Teachers relax, plan new material during summer

By Marisa Ransdell and Eric Walker,
Bluedevilhub.com Staff–

Everyone knows what students do during summer to get ready for the new school year, but what do teachers do?

Each teacher gets ready for the new school year differently; some plan the next school year right after the previous one ended, while others wait until August rolls around to begin preparing.

English teacher Ashley Hamrick does most of her planning for the school year in June right after school get out because it is fresh in her mind. Hamrick does a small amount of planning in July and August after she has attended conferences.

On the other end of the spectrum, science teacher Sherri Sandberg-Ransom works on lesson plans throughout the summer but does the majority the week before school starts.

The one thing all teachers agree on is that they need to take some time off to spend with their families. Detox is needed, according to social studies teacher Rachel
Doller.

Many teachers spend the summer going to conferences and taking online courses to learn new material and improve the classes they are teaching at Davis High School. Social studies teacher Charles Haws has attended conferences and taken online course the past two summers to improve his knowledge learn the content for a new course.

Every year, teachers change a portion of the material they used the previous year.

“It is expected as a good teacher, especially as a teacher in Davis, to hone your assignments and tweak and modify them to better fit your needs and the needs of the students,” Hamrick said.

The longer a teacher has been at DHS, the easier it is for him or her to organize lesson plans due to years of experimentation.

Over the course of the year, Doller puts assignments into a binder, which she then goes through right before the next year, taking out the ones she doesn’t want to keep. According to Doller, about 30 percent of the work changes from year to year.

With the addition of Chromebooks and Wi-Fi in classrooms, teachers are also altering their assignments to take advantage of the new technology they now have at their disposal.

Social studies teachers must add current events to their curriculum every year, according to Haws.