Contrary to popular misapprehension, teachers don't hibernate through the summer. Here's what a few report.
By JANE MADDEN WELCH and DONNA WINCHESTER
Published August 10, 2004
With school already begun, the long, lazy days of summer are over for Pinellas County's 112,000 students - and their teachers.
As those educators returned to their classrooms for the new year, the St. Petersburg Times asked them the perennial question they pose to their students: "What did you do on your summer vacation?"
LAURA BENTZ, family and consumer sciences teacher at Countryside High School
Attended a state conference of the Florida Association of Career and Technical Educators
Hosted family from out of state
Visited other family members
"It's great to have a job you can stop and start and have a fresh new view. There's something great about being able to start over."
KATHY BURRESS, seventh-grade science teacher at Palm Harbor Middle
Snorkeled in the Florida Keys
Bought a new Airstream travel trailer
Attended a weeklong coastal educational workshop
Read a lot, a favorite pastime
"It was a restful, wonderful summer that is much appreciated as I start my 28th year of teaching."
DAVE WILLIAMS, work experience teacher in the drop-out prevention program at Tarpon Springs High
Spent a week in North Carolina
Attended a national technology conference
Had fun exploring Bourbon Street in New Orleans with his wife
Watched all of son Jeremy's baseball games
"This was the first summer I had off in 20 years of teaching. We just kicked back and had a great time."
SALLY BAYNARD, a teacher of gifted children at the Area III gifted office
Began working toward a master's degree
Went on a cruise with her family that included a trip to a rain forest in Belize
Taught a workshop for teachers on how to identify gifted children using alternative assessments and took a teacher training on how to work with underachieving gifted children
"It's been a great summer. I got to start some things I've been dreaming about and I got to start dreaming about some things I hadn't thought about."
SALLY MATHEWS, art teacher at Palm Harbor Elementary
Redecorated her bathroom
Had a pajama party when a friend from high school visited
Entertained her 5-year-old grandson for a week
Took a trip to Mexico with her family
"It was a fulfilling summer. I'm happy to say the family is still speaking to one another after spending 10 days together in Mexico.
CONCITA DAVIS, a teacher of a combined first- and second-grade Montessori class at Gulfport Elementary School
Attended three workshops: one on enhancing technology in the classroom, one that included new techniques for motivating students, and one that emphasized reading comprehension
Took her son on a sightseeing trip to St. Augustine
Worked on a welcome back letter to parents and students
"I feel prepared and excited. At least nine of my students will be returning from last year. The others will either be new to the school or they'll be children coming from kindergarten at Gulfport."
AMY HERSH, third-grade teacher at Garrison-Jones Elementary
Went white-water rafting in South Carolina
Stripped wallpaper
Attended her son's all-star baseball games
Participated in a math workshop
"The summer was good, it just went by too quickly."
JOYCE WILEY, eighth-grade math teacher at Osceola Middle School
Wrote questions for a diagnostic testing company
Went to a training session to familiarize herself with the district's new math textbook
Spent two weeks traveling in England with her husband and visited family in Kentucky
"It's been a wonderful summer. I've done a nice combination of some school work and some travel. It's always difficult to give up that second cup of coffee in the morning ... but I'm ready."
ROBIN LADD, a mathematics teacher at Seminole High School
Traveled to England with her 17-year-old daughter
Prepared a talk for teachers new to the district and presented it at new teacher training
Spent time familiarizing herself with new math textbooks
"I've been doing all the homework I expect my students to do during the year. I feel like I'm under the gun, but it's good. It's refreshing to look at it all again."
CHERYL MAGGIO, fifth-grade teacher of Students Targeted for Achievement, Recognition and Success at Curlew Creek Elementary School
Read two books on team building and leadership
Attended trainings related to the teachings of Stephen Covey on the seven habits of highly effective people
Planned her parents' 50th wedding anniversary celebration
"One of the things teachers do a lot of in the summer is catch up on projects at home that we never get to do during the school year. Like everybody else, we're quite busy with our jobs. When you work as a classroom teacher, our days are not 8 to 3."
APRIL ASH, a fifth-grade teacher at Fairmount Park Elementary
Attended an eight-day international convention in Los Angeles with members of the Pentecostal Temple Church of God and Christ
Got her son ready for Boy Scout camp
Went shopping for supplies to decorate her classroom
"I feel de-stressed. I took the summer to relax, but I'm ready to go back."
MICHAEL VASSALO, a theater teacher at St. Petersburg High School
Read some new plays
Spent time in New York City going to shows with an eye toward his next production season
Worked with his wife to prepare a nursery for their new baby, due in November
"After about a month and a half of being off, I get geared up. I'm ready to to go back to school."
DAVID MASON, director of bands at Riviera Middle School
Cleaned and repaired hundreds of band instruments
Spent time with his mother and an elderly aunt who live in a retirement home
Studied research material so he'll be ready for his school's conversion to small learning communities
"I also traveled all over the county and looked at the newer middle schools to get ideas for the new school they're building for us in the next 30 months."
