Ah, Summer

Even though I’m in my eighth year of teaching, I’ve honestly never had a real summer break. The first summer, I won a grant through the National Endowment of Humanities to study Utopian fiction in the Bay Area. Pretty amazing, but definitely not a lie-around-and-wallow-in-your-pajamas kind of summer.

The next summer, I worked as a Corps Member Advisor at the Teach For America summer institute in Houston. The next summer, I moved from Louisiana to Houston and taught summer school at KIPP. The next summer I did two weeks of professional development in New York, taught summer school again, got my classroom ready, and then traveled to nine Guatemalan cities during my seven-day break. The next summer I worked as a School Director at the Teach For America institute in Philadelphia. The next summer I was working full-time for Teach For America. The next summer I moved from Houston to Denver and started my Montessori training. The next summer, I finished my training, got married, bought a house, and moved back to Houston. The next summer, I was working full-time as an educational consultant.

And now I’m here. About to head into my first real summer. I can’t imagine doing nothing, but I also don’t want to feel obligated to do anything either. Let me brainstorm some ideas:

1. Buy a fancy camera and learn to take photos.
2. Learn Spanish.
3. Spend two weeks traveling with my Partner-in-Awesomeness.
4. Go to a yoga retreat with my best friend.
5. Spend a week at the beach with my family.
6. Write 100 lesson plans to teach character in daily community meetings.

Is there anything else I want to do? At this point, I should just immerse myself in the collecting and developing stage.

• Are there things I want to explore around Houston?
• What about getting my body in shape for the challenge of pregnancy?
• What about teaching myself to can things like tomatoes?
• What about sewing, sewing, sewing?