Pivot Into the Unknown

Every summer, I end the school year with a final Wednesday Summer Reading List for teachers. You know, a way to kick back and spend time getting around to that stuff you don’t have time or brain power for during the school year.

This year? 

I’m not sure if my brain power will ever come back!

So, if your summer is filled with summer house projects and workouts and actual PLANS and you don’t have time for reading .. good for you! 

But before I do, I want to say thank you. And if I wasn’t paid the same amount you were, I’d buy you all a beverage. 

Thank you! 

This has been the craziest, weirdest, hardest 4th quarter in memory. 

You have gone from the Before Times where we hugged kids and taught in classrooms and had extracurriculars and put on regular clothes and drove our vehicles from our homes to our schools and heard bells ring to tell us when class was over. 

To the Now Times when we sit on our couches all day in PJ pants and never see kids at all and do everything virtually and kids turn in work at 3 am and disappear completely and meet virtually and turn in blank worksheets or else do a week’s worth of work in a day. Where we have video call meetings where we all turn off our cameras and where we use Teams AND Focus AND email to get work turned in. 

You have done a GIANT shift in your teaching and you are amazing. I know you have to bob and weave all the time. It’s what teachers do.

But this was above and beyond the usual. This was huge and wild and different. 

Thank you for your giant shift -- your “pivot” in teaching during this crazy time. 

And now, on with the booklist. 

1. Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman. This book looks pretty cool. It’s based on the idea that humans are hardwired for kindness, cooperation, and trust. In our current political climate, I could really use a book like this. It doesn't come out until next week, but I am looking forward to it.
2.  The Great Influenza by John M. Barry. It’ll be interesting to read about the Great Influenza epidemic of 100 years ago that killed millions while people have been making both accurate and inaccurate comparisons to it. 
3. Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond. This book brings together CRT and neuroscience to bring a “hard science” angle to what equity champions and CRT practitioners already know: that CRT can change everything, literally including the brain of you and your students.*Look for the Equity Department's book study on this in the fall! 
4. Hitting a Straight Lick with A Crooked Stick: Stories from the Harlem Renaissance by Zora Neale Hurston. Nothing like a “new” book by one of your favorite (long deceased) authors to get you (um, me) all ready to sit in the hammock and read! Ms. Hurston was a master storyteller and an anthropologist, so these long forgotten stories are bound to be great. I already bought it but haven’t gotten to it yet! 
5. The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women  by Kate Moore. This book about the “girls” and young women who worked in factories making radium dials and (spoiler alert) got sick in the early 20th century looks fascinating. And looks like something I don’t know much about. And that’s always my kind of history! 
6. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein. I have seen these maps but I have never read the actual book. Supposed to be amazing. As someone who lives in Pinellas County, where we could probably draw these maps ourselves based on who lives where. These are things we sort of know “a little something about”, but not exactly everything this book will teach. I can’t wait to learn. 
7. Balance with Blended Learning by Caitlin R. Tucker. I think we have all learned this quarter what DOES work about digital learning, what the benefits ARE. Well, how can we keep those with us when (IhopeIhopeIhope) we are in the brick and mortar classroom in the fall? Maybe this book has some ideas that we can use to blend the good parts of the digital with the good parts of the traditional classroom. I’m intrigued. 

What are you reading this summer? Anything other than the news? I can’t wait to hear all about it! Please share with me! I will be around and I will check my email. I’d love to chat about one of these books (or another one)! 

And again, thank you for your “pivot” and for being amazing all the time -- but even more amazing for your flexibility and adaptability in this time of Crisis Learning. I am so thankful for you! 

Have a great summer. Stay safe and well! 

-Tracy