I was sitting in a staff meeting one Wednesday at my previous teaching post.
They were rattling on about the same ol’ stuff ... admissions trends, curriculum goals, upcoming special events. I'm sure my eyes were glazing over. By the afternoon my energy was gone, and my introverted tendencies made any after school socialization push me to my limits. After school I usually need about half an hour in my classroom with the door shut to before I could interact with anyone. Nevertheless, there I was, somewhat in a state of malaise to be quite honest, as I had been for a little while. Perhaps the February blues, or perhaps I just needed a jolt. A teacher's defibrillator...something to bring me back to life in the classroom.
After a few minutes of speaking our headmaster handed the mic to our curriculum facilitator. She came to the podium and said, “Now I want to bring up our exciting yearly offer of the teacher’s summer studies program….in order to provide opportunities for renewal, rejuvenation, and professional growth...this isn’t meant for you to sit in a conference hall and listen to slideshows for a week... think outside the box…” She proceeded to describe her own summer studies trip, when she was a science teacher, to the turtle conservatory in the Galapagos. She showed pictures of the former Latin teacher touring Rome.
They wanted us reinvigorated, they wanted us inspired, they wanted us to reclaim our magic from student intervention forms and report card comments. I started Googling summer studies experiences for teachers, which abound, but nothing seemed quite what I wanted. I sat on it for a few days and made some space in my mind for something new. I thought back to the times I felt invigorated in the past, times I felt magical and there I was..
Reading Harry Potter by flashlight under the covers when I was 13...
Crying when Beth died the first time I read Little Women...
- Studying abroad in London, sitting in a Hyde Parkgazebo listening to picture books read aloud by my peers...
Touring the Roald Dahl museum in Buckinghamshire...
Falling in love with my husband...
Becoming a mother...
Rediscovering Maurice Sendak at the Rosenbach Museum during a professional development trip to Philadelphia...
Let the wild rumpus start.
I designed a children’s literature tour, including locations where I thought I may be able to find that feeling again.
This is what unfurled onto my application:
My summer study experience is an independent-study children’s literature tour of Prince Edward Island, Canada and several cities in New England to explore venues that highlight the most magical and inspirational children’s books from my childhood. My tour would be a combination of author’s hometowns, children’s literature museums, settings of classic children’s texts, and notable bookstores. The tour would begin in Prince Edward Island, Canada, where I would discover the island that gave L.M. Montgomery the inspiration to create my favorite childhood character, Anne Shirley, of Anne of Green Gables. I would then travel south to New Hampshire, where I would visit the H.A. and Margret Rey Curious George Museum; and Morgan Hill Bookstore in Tomie DePaola’s town, which he frequently visits and signs copies of his books. After perusing the shelves of Morgan Hill, I would travel to Massachusetts, the setting of Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings and E.B. White’s Trumpet of the Swan in Boston; Louisa May Alcott’s house in Concord; and the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst. I will also visit the brand new Seuss Museum and Sculpture Garden in Springfield, MA; and the R. Michelson Gallery in Northampton, known for exhibits of children’s book illustrations. My final stop would be New York City for a children’s book tour of NYC. I would experience an “Eloise” tea at the Plaza and an Alice in Wonderland brunch at Alice’s Tea Cup. I would traipse through the NYC Public Library to see the Library Lion; and explore the Metropolitan Museum of Art to find E.L. Konigsburg’s adventures from The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil T. Frankweiler. And, let’s not forget a search for Harriet the Spy in NY’s Upper East Side, Stuart Little in Central Park, and Knuffle Bunny in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
All my old friends, there you are.
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