For Teachers, Summers Are Spent Relaxing And Preparing

By Andrew Rote

When the last exam is turned in and students rush out of their schools in a flood of summer anticipation, most do not think twice about their teachers and how they spend their vacations.

The fact is, teachers enjoy their summer just as much as students do.

For Newtown’s many faculty members, June, July, and August are marked with diversions. Some take on school-related activities, while other take well-deserved sojourns to other locales.

Lynette Daria, a speech therapist in the schools, has enjoyed her summer. She plans to help students in St Rose this year, so she has spent much of her summer so far preparing. Along with learning the procedures, she has been busy helping children who need extended services with their speech.

Mrs Daria did manage to take personal time during the summer, spending time with friends and her two sons. Some of her other activities included working on her garden, painting, and camping. One hobby she mentioned was her penchant for lamentation. “I moan about how fast the summer’s going,” she muses.

Over the past two years, Cathy Mazzariello has had the opportunity to leave her role as a fifth-grade teacher and go on to be the lead teacher and math specialist at Sandy Hook School. Throughout this summer, she has participated in several workshops.

“It’s the only way I can stay ahead of the game,” Mrs Mazzariello explains. Workshops are an annual event for her.

Taking courses and experiencing the workshops has made Mrs Mazzariello keenly aware of how much she still has to learn. “The more I learn, the more I know that I don’t know,” she admits.

What Mrs Mazzariello looks forward to most about the looming school year is the change. She likes to compare the beginning of each new school year with the clean slate of New Year’s Day. Like a resolution, she likes to start off each school year with brand new things she wants to try.

This year will mark Mrs Mazzariello’s eighteenth at Sandy Hook. “As long as [I] love what [I] do,” she says, “I’ll always look forward to coming back.” She adds that the day she feels tired, she will know that it is time to retire.

Like Mrs Daria and Mrs Mazzariello, Linda Sykes, a special education teacher at the high school, has spent much of the summer participating in school-related activities. One of the tasks she set for herself this summer was helping to develop a course on study skills for the upcoming school year.

“I had a good bunch of kids last year and I get a lot of them this year,” Mrs Sykes explains, looking forward to the upcoming year.

If she is not focusing on the classroom, she concentrates on her gardening. Mrs Sykes works in gardening with Elle Monroe, doing everything from weeding to designing gardens. “We do anything and everything,” she says. Other tasks include caring for gardens while owners are away.

Mrs Sykes takes special pride in the extensive garden that she has created at her home, and she spends many hours caring for it. It is a time she enjoys, she says.

Thus far, Eric Myhill has not let the summer go to waste. The Sandy Hook fifth grader is honing his teaching strategies with new ways to teach reading and writing to his upcoming students.

“I am designing a writing strategy called Writing Circles,” he confided. Mr Myhill explains how this idea is similar to the school system’s Literature Circles. “I am piggybacking off this idea and designing a writing strategy that allows children to dig out the big ideas in writing.”

But there has been free time for Mr Myhill, and he has spent it with his two daughters. He takes them to the beach and the library.

Though Mr Myhill feels that the summers rush by, he looks forward to the new school year. “I love teaching fifth grade,” he says. “I look forward to meeting my new class and helping them develop and discover their strengths and abilities.”

Teachers use summer vacation to their advantage as much as students do. As everyone is preparing for a new school year, they will be looking forward to changes, seeing friends, and, of course, next summer.