There's no reason to be bored...

There are many things you remember that, at the time, seem unimportant. Sometimes you don’t even know that they stick with you, but they do. One of these things for me is the advice that was given to my ninth grade English class on the last day of school by our particularly large and intimidating teacher.

He very simply said, “You have ten weeks off of school, and there is no reason for any of you to find yourselves bored during that time."

He did not elaborate; he left it to us to figure out what he meant. I still think about that teacher and that statement every year when the calendar gets to June.

As a student, I thought he wanted us to do extra homework and keep up our studies over the summer - but as I got older I realized that maybe that is not what he meant. Maybe he meant that we had freedom and free time that we should not waste or take lightly. Maybe he meant that we should be outside playing ball or exploring, hiking or going to museums. Maybe he meant we should spend this time with our families and friends. He purposely left it open to interpretation for us to figure it out. He hit so many New York State learning standards with that one statement it is amazing. (Pretty much every ELA standard... view here)

So, as we head toward the last day of school I want to encourage all of our students to use the next ten weeks wisely. Be sure to go and do something that you have always wanted to do but didn’t have the time. Read a book or two, go to a museum, make a new friend and enjoy yourselves. In the words of my ninth grade English teacher, there is no reason for you to be bored this summer.