I love summer, it's my favorite season. Jumping in the pool on a hot summer's night for a night swim; laying in the hammock reading a book while the sun beats down; heading to the beach and swimming for hours in the salt water; not having to remind my younger son to do his homework; not having to eat breakfast with my 2 kids and my husband... 
In the summer, I work, but my 2 kids are off from school and my husband, a teacher, is also off.  So I get to have breakfast in peace and freaking quiet.  No arguing about why there's no more lunch meat or rolls for the lunch they should have packed the night before.  No yelling about who's using the hot water and causing a cold shower for someone else.  Just me and Olive, our one-eyed, 11-year old dog.  Olive gives no grief in the morning.  She's just happy someone is feeding her.  
Anyway, I get it.  Summer is good.  I almost feel like I'm betraying my favorite time of year with this post. But, 10 to 12 weeks off from school in the summer is not good.  It might be fun, but it's not something that is is good for public education.  Some kids get to do amazing new things during this break.  Many don't though.  I think I'll be bold and say most don't.  Many spend the summer wallowing with minimal supervision in front of a plethora of screens. They spend their summers loosing skills and knowledge that they gained over the previous school year.  Without regular practice of the skills, the skills simply fade.  And teachers waste weeks at the start of each school year reteaching stuff that students did know how to do before they ran out of school at the end of the preceding school year.
Why do we have this long summer vacation?  There's no good reason.  It is, as it is, simply because it has been.  And change is needed. 
What change is needed?  Shorter summer vacations.  Before my teacher friends start in on how teachers and kids need time to recharge, and the break is important, etc.  Let's just say right now, yes,  breaks are needed...kids and teachers require time apart.  Teachers need time to re-energize.  Schools need down time.  But, not 10 to 12 weeks in one clip at the expense of our students' learning.  
The ideal would be a more continuous school year with a number of 2 to 3 week breaks throughout the year, with no long summer break.  To implement this, a retooling of the entire education, day care, summer camp, vacation, graduate school, etc. system would be needed.  Too ambitious at first?  Maybe.  Instead, how about a shorter summer - maybe 7 or 8 weeks, and more days in each school year?  This change is certainly better than keeping the status quo.  
Don't envision yourself changing the system?  What can you do instead?  Here's the thing that everyone can do.  When a kid tells you that they are heading back to school on August 15th (or any date) - don't groan.  Don't sympathize with their imagined impending doom.  Don't nod encouragingly and share how much you hated to go back to school.  Be positive!  Express gladness that they are getting educated.  Ask them to share something they are excited about in the coming year.  Share something about school or learning that you enjoyed.  If that doesn't work (and it probably won't with a middle school child), guilt them - tell them about poor kids all over the world who don't even get an education and get to pick rice stooped over for 17 hours a day. Tell them they are lucky to be getting a free education that many in the world would fight to have access to.  It may seem corny, but if we all started doing it...it might just be the encouragement that some students need to head back to school with a positive attitude for a change.

Mrs. Tucholski Died Last Week

Mrs. Tucholski was one of my 4th grade teachers.  I had plenty of stinky teachers from K to 12, but she was one of the best - in the top 3 from K to 12.  I'm sure some of the stinky ones will show up here on Change Works at some point. Mrs. T died last week of a brain hemorrhage or something or another - very sudden and unexpected.  Hearing of her passing reminded me of our most recent conversation.  We bumped into each other at Wegmans (the best supermarket on the planet) a few months back.  As we were catching up with each other she told me that she had been following my school.  Her exact words, "you're doing good over there with that charter school, dearie."  That I had pleased Mrs. Tucholski...that I had made her proud - wow!  Even though I'm 41 years old and 31 years from her classroom, it felt good. She wasn't one of those gushy teachers who praise kids for simply breathing.  Her praise had to be earned.  It was a feel good moment, right there next to the bags of potatoes and onions.  I invited her to come and take a tour, maybe volunteer, or share some of her expertise with our teachers.  Wished it would have happened before she died.
  
Mrs. T was smart; she didn't stand still and she wasn't boring.  A snazzy dresser and pretty darn tall, she stood out where ever she was.  As a teacher, she kept the classroom lively and fresh.  She did hands-on education before it was a buzz word.  She recognized and met individual needs before the popularization of the term differentiation.  For her teaching was instinctual. 


Public education needs more teachers like her - smart and caring.  Too often teachers care about their students, but can't figure out how to effectively teach them.  Or, the teacher is smart and knows the subject matter, but doesn't care that they aren't reaching the kids in their classes.  And, because of the systems in place, these teachers get lumped in with the Mrs. Ts out there. Same time in the classroom and same education level equals the same salary...no matter that the Mrs. Ts are being impactful and the others are not.  


What to do about this?  Teachers need to be held to actual performance standards tied to their compensation.  Teachers' salaries need to be like other professionals' salaries - the better you are, the better you're paid.  If you aren't that great, your salary reflects that and if you really stink up the works, you get the boot!  We can't control the starting "product" that a school receives when a 5-year-old arrives for kindergarten, and a school certainly can't dictate one pace of learning for all students.  Kids are not widgets and school is not an assembly line.  However, we can expect teachers to meet kids where they are and continuously guide them to acquire skills and knowledge.  It's not simple, and it's not easy.  That's why we need smart and caring teaching professionals whose salary is a reflection of their performance.  Scattered schools across the country are doing this, and some school districts are trying as well.  Here in PA, it will be quite a battle to get performance pay in public schools as the teachers' union is a pretty strong foe, but it needs to happen.  We owe this to all the Mrs. Ts out there who work their butts off for their students and continue to be paid the same amount as the slacker down the hall from them.  

An introduction

As a kid and teen, writing was nothing but a chore...a terrible chore; one that included 2 dreaded tasks - spelling things correctly and handwriting neatly. That's what school taught me was important about writing.  Nothing about conveying your message to the reader; not sharing something you are passionate about.  What a waste. Then came Dr. Machon's writing class in college.  He kicked my butt and taught me to stop worrying about things that an editor can take care of...just be a writer.  
This blog site allows me to be just that, a writer.  I hope I convey my message in a manner that shares my excitement for the good that change can bring to public education, and of course, I do hope you enjoy reading this.  Maybe you'll even promote some change after reading it.