The Tipping Point
Posted on | July 18, 2012 | 2 Comments
At some point in a teacher’s summer, one’s thoughts turn to the coming school year. Instead of hitting the snooze button 47 times in a row, you hit it 32 times one day, then 18 times soon after, until you’re finally down to just twice. You find yourself glancing longingly at your local teacher store when you’re on your way to the community pool. When you see the “School Bus Stop Ahead” sign when you’re driving to the beach, you wonder if you’ll see students standing there.
Just this past weekend, I took a small army of young boys to the movies. Before the previews began, we watched several variations on a back-to-school commercial for a nationwide red bull’s-eye retailer. While the kids cringed, I was awash in nostalgia for my days as a classroom teacher and dreamed briefly of what I’d do differently if I was heading into school again.
Lately, we’ve been getting rain here in North Carolina’s Piedmont. If I were still a teacher, I’d have happily spent these rainy afternoons with my August/September issue of The Mailbox magazine and online with my Companion extras. Knowing about the lotto card maker, spelling list tool, whiteboard activities, and access to thousands of The Mailbox ideas and resources, I’d surely be a MyMAILBOX Idea Center Gold member too.
So I am curious. What is your summertime tipping point? Surely there must be some kind of cue or clue that starts you thinking about returning to your classroom. And, for you year-round teachers, how do you take advantage of the short time you have to put the wraps on one school year before starting the next? Tell us!
Tags: back-to-school > classroom > Mailbox Companion > movies > MyMAILBOX Idea Center Gold > North Carolina > school bus > snooze button > teacher > teacher store > The Mailbox magazine
Comments
2 Responses to “The Tipping Point”
Leave a Reply
Visit The Mailbox Online
About the Upper Grades Exchange Blog
My name is Todd Savelle, caretaker of The Upper Grades Exchange blog from The Mailbox. The Exchange is where grades 4 through 8 teachers can find the ideas, solutions, and inspiration that make the middle years of a child’s education easier and more fun. Share your teaching tips and classroom management techniques, engage in lively discussions about current education issues, and engage with your peers with ideas for supplementing today’s fluid curriculum. Upper Grades Exchange will make you think of The Mailbox in a whole new way.
Pages
July 29th, 2012 at 12:59 pm
I also homeschool. My tipping point comes when I receive my CPI papers in the mail. I start thinking about when we’ll start, what curriculum we’ll use, how will I keep the kids, and myself, motivated this year…
July 18th, 2012 at 2:03 pm
As a homeschool parent, I just hit my tipping point with the snooze button. Still late nights, but no more late mornings!