Here’s the thing that people who don’t work in schools don’t get. Teachers and kids are READY and have earned a summer break. Until you have worked in a school, you may not understand that fully. There does come a point of officially winding down, refreshing, and moving to next. That’s one of the things that happens during summer break.
When I was a middle school teacher, sometimes we’d be concerned about the 7th grade class. And usually we’d be concerned about the maturity level of the boys. Our wise principal said, “The best thing about 7th grade boys is the summer between 7th and 8th grade. They’ll come back as different people.” The first couple times I heard this…I was skeptical. Then it happened. And it happened again. And it happened everytime.
Then I went to another school with older kids. And the same kind of worrying was heard about the ‘next class’. And I’ll be darned if something didn’t happen to those kids in the ‘next class’ over the summer.
My money is on the fact that they did grow up a little. But the concerns were always expressed at the end of the year. when everybody is tired and ready for a break. Then we go away, refresh, regroup, and come back fired up. And the kids rise to the expectations of next.
So enjoy your well earned summer break everybody. We’ll see you back, ready to grow, learn, laugh, cry, and change some more next year!
The Lighting of a Fire 